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At some point during the night he was pretty awake for a few minutes and grabbing/hitting Carly while trying to nurse. She got him back to sleep and he slept nice and late to 8:55. I heard him and asked “Is that Zinnie?” He loudly said “No!” then tried to hide in the hall. He came and got behind me and sort of pushed me to the table. Then hid behind me as I sat on the floor, then laid on the floor and put his feet up on my shoulder. I said “Smile for mama!” and he said “Meh!” And sort of stuck out his tongue. Then he said “Why you not do a smiley face?” He lay on the floor for a couple more minutes, then sat up and said “Let’s go paint.”

We painted with both the poster paint and watercolor, then he went to the toilet. I got banana bread ready for breakfast. I put his pants back on him and asked if he had worn socks last night. He gave a good “Uhhh, maybe?”

We listened to a lot of Erasure this morning. A lot of head bobbing on his part. Erasure and Underworld seem to be the two bands that he regularly pays attention.

He wanted Puffin Rock, so he watched that and I took a shower. He had a third slice of banana bread, then wanted on my iPad: “I’ll cross it out.” He eventually did some of his own art, and showed he was thinking about his art as he did it: “What you keeping the white in about?”

At some noodle pizza, then finished watching one last Puffin Rock story together. It was the one where they help a frog get to the pond. August likes the little song the sing in that one. He then went back to my iPad and did some more art while sitting at the table. Finished one piece and said “Let me show you a new app…It’s a little bit boring…so it’s for dada….it’s for Zinnie…” He settled on Sound Rebound. I turned the volume up a bit, but he said “No, I want it quiet…It is Quiet Rebound now.”

He switched to Sketches and discovered the coloring books and did that for a bit. That was enough iPad time for the morning. We went in to take care of some animals. As we went into the parlor, he said “I want to see the eyes. Dada turn them on.” So I turned on those kitchen lights. We took care of two or three animals, then were playing in the fort. He lay down and said “I’m just taking a rest.” He then came and lay next to me in the fort for awhile.

He had to use the toilet, then we were getting ready to go. We were talking about taking the bike out to Teuni Teuni and he said “I want to go on the bike and do really fast.” He was talking about going to Carly’s classroom and I said “We don’t have a reason to go to mama’s classroom today.” He replied with “I have a reason.”

As I tried to brush his teeth, put on his socks, etc. He kept resisting, insisting “I’m a fox.” He continued to do that as I wet my hands and got his hair a little wet to brush it. He would shake his head, then went over to the wall by the Hangeul poster and rubbed his head against the wall.

He rode his bike to class. Class was all about circles and rolling things. At one point the teacher put a C-shaped thing on his nose and pretended to be a bull. August responded by throwing things at him. Which seemed like a good response. We were rolling tube-shaped things around and August said “It rolled back to sangsaengnim.” At one point, near the end, August got a bit sad about something and I had to hold him, but it wasn’t clear why. I think maybe he was having fun with the current activity and didn’t want it to be clean up time. At the end of class I told August he should say “Goodbye, teacher” in Korean. August did, sort of, loudly saying “Anhanghasayo SANG-“ a few times. Kind of like saying “Goodbye, TE-”.

We rode his bike home. Played with play dough for awhile, then skyped with my parents for a half hour. And watched a couple Puffin Rock stories before we headed back out. We rode his bike over to the pink building and left his bike at the top of the stairwell. He didn’t want to do that, until I pointed out that the adults left their bikes there too. We went down and got bread and strawberries and salmon. I let him choose a drink for at the coffee shop, and I let him pick out a pink slurpy thing, which he never ate.

When we had gotten to the pink building he’d said “I’m tired of pedaling.” I’d shown him how he could put his feet on the platforms under his seat if he wanted. He liked that idea, but then on our way up to the Sarang Bang coffee shop he started putting his feet in the pedals and dragging them on the ground.

At the coffee shop I got a coffee and August picked out a little angel food cake muffin. We got two, so we saved the second to give to mama later. At the table, as I put the straw in his drink. He said “Careful, dada. You don’t want to make a mess.” He then ate the bread. It was wrapped like a cupcake and we didn’t really know what we were getting. He said “Huh. Whatever that is.” We then sat there for a half hour or so. He made shapes and animated them in ShapeKit. I did some reading, but although he pretty much has the animation process down, he still wants me to walk him through it, so I kept doing that. He needed to use the bathroom, so we went and used the bathroom down the hall, then came back and sat for a few more minutes.

On the walk home he was slouching and leaning forward on the bike. I kept trying to get him to ride it properly, as the pedals would hit his legs and jerk it to the side. At one point I think it hit his leg rather hard. He was said after that, but it wasn’t clear if it was because he was hurt, or because I was telling him no.

We got home at 5:30. Carly was already home. They nursed, then we did some painting. He told me not to paint on his work (similar to how I don’t let him delete my work on the iPad), but then wanted me to paint shapes: “Paint a quadrilateral and fill it in.”

He then wanted my iPad, calling “Dada’s iPad please!” He was getting rather hyper/rambunctious this evening, climbing all over Carly and sliding around on the couch and floor. He hit her or something, then apologized, saying “Sorry. I just want to nurse.” Carly said he was cute, and he asked “What you so cute about?”

He got back on my iPad, doing art, but then switched into my work. When I stopped him he got upset, then went and crawled in the fort. He was clearly tired, and when Carly nursed him he fell asleep at 6:55.

Best. Morning. Hair. Ever: 

Holding the pencil ‘properly’, which he does more often, but not all the time. Also, I’m looking forward to buying him a tilting art desk:

Coloring book: 

Fort: 

Gloves and bike: 

On the rocks: 

Bread thing and juice: 

Trying his hat: 

Slumping: 

8:18. He allowed me in the parlor this time while he lay down for a couple minutes. We then read a few stories from The Cat on the Mat is Flat. Art on my iPad and pancakes and strawberries after that. He did really well with the art for a while, figuring out a few new things. But then got frustrated when I wouldn’t let him draw on my stuff. He went in the parlor and closed the door, but I used a funny voice and he let me in. We then sat on the reading area and read the rest of The Cat on the Mat is Flat. He then wanted the playdough knife. We went out and got out some play dough, then he went and got a square Duplo. Did some squares, then “I want a glow worm!” Think he learned that on Puffin Rock.

He watched Puffin Rock and I took a shower. Before I even got in the shower he said “You’re watching too much Puffin Rock!” It had only been like three minutes. Although by this point he’s probably watched the whole series 2 or 3 times, so it is definitely the most he has watched of anything – by far. After my shower we did more play dough. He wanted burritos, then made a “funny burrito”. He sang to the songbook, then listened to jump rope songs. He found his little screwdriver, then the holes in the piano from the missing screws for the top of it. I know I saved the screws from it, but couldn’t find them. Found two other screws that sort of fit, and he worked on trying to turn them a little. He was then playing on the piano asked me what notes they were. He actually started by playing just two notes at a time (we’ve been talking about chords), but then moved to full palm. When I actually made up an answer he said “I just want dada to think about it.”

At some point we noticed it was snowing a bit. Over an hour or so it got heavier and heavier. He stood at the window, looking out at it. At some point he spotted the pasta in the cupboard and requested some. Dry. So he ate some of the dry letter pasta. He said “Having noodle letter pasta before we go out to the snow.” But then as we got ready to go he said “I want to take care of one animal first.” We went in, and actually took care of two or three of the Duplo animals in the fort. He looked out through the fort and said “Why are there no eyes?” So I definitely figured out that the eyes were the two light bulbs hanging over our counter. I went and turned them on and he was very excited and talked more about maybe it being mama and seeing the eyes.

I was pretty hungry by the time we got going at 12:35 or so. We had fun walking in the snow, and paused as we walked through an apartment complex to take a selfie in it. We got across the river and headed south to eMart and I realized we might be able to go over the railroad tracks now, as this is where they were doing a rail to trails project. And indeed, it is now open. Lots of people walking in the snow. We walked out on the bridge a bit, then followed the path the other way, and it goes straight to eMart. In the future we could walk straight to the tracks on our side, then walk over the river on the bridge. I see more trips to eMart in the spring.

At eMart we discovered real sour cream. Had intended to come back after we played in the play area, but they only had one container. Then I realized we had our cooler with an ice pack. So we got that, then looked at their prepared foods section. Nicer than Home Plus’s, so August and I took our time deciding. Ended up with some kimbap and a croissant sandwich. He also had fun looking at the other foods, including the prepared squid.

We went up to the food court and ate. He was interested in the people around us, and started to get a bit loud. Making a loud “eeeeee” directed to women close to us, a loud “Hey!” to no one in particular, and a loud “anyanghasayo!” directed towards another woman. He was clearly ready to play.

We paid and went in the play area. Different branding, but pretty much the same as every other play big supermarket kid cafe (like Home Plus and Lotte Mart). Wandered around and climbed up in the play area. He immediately went down the rolly slide on his own. Then played with the plastic thing where you push the rods back and forth. We spelled words in that, like ‘mama’ and ‘dada’. He spotted the bathroom and we went in and he used the urinal. He then went to the sand area but didn’t want to wear the boots. He protested by laying on the ground and not saying anything. He would also try to sneak his feet around and dip his toe in the sand. At his most rebellious he grabbed some sand and poured it on his sock. But finally, as he was just laying there, I slipped boots on and then picked him up and set him on the sand. Bingo.

I had used a mold to make a car in the sand and told him to stomp on it. And we were off. After a few minutes he said “These boots are too tight.” He then switched to boots with circles on them. A little later he said those were uncomfortable too – I think they were too big – and we tried a third pair, with rabbits on them. I used a round bowl to make a sand castle and when I pulled it of he exclaimed “Its banana bread!”

When we got out of the sand, he liked the handheld blower and I taught him how to use it. He wanted to use it as a toy though and I wouldn’t let him. He went back to the bathroom after this, and used the toilet this time. This toilet had a pig on the back, like the urinal at Children’s Grand Park that he doesn’t like (but used last week). He said “why don’t like piggy ones….It’s loud!” We went out and played with what I call the bristly blocks in the building area. He pointed to one and said “Why that a right triangle one?” It was, indeed a right triangle. We’ve been doing kinds of triangles on paper for awhile now, but to now he’s just requested them by name, or drawn them and asked me what they are. He made a pretty good tower sculpture on his own, then wanted to go back to the bathroom. Spent about 10 minutes on it. He was talking about a lot. I stood outside the stall, and he liked the door closed, but they were short and he could see me over the top. At some point I realized he was talking about Bernadette and Bernie – he was making up his own Puffin Rock story about, I think, Bernadette going in Bernie’s grotto and him saying “Hey! That’s my grotto!” I helped him expand the story, and had Bernie complain about the red crabs, using the line “they’re always coming around with their clicking clackety racket.” August liked that sentence and kept repeating it as we went back to the sand area.

From there he went and climbed on the big teddy bear thing. Of course the most fun part is to climb to the highest point, the head, which we were informed wasn’t allowed. From there he spotted the big floor piano and went and played on that. He kept jumping on it from the black mat around the merry-go-round thing (which he also tried a couple times, but didn’t feel comfortable riding by himself yet). Finally, it was now 3:45 and now time to go. I said he had time to go down the rolly slide again if he wanted. He climbed up, took a minute to think about it, and came down.

We headed downstairs and refilled his water from a machine. He wanted to drink from the water bottle like a big kid before I put the lid back on. We headed out, and detoured slightly to look at the playground nearby that we haven’t been to in a long time. Then spotted a cat and headed back to the path. And immediately noticed him putting his head down. I had put the cover up at the park as it was still snowing. I told him the cover was up for the snow, not for napping. Kept him awake with singing (if I sing a song, he now sings along, trying to count the beats) for awhile. Made it all the way to the post office before I lost him. He was asleep from  4:24 to 4:35, as we walked up the stairs to Carly’s classroom. Heard him slurring “…mama’s work and nurse…” Luckily, he recovered as we got in her classroom. Megan was there and he spotted her and asked what Megan was there about. Got him out. Megan was asking him about
her leggings, and gave him a pine cone and then a sticker. He was now well awake after his little power nap.

He went to the bathroom with Carly to pee, but it was busy with students getting ready for the concert, so he didn’t go. They came back and Carly headed up to the concert. August wanted to stay in the classroom. He typed a bit, then I took him down to the bathroom. He peed on the toilet and I used the urinal. August was excited about this “What dada Zinnie pee at the same time about?” He had been repeating “Curly, curly, curly” and spinning his finger when Carly took him down the hall. We didn’t know why. I asked him, and he started spinning in circles in the hall. Doesn’t quite explain it, but it was something. Back in the classroom he got crayons and we did some coloring.

I then took him up to the concert, as he was fine with going and checking on mama now. The doors were open between sets when we got up there, so we walked right in, me holding him. We stood in the back as music began, but then he spotted a woman that did, indeed, kind of look like Carly and said “Mama!” We went and looked but it wasn’t her. Someone came over and told us where Carly was, so we walked up and found her. He was talking a bit, and Carly thought he was wanting to go or something, so she got out and took him out. He walked down the hallway, stomping to the music, and told me and Carly to stomp too.

Carly went back in to watch the rest of the middle school portion. August and I watched from the hallway, looking through the windows by the door. He wanted mama a few times, but it wasn’t much longer and he made it. He was even clapping a couple times.

Back in the classroom, we got ready to go. While Carly went to the bathroom, I let August use a thumbtack to hang his piece of art (Ks, Qs, Es, spirals, and scribbles) on her board. We headed out, which was a slow process. August wanted to mess around on the stairs going down, then found a balloon on the landing between the first and second floors. The draft from the doors below made it sort of float up. Played with that for a minute and headed outside, but Carly realized she had forgotten her charger. She went back to get it, and August and I stood in the soccer field, enjoying the night. There were some boys that hand flashlights/laser pointers and were shining them on balloons and things. August liked that.

Kept him occupied on the bus by giving him one of the Tospia sandwiches. He did all he could to just nibble the bread around the edge, then from the flat side of the sandwich.

At home, he and I got set up to make banana bread. Carly and I were talking about something and I told her I had seen it “on Facebook”. But before I said those two words we both heard August say it. We both turned and looked at him. It was like he had read my mind.

We made banana bread. At some point I said ‘bananas’ and he said “Don’t say ‘bananas’”. I told him it was hard to make banana bread without saying bananas. We got that cooking, then he wanted to search for images of ‘glow worms’ on Google. Did that, then he was searching for individual words. He came across an image of the periodic table while doing that and wanted to know what they all were. Something new to be fascinated about. So we pulled up a better version of it.

Carly had prepared his bath, so I took him in. Looking at the elements had reminded me of the Lehrer song about the periodic table. So I pulled that up and we listed to that. August was joking about giving me water from the bath, and once got water on my tongue. I said it tasted like soap. He then squirted soap on his hand and said “Open your mouth dada!” Tom Lehrer naturally led to They Might Be Giants then on to Blackalicious. He didn’t like having his hair washed, but then kept playing after that. He spotted Carly in the hall, and immediately whined “I don’t want pajamas!” But then he had an idea: “I want a Day shirt and pants!” So after his bath I got him a regular pair of grey pants and a long sleeved shirt. He was very excited by that. Pretty straightforward and easy bedtime after that, and he was asleep at 9:10.

 

Kid cafe: 

AIS:

What note? 

Snow: 

Walking in the snow: 

Squid: 

Sour cream! 

Sneaking his sock in the sand: 

Boots and banana bread: 

On the toilet: 

Bristly blocks: 

Bear mountain: 

Jumping: 

Sleepy: 

APIS. Hanging up his art: 

Bath: 

It was a day of overcoming fears: of riding his bike and going to the Christmas dinner. Also, a day for playing in a fort.

He walked out at 8:08. Looked at me but walked into the parlor and lay down for a few minutes.

Then wanted to do art on my iPad, so I let him do that. I made him a couple of the healthy pancakes for breakfast. Then he wanted to paint with the watercolors. We did that, but after a few minutes had a disagreement about the ratio of water to paint as he applied it to the paper. His opinion was that paint was optional in this ratio. I disagreed. When I took the dish of water away he got really sad. He then went in the parlor and closed the door. He was alone for a few minutes before he came back out. We gave painting another try and painted for a long time – mainly with me painting shapes and whatnot at his direction and him smearing them with a paper towel. But he did some painting as well. Oh, and we did fingerpainting, making dots. While we were doing that he wanted his bracelets. So I got those and he wore both for awhile.

He then watched Puffin Rock and I took a shower. Later, we did a lot more painting, then he wanted bubbles in the sink. He was staring at the bubbles and asked “What the colorful colors about?” I was trying to hang laundry in the changing room while he did that, but he kept coming and saying “Hey dada! Come and see the bubbles!” He climbed on the toilet and we played together. He started investigating Carly’s stuff, and found the tweezers and wanted to know what they were for. He then went around pretending to tweez things out of things, mainly slivers out of my foot and hand.

I had hung one sheet up on two chairs in the parlor to dry. He found it and hid in it, then was sticking his feet out of it, then putting a train track piece on it, and ‘hiding’ things in it. He was naked, having used the toilet a couple times before, and now had a little poop accident on the sheet. Very minor. As I told Carly later “So much poop today.” We cleaned him up, and switched the sheet for a clean one. It was a smaller sheet. We both then got in the fort and were sitting in it. He kept trying to pull the side down. Eventually I asked if he wanted a bigger sheet. He said “No. I just like this one. It’s very fine.”

He saw the wooden flower puzzle and brought that in the fort and worked on it. Then he decided he did indeed want a bigger sheet. So got a queen size and a third chair to make the for nice and big. He then got really imaginative. Or saw a ghost. A little creepy actually: “What’s that over there? It’s eyes!” I think he was referring to the kitchen lights through the sheet. But he kept joking about it “It’s mama!…You think someone is in the apartment.”

I had planned on going to Children’s Grand Park today, then heading to APIS from there. But when he started playing in the fort I asked if he wanted to go to the children’s museum and he said no. I had already packed the backpack, so I went and got the peanut butter sandwich out as I was hungry. We ate that, then were out of the fort for a minute. We were listening to Mother Love Bone song and I said ‘Kick it’ when the singer yelled it. August looked at me and then sort of kicked the chair or something on the ground next to him.

Back in the fort, he randomly said “What the what?” I asked him who says that and he said “Mama!” He wanted puffin stories, so I told him the one about Baba trying to swim. We then got the kimbap and the rest of the lunch and ate the rest of it in the fort as well.

He had to go on the toilet for a third time. He said it was uncomfortable – itchy. So he let me put some cream on afterwards, something he usually resists. He was of course reciting more Puffin Rock lines, and one now was “It’s the seagulls. It’s not safe to be here.”

He saw the loose bell on the bike and I remembered we were going to try to fix that. I went and got the screwdrivers. He wanted ‘his’ at first but I couldn’t find the short one. So I let him play with the long one for awhile. He had fun with that, then switched to the short one when I found it.

He then was pretending to be a fox, and went in the parlor and was hiding, saying “I’m going away now.” He told me to stay by the door and I lay down on my back. At first he told me I couldn’t lie down, but I insisted. He agreed and said “You can lie down and stretch your back.” I got the rolled up yoga mat that I used. He then wanted to try it, which was fun to see.

He was all dressed now, with his Mickey Mouse Christmas pajamas so he was ready for the party. He pooped yet again, so had to go change his diaper. During which he also took off his socks. It felt like we were never going to leave the house. Finally, before we left he was standing on one foot like a seagull.

It was 3 or so before we headed out. Our first venture was with the bike across to the park. We got over to the park, and he started by walking the bike by the handlebars. Good progress. Then we were surrounded: by two women, a man that really wanted to talk to me, and Preacher. It was actually good to see Preacher, as we haven’t seen him in a couple months. But it was rather overwhelming in that I was trying to get August on the bike at the moment. August handled it pretty well. He walked off a bit and played around for a couple minutes while I talked to the guy and Preacher and the women wandered off.

When he came back to me, we tried again. His first thought was to stand on the seat, then I got him sitting. And he loved it. I pushed and he pedaled. When we stopped he would stand up, put his fists in front of him in his ‘I did it’ pose and give a big smile. Did that several times. Helped him figure out the pedaling. He couldn’t really move the bike much without me pushing a bit. So we went for a walk. Wandered around our side of the park, looping around and back a few times. He then pointed to the bridge and ramp and we went up and over, then around the pagoda on the other side. August figured out that he had some control over steering, and could say “This way!” and turn the handles and get my attention. We needed to head to APIS thought, so we went back over the bridge, looped by the senior center looking for Preacher, then headed home, riding the bike the whole way.

At first he wanted the stroller to APIS. I wanted on an email from Carly to confirm that she’d prefer to take the bus home. August and I played around for awhile, and by the time she said yes he was open to the backpack. So we walked to APIS. He was singing at first with his head back, looking up at things, but then got quite when we were close to the stream. Told him he couldn’t fall asleep and he gave a big smile. No problem though as we made it to APIS. As we got close, we were talking about smells. Caught a bad one near the construction site and August said “What is that smell? Disgusting!”

We got to Carly’s floor. But first he wanted to stop for a “little drink”. He had some, and said “Ahh. Good water.” Played in Carly’s classroom for awhile – typing and nursing. And Carly took him with her to the bathroom and he peed there. She went back to the bathroom to change. He realized she was gone, and went out in the hall looking for her. He went in Courtney’s classroom and joked that she was mama. Kept wandering down the hall and looking in classrooms (one had a lot of Christmas lights) and then found Sarah’s classroom open, with music on. He wandered in and looked around and wondered why there was no one there. Carly walked by and saw him.

We then headed down to the basement to get to the cafeteria early to get him used to the idea. On the way down, we saw people by the office. They were all waving and saying hi to August. He hid behind his hands, but treated it more as a game this time, laughing every time he saw them (he would then do this with Don a few minutes later in the doorway of the music room). Downstairs, he knew something was up (from the first mention of it this mornin
g he was fine with mama’s classroom, but didn’t want the rest of it). We wandered to the music classrooms, thinking that might distract him. He saw an eighth note on the window to Melinda’s (she is the choral and elementary teacher) classroom. When she came out of the classroom and we were talking to her, I pointed to the note on the window and asked August what it was. He said “Eighth note”. She was impressed and told him she had a poster with all sorts of notes on it inside. We went in, and they were looking at it, and he identified all the notes and some of the rests.

She then asked if he wanted to play a xylophone. At first he said no, but I held him and she showed him. He got hooked pretty quickly. He asked me to play a specific note. But when I set him down he ran all the way across the room and out in the hall. But when Melinda started playing he stuck his head back in. He watched from the doorway for a minute, but soon was over, playing with us.

They played xylophone together for a few minutes. Very cool. She had to go to the cafeteria, as she was playing piano for the songs. She said we could hang out in her room though and use the instruments. So we played for another 10 or 15 minutes. Caroline and someone came in with Logan (Rosie has pneumonia and is in the hospital, so Jill wasn’t there and people were watching him), and he played for a couple minutes as well. He’s a bit less gentle, so August was showing him how to gently hit in the middle of the keys.

It was now past 6. Carly asked him if we could try going to the cafeteria. He said “I’m scared.” He agreed to let her hold him and get close though. They stood outside the doors for a bit, then he wanted back to the music room. A few more minutes (we would also play with the piano, he’d identify the treble clef on the piano, Carly would play some drums, etc.) then they started up the music. I picked August up this time, and walked him into the cafeteria. We stayed up close and watched them play the first song. He could see Melinda on piano, the Holbrookes on trumpet, Emmalee on violin, etc. After the song, we went back in the music room for a few minutes, and Carly stayed.

August agreed to go back in the cafeteria for the next song, and we stayed in after that. Or maybe Carly took a short break with him at one point. For each song we could go up and stand close. Carly had taken paper and markers down, and we sat on the floor and did that at one point. When they handed out gifts, August got a cool Eric Carle Animal Tales book. Dr. Kim (who mentioned that I’d lost weight when he saw us earlier) gave an extra gift for the kid wearing the most red. August might have been able to win that one, but I wasn’t going to drag him up again. August also liked the candy lemon-flavored punch. That kept him busy for a few minutes.

A couple more songs, then food was open. We jumped up, knowing that he might not last long, but he did fine. After eating some he did want to go home, but I reminded him of dessert. When we got to that he had a fair amount of chocolate cake, then berry cheesecake with me.

We headed out. On the steps outside he saw a couple and said “Hi!” to them. He was intrigued by the weather (earlier, he had commented on the wind as we crossed the bridge). Now, he said “What it dark windy about?” and was squinting at the lights. On the bus he initially sat with Carly, but wanted to go up to me. I didn’t have room (I had the backpack), but told him our two standard Puffin Rock stories (Oona fishing, Baba swimming) and we made it.

We were home at 8. He was doing well, so Carly gave him a bath. Came out and did iPad art and music. Had some banana, then went on the toilet one more time. He was asking what poop was, then said “I will try to not eat anymore.” Carly assured him poop was a good thing. He lasted until about a quarter to 10.

 

Photos. Happy wake up:  

Bracelets and paint: 

Bubbles: 

Fort: 

That’s Preacher on the right: 

Success! 

Big eyes: 

Falling asleep: 

Xylophone with Logan: 

New book: 

Eating: 

He woke up at 6:15 or so. I told him Mama was in the bathroom and he went and lay down by the door until she came out. She took him back in and he fell back to sleep. He was woken again by coughing at 6:58. He came out and I said hi and he calmly laid down on the floor in the kitchen/hallway. He fell back to sleep there and slept until 8:46. Sat up for a few seconds, then went and laid down on the carpet in the parlor. I went in and said hi, but he didn’t want me to join him. So I left him to his alone time. After a few minutes he got up and started playing with the train, talking to himself. At 8:56 he came to the door for a moment. I asked if I should come in. He said “No” and went back in. Heard him then say “ooh ooh. What is it? I found something.” But when he came out to the living room he didn’t have anything.

He went and laid down on the playmat for awhile. Then climbed up and laid behind me on the couch. He was making funny faces and saying “Ooh, what’s that?” Think he was squinting up at the lights. I started to put on music, but he wanted jump rope songs, so we did that. He kept asking “What they skip rope about?” and I realized he didn’t really know what jump roping is. So we went to YouTube. First watched this music video: https://youtu.be/zoMYU_nOGNg

Then this cartoon song: https://youtu.be/tgUDYOlgx1M

He really liked that, so we watched more of the Treetop Family cartoons: https://youtu.be/yVyNSnWlc1s

We had Cheerios and strawberries for breakfast, and some of the juice left over from yesterday. He wanted a Flynn story, so we put that on, then I took a shower. When I came out I was watching when Bernie said the “clickety clackety racket” line. He is talking to the red crabs, who are making noise outside his grotto.

We then painted with watercolor paint for a long time, listening to an Amanda Palmer live concert while we did so. I let him wipe (instead of blot, like mama) and we did shapes and then we did dots with our fingers. August remembered his bracelet and wanted me to put it on him, saying it helped with the paint.

When done we went to wash his hands, and he went on the toilet. Afterwards, he was playing with the spray bottle and somehow tipped the stool. Think it was just scary. He let me hold him a couple minutes, but then he wanted down and went in the parlor and closed the door. Told me he wanted alone time.

He came out and then typed and then composed some music on his iPad. We then made a salmon sandwich and he ate most of that. I asked if he wanted to go anywhere today. He thought about it for a minute and said “Uijeongbu”. He found the square sticker thing he had put on the wall yesterday, and now ‘hid’ it behind the blinds on the window, and ‘found’ it by pushing the blind against the window so it showed up.

Went on toilet again. Reciting a lot of Puffin Rock: “Are You worried about Mossy?” He then spent some time singing from the songbook, then we moved to the paper when he asked me to draw specific notes. Specifically he was looking at the notes with a curved line between them. In fact, he told me to draw two quarter notes, then added the line himself. So taught him the concept of ‘slurring’ and he liked that. He also mentioned time signatures, so we were writing those down and discussing them. Although he wanted time signatures like 88/7.

It was now past 1, so too late for Uijeongbu. We talked a bout going to Home Plus and looking for a jump rope. He said “What happens if you buy a rope jump? That’s silly.” Went to get our tooth brushes and came back to find he had drawn on the table – and was rather proud of it. As we started to brush he said “You smell like fish now.” Earlier, he had been asking why mama doesn’t like him smelling like fish. Started brushing, but he decided he was hungry and went and looked in the fridge, telling me he had something to give me. He spotted the green olives. I gave him one and he ate it. He said he liked it, but didn’t want any more; he wanted pancake instead. There were a few pieces of a pancake, so we heated those up and he ate them.

Finally headed to Home Plus after 2. As we entered he was pretending he was looking for something. When asked what, he said “Beetle”. We looked for a jump rope, but no luck. As we went through the toy area he was crawling. He asked himself “Why you pretending to be a polar bear about?” We found an electric keyboard and he had fun playing that for 10 or 15 minutes. When he was done, we went and looked at the animals: the rabbits were May, the hedgehog was Spikey, then we actually saw a beetle. But spent most of his time watching the turtles. Two big ones and three smaller ones: “Mama and dada turtles. And those are baby turtles. That ones almost a grown up.” I listed the animals we had looked at and asked which he would like to have if he had a pet. He thought about it. And thought about it. “Mmm…mmm…mmm.” Finally he came up with…“Spider”. A couple hours later Carly asked him and he came up with the same answer. We sat on the floor there for several minutes, then I got him to head downstairs to food.

Got peanut butter and kimbap for lunch tomorrow. Then he got a couple samples. He asked for water and I realized I’d forgotten it. I told him we had to pay and then there was a water machine right on the other side in the changing room. He didn’t say anything, but filed his objection by lying down on the floor and not moving. I hauled him to the checkout, and he stood a ways away until I was done. He was happy again once we got to the water. Drank it out of a paper cup, saying “Mmm. Mmm. Yum. Yum.”

We had talked about going to Cafe Tolerance and he liked the idea. I wasn’t 100% positive he knew where that was, but I didn’t have to worry. As we got outside Home Plus, he asked “What you spill a little grape juice about?” The last time we were at Cafe Tolerance was in late September. He spilled some juice and was upset I couldn’t put it back in the container. We have not discussed it since, but he remembered it.

As we walked across the park he coughed a bit, then had a bit of a scratch voice. He liked it, and said “That’s a growly voice. What that a growly voice about?” He then talked in a really high voice and called it a “Yawny voice.”

At Cafe Tolerance he got another grape juice. We sat looking outside, each with our iPad, but soon he had gained control of mine to draw with the Apple Pencil. At one point we switched back, and then back again. But mainly I used my phone to read and work on blog stuff while he was on my iPad.

He needed to be changed, and it was time to get home to mama. But he was in no hurry to leave. Got him to the entrance and put his shoes on. I asked if he wanted to be changed here, or wait until home. He said “Here…I’ll pretend it is home.” But then I realized that bathroom, which Carly had once changed him in, was the women’s, and that the men’s was outside. We went and checked it out, but he changed his mind and wanted to wait for home. We did, however, get to stick our heads through the other door and watch some kids practicing basketball. He was intrigued by that.

We walked home, stopping along the way to look at some Christmas lights at a church. In the lobby and elevator we started sticking our tongues out at Mirror August and Dada. Sticking his tongue out is a rather new thing, surprisingly. Not something he wanted to do before.

At home Carly changed him and they nursed. They then sent some videos and took selfies on her computer. He wanted to type on her computer, but wanted it in the other room: “I want a document in the parlor. I want a document in the PLAYROOM!” He was back out soon for the bathroom. He wanted play dough and we did some of that. He used a Duplo to make squares (although ours don’t work as well, as the play dough gets stuck) and we made a burrito. We pretended to eat it, and he asked “What if you eat playdough for real?” I pretended to throw up on him a
nd he laughed.

Needed to take his shirt off for the bath and realized that was something he could probably do. So I taught him that. He then immediately asked “Now how you put it back on?” He took a long bath. I started it, but he soon requested mama and we switched. Out of the bath, he came to me and pleadingly said “I want Pages. I want some strawberries.” He then played with the new  Artie app and Easy Music on my iPad for awhile and ate some banana after he was done with the strawberries. I had thought he had eaten earlier, but he kept eating so I asked Carly and he had refused nutty noodles earlier. So we got him some and he ate those.

He then wanted iBooks and sang from the songbook. We moved to the bed and he did some more singing, quite loudly. We read the Chicka Chicka ABC book a couple times, and he found it quite funny, but then wanted the monkey book. We started reading that, but he wanted to nurse at the same time. That lasted halfway through the book, then he was just wanting to nurse. I left and he was asleep at 8:40.

 

Squinting at the lights: 

Our art: 

‘Hiding’ the square: 

Turtles: 

More squinting:  

Trying out lotion: 

Christmas lights we stopped to see on the way home. The globes changed colors: 

Mama and Zinnie selfie. A first, perhaps? 

I don’t know if I mentioned here that Derek is leaving Seoul early. They had planned to move on the 20th, but his grandfather was hit by a car and is in the hospital. So he leaves tomorrow, with the rest of the family leaving on the 20th. So we met up with Derek and Logan one last time today before he leaves. We’ll probably see Logan again.

He woke up a bit before 5, coughing. He wanted to wake me up, but was whispering about it. I said good morning, then they went out and I fell back to sleep. They skyped with Cassie and Vivian and Colin for a long time, he spent a lot of time sitting on the toilet, and he watched some Puffin Rock before surprising Carly and falling back asleep at 7:20. He got a little more sleep before he was back up at 8:08. He walked out and saw me on the couch and continued to Carly in the parlor. He closed the door on me. They spent a good amount of time nursing and reading.

He then came out and requested jump rope music (it is a Smithsonian Folkways album). I turned that on for him. We painted together – quadrant and different shapes and colors. He ate some pizza. Carly then painted with him. He requested Spanish words and she would paint them for him. He found his bracelet and put it on, then talked to himself about it: “Why you have the bracelet on about? It helps the paint dry.” “Girl has a bracelet on.”

A bit later, Carly asked him “Do you want to go to the store?” August: “Yeah!” Then directly to me:

“You stay here dada and do some work.” As they got ready to go, he kept talking about wanting spinach: “Spinach. Yeah. I want to get spinach.” “Spinach and minich rhyme.” So he went to the store with her. He wore his bracelet much of time. She didn’t let him get a slurpy thing (cup of jello and fruit). He didn’t throw a fit, but sort of protested by laying down on the floor a couple times.

When he got home he started asking for a slurpy thing, because Carly had said we had one at home. I told him to wait a few minutes, as Derek and Logan were on their way over and Derek said he had something for us. It turned out it was cans of refried beans and olive oil – excellent for us, but not a treat for August. But he had forgotten by then.

They were here for a few minutes. Logan somehow magically sensed his bike was here and went and pushed it out of the changing room. Derek tried to convince him it wasn’t his bike, but I don’t think Logan fell for it. He and I got the boys ready to go and headed over to Namu Kid Cafe again. Carly stayed behind to make the nutty noodles and do some work.

At Namu it was much the same as yesterday. August first went to the blocks and we played with some wooden blocks. Most of the rest of our time was spent in the ball and trampoline area. The big event was going on the train at 11. August was excited about it, and okay sitting on it on his own…until I fastened the seat belt. At that point he immediately changed his mind. I tried to tell him it was okay, and a couple seconds later she started the train. It just goes back and forth a couple times on the short track. He spent most of the time telling me he wanted to get off. Upset, but not really crying. When I got him off I had to hold him for a couple minutes. At one point later he would say he wanted to go on the train again, when I asked him, but later still he was saying no. We’ll see what happens in subsequent visits.

Derek took Logan over to the kitchen area for some quiet time and a drink. August and I went with. He and Logan watched a little video on Derek’s phone. Our orange juice and my coffee came while we sat there. August likes how quiet that room is.

We went back to the play area for a few more minutes, then Logan was ready to go get lunch. We left right at noon. August and Logan both liked riding down the elevator, as it is glass and you have a good view of the park. We stopped at Burgerton to pick up lunch. Derek stayed to wait for the food, and I took Logan and August back to the apartment. Logan wanted to play with bubbles in the bathroom sink, so I started that. I thought August would want to join him, but he went to nurse instead.

Derek showed up with the food and we ate. I had gotten the mushroom burger again because I knew August would like the mushrooms. He did, and he used the fork to feed himself the mushrooms, and to offer a few to me. I got out french fries for him, but he wanted to use the ketchup on Logan’s plate, and Logan wouldn’t let him. Which was fine as I was getting more ketchup. But it made August sad, so he stopped eating for awhile. He was clearly getting tired, but rebounded, and after eating he and Logan played with the train set together for several minutes.

They left, and a bit alter August fell asleep from 1:50 to 3:10. Nursed, then ate some nutty noodles. We headed outside about 4:30 as he wanted to try his bike. Got over to the park and Carly and I blew it by trying to get him to wear the helmet. We never even actually got close to putting it on his head, mind you, and there were no tears. But the process made him change his mind. Also not helping was the woman who was staring during this and then came over to insist that August’s throat was cold and he needed a scarf.

Anyway, we went over the playground. Went down the tube slide. Actually, at first he just sat at the top of it for a couple minutes. He was calling it a big kid thing to do. Then once he had slid down he wanted to go find another big kid thing to do: “What’s another big kid thing to do?” He had wanted his gloves on and spent some time picking dead leaves off bushes (well, he wanted the green leaves, but I was able to redirect), then took the gloves off, then led us for a walk through the park, singing rhythms as he went.

As we crossed the bridge, Carly asked him “Why don’t you want the helmet?” He replied “I will fall down if I wear the helmet.”

We went to the art museum. The new play area doesn’t open until the 19th. Most everything else is closed to, but August wanted to go upstairs. He climbed the stairs, wandered around a bit, then we exited at the coffee shop and walked down the outside, enjoying the view.  Back down, he suddenly shot his hands out of his sleeves, saying “Juk!” (A Korean thing, like ‘voila!’). Did that several times. As we walked home, he was repeating some lines that I think come from Puffin Rock (but adding in the driving part): “There’s water. Be careful. You could hurt yourself. Be careful driving.” Back on our side of the park, he wanted to go in the bathrooms, and chose the women’s, so Carly had to take him in. He spent some time pushing his bike around in circles, but still didn’t want to ride it. Progress though. We stopped at Mama Juice and he got a grapefruit and pineapple drink.

Back home, Carly decided to cut his hair while he watched Puffin Rock and I fed him some nutty noodles. After that, he spent a long time sitting on the toilet, then I get him a long bath. He spent a lot of time playing with the letters. He helped clean them up when he was finally done. I was then changing the sheets on the bed. At first he was typing on Pages on the iPad, but then  he really got excited about helping with that. I was trying to find the correct sheet for the small bed, and he was getting impatient, tucking everything in the crack. After that, he and I went out and ate a couple of small bananas. He wanted to read the monkey book, but ended up signing to the songbook instead. Back in on the bed, they read Itsy Bitsy, then nursed after he turned off the lights. But he came out after20 minutes or so. He and I read some Pooh – he specifically requested poems, and had the zookeeper and pig take care of a cut on the Duplo kangaroo. He was then ready to go back in and we went together as I was also ready for bed. But he kept grabbing Carly, then was hitting his feet on the bed when she wouldn’t nurse, and then hitting her. He got really upset when I picked him up and took him out of the room. But I just held him until he could c
alm himself down and said we could go back if he’d say sorry to mama and lie still. He agreed, we went back and he said sorry, and he fell right asleep at 10:05.

Namu: 

Park: 

Painting: 

Namu: 

Watching something on the phone: 

Elevator: 

Mushrooms: 

Feather: 

Museum: 

Walking home: 

Pushing the bike: 

Haircut: 

Doing my hair: 

Playing with the bag: 

He sat up and said “Dada” at 7:10 then fell back to sleep. Back up at 8. Carly asked if he wanted to lay on the floor, so he did. They nursed and then he did a little play dough. We then drew hearts and triangles on paper. Then Carly Skyped with Cherie. August needed to go to the toilet, so I took him. He pointed back saying “don’t talk” to them – kind of like yesterday with my parents. Later, August was reading sentences that Cherie typed to him. After that, Carly did recycling and ran to the store. August was typing on her computer, and pasted in a letter she had typed. He then spent a lot of time “fixing” her punctuation: “Something was wrong on mama’s typing.” He also figured out how to change the bullet style and color, and that typing a sad or happy smiley face turns it into an actual emoji-type of picture. He then lay on the couch and was singing random letters, then numbers. He wanted the songbook in iBooks, and was singing to it when Carly got home.

She finished the veggie pancakes and August ran and got his stool. He wasn’t upset even though she had basically done it all. I went and took a shower. We had planned to meet Derek and his kids at the eMart play area, but Rosie was sick so that all changed. Instead, we ended up meeting the babysitter and Logan at Namu Play Area, over in the pink building, while Derek stayed home with Rosie. August found his bracelet before we left and was wearing it, and wore it all the way until we got into the play area and started playing.

We got there at 10:30 or so. He wanted a drink, so we ordered kiwi, so they were out of that. He settled for pineapple. We went in and he first went to the ball area and trampoline. He seemed to remember the place pretty well, although we haven’t been here in 9 months or so. He tried throwing some balls at the back of some moms’ heads, but I stopped that one. He saw Logan roll down the trampoline and tried to do it himself. Didn’t quite get it straight, but still had fun.

At 11 the train went. He was intrigued by it but didn’t want to get on. Instead, he went to the car things and chose his favorite one with the cell phone. I pushed him around in that for awhile, but then he saw the train going and got out and was regretting his choice and sad, trying to climb over the fence to it. I held him for awhile, then we went in and played with Duplos, then cut the plastic fruit. Our pineapple juice came, and we went back out to the bench. He wanted Puffin Rock stories, so we sat there and drank our juice and coffee and I told the Baba learning to swim story twice and the Oona and Mama fishing story.

Yewon, the babysitter, said they were going to go eat. Derek was treating. We went in and ordered a sweet potato pizza. While waiting, Logan poured his own water and spilled some. Not too bad. But then he intentionally poured an entire cup of water on the table for the fun of it. August saw Logan drinking out of a cup, and so he did it himself, declaring “That’s another big kid to do.” Looking out the doors, back at the play area, August said “Wait a second. What’s that over there? What’s going on in there? I don’t know.” Finally, right before we left to go back in the play area he saw a wom and said “That’s a she. Zinnie is a she.”

We had missed the second running of the train at noon, so that will have to wait for another time. Back in, they mainly spent their time in the ball area and trampoline. August had been reluctant to jump on it with a lot of other kids at first, but got more comfortable with it. Logan came and tackled August a couple times and August was fine with that. He rolled around on the edge of the trampoline being silly.

At 12:30 Yewon and Logan had to get going. Logan didn’t want to go, and ran back in and hid up in the play structure. Yewon and I had to go up and get him out and then herd him to the exit. August decided he wanted to get going to, so we walked out with them, made sure they got a cab, and headed up to home.

Carly had gone to work to help some students with NHD projects. So he and I first did some drawing on paper, then he played with ShapeKit on the iPad. Took one of his last big creations, where he had duplicated a bunch of shapes, and animated it, then created a big interesting shape that looked birdlike. Watched some Puffin Rock, then we put the piano back together and played. Taught him about the chromatic scale. He then went to the bathroom, and wanted to play with bubbles in the sink. Did that, and took his shirt off as well. He did some more writing on paper (writing ‘sizle’ again). He wanted to go meet Carly at the elevators, but didn’t want to put on clothes. He ate the rest of the pancake that Carly had made him in the morning, then some strawberries. He was talking about wanting a salmon sandwich, but wasn’t interested in the other foods I had to offer.

Carly got home aroun 3:20. They nursedand read, then were just cuddling in the reading area. I brought him the pineapple juice and he drank some. They then did some painting. She was trying to get him to dab at the paint instead of wipe it – both for how it looked and because she doesn’t like the sound. He was also talking to himself, saying “What you doing? I’m painting with mama.” Before we left he requested the jump rope songs, so we listened to those a bit before we left.

We headed out to walk to Pizza School to get pizza. August wanted the backpack, but we were a little concerned he was going to fall asleep. He assured us he wouldn’t. We got up there, ordered pizza, walked around a bit, and brought it home. As we got close to home I told him “You made it!” Then as we walked into the apartment he shouted “We made it!” We all ate some pizza. Carly gave him a bath, during which he requested Spanish songs, so I turned on Basho and Friends. He was then typing in Pages, before singing from the songbook. He wanted to draw the bass clef, so we went to the paper and did that, and did other notes. Carly couldn’t find one of the loose boards that goes under the counter in the kitchen, so I said “August! Mama needs your help finding something!” He literally said ”Ooh!” and jumped up and went and got his flashlight and did indeed locate it under the washing machine, then reached in and pulled it out.  Getting those AAA batteries really paid off.

He was hungry before bed, and Carly made him one more pancake. He ate most of that, then went to sleep about 8:50.

 

Wearing his bracelet: 

Duplos: 

Pineapple juice and Puffin Rock stories break:  

Trampoline fun: 

Home. ‘Sizle’ again: 

Painting with mama: 

Finding the board: 

6:59. He walked out and stood at the end of the hall, all smiley. When I went over to him though he retreated down the hall for a few seconds and didn’t want me to follow. He came back out to the same spot, crouched for awhile, then lay on the floor with his hands tucked under him for a couple minutes. Then on to playdough. Then on to Puffin Rock and strawberries and Cheerios for breakfast. He heard ‘dragonfly’ on Puffin Rock and wanted to write it on Paper. The app, that is. We wrote some words and did some art.

He used the toilet, and wanted his shirt off. Afterwards, we put his new fox shirt and pants on. He wanted to watch a Flynn the fox episode on Puffin Rock, so I found one with Flynn in it. While he watched it I took a shower. During my shower, I heard a yell, so I turned off the shower and opened the door. He was still watching. I asked how he was doing and he said something like You’re watching a lot of Puffin Rock.” I think his yell was him squawking like a seagull.

He wanted to paint, and had the dry brush and was pretending to paint on my ‘los libros’ sign. I said that was okay, but reminded him that when he got paint he had to only paint on the paper. To which he replied “THIS is paper.” Touché.

We skyped with my parents. He was painting at the start. Did a lot of rolling around and sliding on the floor, which was a common occurrence today wherever we went.

At some point today he started saying “Absolutely” from Papa Puffin on Puffin Rock. He was playing Musyc and said “That is amazing.” Then “They’re all static. I like control.” He wanted carrots, but the round pieces were too big. So I cut them in quadrants and he had fun putting them back in circles. He then asked for Puffin Rock stories, so we sat in the reading area and I made up two: Flynn saving May and Oona when they are trapped in a cave, Baba learning to swim.

We got ready to go and left around 11. On the train, I sat in the middle seat. He was to my right, and a man was to my left. August sort of stood and looked over me and past the guy and was talking about the map. He then was trying to talk to the guy, and at one point I think touched him. He called to him, saying “Hey, grown up.” A bit later he did a gentle “Chomp” with his hand to the guy standing next to him on the other side.

We stopped and got a sandwich and pineapple. He wanted to go do sidewalk chalk, so we walked over there. He did sidewalk chalk, using the broom to blend it. It was a bit windy, so when he swept the chalk dust blew around. He liked that and called it ‘mist’. He was getting cold, so wanted his gloves on. Drew a little in his gloves, then took them off. He looked in one, and managed to get it back on his hand, but needed help with the fingers. We talked about going inside, but he didn’t want the children’s museum. He liked the idea of the conservatory though. We wandered through the playground in that direction, and he wanted to climb up the climbing wall with a rope on it. Did that without any help, then played around on the platform, singing and looking down on me.

From there we walked to the conservatory. He was doing much of the walking today. We went in and went upstairs. Looked around a bit, and sat on a ledge by one of the little gardens and ate our lunch. Looked around a bit more, at the fish and little fountain, and off the balcony over the banana trees, and wanted to go down to that area. He wanted to be changed first though, and we never made it back.

Went to our usual bathroom between there and the theater. Changed him, and then he actually wanted to try the ‘stand up’ toilet, the urinal. This is the primary one that he has been afraid of, and covers up his eyes for. So we did that, and headed outside.

Out in the theater he wandered around and stuffed leaves and needles down the holes for the drains. I’m not sure how he started it, but he was talking about being and adult. I said he didn’t need to hurry, and that it was fun to be a kid. He argued he was an adult already. I said “You want to be a kid.” Him: “No.” Me: “It’s fun to be a kid.” Him: “It’s not.” We would repeat this argument (and I’d get it on video) a few minutes later.

Eventually he agreed he wanted to go to the children’s museum, perhaps to read on the iPad. He got behind me and pushed me from behind across the theater. Going down the hill he walked to my side, holding on to the backpack like it was my hand. In front of the coffee shop there was some long grass. He pulled off a dead blade and played with it. We then stopped by a soft ground cover plant and he picked a bit of that. We spotted a couple cats as well. He really wanted to know what the plant was, so I took some photos and a video of him asking what it was. Played there a few more minutes, then headed on to the children’s museum.

At some point, I asked if he was tired, and he said something like “I’m not sleeping. I’m being adult.”

At the children’s museum we played on the first floor. Actually, he had talked about writing out one of the Korean songs we heard when we got there. As we walked in, two women decided to push their strollers out of the entrance doors, even though I was through the first set of doors and opening the second. As they literally shoved past me (or around, as I didn’t move) I muttered 나가는곳, which means ‘way out’, referring to the exit doors which were a few feet to their left.

Anyway, once we were in August headed straight back to the zoetrope, where there are long strips of paper. He remembered they were there, although I don’t think he’s written on paper there since he was first pretending to write cursive, and that was quite awhile ago. He started writing on the paper, and wrote 나가는곳, which I had no idea he knew how to spell. But we’ve seen it a lot on signs, and it shows just how phonetic Korean is (also, he wasn’t entirely sure about the last character, which makes sense since there are multiple options for the final sound there – he guessed right on the paper, but a few minutes later asked for clarification when he wrote it on the chalkboard).

He then headed to the room with the static shapes and cotton ball things, and played with both. He then walked around with the static shapes and tried sticking them on things. We looked in the big kaleidoscope and then went and drummed in the drumming room.

He wanted to be changed again, so we went up and changed him, then he went and used the toilet again. We then went to the little kids area. He went up and played in the kitchen area for a bit. At one point he said “I have an idea” and went and grabbed a plastic fruit and threw it at a girl. Again, class yesterday had consisted of throwing plastic things at other kids for several minutes. I asked him to say sorry. He resisted for awhile, and went and stood on the stairs, looking through the clear wall. Then he said “Sorry. Sorry.” We then headed downstairs to the puzzle area. But we got there to find that several kids had trashed that area, and we literally couldn’t find all the pieces to something to play with. So he kind of played around, climbing on the wall thing, playing with a ball, etc. and I started cleaning up. I noticed after a couple minutes at least one of the moms also cleaning stuff up. August was then playing with one of the worms from the central apple, and found he could crawl through some of the holes in the walls around the apple. He crawled back and forth between those. He then rode one of the little bee car things around for a couple minutes before we left.

Or were going to leave, but then he found a green plastic cup from the upstairs area sitting on the desk. He decided to put it on his foot. That took some rolling around on the floor to accomplish, then he walked around with it on his foot. He then put it on his hand for awhile. We took it up to the kitchen before leaving.

Out in the overpass area he lay down on the floor and stuck his legs up against the glass. Funny at first, but the
n he started kicking the glass. And he didn’t want to stop. Eventually forced him away from there, and he wandered around, testing the rules on what I would and would not let him kick. So kicking the changing table was okay, the other windows were a no, etc. I think I said something about heading home, and he sort of led me to the changing room and directed me in and said “Go in here and I’ll think about it.”

Before we left the children’s museum, I wanted to go figure out where the exhibit on children’s books was (a sign said the basement lobby). We went down and figured out where it was, and said we’d go look next time we were there. We played with the ’empathy’ heads, which rotate and show different emotions. The kid/adult debate came up again, and I said he needs to enjoy being a kid while he is one. And he replied with the very, very good question: “How come you can’t be a kid, an adult, back to a kid about?”

On our way up the ramp, we spotted two cats – I think a mom and a big kitten – in the center courtyard (which, by the way, I have never ever seen anyone in). We watched them, and one, the mom, went to the bathroom in the grass and buried it. There is a page in Everyone Poops about how some animals (cats and armadillos) clean up after themselves, but August had never seen it. So that was pretty exciting. Then, the smaller cat hunkered down and pounced at the bigger one – also something new. As we walked out, I talked about those pages from Everyone Poops and how some animals just poop anywhere – the mere mention of this sent August into hysterics. Doubly so when I then acted like a cow calmly saying “Oh look, there’s more poop I just left on the ground.”

We got outside. Sort of. He wanted to play in the doorway. Outside, he then fought me when I tried to carry him away and laid on the cold ground. Got him up and he just wandered around in front of the children’s museum for awhile, then was jumping around. He pulled up one pant leg, jumped around some more, and showed me what he had done. Finally, he was ready to head home.

We were running late, and got home at 5:30. As we walked through the park he was correctly singing/counting the rhythm of Are You Sleeping. But then he got slower and slower and trailed off, and was then falling asleep in the elevator. Got home and Carly kept him awake as he nursed, then he rebounded to watch Puffin Rock. Carly had stopped at the store, and got August batteries on my request – August had wanted to use his flashlight earlier but it was going dead. So he and I put the new batteries in. He thanked her by shining it in her eyes.

He had some soup for dinner. Carly got his bath ready and I took him in. He took a long, long bath, playing in the water after I washed him. He needed to get out at one point to sit on the toilet. While on it I had some music playing and he was sort of dancing on the toilet. He wanted to get the letters and numbers out, and I made him agree to help put them away when he was done. But then when he was ready to get out he didn’t want to help. I reminded him of his promise and he said “Okay” and got back in the bath and helped.

Naked, he played on the back of the couch a bit. Then I coaxed him into the bedroom by saying we could make a fox cave. Had fun with that, and hiding from mama. She started reading part of a book at one point, with him reading along from the ‘cave’. But he got hungry. Said “What’s a dinner food?” “I want a little bit of banana bread.” He had some strawberries to eat and went back to bed and was asleep by 8:20.

Word of the day was definitely ‘absolutely’, as he was saying it all day. He kept asking me what it meant, and I think he understood by the end of the day.

 

As we got home: 

Waking up: 

Fox shirt: 

Climbing: 

On the structure: 

Lunch. Bread stuck on his teeth: 

Pushing me: 

Children’s Museum. Writing 나가는곳: 

Shapes: 

Feet on the glass: 

Through the hole: 

Cup foot: 

Falling asleep: 

Bath. Making a sculpture: 

On the couch: 

8:15. He was laying on the floor of the parlor. When the announcement thing went off he sang along. After five minutes I went in and he held his hand in front of his face and said “No”. But then came out a minute later and asked for strawberries. We had strawberries and banana bread for breakfast (last of each), then he played with Musyc. Actually, first he got a bit upset when he saw my typing and wanted to change all the punctuation and I wouldn’t let him. After awhile he wanted to watch Puffin Rock. He did that and I took a shower. When I finished, I heard him singing to himself. I came out to find that he had found one of his small notebooks and was coloring in it. A bit later he wanted to go pee on the toilet. He also wanted his shirt off. When he was done, I realized he was just wearing one sock. We started looking for it, then suddenly he ran to the iPad saying “It’s under the iPad!” He had apparently put it there during my shower.

We tried a couple of new apps, including a new one called Sound Rebound that is similar to Musyc. He liked that one, and that the name rhymed, but it kept crashing, so he ended up back in Musyc for awhile, before doing some art in Paper. He used the toilet, but tripped coming out of the bathroom. He didn’t want my help getting up, instead telling me “Go somewhere else.” Still a bit upset from that, I think, he said “Want to meet mama home.” That is, he wanted to go to APIS and walk home with her again. Got really sad when I said next week. Went and opened the door, and when I came to him he pushed me all the way into the parlor. A little more of that, then wanted some alone time. But that just lasted a minute. We sat on the reading area and read Itsy Bitsy Spider, Opposites, then sang from the songbook.

He used the toilet again, then I was getting him dressed. He was immediately concerned about the size of the pants and whether they would be too tight: “I look at the size…I said it was a hundred. Too tight. Okay, I’ll try it…it’s uncomfortable…I need a bigger one…like the fox ones.” I had mentioned getting him the fox shirt/pants at Home Plus today. Finally, before we left he was getting a little wild in his playing, and play hitting a lot.

We headed to class, stopping at the ATM on the way. He did a good job of not pushing the buttons or getting upset while I used it. He was walking, and as I walked away from the ATM he said “I just have to do two things” or something to that effect, pushed a couple of buttons, then came along. Got to class right as it was starting. It was about basketball today. Lots of balls and hoops. After the usual beginning stuff, during which August walked around, counting on his fingers to the music, the teacher poured out a large bag of balls and their was a ball fight. August’s favorite target turned out to be the mom of the boy next to us. He would also throw another ball at her later. Funny, but she was sitting down, and most of his throws were straight towards her head. Then a lot of bouncing balls, and putting them through hoops. There was a big bouncing surface, and August spent a lot of time jumping off of it, onto the floor. Then actual trampolines, and August liked jumping on that with the other kids, but held my hand the whole time. When he got bored of whatever the current activity was, he would go over to the walking path from the start of class, which was on its side at the front of class, and try to climb it.

At the end of class, after he got his treat and handstamps, he didn’t want to say thank you or the like to the teacher, saying “I don’t want to say those words.” I pressed him a bit, and instead he ran across the room and loudly said “kamsamnida” to another random parent. While we were out in the hallway, getting ready to leave, another parent handed out those round almond roca ball things. So August got to eat that. Needless to say, he really liked it.

We headed downstairs. They display with the fox shirt (which we were calling the ‘Flynn shirt’ after the fox on Puffin Rock) wasn’t by the front door. So we went to the first basement to look for it. He marveled at the Christmas stuff again, wondering why it was there, then we found the little shop by the down walkway that had the clothes. August was happy to get the shirt, but in a hurry to get going as he was hungry. Paid, then went to the stroller. August wanted to push it onto the walkway on his own, and kept getting upset if I touched the stroller. He kept going to the front to adjust the direction, to the back to push, etc. All was going well until I let him actually push it onto the walkway. He was doing really well, but of course once it got on the walkway and before I could grab it, it slipped out of his hands and started rolling. Only rolled a couple feet before it hit the side. I jumped past him and grabbed it before it tipped over. August was a little traumatized by it, so I picked him up. He was also getting a bit tired, not to mention hungry, so a slightly difficult shopping trip. But we got kimbap, then he got several samples, mainly of the yogurt drinks. He was walking up to the women and waiting to see what they would give him. Then he would make him ‘mmm’ yummy noises as he drank it. We paid, using the self checkout. I was teaching him how to scan items, but then he saw the produce weighing machine, which he really, really wanted to play with. Understandable, as it has about 80 buttons on it, including both alphabets. Had to drag him away from that. As I put him in the stroller at the entrance to the store, I asked if he was sleepy. He said “A little sleepy. I suppose.”

We got home and ate our kimbap and leftover apple and orange from yesterday. We then played on the piano for awhile. He took the top off and the keys out, then wanted to a wipe to clean out the dust. Did that on his own, then went and threw the wipe away. I mentioned getting Mama Juice later, but he said “I don’t want Mama Juice. I’m too full.” Playing around, he recited the line from Puffin Rock “Sounds to me like you saw an octopus.” After awhile, his opinion on juice changed, as he said “I don’t want Mama Juice. I want Juicy Juice.” When I asked what kind he wanted, he again said we should go look at the menu.

We headed out in the stroller. In the store I held him up to see the menu. He spent a good minute studying the options, and decided on ‘Mixed Berry’ (in Korean). He looked at the coffee menu, and told me to get a latte (in Korean), but I went with a caramel latte over his objections.

August had mentioned a couple more times meeting Carly at work and walking home with her. I suggested as a compromise meeting her part way, and he agreed to that. So I messaged Carly to see if that would work, and it would. So we got walking, him going ‘Mmm’ as he drank his juice.

We got to 나팔꽃어린이공원, the park in the space between where the train tracks meet south of Wolgye Station. We’ve been there a couple times before, but he’s never played on the big play structure. Before he got out, he said “Hey dada…make the stroller go fast.” So we raced around a bit, then he wanted to play in the sand. He had the hiccups. That doesn’t happen much anymore. He used the big shovel we have to dig up sand and put it on the table, then had me build a sand castle of sorts with the shovel. He wanted to wash his hands, but was bothered that the water was off. We were on our way to the play structure when Carly showed up. August was of course excited by this, and kept wanting to know why she was there.

He asked why she was wearing gloves, then wanted his own gloves on. But then he took them off, saying they were loose. He chased her around, doing a chomp attack. He climbed up the rather steep curved climbing wall on his own, then Carly went up and they walked across the shaky bridge together, then came down the slide together. August then pushed her on the turning thing. I had to change him on the bench in the cold. Warned him the wipes were going to be cold, which h
e didn’t like the idea of. Then I realized we could just warm them with our hands for a few seconds and they were fine. Changed him and we walked home. On the way home he took his shoes off, and was also looking cold. Tried to convince him to put the cover down, but he said “I’m afraid of the cover.” He was also sleepy, so we gave in and let him be a bit cold.

Got home and Carly made nachos for dinner. He had taken all his clothes off and was on the toilet when Wendy showed up to borrow our vacuum cleaner. I held him, and he was initially excited about someone at the door, but then grew shy.

We realized we were low on milk, and I wanted more strawberries, so I headed to the store. When I came back, Carly was trying to get him in the bath, but he really didn’t want to go. SHe gave him a very quick bath, then headed to the bedroom. He just kept repeating “No. No. No mama.” as she put on his pajamas. He was asleep at 7:30.

Class: 

Park: 

Alone time. Hiding from me like I was a urinal: 

Class: 

In the basket: 

Jumping: 

Home. Cleaning the piano: 

Drinking from the bottle: 

Juicy Juice: 

Hiccups: 

Shovel: 

Shaky bridge with mama: 

Pushing mama on the circle: 

Right at 8. Let me hold him for a minute, then wanted down and wanted me to leave the parlor. After a minute he came out and cuddled next to me on the couch, then laid down. We then read the monkey book and August ate a banana. He then played Musyc, and then we got some banana bread for breakfast. He opened the songbook on the ipad, and found the ABC-DEF-GHI song from Sesame Street. He asked about it, so I found a video of it and we watched that.

He wanted rhyming words, and I came up with this little rhyme,

He was sick, my little boy Zinn

So I gave him some medicine

To his stomach it went in,

Then August got well again

We talked about our plans for the day, and he said he wanted to go to work. Told him I’d look into it. He was interested in playdough for a second, but then started singing to the songbook. He was curious about the ABC-DEF-GHI song, so I pulled up the video of it. It is from Sesame Street, and Big Bird thinks the alphabet is one big long word. I think I only tried to show August one episode of Sesame Street before, and this was it. Anyway, he then wanted to play the notes on the piano, so we went to the piano and I played the melody a bit. We ended up playing around on the piano, and he sang along with nonsense words as I played Are You Sleeping and Th Ants Go Marching. We the went to the paper, where he wanted to learn to draw a heart. “Hey dada, let’s practice a heart together.”

We did that, then headed out at 10:30 in backpack. Pushing the stroller. His one opportunity to ride in Logan and Rosie’s stroller, but he didn’t want to make things easy on me. Derek said that Logan had had a fever the previous night, so had stayed home but was doing fine. So we were going over to hang out for awhile in addition to returning their stroller. As we neared the bridge, August was singing the Big Numbers song, and sang the 70s all out of order. He then said to himself “you did it mixed up. What you do it mixed up about?”

We got to Logan’s at 11. Logan dumped out his big Lego blocks and we played with those. Derek got out the playdough and showed August how to use one of the Lego blocks to make squares. August liked this and made about 10, making a little path. He then used one block as sort of an ice cream cone and squished the squares all on top and was quite proud of himself: “squishing it up is very fun.”

Derek heated us up some pizza for lunch, and asked August what kind of pizza he wanted. He said “I want noodle pizza.” He got very excited about noodle pizza, which Derek of course didn’t have. But I told him we could maybe get some this weekend. He was happy with cheese pizza. Derek put on Beat Bugs, and Logan and August watched some of that. Derek gave August a pack of gummi worms, and August kept asking “What gummy worms is?” That is, what is in them. We ate a couple then, and saved the rest for later. At one point August laid down on the floor. I asked what he was doing and he said “I’m just lying down to make sure I’m full.” August and Logan played a little hide and seek behind the curtain, then Jill got home. It was time for Logan’s nap, so we headed out. I had changed August and he used the toilet there.

But we got outside and I went to put him in the backpack and he said “There’s poop”. So I changed him again right outside. We walked down to the main road. August singing. I asked if he wanted to go to a park a minute away, or a farther one. He chose farther. On our way we saw the library across the street and I asked if he wanted to go there, and he got excited about reading books. We went in, found an English book we never read, then found the Patricelli book Bye Bye Diapers in Korean. We read that, which he of course really liked, and translated a lot of words. August needed to use the bathroom but didn’t make it, so changed his diaper in their little kids bathroom, then he did sit on it and pee.

We got walking, and made it to the bridge over the stream by APIS when I realized he was definitely falling asleep. I turned around and walked back to the Nous Coffee place we had never been to. August actually took quite some time before his eyes closed, so walked around a couple of streets we hadn’t been on before. He fell asleep and slept from 2:17 to 3:42.

We walked towards APIS. August was saying “Mama’s hiding. We got to find her…” We had planned to show up at 4:25, but August didn’t want to stop at a park. Asked Carly, and she said 4:15 would be okay. I convinced him to stop at the park across the street by saying we could finish the gummi bears. He made silly faces as he finished them, then we walked to her classroom, about 4:20. We found Megan outside and she said hi. I asked him if he wanted to say hi back and he said “I’m too busy.”

In her classroom he did some typing, then played with a glue stick for the first time. I went down to the bathroom and he wanted to go as well. He went first – the third place outside the house that he peed today. I let him stand by the door to the bathroom while I went. The door was between us, so I couldn’t see him. I asked “You still there?” and he replied “I’m still here.”

We left about 5:20. We stopped by Derek and Jill’s to pick up the bike stroller thing we are buying from them. As we walked, August had first been staring up at the moon, then as it got even darker he was asking about the color of the sky. A dark periwinkle was what we came up with, but he said “What color is it? The sky. Let’s think about the colors on dada’s iPad.”

We were home at 6. He had been fine, but suddenly wanted out in the elevator, and got upset when I wouldn’t let him out until we were in the apartment. They nursed, and read Moo Baa La La La from the bag of books that Jill had also given us. Carly fed him some soup and letter pasta, but he got a hair in his mouth and really responded badly to that, throwing up. He was typing on Carly’s computer and I taught him about bulleted and numbered lists. They watched some Vivian and Colin videos, then he played with Musyc. He was making dozens of shapes and setting them all to ‘static’ so they weren’t moving. He was asking why he was doing it, and I said something about him liking to control them, and I also said it was a cool piece of art. He said “What you like having control about?” “What’s it a cool piece of art about?”

He ate a few bites of soup, then later some strawberries and grapes and watched more Puffin Rock. Sat on the toilet for a long time. I gave him a bath, and he played with soap on his hands for a long time, then was just sitting in the water and playing with it. Got through washing his hair without too much whining. Nursed, then draw on the paper. On the back is a big grid of squares. August started drawing in it, and said it was his “Chinese list”. Spent a long time just drawing zigzag and scribble lines in red. Now past 9:30 so we headed to bed. Read and sang the new Itsy Bitsy Spider book, then read Everyone Poops a few times. He really likes to pretend to read it really fast. He wanted to use the toilet, so Carly took him. He asked “Why this toilet cold but dada’s toilet warm about?” Pretty sure he’s just sat on mine that one time.

I left then 10:15 but be was out 10 or 15 minutes later. I let him ‘read’ from the song book. He saying Are You Sleeping Singing, singing all the actual words, and was also pretending to count it out, singing in random 1 2 3s. He rubbed his eyes and was yawning, so asked if he was ready for bed. He said “I want milk first then I will go.” Did that, then we went back in together at 10:50. He nursed, but was causing problems – pinching or grabbing or something. I agreed to tell him Puffin Rock stories. He lay on the floor and I hung over the side and whispered two stories to him. One was about Oona, Baba, May, and Mossy playing hide and seek. Oona found Mossy and Baba right away but couldn’t find May because she can hide so well. The second was a repeat of the fishing story from a cou
ple days ago. He then wanted to nurse again, but Carly needed to sleep. He agreed to try falling asleep on the carpet. So he and I went out to the parlor for another 15 minutes or so. I sang to him as we laid on the floor. He then went back to mama. He was poking and hitting her, wanting to nurse. I got him to apologize to her and she tried one more time. But a few minutes later he was kicking the wall, then swinging and kicking her. He said “You’re kicking mama.” I laid between them for a few minutes, then we went back in the parlor. He was rolling around kicking the ground and being wild, but calmly so. It was like he had too much energy. We never did play outside, so maybe he didn’t get enough exercise today.

He laid down by the door when I wouldn’t let him leave. He was clearly sad, and said “Sorry”. I said “For what?” And he said “I don’t know.” I told him one more Puffin Rock story, in which Silkie is upset when she can’t go to the center of the island and play with the other animals, but later she can swim to Bernadette’s island and save her. August then wanted the toilet, so went on mine. “I’ll do one more story…It’s about…Beat Bugs.” But then he started singing. After a couple minutes he suddenly took his pants off and said “I want to take my pants off. I want to be naked.” Finally, a bit after midnight he was looking exhausted. I went to get him a new diaper. He laid on the reading area and I put that and his pajamas back on. We had a little talk where I said if he went back in to Mama he had to be nice and silent, etc. He kept saying “Yeah” to each thing. We went in at 12:12 and by 12:15 he was asleep.

 

Logan’s house. Making squares: 

Squished together: 

Watching Beat Bugs: 

Making sure he is full: 

Library: 

After his nap. Cold in the backpack: 

Being silly while he eats gummi worms: 

Home. Making them static: 

Watching: 

Bath: 

Washing: 

Cute: 

Chinese list: 

Reading notes:

Hiding in the closet: 

Our weekly visit to Children’s Grand Park

8:26…Came out and looked around and whispered “Nursing…find mama.” When I told him she was at work he threw himself down on the carpet and needed some alone time (I asked and he said ‘yeah’). Told him I’d be out on the couch. He came out after a few minutes and he wanted iBooks. Opened that and he wanted the music book. We counted some rhythms and he made up some songs. Taught him whole and half rests and ties. And he was curious about chords. We then used YouTube to pull up videos of some of the songs: “I Love Trash”, the Flintstones theme song, something from Mary Poppins, and, briefly, a cringeworthy religious song.

He then said he needed to pee on the toilet: perhaps the first time he’s done so with his diaper still on.

We got banana bread for breakfast, and he wanted to see images of electric eels. So pulled those up on his iPad. Then watched Puffin Rock and I took a shower. Started getting ready to go and he had some peanut butter. We made towers with Duplos and knocked them down and pretended to be sad. A few times through the morning he did his Jaws music alligator attacks. He then pooped on the toilet. He has the whole sequence down – closing the toilet, flushing, then washing his hands. He started playing with the pieces of the train track. He came out and got me, as I was getting ready to go, and wanted me to see his shape. He said (quoting Puffin Rock, I think) of his own shape: “it’s wonderful…it’s brilliant.” Then “Hey dada. Crush it and I’ll be sad”

He then wanted to sit and have me tell Puffin Rock stories. I told 3:

– Oona and Momma Puffin catching fish. Oona struggles, then finally catches 3. On the way home, the great full knocks two out and seagulls get them. It knocks the third out, but Momma Puffin hits the great full before it can grab it. She grabs the fish and gives it to Oona. Hey fly home and Oona feeds it to Baba.

– Baba in the kelp forest gets squirted by an octopus. Turns his feathers black.

– baby seagull tried to fly. Fell on sand. Bernie found. Seals helped to attract the other seagulls.

He got ahold of my phone and added a bunch of punctuation to stuff I’d already written. Then pooped on the toilet again.

Then, we spent several minutes on the toy piano. I introduced the terms ‘scale’, ‘chord’, and ‘arpeggio’ to him and he was intrigued by all that. He made a short descending line that he repeated a few times.

Getting out the door was a bit of a struggle. So many clothes to get on. Two pairs of pants, but then he said they were too tight. Took the outer layer off and put different pants on instead. Tried his bigger shoes, which he was intrigued by, but then he wanted his green ones back on. And he starts to get warm so quickly once in the backpack that I have to rush out the door.

On the subway down I introduced him to the Notion music notation app which I had just bought. It allows you to write musical notation by playing on a piano keyboard. He was very intrigued by that. At Children’s Grand Park we grabbed some smoky eggs and a sandwich to go with what we already had for lunch, then walked to the cafeteria in the children’s museum and ate lunch. He kept quoting Mossy from Puffin Rock: “Oh no! Where’s my pile of berries?”

He had pooped, so I changed him. I mentioned that this would be a good place for him to start using the bathrooms, and he immediately wanted to go pee on the toilet. So we went and did that. He liked the little toilet, and liked flushing it. He was covering his eyes to the other toilets and urinals though, so after he went, I held him and we flushed one of every other kind of toilet/urinal in the bathroom to show him they weren’t that loud. He still covered his eyes on later trips in, but I don’t think he was as concerned.

He walked down the main ramp to the second floor and played in the space area: the running thing, the circles that light up, etc. He was intrigued by a thing where you dance along to a alien on a screen. He watched other kids doing it for a few minutes, then just watched it for a couple minutes on his own. Just barely started to copy the alien a bit himself when he decided he was done.

Went from there to the construction area where he operated the crane for a bit. Then there is an electric chalkboard thing that we’ve never played with. The color changes as you write, and then eventually it fades away. He colored on that for a few minutes. He played with the floor tiles for a second. Thought he would get really into that like he did last time he played with them, but he did not. He kept quoting another Mossy line: “Now you see me, now you don’t.”

He walked up the other ramp to the third floor and played in the water area. Played in the big kid area, with the little water gate things. Turned a crank several times that he wouldn’t have been able to do before.

Then said he needed to go to the bathroom. Peed and did the whole routine, we got out of the bathroom, and he said he wanted to do it again. So back in we went.

Then to the little kid area. Pretty much went straight upstairs. He wanted to put something in the oven but kids were in the way. So spent most of his time mixing teas and having us sip them. He came up with some interesting tea varieties: “This is Mongolia tea. It has sugar in it.” “Cocoa very hot tea…it has salt in it.” “And this tea is BOY tea.” On our way out he went down the slide. Then got distracted by the puzzle area. He knocked one puzzle down, but then didn’t want to help clean up. He told me to do it, as he was playing with a ball. Made him sit on my lap until I was done, and got him to help a little.

We were talking about what we were doing next. I was already assuming he wasn’t going to take a nap, and I had told him we could go to a coffee shop. Now he said “I want to go to the coffee shop…I don’t want to fall asleep.” I told him he didn’t have to and outlined what I had planned. He excited responded with “That’s a good idea!” Finally, he rolled a ball back and forth with a woman several times before we left. We did the toilet routine one more time, then played around with a water machine before heading out.

We walked to the coffee shop. I mentioned I was going to the downstairs one today. He wanted the upstairs one instead. I was carrying him in my arms and said we could go upstairs if he walked up the stairs. He said “No. Dada carry you.” So we went downstairs. We got a strawberry smoothie. He played more with the Notion music notation app and I did a little reading.

We headed out about 4. In the backpack. Walked out the back entrance and to Daiso. Carly wanted a new cutting board as ours is getting kind of gross. Found the cutting boards. August insisted on wood. He was starting to get warm in the backpack and wanted to get out to choose one for mama. He looked through them, and chose a bamboo one. He walked down all the stairs, we paid, and went into the subway station. Remarkably, the escalator in the entrance they were still building when we left in June is now open – finished in a matter of months, unlike the one at the other end of the park that took two years.

Crowded subways. He stood the one stop to Gunja, we transferred, and he stood a few stops more until a seat opened up. We snacked on crackers and only got the iPad out for the last few stops.

At Hagye I asked him how he’d been on the walk to Daiso, as we hadn’t put his second pair of pants back on. He told me he wanted a second pair on now. So we put those on and got him in the backpack. As we did that, the cleaning woman knocked over the cup holder by the bending machine. August exclaimed “Wow. That is pretty loud!”

We were home at 5:40. Surprised to find that we had beaten Carly. When she arrived a minute later she used the doorbell thing, which August found really exciting. First time we’d been on the answering end of that one. They nursed and he ate alphabet pasta and t
hen a couple bites of my soup.

He and I figured out a lot more of the Notion app, and he composed one called “Mama” that he then played for her. We did some play dough mixing. Carly gave him a bath. We read the monkey book. And before bed I made sure to brush his teeth. He’s been resisting it again, so didn’t do a good job this morning. He was asleep at 8:30. Carly had to go in once about an hour later as he woke up.

Subway map: 

Dancing with the alien. Sort of: https://youtu.be/4_rLk_2exsc

Crane operator: 

Spinning thing: 

Turning thing: https://youtu.be/q_H8hBv8et4

Mixing teas: 

The Mama song: 

Painting

His brilliant shape

Hiding for no apparent reason

Flushing the little toilet

Hiding from the toilets

Cutting board for mama

Banana bread and electric eels: 

His marvelous shape: 

Hiding from something: 

Composing: 

On the toilet: 

Water area: 

Flushing the toilet: 

Hiding from the urinal: 

Climbing in the kitchen area: 

Cutting board for mama: