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He was up at 7:42. They skyped with Cherie and Chuck after nursing. Carly tried to play Ants Go Marching for August, but wasn’t very successful. They then skyped with Vivian and Cassie. August showed them his underwear: “I have underwear on.” August wanted to make banana bread but was hinting at it, saying “What you want to make? Breakfast food.” We continued to skype with Vivian as we mixed the banana bread, and they hung up after we had it in the cooker. He nursed again, then was nonking me with the hammer. He had me tell him about baby brains. Generally, when you ask him “Do you know…” he’ll just say “Yeah” even when he doesn’t. Yesterday I was telling him it is good to say “I don’t know”. Today, when he was on the toilet, Carly asked him something and at first he said “Yeah”, but then said “I don’t know.” He ate egg and toast with Carly, then he and I learned fruits and animals and vehicles in a children’s Hebrew app. The banana bread was done, so we ate some banana bread, and we also read Honk at some point.

We all went outside 12:50. He wanted to wear his underwear, but Carly convinced him to still use diapers outside for now. He rode his bike, and we went to the center of the park, then over to the playground. Mainly they went on the swings. At one point I got on a swing and August pulled the right rope to move me back and forth. Before we left, he went down the tube slide once. Carly and I were cold, and it was time for a nap, so got him to head home. At the elevators, and down the hall to home, he insisted on moving himself on the bike. Just yesterday he and I were talking about getting a balance bike for him in Israel and I mentioned he’d be able to push for himself. He said no, he wanted dada to push. A day later he was telling me not to push.

At home he slept from 1:55 to 3:11. Right before we left the playground, he had found some metal beads on the ground. We took them home, and I washed them off when he went in for his nap. I’d put them in a small Tupperware container. He found the container, opened it, and the beads rolled all over the floor. We found most of them. He then played with them, and I taught him how to rotate them in the cup by moving his hand in a circle.

Carly went to the grocery store. While she was gone, he talked about wanting to go to the store on his own. I said he couldn’t do that yet, and that we’d get in trouble. He said “I’m going to go to the store later when I’m not older…I want the police to come.” He made the connection to the police on his own: we’ve talked about the police a few times, in particular when he asked what would happen if we didn’t pay for something at the store.

Carly got home and he said “I want mama practice The Ants Go Marching”. Eventually we switched; she started cooking and I played piano. In addition to Ants Go Marching, I looked up the lyrics to When Johnny Comes Marching Home and we sang that (and the drinking song it is based on). He broke the stick again. He wanted to glue it right away, but I said he could wait.

We then played with play dough and looked at Hebrew letters. I talked about taking him outside, but he first helped Carly mix together ingredients for the veggie pancakes. When he was ready, he went to find his bike and didn’t see it: “Where’s my bike? There it is!” We had left it down by the door.

We headed out in the dark, around 6. We walked/rode to the little park past the pink building. Two boys were on the swings. August watched for a bit, then wanted to play on the exercise equipment. We did that for awhile, and he stomped on snow. He didn’t want to go to the nearby playground with more swings. Instead, we went to our dinosaur playground. He sang songs he made up as we walked. There, we went on the swings. Near the end, he looked over at the ground and play structure and asked “Is that just shadows?…or painting?” We got home at 7. Said he smelled something good. Carly had pancakes for him for dinner.

He did some painting with Carly, then we all did some Hebrew together. Carly took a shower. August composed a little music on the iPad, then typed in Pages, then we did a little play dough. He and Carly looked for some Hebrew alphabet videos.

I gave him a bath, and we talked about babies pooping and eating and he started talking about choking “I’m choking on things now.” He wasn’t even pretending to put things in his mouth, but still not too funny. Tried not to encourage it, and made him agree to not do it with mama when he went out. He understood, I think, but slipped a couple times, and said “I’ll try not to do it.”

Tried for sleep just after 9, but came out at 9:38. He sang from the songbook. A lot of words/songs. At one point he sang “I am glad to have her.” He then listened to Berenstain Bears Go to School, then spent a few minutes being hyper on the floor (he called it that). He then chose Drum Dream Girl on the iPad to read. We’d never read it before. It is about a girl who wants to be a drummer in a town where only boys can drum. It really got August thinking and asking questions: “See the mean guy…why?” We talked about it for a long time. Finally, we read Peppa Pig at the Pool before he went back in after 10:20.

Still no. I started getting ready for bed, and he brushed teeth with me. He abandoned me and went back in with mama. But when I went in to bed he was still awake. I told a couple Puffin Rock stories, making him keep his head on the bed for me to keep talking. He climbed back over Carly, kept lightly kicking the wall, and fell asleep about 11:15.

Sometime later he was fussing in his sleep, and I heard him say “I don’t want to go there.”

Photos. Banana bread:  

Pulling me on the swing: 

Bike: 

Helping make pancakes: 

In the dark: 

Hammer. Scratch on his tummy that we don’t know the origin of:

Songbook: is  

He came out at 6:41 today. Again just a couple minutes after Carly left. But today there was no crying. Not even a peep. He lay down on the floor and slid around, finding a warm spot. He spotted a chocolate chip, sat up, and whispered “Can I eat it?” I gave him permission this one time to eat floor food. He rolled around a bit and got up, changed his mind and went back in front of the washing machine and lay down again.

Once he was up we looked at some Hebrew, started laundry, read Berenstain Bears Go to School, typed Hebrew and Arabic on the iPad, and ate Cheerios for breakfast. We played The Ants Go Marching on piano and xylophone. When I went to get the laundry out, he climbed in the basket and said “There’s no space!” We played the privacy game, then he wanted some frozen mango. Later we had some strawberries.

While I was hanging up laundry, August went to the bathroom. Suddenly I heard the toilet paper, and went in to find he had unrolled most of the roll. I picked it up, and started re-rolling it. He didn’t like that and kept trying to grab it. I was walking around, holding the toilet paper above my head. I decided I couldn’t roll it up with him upset, so I put it up in my closet. He sat on the floor, and I went back to hanging up laundry. Then I noticed it was quiet. I walked back in to the parlor to see him climbing the shelves, grabbing at the toilet paper. Took a photo, took him down, and closed the door. When he calmed down, he wanted to make a Duplo tower, and we made quite a nice one. After that, he watched Puffin Rock and I finished the laundry and took a shower.

Afterwards, he was looking out the window. “Dada, come.” It was snowing. Quite heavily. We watched that, then went and did more Hebrew on the app. He was then playing xylophone. The stick broke again. We played together, and as we played he said “We’re making it hard for mama to teach the students!”

Looking out the window, he sang a “There’s snowy weather in snow” song. And observed “I don’t see some bugs. Why I don’t see bugs out? Why they don’t like the snow?”

He wanted to go outside, but didn’t want to go on the toilet first. I said we’d go once he went to the bathroom. He played around for a few minutes, then announced he was ready to use the toilet. We then headed outside.

The plan had been Children’s Grand Park today, but once we got outside and started playing in the snow, we decided to just stay here. There was a decent layer on the ground, and it was still falling. He just walked around in it for a bit, then we got out the broom and he was sweeping snow. Then making letters. Eventually we started making snowballs. The snow really stuck to his gloves though (he was wearing both his gloves and hat without complaint), so I would make a snowball and hand it to him. He threw them at me and at posts. When they fell on the ground he would stomp on them. At one point a guy came up and was demanding attention from August. August, excitedly playing with snowballs, wasn’t interested. Eventually he moved on.

August wanted to taste the snow, and I explained that you only eat the clean snow from up high, and just a little. He responded: “No. I like the snow on the ground. I’m eating a ton of snow.” He also said “I love snowballs.” We ran into Preacher, who, right after talking about the awful South Korean president, told me that Trump was a “Good man”. Sigh. When we had started it was still snowing nicely, but it stopped and got sunny. Which was nice for the warmth, and also the snow warmed up and was easier to make into snowballs. By the end he was having some success making snowballs on his own.

August wanted to go over to the playground. He walked up and over the wooden path, running his hand along the rail to push off the snow. As he was going down the other side he slipped and fell on his bottom. Didn’t bother him much. He wanted to go on the swings, so I brushed him off, and he did that for awhile.

After awhile he liked the idea of going over to the art museum to see the new play area. We went over and found that the play area was closed from 12 to 2. It was about 12:40. So we went up to the coffee shop and got a tropical juice pack and a cream cheese pretzel. At some point I realized August didn’t know what a pretzel was, and had mentioned I’d get one for him at some point. We ate/drank those and more of our lunch, then got going for a walk at 1:25. He was sleep 1:41 and I went to Cafe 감나무 아래, across from Sushi Jun. One of the last close coffee shops I need to check out. I let him sleep to 3:07 and woke him up.

We went back to the art museum and the play area. The old play area is entirely gone, which is kind of sad. It is much larger, but doesn’t have a trampoline or as much climbing space. It is just a slide, ball area, and three tubes to crawl through. There is also a small table with some sheets to color. We played there with the balls and ball pits, then went and did a little coloring. The coloring sheets were from their Wonderland at SeMA show, that had the video of Dorothy and the ruby slippers saying “There’s no place like home”. He was coloring the shoe on the sheet, and I said that line, and I think it rang a bell for him. He kept asking me to explain it, and I was telling more and more of the Wizard of Oz each time.

Outside the museum, August was standing on one foot and looking at his long shadow. He was excited about being able to stand on one foot. Another man came along and asked where we were from, then asked if we had any American money, and he had a collection of money from different countries. Had to disappoint him. As we walked to Home Plus, August ran to a rhythm, and we decided if it was sixteenth notes, etc. He saw dirty melting snow and asked “Why it very yucky?”

At Home Plus, August was talking about about the little moth he had scared in Thailand. It came up a few times during the day: “Zinnie can scare moths in Thailand.” We went down to the first basement and looked at underwear. He picked out a pack with seven pairs, with origami animals on them. He was very excited. As we walked through the store, he asked “Why you have to watch out for big lizards?” Another Thailand memory.

We went downstairs and got a few groceries. I let August get the pink milk this time. He always wants it, but it is the nonfat and we usually get another kind. We also got some pineapple and coconut fruit cup things to try. And a yogurt sample he really liked.

As we walked home, I overheard a girl, maybe 6th grade, talking to her 1st grade or so brother in fluent English. She was having problems with him though so I didn’t stop to ask if they lived around here.

At home he put on a pair of underwear, the elephant. When Carly got home at 5:30 he ran to her and said “I’m wearing underwear!” They nursed, and we ate spaghetti for dinner. We played hide and seek and the privacy game. We were writing with the markers when he accidentally peed. He realized what he was doing. Got him to the toilet and was telling him it was okay, not a big deal, etc. He said “No. it’s not okay.” and shook his head. got him in the crane (he claims it is a seagull) pair and headed back out. First, he was dancing to the Korean poster (it has notes on it). Back out in the living room, he wanted, Chinese letters, not Korean. He did a cool little dance, waving his arms as he sang “Chinese letters”. Tried to get him to repeat it, but he would just sing the song.

We talked about how he is currently acting out things he wants to do but knows he shouldn’t. Like taking markers without asking, for example. He would give Carly the marker, then take it from her.

They nursed, then had more dinner. We read some Berenstain Bears, then he sang from the songbook for quiet awhile. We then went in on the bed with me and played in the nest. He said there was an alligator outside the nest/burrow that bit a duck, so the duck came in with us. He was talking about being sleepy, and cu
rled up with me for awhile. Eventually he wanted to get ready for bed and get mama. He was asleep at 9:30. 

Sweeping: 

Writing: 

Photos. Warm spot:

Still fits: 

Climbing: 

He said the pieces looked like eighth notes: 

Snow: 

Play area:  

One foot: 

Pink milk: 

Underwear: 

A couple minutes after Carly left, I heard noise, then talking, from the bedroom. A minute later, at 6:37, he came out. This wasn’t good.

“I want to nurse. Can we go outside now? Can we meet her now? What happens if we meet her now? I want to go now…I want to open that.” He kept trying to climb the door stop and handle to get to the latch that was out of his reach. Finally, I asked if going out in the hall would help him calm down. His answer was “No” and he actually left and walked the other way and lay down in the parlor and calmed right down. First on the floor, then the reading area. He didn’t want me in there though, and I sat on the couch.

At 6:55 i heard him move towards the door, but when I peeked in a couple minutes later he was sitting up and said “Go away” and covered his eyes. A minute later he got up, came out for a second, then headed back in the parlor and closed the door. I heard him walking around. A couple minutes past 7 I went in and he was standing and I gave him a pat. Wrong thing to do. He started crying again and saying “No, no”.

A couple minutes after that I asked if he wanted to read. He said “No”, but when I asked if he wanted the songbook he said “Dada do it on his own” but then came out. He wanted the iPad. When I opened iBooks he chose Berenstain Bears go to School and we read it on the couch. He then wanted the songbook, and wanted me to sing “Down in ththe Paw Paw Patch”. I didn’t know it, so we looked it up on YouTube and watched a couple versions, then looked up ‘paw paw’ on Wikipedia. Learned what a paw paw is.

He watched Puffin Rock and I took a shower. We played hide and seek. Made oatmeal and he ate some, but then would slowly eat almost the whole bowl. Played with a blue clip thing after wanting to do a harder metal one he had found somewhere. Think he came across one of these in Thailand. Anyway, the metal one was too hard to do on his own, so I got the blue one for him. Later, when we went to leave, I found it clipped to the cuff of my sweatshirt when I put it on.

We watched some Arabic and Chinese songs on YouTube, then he sang songs to the songbook. He made up a song about the snow outside. We skyped with my parents. My mom had mentioned in a message that Paul and my dad had the flu, and that she was trying to avoid it. He wanted to ask them, mainly Paul, about being sick. He asked “Why Uncle Paul not avoid the flu?.” My mom mentioned the pool in Thailand, and he got sad about it when I said we couldn’t go to a pool here.

Near the end he wanted to hang upside down. After the call, we worked on doing a headstand. We did it against the closet door. Then we played piano and xylophone. I played Ants Go Marching on the piano, and he played along on the xylophone. He understands the rhythm, and sort of seems to be trying to get the right notes. But he doesn’t want me to show/demonstrate what notes to play. We did that for a long time.

He broke a xylophone stick after I told him not to bend it more. I was very calm about it, and explained that while the sticks don’t cost much, that I’d get frustrated if he didn’t listen to me, etc. He said “Go ahead and do that” (be frustrated, that is). He asked of himself “Why you broke it?” That also led to a discussion of doing things to find out what will happen, and also was he wondering why he was motivated to break it, or was he wondering why the stick broke instead of just bending (two very different things to wonder about). Anyway, I then got out the superglue and he watched me glue both the stick and the piano key that he (re)broke last night when he stepped on the piano keys.

Finally, I gave him a bath and washed his hair. A quick bath as we needed to head to class. Then got dressed and on his bike and we got to class a couple minutes late, at 12:42.

Class was all about pulling things apart. Started with two cubes with handles in them, and Velcro that attached them, that the kids pulled apart. There were then octopi with suction cups on them, and cows they pulled out of holes. There was also a triangular tunnel that August refused to crawl through, but he liked climbing over. He was insisting on my help though until the teacher was playing with/teasing him. Wanting to get back to me, August was able to climb over it on his own.

On the way out we ran into Olivia and her mother, who was taking her to the doctor. Outside, he requested I stop while going up the ramp on the bridge. He got off to touch the little snow that remained from the nighttime snow. Over by the playground we went up to the rocks so he could touch more snow, but then he wanted to go on the swings. It was definitely time for a nap, and when I said no, he started to have a fit on the path. A guy walked right up to us and started laughing at him. I had to rather forcibly shoo him away. Add that to the list of ‘Things that wouldn’t happen in Thailand’.

At home I figured it would be a good day to actually fall asleep in bed. He begged to differ. We read Pajama Time at one point, but otherwise he mainly just refused to consider the idea of napping. He basically decided he’d skip a nap. But that would mean he would fall asleep for good at 5 or so. So at 3 I gave in and we went out in the stroller. We crossed at Baskin Robbins. He was awake. Less than a half block later I said we would turn around as the wind was blowing in our faces. When I turned, the cover blew down in front of him. When I didn’t hear a peep I knew he was asleep.

We went home and he was asleep from 3:18 to 4:30. I woke him up and get him out of the stroller. He kept trying to go back to sleep, laying down on the floor. After about 10 minutes I got him up enough to go play some more piano. Then I suggested we learning Hebrew together. It was the greatest reaction every. First, as soon as I suggested we learn Hebrew, he enthusiastically agreed. I’m not even sure he knew it was a language, just that I’d suggested we learn something. When I said we could learn together, he stuck his hands out in front of him, perpendicular to the ground, and said “Together!?…Yeah! Let’s go!”

So we got my iPad and found an app and downloaded it. We used it and got markers and started drawing the letters on paper. Carly got home as we did that, and he was excited to tell her. They nursed, then he was typing on her computer, in English. I suggested we could install the Hebrew and Arabic keyboards on his iPad, and he liked that idea, so was then typing  Hebrew and Arabic.

Carly had stopped at the store (I’d planned to go, but his late nap meant that didn’t happen) and made spaghetti and veggies for dinner. He was excited about dinner, saying “I love cheese” and as Carly was feeding him “That’s definitely a mushroom.”

We practiced more head stands. I actually did one too, against the wall in the reading area. I told Carly to come in and see if she wanted, but before she could August pushed me over. We then studied some more Hebrew and wrote it. And then did more Ants Go Marching on the piano and xylophone. The stick broke again so we glued it yet again.

Carly took a shower and August and I played the privacy game. After her shower, August was ready to try to sleep. Carly was getting him dressed and he took his socks, ran down the hall, and hid them in the parlor. He came back and said he wanted his feet to be cold. Tried for sleep, but came out at 8:25.

He was singing from the songbook, and made up a song where he sang “Won’t you be my friend?” – based on Mr. Roger’s “Won’t you be my neighbor?” He sang another one that went “Go away from the car…go away from my car, car, car.” I don’t know where that one came from. He then read Berenstain Bears Go to School with the narrator. It highlights the words as she reads, and August was following along, calling out words that he knew. He went back, and was asleep at 9:10.

His photo for Carly: 

Teuni Teuni. Pulling: 

Being an octopus: 

Touching snow: 

Trying to fall back to sleep: 

Typing Arabic:

For a relatively short flight, it was a long travel day. We woke him up at 5:40. He was saying something like “I wrote it” a few times. We left at 6, and took a taxi about 35 minutes to the airport. In the cab August did some joking around (“My arm disappeared. You can’t hold it now.”

“I smelled the nursing.”) before relaxing for awhile, and noting when the sun started to come up. We were at the airport about 6:40.

The whole process went pretty smoothly, although August at times was less patient than he had been on the way down. We made it through checkin, then at security August ran back through the metal detectors because he had found something on the floor. We got food at a sandwich place, then sat in a seating area and ate. We played hide and seek, then I taught him tag. I asked him what he wanted to do next, and he said “autokizer”. That turns out to be his form of yoga. He did that, and focused on getting his foot up high. I asked “How high can you get your foot?” He replied “Very high”. He asked Carly to join him, and she did it a little, too.

We then proceeded to our gate. For the last stretch he insisted on pushing his stroller himself. So that took awhile, as it doesn’t like to go straight in the first place. As we were boarding, August talked about “Were going to a cold place.” He put his hand in Carly’s hood and said “You’re wearing a glove.” He had already mentioned nursing because his ears hurt, and on the plane, as we waited to taxi, he put his fingers in his ears. Once in the air, we played with play dough, then ate lunch. He did some water coloring in the Pororo book they gave him, and watched some Puffin Rock while wearing headphones. While Carly read him Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight, he put his feet up in her face at the “Get your dopey feet out of my face!” line. Eventually, he took a nap from 12:40 to 2:05. Think we read some Berenstain Bears, and he did some singing, he made up a “airplane, its good enough for me.” That’s based on the “C is for Cookie” song that Cookie Monster sings. He wanted me to tell him about babies and diapers and toilets, so I was telling him about brain structure (I keep adding more and more) as we touched down.

We worked our way out and made it to the bus. Another bus, and we made it home at 8. Given the two hours time difference, it was 12 hours from leaving the rental condo to getting home. It was darn cold in here. Carly went down and got some sandwiches at Paris Baguette and bread and milk. August had me guess what he wanted to do. I kept guessing things, but he kept saying no. Finally, when I had failed to guess, he said “Zinnie wants to ride his bike.” He got super excited. So we took it out in the hall and rode up and down the halls. We met Carly as she came off the elevator, having gone back down for a couple other things. We also collected our Christmas cards from the mailbox.

Back inside, we discovered we hadn’t flushed a toilet before leaving. That wasn’t pleasant. August ate some fruit and crab (two of the things she had picked up). We read Pajama Time and One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish, and then Berenstain Bears books. We all went to sleep at about 11:15.

 

Photos. Leaving: 

Taxi: 

Waiting for food: 

Yoga: 

Flight: 

Dopey feet: 

A nap: 

Bus home: 

I’m writing this as we’re packed no ready to get up early to head to the airport. We will miss Thailand, although Carly won’t miss the job fairs.

August was up at 7:30. Nursed for awhile, then watched Chinese songs and Treetop Family videos on my iPad. Carly Skyped with her parents, then we then Skyped with my parents about the big news. August wanted to feed the monsters again. Don’t know how much I’ve mentioned the monsters that live under the bed and in the couch. We decided that they are nocturnal, so sleep in the apartment while we are gone, and go out at night. Carly was starting to pack, and August got my shoes and wore them and was walking around, saying “Muck up dada’s work shoes.” He’s been brushing his teeth really well lately, doing it for extra seconds. Today he got up to 21 at one point. We watched a little Puffin Rock, and I remembered that yesterday he had remembered that a group of starlings is called a ‘murmuration’. Also, right before we left, he lay down on the couch for a little rest – that’s been a pretty common occurrence lately before we leave.

Finally, yesterday he kept having me explain over and over why babies don’t use diapers “doota doota doo…poop!” That comes from reading Everybody Poops.

We left at 10:15. A wet day. On the stairs outside the gate, Carly spotted a snail. A big one. August did a good job of looking at it and leaving it alone. As we left he said “bye snail…bye monsters.” (I had mentioned along the way that he hadn’t said bye to the monsters today.)

On the train he wanted to break the rules: “I’m eating real. I’m breaking the rules.” “No. I like to break the rules.” Before we got off, he lay down on the floor of the train. When we got off he said “It was dirty on the train and I was sleeping on the dirt spot.”

We stopped at the two bakery sort of places in the station to put together lunches for us. New things I got were a looktan pie,  and an English Croque Monseuir. In the park we put August in the pack pack, then walked up to the cool architecture area and walked all around that on the random paths with Carly. August saw the broken tire that he had spotted last time and said “I don’t like broken things; I like fixed things.” We sat in a covered spot there and ate lunch. August saw a spot of something on the ground and examined it. He said “What’s that disgusting smell?”

We walked to the pool, and got there just before 12:30. We had the entire place to ourselves, and the woman let Carly in for free. We stayed until close to 2. We had a lot of fun, and August worked on kicking and tried going on his back a couple times, and just generally got more comfortable with the water.

The plan from there was to walk north to see the northern part of the park and stop at a coffee shop there. All went well until we were in the coffee shop and August started screeching and wanted to climb on the table, etc. So we left. Stopped to nurse him at one point, then put him in the backpack. He never fell asleep for a nap, but was upset for several minutes before calming down. We headed for the children’s museum.

On our way to the children’s museum we walked through Queen Sirikit Park, which we hadn’t yet been to. It is basically a botanical garden, and incredibly beautiful. We learned what a wishbone flower is. We exited the park by the children’s museum and went there. It was 3, and closed at 4, but both the little kids area and the 3 to 7 year old area were closed for cleaning. But he had fun playing outside: first at a small playground (sponsored by Pantene) where the swings were really low and he liked touching the ground, then over on the rings and bars we had played on before. He wanted to go back to the other playground, but I convinced him the sand would be wet. Before we left we sat down and ate our desserts that we had bought with lunch. Left a little before 4.

Coming home was a bit rough. He got restless on the first train, then lay on the pavement while we waited for our transfer. He did better on the second train, sitting on Carly’s lap and making letters with her out of their hands. Once home, I went and picked up take out from Steak and Shabu. Food took some time, as I think they were just opening, and I talked to Gary and his wife while I waited and thanked them for the oatmeal cookies last time.

Back at the apartment, Carly had been packing, and continued to pack and clean. We paused for dinner. He sat on the toilet for a long time, and had me tell him over and over about why babies use diapers and brain development (I kept adding more and more detail, as he had me repeat it so many times. I gave him his shower, then he spent a long time looking at the songbook and making up songs. He’s really making up original songs and tunes now. Today there was a “Markers in the sky” song, a song about Zinnie, and several others. And he randomly quoted Puffin Rock: “Who said anything about jumping?” We read Berenstain Bears Go to School twice and he was asleep at 8:15.

Photos. Snail: 

Lunch: 

Pool: 

Walk through the park: 

Wishbone flower: 

Children’s museum: 

Looking out at the front of the train: 

Rest on the platform: 

Letters with their fingers: 

Sleeping on the floor: 

When he woke up at 8:23 he simply said  “Mama” then lay down on the floor. He was clearly sad, but kind of a mature sad. Then he said “Want to go meet her.” He closed the bedroom door, then tried opening the front door and got more upset when I wouldn’t let him out. He lay on his bed and had some alone time before deciding I could join him. We had cereal and banana for breakfast. He requested the TV on, then he sang along to a man playing guitar and singing. Apparently there is some flooding going in the country. He played with the remote, and brought up a menu. He read ‘exit’, ‘delete’, and ‘add’ as if he always knew how to read them. He asked me what ‘edit’ said. I have no idea why he knows how to read ‘delete’ (probably from Skype? Or the such?).

When I got ready to take a shower, I put Puffin Rock on the TV for the first time. He loved that, and wanted to stand about 6 inches away. I pushed the couch a bit closer and got him to sit on on it. But when I came out of the shower he was standing close again.

As we left at 10:30, he asked “Why you on dada’s back?” I asked where else would be be, and he responded with “On dada’s cheek…tummy…neck…head…hair…shoulder…” Once we were out in the hall he said “Bye bye, monsters!” In the lobby, he looked out the front door and said “I don’t see the woman…there she is…sawadeekrap.”

At the station he took my hat off and tried it on. He saw a red tape across a railing and said “Why it say no about? Maybe it is getting weaker.”

On the train we read Frog and Toad, starting with the cookie story we hadn’t finished. He had requested it before we left, and remembered it very clearly.

At the mall we went and had to stand in line for several minutes to get our ticket (I had ordered online). He handled that well. We went in and he was super excited. There was a green, possibility carnivorous plant that he was really excited about and kept asking “What that is?” Unfortunately, aquariums are notoriously bad about only focusing on the animals. He also really liked the giant spider crabs. We then went back out to find a locker for the backpack. We had to go up one floor, where we finally (this place is huge) found out we could leave our bags with an attendant by the grocery store. We went back and continued on through the aquarium.

He said something about “really like jellyfish” even though we hadn’t seen any yet today. We saw the seahorses and the alligator pipefish, which looks like a blade of grass. Then the blind cave fish and some penguins, where we sat and ate a snack. He worked his way thought a pack of dried jackfruit and through most of a bag of mangosteen today. We continued on, seeing sea turtles, otters (the one mammal in the place), arapaima (the 2nd largest freshwater fish – we now know the two biggest, as they have pirarucu in Seoul), and arriving at the touching area. There, he got to touch a big sea star, shark eggs, a sea cucumber, and a crab. The attendant also pointed out in a tank the mom and dad shark of the eggs.

We did the stamp press thing on our map (sadly, we didn’t get a stamp book – it wasn’t the most clearly labeled of aquarium lobbies), then found the play archeologist and coloring area. There was a play area on the map, and August was excited by that, but it was closed. After some coloring, we went through the tunnel area. This is never his favorite area in Seoul, as he just wants to walk through. Same here. We then went into a jellyfish room, and he didn’t want to stay there either. I asked if it was too dark, and he said yes.

Finally, we were at the gentoo penguins. The most lively penguins we have seen, as they swam right up to us. On his own he read door signs that said ‘penguin’ and ‘staff only’.

We were in the aquarium for over 90 minutes, leaving after 1. We walked around, looking for a place to eat lunch, and settled on a place called Dressed. First though we got our backpack. When August had heard ‘supermarket’, he started a chant of the ‘super’ words he knows: “supermarket, super moon, super worm” ‘Super moon’ from Puffin Rock, ‘Super worm’ from the science center. For lunch we had cream of broccoli soup (which he only got interested in when I said it was similar to Oma’s Yummy Green Soup), salmon and egg bagel sandwich, and a peach and mango smoothie. August wanted to sit in my lap to color, and stayed there throughout lunch.

I had thought to go to Lumpini Park afterwards, but it was now close to 3, so too late. Decided instead to take the train back to our stop, then walk east to the park under the bridge and by the river. He wanted to eat mangosteen on the train but I wouldn’t let him. He kept asking why, and I said it was against the rules. He then pretended to eat. But I said that was okay as pretend eating was allowed. He said “I’m breaking the rules. I’m eating real.” As we went by Lumpini Park he was on his knees looking out the window. He pointed and said “That’s the park we’ve been to before.”

We headed east from the south side of the subway station. From there we had to walk around the park to the east end to enter, so saw a bit of the river. We went in and played a bit on the playground. Sadly, no swings. As August said “just normal stuff.” He needed to use the bathroom, so we walked to the other end of the park, and picked up a dry nice stray dog along the way. To try to pee on the toilet, August stood on my feet to be tall enough. Suddenly I felt something on the back of my leg. It was the dog. It followed us around back outside, as we looked at some big lettuces in planters and other plants. And all the way back to the playground, where we had to shoo it away a bit. August asked  “Why the two dogs were barking at us?” He remembers the time two dogs barked at us when we were walking with Carly, and has talked about it a few times. When we see a new dog, he asked “Is that a nice doggy?”

He played on the playground a few minutes more. Up on the structure, he swung on a bar, his feet dangling a few feet off the ground. He went up and down a sort of climbing wall, and he wanted me to come up and go down the slide with him. We then headed home. Along the way, he found a little fruit on the ground. He ended up squishing it, and took the seed out of it and we ‘planted’ it in the mud so it could grow. We saw some teenagers practicing a dance routine under the roadway, and we walked by them. August watched them and tried dancing like them, even putting his arms up like them at one point.

We walked home on the north side now. He wanted more of the mangosteen and chanted “I want mango, I want mango, mango, mangosteen.” As we got close to the building, he asked “Q House, where are you?” When he saw the gate to enter, he said “That’s it! Q House!”

Home at 4:20. He asked why Carly was wearing nylons, and what they were. Carly said something about how grown ups wear them with a skirt. He said “I want to do it as a kid.” Yesterday he wanted to wear her underwear. We got ready to head out to a restaurant called The Clock Out for dinner. August said something but we didn’t understand what he said, and he explained “You were making a joke about the restaurant.”

He had been pretty mellow all day but hadn’t had a nap. This showed when we got to the restaurant and he wanted to be hyper in it. Actually, it started on the walk there, about half a block before the restaurant, when he wanted to jump, etc. Anyway, he didn’t want to read or do art or play on the iPad. And we were only trying to get take out anyway. Carly and I took turns with him outside, in the rain, and it continued to spiral. Eventually, while Carly waited for the food, I took him to a dry overhang while he worked on calming down. At first he kept telling me to go away, and didn’t want me to touch him, and he wanted to be out in the “wet”. Eventually he wanted me to pick him up and after a couple more minutes I figured we were okay to go back to
Carly. She was coming out of the restaurant as we got back.

So we walked home, Carly carrying him. I made a quick stop at the store to get milk and a couple things, then caught up with them at home. We ate dinner. Sadly, mine was quite disappointing. A small piece of bland salmon, and a bunch of lettuce. Worst meal in Thailand. But Carly’s pork burger and fries were good, with a black hamburger bun.

August and I were playing around and he said “I go walkies again.” when he walked away from me into another room – it is a line from Puffin Rock when Baba wanders off. He laughs at it. He danced like the people in the park again. He sang from the songbook, really making up new tunes now, and played with a couple of music apps on my iPad. I gave him a shower, and he used all the soaps on himself and on my legs. We read a few Frog and Toad stories.

Then, the remarkable happened: He tried to go to sleep without nursing. He was in bed, and Carly hadn’t laid down yet, so I did, and he was pretending to go to sleep. I asked if he wanted me to sing him a song so he could go to sleep without nursing, and he said yes. So I sang to him. Eventually, he said “Stop singing. I’ll sing you a song, dada.” And he sang be the ABC song so I could try to go to sleep. He did eventually get up and go get Carly, but he said he’d try it again tomorrow night. He was asleep just after 8:30.

After he was asleep, Carly got the email with the good news: She got the position in Israel. It was our top choice of all the schools at the fair or on Search Associates. We spent the next couple hours thinking about what all of that entailed.

Photos. Getting up: 

On our way:  

Aquarium: 

A nautilus: 

Gift shop: 

Lunch: 

Squinting at the lights: 

Headed home. Taking the stairs: 

Park we’ve been to before: 

Rain hat again: 

Park: 

Dog: 

Lettuce: 

Fruit: 

Walking home from the restaurant: 

Dinner: 

Playing on the ladder: 

Asleep: 

Bottom in the air. A rarer occurrence: 

Our view at night: 

Our first rainy day in Thailand.

He woke up a little after 6. Nursed and was lying on the bed for quite awhile but didn’t fall back to sleep. More nursing, then he was up after 6:30. He wanted yogurt for breakfast, so we are the strawberry yogurt. At one point I mistakenly called it ‘oatmeal’. He friend to me and said “You said oatmeal”. He then wanted more oopses and it turned into a game. He lay on the floor and scooted his legs under the bed. I’d say something like “Do you want more strawberry rice?” He’d turn and say “Strawberry rice?…okay.”

Carly left a little after 7. She was going downstairs to the lobby for one interview via Skype, then heading to the job fairs. August and I then ate one of the oatmeal cookies we got last night with dinner (Gary’s wife had given them to us). He started mentioning going outside or to the pool pretty early. He watched Puffin Rock while I took a shower, then he was hiding behind the curtain. I mentioned having to call the police if he got lost, and he kept asking why, then that turned into a game where he wanted me to call the police when he hid behind the curtain. I would pretend to call, and they would tell me to search different places in the house until I found him.

He wanted to read Everybody Poops, so we did that. Then we skyped with my parents. I checked the TV to see if the Seahawks game was available. It took us awhile to figure out how to turn it on. When we did, and it wasn’t on, August liked turning the channel and we listened to people talking in Thai. We then read the Double Dare Berenstain Bears book. I’m getting tired of the three we have here, so bought Go to School in the iPad and we read that. August read ‘My House’ in it on his own. We ate some corn flakes and then cut up and ate some apple. On the toilet, he unrolled toilet paper again, so I put it on a shelf. I managed to wash the dishes, and he did a good job of brushing his teeth this morning, and not just sucking on the toothbrush. I was counting seconds for him and we were doing rounds of 10 seconds. On the last one he kept going to a count of 19.

Finally, before we left he wanted me to feed the monsters under the bed poisonous things. So we pretended to feed them a variety of things to find out if the monsters liked them or not. As we left, he said “Bye, monsters!” We were finally out the door at 10:50.

We walked north through the small streets, past the local temple, much like we had with Carly, but took different streets in places. Things were more open this time, although being Sunday, not completely. But people’s homes were more open, and it was both interesting and odd to see people behind the metal gates in the dark rooms on the first floors. Along a bigger street, August read a ‘No parking’ sign and asked why there was no parking.

It started to drizzle. We were fine at first, but eventually, as we approached the park and walked through a neighborhood with a fair amount of art on the walls, he agreed to wear a hat. Then, as we got within a block or so it started to rain pretty hard. We got to the park, and a security guard actually pointed out the pagoda for us. We took cover there, taking our shoes off. We had a snack, and he played around on the pagoda. When the rain let up, we walked the labyrinth painted on the ground, with me steering him by the shoulders. I also learned that the big trees are ficus trees, and the national tree of Thailand. We walked around the park. Out on the sidewalk, August found a big green fruit. Unclear if it was from a tree, or someone had dropped it. We used the bathroom, and he played around in the center of the park, at times running along the circular lines in the pavement.

There wasn’t a playground here (it was more of a memorial park, with art in it and interesting buildings and broken walls) and he was talking about one. He was also tired, and ready for a nap. We got walking, and checked out a shrine to the north, and watched boats on the river. We then walked south, and while walking around another Buddhist temple he fell asleep at 1:03. I walked to Cafe a la Mode, which is supposed to be open on Sundays, but it wasn’t. Not a lot of options in the area, so I was checking Foursquare and there were some options to the west. To get there, I had to circle a big intersection, as there was no crosswalk on the direct route. Crossed the first street, then it started to pour, so I took shelter under an awning for several minutes and just read on my phone. It let up, and I crossed two overpasses to finally make it to the correct corner. The coffee place I found at 1:30 was actually in a little food court at a Big C hypermarket. Actually ended up getting a little dessert thing instead of coffee and sat and read.

He slept, and slept. I left at 3:03, expecting the picking up of the backpack to wake him. It actually took a few minutes before he woke up as I walked. We stopped at the big Tops Market for lunch. We checked out all the floors, then picked out things in the salad bar. Lots of crab and grapes and pineapple for him, and a salad for me. We also got more soy crisps. As I was paying, he read ‘Parking exit’ on a nearby door. We went downstairs to the food court area and ate there. It was about 4. A late lunch. He did a lot of jumping and running around on the floor after he was done eating. And was asking a lot of questions of himself: “Why you jumping on the chair? Why you put your leg up?…”

We walked home and checked out a couple of places for possibly eating dinner at a later date. We got home a bit after 5. He did a lot of nursing and just cuddling with Carly. Then we took him up to the pool. He got in a little, but then things started to get difficult, as he didn’t want to go down the stairs, but wanted to go directly into the deep pool. First, he walked over to the waterfall area with Carly, and stood on the top of that. She brought him back to the stairs, but then started to say he was going to jump in the deep part. He wanted to go in “all by my own.” After awhile, Carly said she needed to go up and take a shower. August said that was okay: “You’re going to take a shower all by your own mama. Bye mama. You can go take a shower mama.” But then as he really got out on the corner jutting out into the pool, I made him come back where I could hold him better. He got really sad at that, and never really recovered. A few times he pointed first to the shallow pool (which he refused to go in) and then the deep pool, saying “You go in there, I go in there.” And he kept repeating “I’m going to go in there now.” For the last few minutes I didn’t really even have to touch him. He just knew we didn’t want him by the edge/going in, and he knew he couldn’t just jump in. I wanted to give Carly time to take her shower, but it was now making him sad to just be down there, so we headed home.

Back in the apartment he recovered a little, and actually started joking about monsters under the bed. But then he tripped on the corner of the comforter and, mid-sentence, fell down. Had to nurse after that. Carly skyped with her parents a bit later, and August, randomly, wanted to watch Chinese videos. So we found Chinese children’s songs videos on YouTube and watched those, then watched some English songs.

We first tried for bed at 9:30. He was ready to be on the bed in the dark and nurse. But after awhile he came back in. We read new Berenstain Bears book, did some singing from the songbook, and read much of Frog and Toad are Friends. He wanted to go to sleep in the middle of the fourth story, “The Letter”, but was talking all about the story as he went back to the living room with Carly. That was at 10:20, and she told him Puffin Rock stories, but he tried getting back up at 10:35. Carly took him back to bed and did more Puffin Rock stories. But she was up again a bit later, and they got some toast. That done, they tried again. He just couldn’t get to sleep, and was kicking the wall. Finally, he came in to me a little before 11:30. I tried
to get him up on the bed with me, but he lay on the floor and said “But the floor is so nice and cozy.” Finally, he went back in to her at 11:40. Think it still took a few minutes, but this time he fell asleep.

 

Photos: 

Our walk. Bent arrow: 

Rain hat: 

Street: 

Cow: 

Flintstones: 

Panda: 

Park. Pagoda: 

Labyrinth: 

 Vague sign: 

Fruit: 

Walk to sleep. Shrine: 

Canal: 

Building at a temple: 

Temple: 

Statue: 

Waking up: 

Shrine: 

Grocery store: 

Lunch: 

Walk home: 

At the pool: 

It was a big day for August as he got in the pool at Wachirabenchatat Park.

Carly’s alarm went off at 7 and woke him up. He did his growl/sigh noise to her a few times and fell back to sleep. He then woke back up precisely at 8. Just lay down on the floor when he found Carly was gone. Then spent some time laying on his bed and on the couch. At one point he said “Hey dada. Come stand here.” But then he laid down again.

But eventually he was all awake. He said “It’s daytime now. We CAN go outside.” and he was drumming rhythms on things. It took us awhile to get going though, as there was just a bunch to do (dishes, cut out the photos for our pool memberships, sun screen, etc.) We had honey yogurt (he remembered it and asked for it and went and got it from the fridge) and cereal for breakfast, and a bit later added toast.

At some point yesterday I had called him ‘Augustus’ and he had played with rhyming it: “Augustus, amustus, ajustus…” I was reminded of that when he started, based on a Puffin Rock line, I think, to rhyme “ajunction, afunction…”

He watched Puffin Rock while I got ready (he’s on to a different episode now) and took a shower. He asked for his water bottle: “Where’s my water bottle fottle wottle mottle…?” He wanted one of the snacks I was packing and I said those were for later. He then pretended to eat one, saying “You eated a snack.”

He did some art on the iPad, then wanted to draw musical notes, then Thai. I got a brochure that had Thai on it and we copied some of the letters. Brushed his teeth – he used lots of toothpaste – and did a quick rest, lying on the couch, before we were finally out at 10:20.

I held him for much of the ride up. He was content, as he ate his whole supply of sun chips on the way. At the station we bought four little pastry things to go with the watermelon, etc. we had for our lunch. We got tuna, mushroom, chicken, and carbonara.

We paused to eat one of them inside the park, then got him in the backpack and started walking north. Paused at the spirally area to see more of it and walk some of the random paths, then looked at some plants near there. He was intrigued by these sort of grass things that they hang from trees here, and he spotted some nice butterflies. We crossed over to the bigger park and walked to the playground closest to the pool. Went on the swings, then sat on the sand and ate lunch. Worked fine, except we were swarmed by ants while we were eating the watermelon.

At 12:30 we went over to the pool and handed over our health forms, photos, copies of passports and 70 baht and went in the pool. Changed and used the restroom, then got in the pool. Started at the shallowest, and worked our way deeper. The deepest it gets is 80cm – August can comfortably stand on tippy toes in it. We stayed until a bit past 2. He was getting shivery by the end, but having a lot of fun. By the end he was comfortable standing in the pool on his own, holding onto the side and trying to get his feet up to kick. I held him so he could practice swimming, and he was intrigued by floating on his back, and tried it a couple times (me holding him, of course). I mentioned how things sound funny when your ears are underwater, and he wanted me to do it, so I showed him. He couldn’t quite work up the courage to put his own ears under the water though.

We got out and got ready to go. August was playing around the pool – at one point he was doing his yoga by the pool, by the picture of the lobster (he was also very intrigued by just a round cover on the ground). Before we left, he was picking at some flowers and I was telling him to stop. I told him I was going to get frustrated if he wasn’t listening, and then observed that he was getting frustrated by me not letting him. He said he wasn’t, and said “I want dada to do it all on his own.” Get frustrated, that is. Finally, as we put on our shoes he admired the broken tile set in the steps, and started to line up other people’s shoes.

From there we decided to go to the butterfly house. As we walked east to it, we stopped to admire some purple flowers. He stuck his finger in one, asking what was in it. It turned out he had seen something, as a tiny moth flew out. He thought that was funny, especially when I said he had woken it up and it now needed to find a new place to sleep.

We had fun at the Butterfly House and Insectarium. We walked around, then sat down on a bench and ate a second lunch. We left once, but he wanted to go back in. So we went back in, and walked around a bunch more. He kept wanting to look different places. We looked at the butterfly specimens, a poster, and found a dead butterfly on the ground. I thought it was odd how he kept wanting to look around and not leave, but it made sense after we left and we stopped at a bathroom. I had mentioned that it was odd it was also called ‘Insectarium’, when all it had was butterflies. At the bathroom he first asked “Where are the worms you can touch?” He wanted the super worms like in Seoul at the science center. He then said “Let’s go to the insectarium…Why there NO beetles?” He clearly had an idea of what was at an insectarium based on the two we’ve been two in Seoul, and was disappointed that there weren’t other insects.

The walk back and trains went smoothly. Had seats the whole way, as when we transferred we waited for the next train so we’d be first in line. Along the way he did the coloring books on the iPad, coloring two pictures entirely, but slowly and carefully, red.

As we were getting off the train Carly sent a message saying she was at home and going to skype with a teacher at one of the schools. So I decided to delay by checking out what was across the big street from us. We walked over there, and went to a coffee shop called Inthanin Coffee. August chose a strawberry and lychee smoothie, and Carly, via phone, chose a chocolate frappe. We brought the drinks home, then, once Carly was done with a second skype call, we drank those and they nursed. August sang from the songbook. At one point before we left again he randomly quoted “C…meet you at the top of the coconut tree.” It is from a book called Chicka Chicka ABC. I don’t know when we last read it. So we did read it this evening.

Anyway, we started some laundry, then went back to eat at the same Steak and Shabu place. This time we got food to go: chicken teriyaki, fried rice, spring rolls, and basil spaghetti (Gary sold me on that one, mentioning the forest Thai Basil. Gary also told me the story of his seizure/breaking his shoulders and his recovery, so we shared some PT stories).

Took our food home and ate dinner. I gave him a shower. Almost didn’t work, as when we first got in he turned the handle as I was adjusting the shower, and it sprayed him a bit. He went and hid on the bed, and took a few minutes of convincing before we got back in the shower. It worked, though. Carly skyped with her parents, and he got to say goodbye. He was then in bed and asleep a little after 9.

Photos. More spirally place:

Red flowers August liked by the ‘Relaxing Zone’. He read ‘zone’ on the sign, so then I helped him read ‘relaxing’. The flowers intrigued him because they are hard, but then have a little bit st the top that is soft and falls off: 

Watermelon: 

Pool: 

Shoes: 

Butterfly house: 

Yes, the sandwich is on his nose:

Walking back. Smokey: 

Funny face: 

Getting drinks. Pointing at his: 

Dinner: 

He was up just before 8. Ate some yogurt, then when I took a good morning photo to send to Carly, he insisted on getting close to the camera and making funny faces. He watched some Puffin Rock, we had some toast, and brushed our teeth, and we left by 9:30.

We got to the park at 10:30. Near the entrance he found a shoe insert or heel piece and was amused by that. Right inside there were some low exercise bars. He used the bars, swinging on them, then went across the walkway to see the ‘Mexico’ sign. He jumped down the curb. The first time I’ve seen him jump down from something so far.

We took our time walking to the playground, stopping several times to look at things. We got to the playground close to 11. He immediately took his shoes off. As we walked towards the swings he said “Try all the swings…that one and that one and that one and that one…So many swings to try out…am I right, dada?” Did some swinging, then stopped for lunch (stuff I’d gotten at the store last night) at 11:10. He as talking about the time he fell of the swings when he was with Carly: “Why you fall off the swings in Korea…you were doing your gloves.”

Went back to the swings, then I realized the other set of swings was more in the shade. Went there, then to a tire swing. He then started playing in the sand. Found a big katalpa tree seed pod and buried that. Then found a plant poking from the sand that he tried (unsuccessfully) to bury. Then together we buried a full page of newspaper, using a seed pod as a shovel. He found several other interesting little things, like a piece of plastic, a feather, a light piece of wood, and a little blue spoon that he scooped sand in. He found a nice shell and asked “Is that a sea snail shell?” Then buried our hands and feet in sand. At 12:30, he did some swinging while standing on the swing. He was a bit nervous about that, but wanted to try it a couple times.

Eventually, about 1, we went and tried to rinse off our hands and feet in the drinking fountain. Then realized we had dropped one of his shoes, so went back and got that. Went and used the bathroom and finished washing up there, and sat on a bench and had a snack. He finished off the dried mango and crackers, then talked about wanting sugary snacks: “I don’t want healthy things…I want sugary things…I want sick things…I want poisonous things.”

He agreed to go for a bit of a walk in the backpack to see animals and things. We got going about 1:20, and did a sort of loop to the east of the playground. Walking along a canal, we startled two of the big lizards out off some bushes. We watched them crawl down by water, and one got in and swam to the other side. As we kept walking, we saw a cat sitting by a tree, a senior center in an interesting building (August said he’d go inside when he was big – not when he was old), an outdoor stage, the compass sculpture, and all sorts of flowers. As we got close to the exit, August spotted a third big lizard, but smaller than the other two.

We crossed the street (which is an awful intersection, taking many minutes for the lights to change) and went back to the clinic for the health certificates for the pool. It was right by the station, but didn’t open until 11. The medical certificate thing is a joke: all they asked was our names and birthdays. It appears to be nothing more than a poll tax to keep people out of the pool, since the certificate itself costs much more (about 7 dollars) than the pool membership (less than a dollar). Anyway, while we waited, August watched Puffin Rock. Preferably on the floor, but I got him to at least set it on the chair and stand as he was blocking traffic.

From there we walked west, looking for a place to get sunglasses, as August had been requesting new ones (I think he said something about “love new sunglasses”). We checked several places. A couple had adult sunglasses, but none for kids. He enjoyed trying on reading glasses though. After checking out a basement place, which had a display of umbrellas, which seemed like a poor use of floor space in the dry season, we paused outside on top of the steps to put him in the backpack, as I’d been carrying him to this point. He started stretching, and putting his feet up in the air – a sort of yoga/dance performance. He paused and just lay on the stone ground for awhile. This went on for close to 10 minutes. Then he agreed, at about 3, to get in the backpack, and we walked further west, to the next train station, and took the train home.

We got off the train, and as we walked across the overpass and down the stairs, I was singing “Driftin’”. He told me to stop, and I asked why, and was it because it was a naptime song. He said yes, and told me I was singing it too loud: “I told you to sing it quieter”. He then put his head down on my should and I sang it quieter for him. That (and the laying on the stone ground) was the closest he got to a nap.

At home, about 3:30 we had some water and were playing around by the couch. He sort of jumped on the couch and hit his forehead on my glass. He then went in the bedroom and closed the door and window thing, but then came back out and hid behind the pillow on the couch, and then just “napped” there. I rested next to him. A third pseudo-nap. He was hungry, and we ate some more apple, and he got the coconut cream yogurt from the fridge and we ate that. He hasn’t pooped much the last couple days, so I let him have part of a prune. Usually Carly doesn’t let him have prunes, after the one time we did. He speculated “Maybe she’s worried you’ll throw up on her.” He also talked more about wanting to do toys for older kids: “I only want to do seven year old things”

A bit after 4:30 we went up to the pool. Did some surfing on the green board, but then he wanted to go in the big pool. And we did it. Slowly, but surely, we got all the way in. At first he just let me carrying him waist deep as I walked in the deep water, but surely he got deeper until he was in up to his neck. We walked all over the pool a couple times, and over by the waterfall he hung on to the edge and I started to teach him to kick.

Carly had said she was on her way home, and I told he we were at the pool. August needed to use the bathroom, and so I took him to the one by the pool. We were in there and heard Carly call in. That was pretty exciting for him. She had simply followed the clues: our backpack and shoes on one side of the pool, our shirts on the other, and our clear father and son footprints leading to the bathroom.

We got back in and showed her what he could do. He was getting cold; his jaw was shivering, but he wanted to stay in the pool. I convinced him we needed to go take mama to dinner and we got out.

We changed and headed down the street to the Steak and Shabu place. Carly got chicken teriyaki and a lemon drink. I got a pork and basil rice dish, gyoza, and a berry drink. August was most excited about trying out all the sauces on the rice. He particularly liked the ketchup on rice, but also the soy sauce, and the orange sauce. So he mainly ate rice and some of the mini corn from my dish, and part of a gyoza. We met a guy, Gary, who is a white guy and part owner of the restaurant with his Thai wife.

We stopped at the store on the way home. He was pretty hyper. He started doing big jumps in the store – like two feet – and found that exciting. He asked “Why you cant do little jumps anymore?” He was hyper since leaving the restaurant, wanting to be ‘jumped’ all the way home. So when we got home at 7:30 things went pretty smoothly. Carly helped him with his shower today and he was asleep at 8:20.

 

Photos. Hi to mama: 

Park. Swinging on the bars: 

Lake: 

Playground: 

Walk around the park: 

Waiting at the clinic: 

Trying on reading glasses: 

Performing: 

Watching traffic: 

Shrine: 

Hiding and resting

Pool. No arms: 

Dinner: 

Today was Carly’s first day at the job fair. August and I headed up north to a big complex of parks, similar to Children’s Grand Park or Seoul Forest. 

He woke up at 6:58. Very unfortunate, as that was less than 8 hours of sleep. He came into the bedroom and asked for mama. When I reminded him she had gone to the job fair he started saying “No” and closed the door on me. After a couple minutes he first opened the window thing, then opened the door and laid on his stomach on the floor.

From there he did some play dough, then wanted to draw the long notes. So we got out the ipad and songbook, found the song he likes (the tuppence song from Mary Poppins) and looked up the symbol I didn’t know at it is the arpeggio symbol. Drew that and other things in the notebook, then he was coloring the picture from the restaurant. He put some holes in the paper with the marker (we had started on the bed) and wanted to fix them with tape, but we don’t have tape.

We finished getting ready to go right at 9, but he wanted to read a Berenstain Bears story first. So we read Double Dare, then left. He wanted Flynne stories right away, so we told two of them. We transferred at Siam and kept going. Suddenly, he started spotting things from the window. Dragons, to be precise. Not sure where that idea came from. He kept spotting dragons, and we got to the last stop, which gave us access to the three big parks that are all together.

First, we stopped at a bakery place and got a purple carrot drink, a crab cake pizza, a sala (a new kind of fruit for us) jello, and a chocolate chip mamon bread for lunch. The BECU card did work there, so I had to pay cash. I needed to put cash on our subway cards, so stopped at the ATM. August got upset when I wouldn’t let him push buttons, so he simply lay on the floor, on his stomach, behind me. One guy came and asked if he was okay.

That done, we went down and across the street and right into Chatuchak Park. There are little rolling hills covered in grass and we chose one in the shade and ate lunch. He mainly ate the jello and the crab, and had the drink. We saved the bread for later. While there we got to watch a truck go by, spraying water on plants. Before we left, when I was standing, he came and hugged my leg.

Put him in the backpack and we got walking at 11:05. We walked out the west side of the park and to the children’s museum. Found out it is free, so we went in. Lots of really cool outdoor playing areas, including a water spray area. Don’t know what’s inside, as we didn’t get in any of the buildings. We got to the really big play structure, and August wanted to climb on it, even though it says 7 to 12 years. He got down and took his shoes off, and we started using it a bit. But we were told we needed his shoes on. August instantly got very sad and couldn’t be consoled, and wanted right back in the backpack for a nap, even insisting on the cover down. He gets a certain upset voice when he’s told he can’t do something, and he was saying “Im gonna go there…I’m gonna do it…I’m gonna try to be a big kid now.”

But I needed to use the restroom first, so we went and found one, and he got out to use it as well. He had seemed so ready for a nap, but when we got outside he spotted other play structures and wanted to play. He went over to a low set of rings (monkey rings?) and found he could hold on and swing on his own. This was very exciting for him. He had me play with him a couple times, but when I held on I was sitting on the ground. I would hold myself up a little, and he would push me. At some point he was jokingly disagreeing with me on something, and asked himself “Why you argumenting with dada?” Why, indeed.

He spotted another playground, more a traditional one, and he called it a seven year old playground: “No, I want to do seven years old things.” We went and played there for quite awhile. There were these platforms you could stand on and spin on (like we’ve done at the spiderweb playground, sort of) but they spun, screw-like, on their center post and could thus go up and down. Played with those quite a bit, spinning them and standing on them and stepping (with my help) from one to the other. He could actually step on both and sort of do the splits.

He had noticed that the infant room (0 to 2) had been closed, but was now open, and wanted to go in. He went and took his shoes on and tried to go in. I thought he’d get upset like before when I told him he couldn’t and we’d go take a nap. He started to, but then actually recovered, and pulled me by the finger, saying we’d go somewhere else. Used actual monkey bars for a bit, then went and used the bathroom and washed our hands and left at 12:47.

I walked south to some coffee shops I’d scouted out in advance on Foursquare. Walked through Chatuchak Weekend Market (the plant sellers were mainly still open though) and past a huge block-long construction project (housing?) that has long been abandoned – just a huge concrete hull. He fell asleep at 1:04. I found a place called Doi Tung Coffee, where he slept until 2:26 (and I had a macadamia nut latte). He woke up, looked around, and said “Hmm…hmm…this is…hmm.” then put his head back down and didn’t wake again until 2:54.

We got walking and headed back through the market, admiring the plants. August saw a fruit tree in particular that he liked. We walked north, past the children’s museum, but he was comfortable and didn’t want to go back. We walked north to Wachirabenchatat Park. There, we admired the green water (covered by some plant), found a bathroom and used it, he spotted small butterflies (I think – they moved too fast), saw different egrets, spotted a turtle, spotted yellow dragonflies (also fast), August spotted another really interesting fruit tree, then we got to a playground.

There, we went on the regular swings. At 4 we stopped and sat on a bench and ate the  chocolate chip mamon cake. Back on the swings, he requested a lesson in pumping (I’d mentioned it before). He worked on that, then we went over to the tire swings for a bit. He kept saying he was still hungry, but wouldn’t eat the Larabar or dried kiwi. That led to this exchange: “I’m hungry” “I don’t think you’re all that hungry.” “I’m all hungry.”

He was really enjoying himself, but it was time to get going. But first we negotiated a few more minutes on the regular swings. I said 3, and he said 5. I tried to get him to compromise on 4, but he insisted on5 and said “What happen if it 5?” I had to acknowledge that we’d stay one more minute. He won that round of negotiating.

We left, and checked on the pool. It looks perfect for him, but we need health checks and photos. Carly is going to do the printing, and he and I will go to a clinic tomorrow to try to get the certificates.

It was a long walk out, made longer by all the interesting stuff we kept spotting:

– bird with orange around its eyes (August)

– white squirrel (August)

– brown and black squirrel (August)

– black and white pigeon-like birds (August)

– waterbugs (August)

– another fruit tree (me, I think)

– an area full of random curvy architecture (me)

– a couple statues (me)

– flowers (he said “those are pretty flowers”)

We had left the pool just after 4:30, and now left the parks at 5:15. Added money to the cards, and got on the train, getting a seat for the first one. Got the iPad out this time and did a few random apps. The second train was just crowded enough we didn’t get a seat. When offered one, August was too hyper and didn’t want one. That worked fine at first, but it kept filling up, and filling up. He was doing okay though, saying “You’re a red dog on a crowded train” at one point. Two stops before home it was totally packed, and just sat on the platform for about 5 minutes without moving. More people packed in. Then it paused on the tracks again before the next station. We told a couple more Puffin Rock stories on the way.

W
e got home just after 6, grabbed the other backpack, and headed to the store. He did fine, but kept wanting to squeeze things, as is his nature. Carly called and said she had just gotten of the train, and came and met us, which was good as it would have been a lot to carry. We got home a little before 7. We started cooking a stir fry, taking turns on the veggies. But then Carly realized I’d grabbed bamboo instead of noodles. So I went back to the store, also getting milk. I called, asking about something else, and it was August that heard the phone ringing, telling Carly “Hey, your phone is ringing.”

I got back and we finished dinner. I helped him take a shower and washed his hair. He did quite well again in the shower. He had watched more Puffin Rock while we cooked – the same Owl School episode over and over now. Need to get him on another one. They started nursing at 9:30 and he was asleep a little before 10.

Photos. Awake: 

Dragon spotting: 

Lunch: 

Children’s museum. Rings: 

Spinning: 

Walking. Abandoned building: 

Market: 

Fruit tree he liked: 

Walking towards the park: 

Park. Green water: 

More fruit: 

Little butterflies: 

Turtle: 

Swings. Pumping: 

The walk out: 

Bird spotting: 

Curvy stuff: 

Almost back to the station: