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He was up at 7:22. Silently walked into the parlor, and curled up on the reading area when he didn’t find Carly. I went and sat by him. After a few minutes he sat up and sort of slid off the reading area. His first word was “Hug”, which he said a couple times. So I leaned over and hugged him. His next words were requesting to watch Peppa Pig. So we watched some Peppa Pig together. We watched the story where George goes to play group with her. After that story, August was asking what a word meant, but I didn’t know what he was saying. We went back and watched it again, and it was Peppa saying ‘colour’. August didn’t understand her accent on it. I noticed he was a bit stuffy, but we talked about our day, and he still wanted to go to the aquarium. He did some writing on paper, then playing with door magnets. He wanted Siri, and we talked to her a couple times during the day. Then skyped with my parents for a little over a half hour. They got to see the nice bruise on his bottom from falling on my mug the other day. He spent much of the time typing and sending emojis to them.

We got ready to go and finally headed for the aquarium. I had asked him what animals he wanted to see, and he had repeated pufferfish, manatees, moray eels…basically the same list we had come up with last night. Did the walk from Cheongdam to the COEX Mall. As we walked the stairs down into the mall, he said “you’re going to touch the spoon worms today.” We stopped at the same bench and ate a little lunch, but he was in a hurry to get to the aquarium.

We went in only to find there’d be no pufferfish today – the first set of tanks was closed. We found everything else on our list though. We were in for maybe a little over an hour. Went more quickly through the first few sections, until we got to the touch lab. Spent a lot of time with the sea stars and shells, and I lifted him up for the spoon worms. We found the moray eel, and he waved to that. And we got to a beaver sorting through pieces of wood and pulling a piece around. And when we went through the funny fish tanks section, he pointed out the phone booth one and laughed about it. Looking at a tank that was supposed to be like the Great Barrier Reef, there was a many-tentacled we really liked. He looked at that for quite awhile and sang the ABC song. The last place we stopped was at the penguins, and we watched them swim for a couple minutes.

Sat out by the lockers in the aquarium entrance and ate some crackers. August started acting out the Peppa Pig hide and seek story. He’s pretty cute when he scrunches his eyes shuts and counts to ten. He was then looking for George in the lockers. He had me join in a bit. We changed him in the changing room there, then got going.

Walked east from the mall, and he fell asleep soon enough. Found a coffee shop attached to a pen and notebook store. He slept from 2:06 to 3:35. He woke up, looked around, and said “you found an L word”, pointing up to ‘Lanybook’ in the pen/notebook shop. “Two Os…make oooh.”

We got going. Walked up the hill and through the park and playground, but he didn’t want to get out. I specifically asked about all the different toys, and he said no. So we headed home. We went to Home Plus, mainly for parmesan cheese. He was talking about ‘glitch’ for some reason, and I commented about that being a word in a Figure sound, though I couldn’t remember the whole name. He said “maybe the Figure sound is glitch berries.” He spotted jelly drink things, so I let him get an orange one for us to split. We paid and headed home. Outside, he started talking about electric carpets, and said “electric carpet goes bzzzzt.” Don’t know where that all came from, although we had talked about the electric eel earlier.

At home, I had some pear and prune juice, which he jokingly calls “parrot and prune juice”. Carly got home, and a bit later Megan and Torrey came over for some tax advice. We had just told him about Megan, so at first he only wanted her there. But then I suggested hide and seek, and Megan hid from him, and he was excited about that. I talked to Torrey, and Megan played with August. After awhile we were all in the parlor. August wanted to know what piano was in Korean, so I told him. Megan tried to write it, but didn’t have it quite right, and I showed her. August took the opportunity to tell Megan “Good job trying Megan…good job trying Megan right there…” He said it several times.

After they left, we had a good time playing with Siri. Got her to sing a couple times. He was with Carly for awhile, then upset when he tried to get my iPad and I said no. Eventually, I gave him a bath. A hair washing day. He was in the parlor with Carly after that. Carly said something about moving to some country, and August had a different idea. He said “We can go to India and speak Chinese. That’s a great idea.”

Carly tried to put him to bed a bit before 9. Once again it was a two times out sort of evening, with me watching home while Carly tried to get to sleep. The first time they both came out. He closed and locked the door. Again he had said something about me getting a tissue, but that didn’t happen. He wanted to play in his bird nest, and I was feeding him a worm. Asked what it smelled like, and he looked up at the photos on the wall and said “smells like grampa…tastes like gramma.” Pretty sure that is a compliment, as his worms are always yummy things. He did some art, and Carly went to bed. He cleverly remembered that Siri was also on my watch, and started playing with that. We read the Peppa ballet book and Peppa’s Windy Fall Day.

I took him in to bed, saying it was past 10. He asked what that meant and I explained. In the bedroom, he looked at the clock and read/said the time: 10:02, then said “it’s past 10”. Carly got up for a minute a bit later. August still seemed pretty hyper when she tried to get him to lay back down with her, so I asked if he needed to come cuddle with me. He said yes. I picked him up, and started whispering to me for the next few minutes. He was talking about wanting to go outside. I just held him and he put his head on my shoulder as we walked around. I told him to close his eyes and try to go to sleep, and he closed his eyes and whisper counted, like in hide and seek, and then made sleeping noises. He wanted to get down on the reading area. I wouldn’t let him do anything but lie down or cuddle. Did that for a few minutes, then he wanted to go back to bed with mama. Finally, he was asleep at 10:30.

 

A fox, I think: 

Aquarium. Pretending to feed them: 

Touch area: 

Waving to the moray eel: 

Walking through: 

Shirt at Home Plus: 

Home: 

Siri: 

Hide and seek:

Bird nest: 

Admiring his work: 

At some point during the night he was really laughing in his sleep. He turned the light on a little before 7, waking me up. He went out to Carly and I went back to sleep. They skyped with Vivian for quite awhile. I heard her telling him knock knock jokes: “…Lettuce.” But he replied “Lettuce is a vegetable.” Carly was then having him say “That’s funny, Vivian.” After I was up, we did piano keys together. He then saw the name on the xylophone, and wanted to write it on paper. So we took the xylophone in the parlor and did that, then did more writing. That led to the Hangeul, which led to looking things up on Google Translate, which led to him making Korean syllables on the magnet app, which led to him giving me a lecture about the ㄱ and the subtleties of its ‘g’/’k’ sounds in the onset and coda positions. Really. After that he switched to Loopimal and was doing some dancing. A bit later, Carly discovered that Siri is now on her computer, so the two of them were playing with that. A couple of the random things he asked Siri: “How many pockets Siri wants?” And “What’s a bow wow called in the morning?”

He and I did some of the Peter Rabbit puzzle while Carly went to the store. He managed to get on my iPad, typing, but was then in the app store. He would click on an app and find it funny when I said “Are you trying to get apps?” He was writing on the paper, and saying “That is a toy you play with when you’re 77 hundred years old” and pointing to the ceiling (because obviously you would be really tall by the time you are that old). He fell backwards and just clipped his tailbone or butt on my coffee mug. It slid backwards, barely spilling any tea, but must have hurt him a bit. He noticed Carly was gone and wanted to go outside and find her at the store. I got us dizzy, and he cheered up. He then wanted to go back to the parlor and work on Korean workbooks. Did that until Carly got home, then he went and startled her by screaming when he saw her. He wanted to nurse, and fell asleep from 12:25 to 1:29.

Carly had been making nutty noodles, and August had some before we left. I took him outside so she could do some work. Except it had started to rain, and August didn’t want to leave Carly. Got him out the door about 3:15, and he wasn’t happy about it. It was pretty wet out – too wet for a playground – and after dropping off compost I initially told August we could go back up. But then I suggested we do a quick walk by the stream, and he didn’t object, so we walked that way, singing A ah Apples and Ants go Marching. He kept asking to go home, so we were headed back, but then I remembered the shows were closing at the Buk.

He liked the idea of heading there, so we went to the museum, and first to the play area. He climbed up into it, and managed to get over the turning thing. He said “The baby fox did it” He got stuck coming back, but eventually did it, and said it again. Still acting like a baby fox, he curled up and said “baby fox is sleeping” and “baby fox is hiding in the sand.” And he said I was dada fox. He had me feed him fox food through the netting, and was also a fish at one point, wanting fish food.

We then went to look at art. Went downstairs to the children’s gallery, but it isn’t a children’s show for the next couple months. There was one piece – a chalkboard and tons of chalk dust – that we both liked though. Went back up into the main galleries. Our main reason to go was to see the blow up waving people things, as it was their last day. Alas, they weren’t turning on anymore. But we looked around a bit, and ended up upstairs, where he listened to/watched the one with headphones and words going across the floor. Did that for quite awhile, and did some dancing.

At home he opened the door back up to look out in the hall to “check to see if something wrong.” Don’t know where that came from. Ate nutty noodles for dinner, then was with Carly and looking at our Asia puzzle. He said “Jeff wants to go to Kazakhstan…Zinnie wants to go to Mongolia.” And was talking about other countries. We had talked about going back to the Buk at 6 for a concert that was being set up, but he decided he wanted to stay home. He worked on his art, then was singing Ants Go Marching, with the little one stopping to say “How bout we get some coffee?” He wanted to watch Peppa Pig, and we watched the Polly Parrot story, and he really liked the hide and seek one, getting excited when Peppa hid from George. He went back and watched it a few times. He got frustrated when I wouldn’t let him use Siri, and ended up nursing. We read some Peppa Pig and the new cat book that was on sale on the iBooks store – Tiptop Cat. He ate some more nutty noodles.

He was saying something silly and I said “that doesn’t ring a bell” and he found that really funny. I gave him a bath. At some point after that “aye caramba” came up and he really liked that as well. He wanted Siri again but it was time for bed. Read more Peppa (kind of a constant nowadays) and 123 Peas, then Carly tried to put him to sleep. He got up after awhile, telling her he wanted me to help with the snot. But when he got out to me, he actually whispered to me that he wanted to talk to Siri. Carly had gotten up as well, and they tried again. But he came back out about 9:30. I read a little, but mainly we looked up Korean words from his notebook. I took him back in and he was asleep about 10.

 

Photos. Are you trying to get apps?:

Baby fox sleeping: 

Back home: 

Watching Peppa Pig: 

W on his head: 

He was up very early, at 5:30, just a bit after Carly was up. I believe they skyped with Chuck and Cherie at some point, and did math: He was writing really big numbers and Carly started to show him how to put commas in. Also, he wrote a subtraction problem that went into the negatives, so she drew a number line and introduced that. I was up around 7. He was making words out of magnets, and of one said “Maybe that’s an awesome music group.” We read Peppa Pig, the swimming and ballet ones, while Carly took down recycling. After she got back, he kicked me out of the parlor: “Dads go out there.” They read Pooh and nursed. He was then doing the shape matching game on the iPad, but wanted Carly to finish the actual shapes, so he could do the art/decorating part after each one. He had kind of a new whining sound to him as he was asking her to do this, saying “help mama. Help mama. Help mama.”

He took an early nap, and not an incredibly long one at that: 10:05 to 11:15. When he came out he was wide awake and ready to play, going straight to the iPad, and not mentioning nursing. On the iPad he was doing the Hangeul letters, holding them down so they repeated their sounds over and over. He was then asking me for their tempos. I used the metronome app we downloaded a few days ago to tap out the tempo and he could read off the BPM. He was then using the magnet app, writing Korean words, and learning the proper names of the Hangeul characters. We pulled up the page on Wikipedia that let us read them as well. Spent several minutes on that.

At one point he got up, grabbed my cough drops of the table, and hid them behind the backpack. Pretty random, but he found it funny, and did it a few times later as well. I was asking him why he hid them, and he answered with a chant,  “me, po, do, gu…boom, kablooie…” then started running back and forth in the house and singing. He then went back to making up Korean words: “Maybe that is a toy you play with when you are seven.”

We went for a walk at 1. We needed to pick up cookies at Subway for our dinner later. August was singing ABC songs much of the way. At Subway he was happy to spot a 웨 on a sign. We went to Eunji Park, and August spotted animals on a railing, and called “Rabbit, kinkajou!” He sat with Carly and ate some of her sandwich, and was saying “want mild!” He was remembering the last time we got Subway and they talked about the sandwich being mild. There was a girl that was talking to us, and she said she was 7. August decided to insist that she was 6, and kept saying ‘6’ and pointing at her. A couple of women were also there, and we found out that one of them was from Mongolia. She had a daughter. The woman was a bit touchy with August and he didn’t like that, but otherwise we all kind of talked and played on the structure. The Korean woman helped August pronounce the park sign in Korean. August was asking who spoke Korean and who spoke English. To Carly he said “You speak Korean mama?” She said she spoke Spanish. He said  “You speak oops words.” Carly asked “Do you speak oops words?” And he said “A little.”

We headed home. I rested and they did big numbers and typing. After that, we were getting ready to leave. August didn’t really want to leave – seemed a little nervous about going and meeting Logan and family. Closed the door to the parlor at one point. But convinced him with the idea of going down and getting ice cream and it being a secret.

We headed out and stopped at Baskin Robbins. Subway had been out of chocolate chip cookies earlier, and now Baskin Robbins was out of chocolate ice cream. Got a coffee and chocolate flavor. We walked over and took the bus to Wolgye, and walked to the park where Derek was playing with the kids. August played with Logan’s dump truck and we found beads and he buried them in the sand. I pushed Logan on the swing a bit. Jill came, and had Logan’s tricycle. Carly and I took turns pushing August on it. At some point August said “enjoy yourself”, which he said was from Pooh. We check later, and it is. He also said to himself “you’re a good climber…you’re a good builder.”

Derek and I walked to Paris Baguette to get buns and drinks for dinner. Carly and Jill took the kids, and were playing at the playground outside the apartment when we got there. August had been kind of upset and wanting to nurse, but the climbing wall thing cheered him up. He was reading the sign on the building in Korean and said it maybe meant “People Building”, then he wanted to go see Logan’s toys in it. He changed his mind and didn’t want to go inside, but I convinced him with a reminder of the ‘secret’ ice cream.

Inside he played with random toys. Logan had stickers and was putting insect stickers on Carly, and August joined in with that. He got Logan’s scissors, and pinched his hand in them and was bleeding. Carly had to nurse him, and he wasn’t happy about washing his hand off. But no need for a bandaid. He liked the rolls, but didn’t eat much BBQ pork. Finally, he said “Want to go home…want mama and zinnie and dada to go home.” His sign for being tired. So quickly to dessert. He was excited about sharing a raspberry cookie with me, and more excited when we let him eat some of the ice cream.

He did fine on the walk home in the backpack, singing numbers songs. We stopped for milk, then were home about 7:45. Carly made him some eggs and broccoli and he watched that. He went to the iPad, saw the Pooh book, and was singing lines of “Coddlestone Pie”. He ate his eggs, and quoted the Peppa Pig ballet book, saying “our favorite dance was the pas de deux”. We skipped a bath – I was amazed he had made it this late – but I got our toothbrushes out and brushed his teeth. He went to sleep a bit before 9.

He was up at 6, and Carly was already up. When I got up a bit later he was hungry, and I made us some toast. After Carly left, we read some Winnie the Pooh, then watched the bookends episode of the Winnie the Pooh cartoon again before switching to watching Spanish songs. He played with the door magnets and we ate quesadilla and banana. We made a couple letters out of Duplos, then I rested while he played on the iPad. A bit later I was feeling better, and started talking to him about our day. I got as far as saying “I was thinking…” and he said “Kwangwoon University”. But first we were looking up the songs from the Hangeul up on YouTube, and watching the videos. He started singing to “Tell Me” and dancing to “Wolf”. He watched some phonics/words songs, and while watching the “Controlling R” song (https://youtu.be/lIGDpEVPzCw) he saw a horn on an animal and wanted to see one for real today. He was a bit upset when I said we probably wouldn’t today. We brushed our teeth, and he picked up my toothbrush and wanted to brush my teeth. He looked in my mouth as he did so and said “Ooh, teeth look very messy.” He was then doing a lot of art, only using the red pastel, and managed to get it on his hands and then on the chair and pillow and floor. He was happy to wash his hands in the sink though. Finally, before we left he was talking about counting jars of honey and pockets and handkerchiefs: “and one jar for a hankerchief”

We took the #9 bus to Kwangwoon University. Bought some kimbap and juice and a sandwich for lunch and walked up to a little park, 연천내어린이공원, and sat and ate lunch. Had fun joking around on the couch, then he was getting tired…I know when he’s ready for a nap because he asks if we can go home. Headed off and walked up to the top of the university and walked around campus until he fell asleep. Walked down to the main road and found a coffee shop, 베르데, where he slept from 12:24 to 1:41.

We walked up along the stream a bit and found the playground at the southwest corner of 영축산근린공원. That is the big hill south of APIS. August and I walked over it once a long time ago. We started writing in the sand. He is focused on final consonant sounds in Korean, and said “it more makes a t sound to me.” He wanted to write ‘sometimes’ and then we were talking about English words and he wanted to list words that end in K, have OO, etc. He was also saying Kwangwoon University in Korean. We stopped and had a snack, then played on the play structure a bit. There were two older boys, and they found a shovel and brought it over to August. He started playing with it, and was trying to pour sand on them. We did some talking with the boys – they told us their names. We played on the slide a bit, then after the boys left August wanted to write their names (the best we remembered them) in the sand. August also spelled ‘pig’.

We walked home, north to the main street, then the usual way home. August was singing a song, and said it was a spider song. I didn’t catch the connection. Then he said “Maybe got-me” means ‘spider’. It took me a moment to realize that he was correct, having remembered it from class the other day. We spent most of the rest of the walk singing Ants Go Marching. At one point he said they go marching “in the usual way” (a Pooh quote). Then he started to give insanely long numbers and explanations, like “go marching 8 billion 5 million 11 trillion 6 hundred 5 in a car in a tree…”

Got home at 3:45. He started coloring on the paper, and just making art – that is, not just writing letters, but choosing different colors and drawing abstract lines. He was really focused on that for a long time. He kept saying things like “Look at all that nice art…I did lots of art for dada.” “I’m doing lots of work.” I laid down on the reading area to rest, and he came and laid down with me for a minute, curling under my left arm. We got ready to go back out to Home Plus, and just as we were changing him to go he decided he wanted to watch Peppa Pig. He was sad when I said no, and we almost didn’t go. But finally I said he could push all the buttons along the way, and that got him. Nice how that worked, as he pushes all the buttons anyway.

At Home Plus he wanted to crawl on the floor. But got him back and we ordered pizza, then did our other shopping. Wanted to crawl on the floor, but I got him back by the pizza place and he played on a table and chair there, then played with the swinging door and marveled at the pizza oven and its lights and buttons. Got our pizza, then he laid on the floor while I paid for our groceries. Then I was holding him, and he kept asking if he could nurse, and reaching down my shirt. I carried him home, with the pizza propped on the stroller.

We got home a bit after Carly. I had some pizza and went to lie down. They nursed, read some Pooh, did some art, and played on the iPad. I heard them singing  “I like to make mistakes…” I came out, and played some Classify It with him, then he took a bath with her. He was then getting out of the bath to draw one of his bath words, then explaining what it was, then going back in the bath to make another word: MRBHI “…goes past the museum we have not been to…to the university…transfers there…goes up to the sky…” KXA “that’s a snake…that’s a centimapede…and that is that…” “PT is a kind of snake” Carly had drawn something, and August called it a ‘superworm’. He then started to call Carly ‘Carly’, and was doing it repeatedly: “How you doing Carly. Hey Carly, where’s your computer? Hey Carly, you’re messy.”

A bit later, while Carly was taking a shower, he went to the window and was looking out: “I’m thinking a sad thing…sad thing right there…a man…likes to smoke a piglet on a stage…” Got him to bed a bit later, and he was asleep about 9:00.

 

Being lazy: 

Waiting for pizza: 

Studying the pizza oven: 

On the floor at Home Plus: 

A long sleep…he didn’t come out until 8:52. And quite the routine he has going on. Once again he laid down on the carpet, and didn’t speak for several minutes. His first words came at 8:58 when he started sounding out the ‘fort’ sign. From there moved to the paper, where we were sounding out and writing Korean words like 포로로 and 포비 and our names in Korean. We read one Peppa Pig book, but my voice couldn’t handle much, so I suggested we watch Peppa Pig instead. Pulled up Netflix on the iPad, but then he saw Daniel Tiger, and we watched the first episode of that. He was quite into it, asking lots of questions. Also, the second story in it is the doctor book we have, so that was fun. From there we did apps and art, and got ready to go to class. He wanted to read the Pooh section on pockets, and he now insists that it is “71 pockets” Finally, I asked him what we should do later, and he said “Maybe we can go to Kwangwoon University…fort museum.”

Headed out to class and got there a little late. It was all about shopping – they pushed little shopping carts around, scanned items on a scanner that beeped: “later…orange juice…lots of noise.” In this case he liked the lot of noise that the scanner was making. Also, near the beginning of class he was talking about me smoking plastic. Not quite sure where that all came from. I asked him where he got that, and I thought he said something about the no smoking signs. The teacher was talking, so I didn’t really follow up on that. August didn’t do a forward roll again, but at the end of class did a great job of saying bye bye and thank you and bowing to the teacher – going back multiple times to get it all done.

After class we were walking out, and August decided to start crawling through Home Plus and singing. Then he was on his hands and feet, then on just his knees, then lying down…then he was doing circles while on his hands and feet. We walked over to the closest part of the park (by the water faucets) and he did more crawling. He also spotted graffiti on a rock and was reading that, then spent a lot of time sounding out the Hangeul on an inscription on a plaque.

At home he went straight to a poster and was reading it. He said “dada practice Korean”. He went to the paper and wrote 배 (off the poster – means boat and stomach) and was doing art: “Look at that art. It’s red.” We made a salmon sandwich and ate that, and read some Pooh. He then wanted the iPad: “I’ll do what music group, okay? I’ll be right back.” Went in the parlor and closed the door, then brought it out and played out here. No nap for him, but I needed a rest. I laid on the couch and he sat/laid on me and watched his word songs on YouTube. He let me doze off for awhile and rest, although he wanted me to look at things a couple times.

I was feeling better, so in the afternoon we got in the stroller and went out for a walk. We got Mama Juice (he wouldn’t hear of going to King Kong Juice). He got orange pineapple and I got a coffee. Got up to Chrysanthemum Park and played there. He climbed up the climbing wall, sat at the top, came down with my help (working on getting down), went back up, and then did the route around the top. He did much of the rope bridge by himself, then got a bit scared and needed my help. Made it, then did the wood bridge and got to the part around the platform. I climbed up on another portion and helped him just a little to get down to the platform. There, he laid down and did a lot of talking. A couple of other kids came and were getting on it, and he initially said “No” to them (strikes me that this is the first he’s really told someone ‘no’ since I taught him to say it to his Teuni Teuni teacher – he also said “No no no” today when he did the walking path, but then didn’t want to do the forward roll). I told him he had to share and he was okay with it. He also started talking about Smurfs, and was asking them how to climb.

He went down the slide, then we spent some time writing Korean in the sand before heading out. We walked over by the stadium. He spotted the globe thing and we were sad to find out that someone had vandalized it, breaking off the handles that let you open it up and scratching off some of the ocean. I pointed out where Oma and Opa were, and then he had fun pointing to spots on the globe and asking who lived there. Was able to give him a few people. I told him someone lived in Indonesia, and he was trying to figure out which island “Maybe it’s this one. Maybe…”

Headed home. Carly was home when we got there. August told her about our juice and coffee. I went to take a rest, but August was acting very tired and started crying. I came back out after awhile. He recovered, and took a good bath with Carly. He came out wearing his froggy towel and kneeled on the floor and was writing in the air. He made it until 7:15 and went to sleep.

 

Thinking about Hangeul: 

He came out at 7:43. Once again quiet and laying on the floor. He then wanted to read a Pooh story – the one with “Numbers”. I.e. buttons on suits. Read the word ‘sometimes’ and that reminded him of “and sometimes Y”. Which reminded him of YouTube videos. So watched some letter songs, then did some Korean, and ended up watching Spanish songs. I opened a MaraNatha peanut butter. August pointed in it and said “Zookeeer in there.” That was a joke of his from back in the spring. I laughed and said something about being surprised that he remembered that. He then said “Dropping water bottle on your foot…remember that…when you were a little baby.” Not sure what event he is talking about, but sounded plausible.

He also said “I’m in charge. K says that.” Not sure where that was coming from, but later at the park he was saying it and singing EIEIO and other lines. I think it is from a letters video he must have watched when I was showering or getting snacks together. He also asked me “Dada do oops words on French.”

We sang some Ants Go Marching…and would do that a lot on our walking. I have here that he said “How bout we just go home.” That’s something he says when he is ready for a nap when we are out. Can’t recall why he said it while we were still home…probably a joke. Anyway, he then caught a glimpse of my phone screen and was pretending to read it: “zookeeper…just boring stuff.” Finally, he was tapping his peanut butter spoon on the counter and started talking about “If I hold it loose…if I hold it tight…tap tap tap…” That was the lesson I gave him on drum/xylophone stick holding I gave him a week or two ago.

Got headed out 10:30ish. Mentioned going to the doctor, but it sunk in when I got out at the second floor. He started to whine, but I asked if he wanted to watch me get my flu shot first. He settled down, saying “Dada. Not Zinnie.” We went into my clinic and I held him the entire time. He was fascinated when the woman washed my arm, gave me the shot, and then a bandaid. He leaned over and watched from a few inches away. The doctor gave him two little Tootsie Roll pops, and the nursed put a bandaid on the back of his right hand.

Then to his doctor. It went amazingly well. I talked about how it was like the Daniel Tiger book as he went through the exam. He tensed up for the few seconds while we pulled down his shirt and held him for the shot, but otherwise just found it all a little ticklish. When we were done, he said bye bye to the doctor, then bye bye in both languages to the nurses and waved to them.

In the hallway I gave him a Tootsie Pop. His first lollipop. I handed it to him and he asked “What can you do?” Went across to the park and he had more of it, then we got in the backpack. He handed me the stick when he was finished.

We walked towards a couple schools by APIS. Walked the back route by the university to see the big construction site. Got to 신창어린이공원 and sat and ate lunch. He was then singing that EIEIO song, and then “The A says ah ah ah…” song. Spent a long time just eating and playing by the bench. Then had to change him. Went over to the play structure and he played on the end of the slide, holding himself up by the hands and lifting his feet off the ground. Leaned forward and fell on his face, but he recovered from that. He looked at a stone wall and said “want to do that game…all the way to this beetle…stream.” I let him walk along it, holding his hand. Then to the play structure. Did the xylophone sort of thing, then he watched the big kids on the swings, and examined his bandaid. Did the shaky bridge/stairs, which he insisted on doing himself. Did well, but got stuck on the last step, which was a wider gap. There was some Korean graffiti in there, and he got excited by it: “Can we do that? Want to write that painting in the sand.” Went down the slide, and we got our stick and spent the rest of the time writing in the sand. We were writing ‘월계 (Wolgye)’ but he wanted me to spell the Korean part ‘gay’ instead. He spent a few minutes writing the two versions over and over. He pooped again, so had to change him once more before leaving.

Got walking, across the stream and to a coffee place I wanted to check out. Then to a park we hadn’t been to in quite awhile. Before he fell asleep, he really started talking about…something “Kiss the J” sounded like part of it. He fell asleep from 2:14 to at 3:32 at BMT Coffee. I woke him up at the end.

Didn’t have time for the park I intended, so we walked to the park across from APIS where we would meet Carly at 4:30. Along the way we sang Ants go Marching, and I would stop at “ants go marching…” and he would fill in the rest. He did random numbers, and then ones like “70-window, 70-bench…”

At the park we read some Peppa Pig. A little girl walked by and knew Peggy Pig. Then What Would You Feed the Monkey? August wanted some Larabar, and joked about what was in it: “What’s in ther? There’s crab, eggs, soda…” Carly showed up, and he wanted to play with her. Climbed up the rope thing, and from there discussed flu shots with Carly, looking for her injection site: “It’s around there somewhere…up here or down there…mama feels better now.”

Played around and down the slide a couple times. And some loud singing. He was walking around and said “That was a 7” He had done that earlier too. He fell down, and needed some nursing. Then we left.

Walked home, talking a closer look at the construction site. He wanted to go into a bakery and was upset when we didn’t. Cheered him up with more Ants Go Marching. We stopped at the pink building for some fruit, then home.

I had been developing a sore throat, so I went and rested for awhile. They nursed and read Pooh. He came in and sort of patted me and laid his head on me when Carly told him I was sick. He kept quoting the Pooh story through the evening: “Pathetic, that’s what it is…around the mulberry bush.”

A highlight of the day definitely came after Carly asked me about a little jam jar. August started telling a long story about how it had been in the fridge, in the vegetable drawer, and how it had fallen out of the fridge and made a mess and then we cleaned it all up. Complete with lots of visuals. And all fiction. It was a pretty complete story, with a beginning, middle and end. Building on the Biscuit steps on a… stories we’ve been telling.

After that he started to do some dancing like Vivian. He and Carly must have watched that recently. I did show him a little ballet a few days ago, and he’s been reading that Peppa book a lot, so that could have reminded him as well.

We read the swimming book, then Carly took over reading Peppa, as my throat couldn’t handle it. She took him in for his bath, and he wanted to smell spices, so she took some in so he could smell them. I had some instrumental music playing when he came out, and he did some dancing to that. We did math on paper while Carly showered. He then did more dancing, and wanted me to join him: “Zinnie dada do TVXQ together.” I showed him a little of that Wolf and Beauty video, so he knows that TVXQ also dance. He had to go pee, then he said “What Tia Cassie say?” Confused me, but this is apparently a thing between him and Carly.

They went to sleep, or at least seemed to. They came back out and Carly read him the What Would You Feed a Monkey? book. After that he was ready to go try again and was asleep around 9:30.

 

Photos: 

Reading What Would You Feed a Monkey?: 

6:52. Like yesterday no fuss. Laid down on the rug for a couple minutes, then said “Where paper go?” We did some drawing/writing, then got up and made oatmeal for breakfast. He wanted to watch something on my iPad. I started by showing him a few minutes of The Smurfs. He was intrigued, but wanted the letter videos. So we started with the Silent E video and watched several. He liked one with the vowels hiding, and was learning about ‘sometimes Y’. He started making up shape names, one was “wytrionicle”, and drew them on the paper. Did some of the new Korean apps, then made funny sentences. He was looking through the lists of words, and asked me “What quantities mean?” He had read ‘quantities’ on his own. Finally, he played some Endless Reader for the first time in months. Which was cool, because he was clearly reading a lot more of the words now and sounding them out. As we got ready to go, we were discussing/singing the Silent E video. He doesn’t quite get the process, but likes the song, and ends up coming up with lines like “I can change basket to bird.”

We left by 10:45. In the station he started chanting ‘SN’ (we pronounce it ‘snuh’ – it is the name of a store (which has been closed since we’ve been back)). We got down to the platform and he asked what the tempo was. I had gotten an app so we can tap out tempos, so we did that while waiting for the train. On the train down he did the Cookie Monster app. He called one of the colors ‘periwinkle’ (correctly).

At Children’s Grand Park there was some event going on for blind people, including a concert in the theater. So got to hear parts of that. We got some kimbap on the way, and sat by the rectangle pond. We had fun confusing his food (calling the tuna ‘salmon’, etc.). He was sitting on the table and looked over at a sign we’ve never read and read out 피크닉정원 = pee-kuh-neek-jung-won. The picnic part was understandable enough, but we needed to look up jungwon- garden. I had also bought a honey lemon cookie, and he spotted it across the table – “What is that? What in there?” Big smile. He then crawled around our food to check it out. I remembered the books from last time, and went and got those. We then spent quite awhile reading The Ants Go Marching and the colors book.

It was now 12:30, but he started talking about going to the children’s museum. Too close to nap time for that. But he liked the idea of the piano. We walked up and played the piano for awhile. He played and sang a little Are You Sleeping, then talked about a baby crying. We then changed him and got walking. About 15 minutes or so and he fell asleep, from 1:09 to 2:41. Woke up in the coffee shop spelling Korean syllables/words: “Hangeul ㄷ Hangeul ㅣ…subak…” He was still in the backpack for a few minutes, and facing one of the transparent purple chairs. Looking through it he said “I see pink and blue and maroonish and orange and brown and…”

He got out and walked around a little, then wanted to go to the children’s museum. He dutifully carried the card to the counter, got our ticket, and carried them to the entry. We went in and he chose the Idea Transformer area. There, we spent quite a bit of time playing with the recycling conveyor belt thing: first correctly sorting them, then ‘oops’ sorting them, and saving them before they got to the end. He did the black magnet shapes a bit, and I showed him the hologram robot thing that teaches you to bow. He liked that, and bowed to it a few times. But then there was a machine where you vote for your favorite inventor. It was broken, and August got sad about that, and started talking about going home.

I walked us out and pointed out the chalk board, which we haven’t done recently. He liked that. The girl before had left a self portrait and her name written on it. So first he wanted to copy her name. Then, he started making up names for her, silly and not: “Here name is 나3…her name is 나누…” (The latter is ‘sister’, reversed. He’s learned that word in the newest app, but may have been a coincidence.) When he was done with the chalk, he made sure we fully erased it. Then went in and played with the cotton ball things, putting them in the window. Then took him back to the light stuff. We did some building, but he had started to talk about going home again. Then, he sat on the ground. Another kid bolted away from the blocks table, didn’t look where he was going, and ran right into August, falling on him and kneeing him in the face. Worst part was that when the dad got his son up, he didn’t have him apologize to August or me. August was definitely ready to head home.

He had calmed down and stopped talking about heading home by the time we got to the station. He’d been talking about the ‘Wolf and Beauty’ song that he knows in Korean through the day, and as we walked by the stained glass window he pointed and said  “there is beauty”. He then wanted me to do “Oops beauty”. So I pointed at the ugly ceiling and said it. He thought that was funny. A new game. On the way home, he started talking about ink: “Dada’s out of ink…buy buy…here is some ink for dada…for pencil…you can write with it.” I’m not sure where that came from…Pooh? Maybe Darong (the dog) spills ink in one of his Korean apps?

In the elevator, he mentioned the doctor on the second floor. I said we should get our flu shots. He interjected “But not now” I agreed, saying it would be busy now. He then said “maybe we get our flu shots when it’s not busy.” Got home around 4:30 and Carly was homes few minutes later – early, as they had been sent home as the internet wasn’t working. They nursed and read Pooh, and counted buttons on suits. He came out and played with his Hangeul magnets, focusing on the sounds the consonants make in the bottom (coda) position. He made a syllable and said  “That is the flower’s name outside.” We played Figure together, then read Peppa Pig books. A little more Korean app, then eating enchilada and mushrooms for dinner. He took a couple bites of mushroom using a spoon on his own. So it definitely seems to be a drip thing – he doesn’t want to control anything that might drip. At some point he wanted to nurse, and insisted “mama agrees.” They nursed, then were talking about pockets. Carly was asking how many pockets each person has. He said Kayla has 200.

I picked up August, and we were dancing to a My Autumn Empire song. He randomly said “Octopus doesn’t live on land.” He was then humming to the song. Then talked about “And sometimes Y.” He wanted to watch letters songs, so I let him do that while I got his bath ready. Carly gave him a bath, and he came back out wanting to watch more letter songs. We were watching a “A is for…” song, and they would list several words. He would then ask what each thing was – even the ones he really knows. When ‘horse’ came up, I said “Don’t ask about horse.” He thought that was hilarious and made jokes based on that, and of course was later asking “What horse is?” He also randomly said “Don’t answer that.” Which as far as I can figure he’s probably heard me say a couple times to Carly when I say something like “Do I ever forget anything? Don’t answer that.”

I said it was almost 9 and we’d have to put the iPad away. He turned it right off. But he picked up his ipad, went in the parlor, and closed the door. Came out a few seconds later to pee. On the toilet, he said “Pee out there”, whispering and pointing. I asked where, and he said “Carpet”. He had leaked a drop before coming out to the toilet. Very cute how he handled it and told me. I told him it was just fine and thanks for telling me. We went back in and I said he could do one word on the Korean app. He agreed to that. We then went in to bed. I told him to choose a book while I went to the bathroom. I came back to him being very silly with Carly. No book though. He chose Kipper’s Birthday and we read that. He wanted me to do oops words, so I did things like calling Kipper ‘Bisc
uit’ or Tiger ‘Tigger’. He had fun catching those. Left them a little after 9.

He came in to the parlor around 9:40. He sat with me and we read a couple Peppa Pig books, then took him back in at 10:05 (he read the clock) and he was soon asleep.

Photos: 

Lunch: 

Evening: 

August walked out at 6:35. Walked into the parlor, saw that mama was gone, and laid down on the reading area for a couple minutes. Silent. Then went to the front door, opened it, and looked down the hall for a minute. Silent. Then back to the rug in the parlor, laying down. Then out to the wood floor, curled up. Finally, at 6:48 he made his first noise, looking up at the magnets on the door: “dada do oops word with Korean.” We played with the magnets, then put the keys in the piano and he played and sang. We went in and used the paper and blocks to count buttons on suits, then he wanted his iPad, and did the Korean apps. Later, we were taking care of imaginary beetles and superworms. We had cereal for breakfast, then he ate peanut butter from a spoon when I made a sandwich for lunch. He spent time tracing and writing in his Korean workbooks, then he wanted to “Confuse Olly”, that is, the Octopus that acts on stage in the A Ah Apples song. Back to Korean apps for awhile.

We got ready to go and I put pants and a long shirt on him. No complaints. In the backpack, I put socks, and then his new shoes on him. No complaints. That was nice. We headed out, and took the #9 bus to Kwangwoon, then line 1 downtown. Got off at Jonggak and walked north. Stopped at the temple to look at the dragons and flowers they have in the entryway, and at a GS25 to get some kimbap and mango jelly juice. August got quiet while we were walking, then was shaking his head around, being silly.

We stopped at our spot behind the MMCA and ate lunch. I told August that we heard a chicken last time we were here, and he wanted to hear it again. He was taking bites of kimbap and took a bite that apparently was too spicy for him. He played his confusing game at one point, saying  “You can do the stage in the morning…you’re trying to confuse dada.”

It was getting close to nap time, but he was excited about going to the Folk Museum, and I knew he wasn’t going to want to take a nap first. So we headed to the Folk Museum. Of the two play areas, only the one about trees is open – the other one, about tigers, etc. has closed and is being replaced. It will be open later in the month. Anyway, we went up and got him out of the backpack. But he was starting to get tired. Before we went in to start playing he said “want to go home.“ But got him in and he wanted to play with the blocks. But first he said “What are they sad about…the monsters.” He had spotted the video with the said monsters from across the room. He had been intrigued by that back in the spring. Took off his shoes, and he wanted his socks off. He was fine putting them back on when we were done though. Played with blocks, then into the house to play with the food and dishes. Then with the typing thing. He told his own  ‘Biscuit steps on a super worm’ story, and randomly asked what a ‘dodecahedron’. We’ve talked a lot about shapes, but I don’t really know where he got this. And in trying to explain, without any visuals, he then said “never mind”. He did the sawing and planing of a board, and some hammering. We were then ready to go. But he spotted the art stuff. He drew on a bird shape, and wrote ‘Hi bi’ on his own. Then finished by doing the rubbing thing and writing/coloring on that.

Headed out, changed him, then got walking. Walked north of the art museum and he fell asleep. Found a new coffee shop, Cafe No. 37 (possibly named after the one in Stratford? It was the only similarly-named coffee shop that showed up on Google Maps before I added this one.) and he slept and slept and slept… 1:37 to 3:39.

I woke him up, and then we went back to the Folk Museum to play in the dragon playground for a few minutes. On the way, we stopped to look at some art at Barajas, and to check the dates on the Anish Kapoor exhibit (until the 30th – we’ll be back for that with Carly). We played at the play structure (it actually has a wooden dragon head with steam coming out of the mouth). He climbed on the climbing walls, then we sat and ate the rest of our lunch.

We got headed out, stopping outside the MMCA to look at the outside piece (a overturned piece of an old ship, with trees growing in it). On the walk to the subway we bought 붕어빵 (the fish-shaped bread with beans in them) and shared those. Got a seat on the subway and headed home. Off at Kwangyoon, and the bus home. August was incredibly calm and happy all day. The only time he started to get upset was a couple minutes before getting home when he wanted to stick his hand out the window and open the window more and I wouldn’t let him.

At home I tried to start the presidential debate on YouTube, but August saw it and wanted to watch ABC music videos. So we watched that for awhile, then he nursed and I was able to start the insane debate. Carly and I did a lot of cringing. We ate enchilada and played on the iPad. Carly offered him some spinach and he said “No. But thanks for asking.” He wrote in his Korean workbooks, then we read part of Walking the Bridge of My Nose. I tried to read The Giving Tree but he said no, it was sad.

He did a lot of math with Carly, getting into big multiplication problems. He wrote one with a Y and told her “Y stands for 12, mama.” They did a lot of singing of their song “I like to make mistakes because we get to learn.” He was getting climby, trying to climb on the drawer thing once, then standing on the books (and asking me to fix the wall), then climbing up on the desk.

Back out in the living room he played with magnets, making fake Korean words. We said it was time for his bath and he said “I just want to play till we go to bed.” Carly gave him a bath. At some point he said “easy peasy”. After his bath he saw my phone and wanted to talk to Siri. I said it was about 9, so we could just do it for a minute, then would get books. He agreed to that. We talked to Siri for 2 or 3 minutes, then he went and grabbed 4 or 5 books and carried them to the bedroom. We read What I Need and made a good tune to the song in back, then read Night Becomes Day. Then read Peppa books. At one point he climbed down and off the bed and, I thought, went to find Carly. But then I heard the front door open. He tried going out in the hall, naked, but we wouldn’t let him. Pretty straightforward bedtime after that, and he was asleep by 10.

Photos: 

He was up just before 7. Nursed and read Pooh with Carly – the Piglet and Kanga story. He and I put in the piano keys and played the piano a little, then he wanted on the iPad and did the Hangeul apps. He watched some of the Formula 1 racing with me, and was intrigued by all the numbers on the screen. Carly made oatmeal for him for breakfast. He was then acting like a puppy dog. Then he was doing math using the blocks with Carly and the Pooh pillow. August was counting pockets. He counted my pockets, then said I had a crazy amount of pockets, so I had to go grab a couple of coats and shirts and hung them from my head, then pretended to be a monster. I slimed him, but he said “Just dirt…not slime.” Which is his response any time you say he has slime on him. He and I then read the 123 Peas book, then they skyped with Chuck and Cherie. He did some art with Carly, using the new paints and then adding stickers. He likes to give us silly names, and was saying “Mama’s name is to-gee (Korean for rabbit)…mama’s name is hedge (which was on one of the stickers).”

He and I played with the animal magnets in the changing room, then he made a little nest/cave in the corner of the room, like the fox. I helped use the drawers from his clothes to make it. He then curled up, then said “You wake up and you’re a beautiful butterfly.” He then had a lot of fun talking to Siri. At one point he kept asking her “What does that mean? What does that mean, Siri?” Referring to the nonsense words he had been saying before that.

Carly started our Sunday cleaning, and we joined in. August really got into putting stuff away (“Sorting” he called it), then vacuuming. He then took a nap, sleeping from 1:05 to 2:30. After waking up he read some Pooh with Carly. It was the part about planning to kidnap Roo, and August got sad, but wouldn’t explain why.

After awhile, he and I got out on a walk. Carly had gone to the store, then came back and started making enchiladas and did some work. We walked east to check on the science center that is being built. Didn’t think it was done yet, but wanted to check the progress. The building and landscaping look done, and the big fences are down. But it doesn’t open until April. Then walked just south to the park. Walked to the playground, but spent the first 10 minutes or so looking at the stone sign, tracing the Hangeul. Then found some beads and walked along the edge of the stone wall, holding my hand. Then we went over to the playground. He climbed up, then went down the fast slide once. He had me do a lot of fixing of the playground. A few older kids showed up and talked to him. He wasn’t too bothered by them, although one boy kept getting in his face, and his mom told him to back off. We were looking at a Pokémon sign someone had drawn in the sand. August sang a bit of our ‘Lulu chingu dae…’ song. Basically, it is a song from one of his Korean classes, but we change ‘Lulu’ to different syllables he makes out of Hangeul…Nunu, Say-say, etc. He brought that up. It was starting to get chilly and dark (he was in long sleeves, and had complained a bit when I made him put on his sweatshirt) and I convinced him we should head home. He was looking at the park sign and counted “6 syllables”.

Paused in the park to watch a little singing and the big mask festival puppet things. We saw these with Chuck and Cherie last year. The concert in the evening was when August was dancing. It was 5:30 now, but the big concert didn’t start until 6. We didn’t go back out for it.

At home he wanted to do Korean on the iPad. He walked into the kitchen and Carly didn’t see him and bumped him into the counter. Sad boy after that. We read Biscuit Wins a Prize. He said ‘simple’ for something, and I was wondering how he knew the word. He told me: ‘“Simple’ is in Peppa’s Windy Fall Day.” I changed him and he wanted to stay naked after that. We ate Carly’s enchiladas for dinner. August was asking what cooked beans was all about, so Carly was teaching him about the dry beans and the different kinds. He was really liking that.

They were counting pockets again, and August turned it into a multiplication thing. August said “7 pockets in one suit” and we wondered how he knew ‘suit’ – but he knew his source: Rabbit says it in the Pooh story. He was excited when we understood what he was talking about. At one point he said “Multiplication!” He was writing multiplication problems on the paper, when suddenly he wrote 사이 (‘Psy’). He’s definitely learning from that Hangeul app. Just not important stuff…

He cuddled on the reading area and was pretending to sleep. He said “You wake up and you’re a beautiful butterfly.” again. He wanted to type, so I let him type to multiple people on Skype – sent a ton to Carly. I gave him a bath. Carly had been cutting up grapefruit and he wanted one piece as he went in. Then he decided he wanted more. Ended up eating a lot. At one point Carly asked “More grapefruit?” He said no and then “Thank you for asking though.” He wanted me to play the confusing game, and specifically wanted me to confuse each piece of grapefruit: “Dada confuse that grapefruit.” And at one point he randomly said “Ask your mother about that.” I know I’ve said that in the past, but don’t know why he pulled that out now.

Pretty straightforward bedtime after that, and he was asleep about 9:30.

 

Photos: 

His cave: 

Park: 

Beans: 

Math lesson: 

Nest: 

He was up at 7:22. I had my book group meeting via Skype starting at 7:30. While I had my meeting, Carly and August skyped with Vivian and Cassie, and played iPad and read Winnie the Pooh – and probably a lot more. At one point, August opened the door to check in on my meeting. He said “What the meeting about?” I had said that August was into Winnie the Pooh, so Peter B. was reciting the lyrics to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “House at Pooh Corner”. There was a lot of laughter, and August asked “What they joking about?”

August was typing on Carly’s computer, and wrote ‘Baby bhygtfreq’ He then said “Maybe that’s a doctors office….baby’s go there…when they’re sick…baby’s can go there…when they’re 77 hundred years old…maybe!”

Carly took down recycling and brought back deliveries. August was then popping bubble wrap all on his own. He was then walking on it, pretending it was water.

We all went outside to the park. Derek was already there with his two kids. August was surprised to see them and didn’t want to interact at first. He and Carly went on the teeter totter, then had to go off to nurse for awhile. Came back and went to the climbing wall, then climbed up the metal ladder thing and walked back and forth on the shaky bridge. He really wanted to dry the slide, but I hadn’t brought a towel.  He and Carly then ended up over in the dinosaur footprints, and he waded into the puddles in them. Logan saw that and got involved. He slipped a couple times, but August managed to not get totally soaked.

They headed off to get lunch and we headed to Home Plus. Carly went ahead as August was being slow walking. In fact, he kept wanting to crawl on the floor in Home Plus. Think he was being a kitty or dog. Downstairs, he and I went to the diapers section. He now wears size 5, but wanted the size 4. Not sure if he wanted Mickey and Minnie mouse instead of Pooh, or just liked the number 4 better. Anyway, he got upset and didn’t recover. We paid, and Carly carried him the entire way home. He didn’t really calm down until we were in our hallway. He fell right to sleep and napped from 12:20 to 1:40.

We finally figured out a plan for a walk and headed out in the late afternoon. We got coffees and a strawberry juice for August at King Kong Juice then walked up to Nowon. We went to the big Lotte and Carly went down to see if they had butter, as our two stores have been out of anything vaguely American for the last couple weeks. She found one possibly acceptable spread. We then walked east. That entire main street was closed off for the Nowon Mask Festival. We watched some drumming and singing (the singing seemed to be to a skit/performance showing planting and harvesting). Then continued on and got Subway sandwiches again. August said “I want tuna again.” As we left I saw the seafood one and suggested we get that next time and he liked that idea.

We went to Eumji Childrens Park. Sat on the bench with us and ate some turkey sandwich. It was getting chilly, but for awhile he resisted a sweatshirt (Carly had convinced him to put on his cloud long sleeved shirt at some point by saying he was Pooh pretending to be a cloud): “I’ll stay cold.” Made him wear it though. Eventually got up and went over to the grass area he had ‘weeded’ before. Did some stomping on the stump and then throwing out of dry leaves of grass. Over on the play structure he climbed up the little climbing wall, then went down the slide once. He was having a blast, but eventually we convinced him to head out.

Got home. He ate some of my sandwich. I had installed a couple of Korean apps on the iPads that Carly had gotten as recommendations from Korean parents/teachers. August and I tried those out. Better, but I’m still not very impressed. Carly got his bath ready and came in and said he should take his bath while it was still warm. He didn’t want to take a bath at first, but then wanted to go in and check. He went in and touched the water and said “It’s still warm.” Carly gave him his bath. He randomly started reciting The Giving Tree: “Shook with joy…come boy…come swing on my branches and eat spray bottles”  (that’s a joke of his at the end – it actually says apples). So Carly read him the story while he was in the bath.

After his bath, he and I ended up in the bed. We read the Peppa Pig books, then read 1 2 3 Peas, which we had first discovered at the children’s library last winter/spring and I just found on the iBook store for cheap. We had fun with that, and counted the 100 peas at the end. When they were ready to go to bed they kicked me out (literally: August said “Kick out dada” and started pushing me). I made a joke about playing with Duplos by myself. That was a mistake. They nursed for awhile (about 9:30) but then August came out and tried to start playing with the Duplos. I wouldn’t let him though. He sat with me for awhile and we read a Peppa Pig book and the What Would You Feed a Monkey? book a couple times. He then said “Want to fall fast asleep” (referencing the line in the Bedtime for Peppa Pig book when she falls asleep) and went in to Carly and was asleep at 10.

At some point in the day Carly made up a song for him that goes “I like to make mistakes because I like to learn”

 

Our park: 

Park: 

New paint: 

Bubble wrap: 

Climbing wall: 

Home Plus: 

Park: 

Reading in the bath: