This Is Our Blog

So he had slept the last 3+ hours of the flight, and right through the landing. We had to get him up to get off the plane. We did that, made our way through immigration and customs, then had a frustrating experience getting a bus, which had never happened before, with two busses being basically full when they got to us. Finally on our way, August liked the tunnels and seeing all the lights and cars in them. We got to Hagye and started the walk home. August was in the backpack, and very aware of what was going on. He was ready (we were all ready) to be home, and was asking things like “Where is Zinnie and Mama and Dada’s home?” As we walked, he started singing and said things like “trace Hangeul…trace Espanol…trace rectangle”.

First thing he did when we got home was to go over to the piano and play it. We started to get settled in a bit, and Carly took him down to get some food at the pho place. He climbed in the stroller and was ready to go right away. I did some unpacking and made the bed while they were gone. We had gotten home sometime after 7, and by 10 we were all asleep.

Going through clouds: 

Still asleep as we got off the plane: 

Home! To the piano: 

He woke up at 6:30, and thus we were all up about that time. Carly went in to take a shower first thing, and took August in the bathroom with her. He watched an episode of Pororo (about 5 minutes) while she showered. After her shower, he wanted to smell everything in the bathroom. When she wouldn’t let him smell something, he lamented “Want to smell everything.” Later, he was smelling things with me, and I had him put his hands on his head, but then he reached out and grabbed it. He got upset when I then took it away, saying “It is temptening!”

We were pretty well packed, but he hung out with Cherie for awhile as we finished getting ready, and went out with her to clean out and vacuum the car. He liked it when Chuck started vacuuming, and August would hum along to the pitch of the vacuum cleaner. He then just played in the car, pushing buttons. As we got into the car to leave, we did a really good countdown from 10 to get him to hop in his seat. Really should have gotten it on video, as it was the last chance, but I thought about it just a bit too late and couldn’t get the camera out.

We left at 9. In the car he ate Cherie’s yogurt and oatmeal. She asked “Should we call you oatmeal boy?” He replied “Yeah!” At some point I asked “What do you dream about?” “Cows…green cows.” He was possibly saying ‘cars’, but I’m pretty sure he was saying ‘cows’. We were also singing a few songs, like “Yellow Submarine” Cherie started “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands…” And August strongly said “No, no, no, no, no!” He does not like that song. He never used to like the clapping part, but would allow other verses. He’s started to get a little more into clapping (before he would make me switch to snapping) so I thought it would be okay, but he didn’t allow any verse of the song. We watched a little Kipper before getting to the airport.

At the airport Chuck and Cherie stayed with us through checkin, then visited while Carly and August nursed. We said goodbye and August at least gave Cherie a good goodbye, but he was focused on getting to ride the escalator. But as we went up one escalator, we could see Chuck and Cherie going up on the other side of the terminal. We got to the top and August was able to wave across to them. We then went through security, August in the Ergo, and then walked to the main part of the terminal. Carly got spaghetti and I got chowder and cornbread and a banana from Ivar’s. Carly got us a table and we ate. August really loved the chowder: he would put his arms up and go “Mmmm” after every bite. A couple sat with us. They had been on a cruise in Alaska and were on their way home to Oklahoma. The woman was a missionary, and brought up the Trump craziness. So, felt good to meet a couple of strongly religious people from Oklahoma who were anti-Trump. There is hope.

We headed to the gate. August got down and we practiced escalators, going up and down a few times between there and our gate. At the gate, he went with Carly to the bathroom, and with her to get a drink from Seattle’s Best Coffee. Later, I took him around to watch planes out the window taxing, landing, and taking off. At one point he was shuffling with his back against the wall in front of us, singing a Korean tune. Seemed like he knew we were going home to Seoul. He was also playing around, putting his head on the floor, and crawled under the seats once. Carly took him to change him, but he wanted to do it there. I told him people didn’t like diapers being changed in the middle there, and he said  “people like changing on the floor”. Then, he said “you seem sleepy” to himself. He was totally falling asleep, and our flight was 30 minutes late in boarding. Watched some more Kipper, and got him to stay awake, and we made it on the plane.

He was a bit timid about the plane at first, but obviously remembered getting food on the plane last time, as he kept asking for the food on the plane, and would wave his arm around above his head when asking about it. Sadly, the flight attendant said there was no kid meal ordered for him, and they didn’t bring him a Pororo bag like the other kids. But we did get them to bring a meal early, and he ate mainly pasta. Carly took him back to change him, and he hated that because the bathroom was so loud. He was trying to get out in the aisle at one point, and finally Carly let him out. He said “I’m here…Mama let you. Mama changed her mind.” A bit later they walked up the aisle, and then didn’t come back. I went and found them; August had found a girl about his age and was playing around. The girl and her older sister had taught him a phrase in Korean, but I don’t remember what it was. August was saying funny things and jumping around and making the little girl laugh. Carly went back to her seat for awhile and I stayed with him. After a few minutes he suddenly ran up the aisle, and right past Carly. As I caught up to him he turned around and had a kind of shocked look on his face. Got him back to Carly, and he then fell asleep, from about 4 to 6.

After that, he was up for a few hours. He mainly stuck to Carly and sat on her lap. He came over to me for awhile and we did art on the iPad, but I felt a little bad because she was having to do all the work. At one point, she stretched out on the two seats to rest, and August really did want to cuddle with her, but he had to do it from standing on the floor; no room for both of them. And he wouldn’t stay still and up on my lap to rest next to her. But eventually, he fell back to sleep and slept the last 3 or so hours of the flight.

Cleaning the car with Oma and Opa: 

Counting to get him to jump in the seat: 

Airport: 

Our plane: 

Plane: 

A long but good last day. August was up at 6:20, which was quite early. He nursed a lot and was then pretty clingy to mama for much of the morning. Cherie skyped with Cassie, and August was very excited and making a lot of noise. Vivian told him to go tickle Opa, and he did, chasing him around the island. He would then go back to Vivian and suggest himself “Go tickle Opa” and then go chase him again. He and Carly did art on the big paper, writing ‘Z Z’ and ‘Zinn Zinn’. He read ‘Z Z’ then patted his chest. He then wanted to play in the bedroom while Carly started packing, so I watched him in their. He ate cereal and toast for breakfast, then played with Oma while we packed. They first went down to the sandbox, I think, then went and picked a peach. Brought it back in the house and he ate the whole thing. They went upstairs and he played with the buttons on a fan, and helped her take apart her feather board (should have gotten a photo of that one before she took it down). He wasn’t interested in the feathers, but loved the pins, and finding out which color was on the head of each. He then carefully put all of them in the pin cushion.

We were going to go visit Steve and Claremay, so got in the car. He played in there for quite awhile before we left, pretending to drive. He would pretend he was driving somewhere “Turn to the ocean” and then drive some more and say “Now we’re back!” We did go to Steve and Claremay’s, and Carly went in and started talking to her grandpa while August played longer in the car. I took him in at one point, but he didn’t want to play with the toys inside and we ended up back in the car. But eventually he wanted to go in. Claremay gave him a fresh green bean, and he wanted to go pick things in the garden. We went out and he picked a pea, but rejected the green bean. We then picked an apple and he ate part of that. We took a photo of Carly, August, and them before we left.

We had thought about picking up lunch at La Tarasca, but decided we were running late, so just went to Safeway. Did our shopping there. – Carly and I confused each other when I thought she had said ‘graham crackers’ and she had actually said ‘garden burgers’, but then she didn’t remember saying that to me when we entered the store. Anyway, confusion solved, we headed home and he went and fell directly to sleep. And slept and slept, 12:40 to 3:40.

After he was awake, we went down to by the sandbox with Carly and Chuck. played with sand a little, but mainly did other things. Got the little ball, and he threw that around, sort of working on overhand. He asked Carly what ‘beer’ was in Spanish. I took him down and we picked a peach and a plum. Back in the house he ate the plum, and much of the peach. Then we had dinner: a delicious pasta dish (had bitters in it), and fresh squash and green beans that Claremay had picked while we were there.

After dinner, I went to the store because we had forgotten a supply of medicine for August. I told August I was going and he said “Okay. Bye.” Listened to some of Hillary Clinton’s speech on the way down. Came back to find Chuck and August rocking in the rocking chairs on the deck, singing a nonsense song. Apparently they’d been doing that since I left. Got to see the end of it, as August then started to tip it over.

We went for one last walk with Chuck and Cherie – perhaps are last through the wooded area down the street. August was in the backpack. He started yelling “Safeway!” at cars as they passed. Totally his joke. I think after the first one he said something about “maybe going to Safeway.” We walked through the trail area and came out the other side, then walked up the road and picked a bunch of blackberries. August finally ate the ripe ones! And kept eating them and eating them. Several from Chuck and Carly, then I had a whole hand full of them as we walked back to the house, and August ate all of them.

We got home and ate apple pie (Cherie made it from apples Claremay had picked) and ice cream. August had his fill. A really good day of eating fresh food. I gave him a bath. He wasn’t happy about it, but Cherie saved the day by pulling out a frog hand puppet washcloth thing and using that. He really liked that, and the rest went fine and I was able to wash his hair. Took him down, and he was asleep about 9:45.

Morning:

Claremay and Steve’s. Picking and eating an apple: 

With Seve and Claremay: 

Nap: 

Sweeping: 

On a walk: 

Evening: 

He slept until 8:10. After nursing, Carly came out, and he kept looking at Wheels on the Bus and singing by himself for several minutes. He then sat with Carly and sent Vivian and other people messages on Skype. Carly would ask what he wanted to say, and he would come up with his nonsense words, them wave and say bye at the end. Carly took a shower, and we wandered around the house. At one point we watched the worker on the roof of the garage from the second floor windows. Chuck and Cherie had left early in the morning to take Cassie and Vivian and Colin to the airport. They then had some lunch and did some shopping before coming home. August was excited to have them back, and was interrupting Cherie on the computer by playing with her mouse. They then did the beanbag song together a couple times, using stuffed animals as the beanbags. He’s also pretended to eat things or people a couple times, saying “Chomp!” as he does so. Think he did it to Cherie or Carly at one point, with some food, and then later at the park when we saw a birthday cake drawn in sidewalk chalk.

We were leaving to go to Shaefer Park when Steve and Claremay came by for a minute to drop off eggs and visited from the car for a minute. We then drove to the park. August took a long, long time to get out of the car. The car is easily his favorite toy now, pretending to drive, opening and closing the doors and vents and windows, and turning nobs for the air system and stereo. Went down and we waded and played in the river. Lovely weather for it. He was throwing rocks, sort of underhand, which was fine until he almost nailed himself on the head with a big rock. After which I was trying to teach him to throw overhand, with limited success. He would do it while I held his hand, but on his own he would start with his arm up, then sort of jerk it down, then throw up like he was doing before. But, he was starting to get it down by the end. After awhile he started to say “now you can go to the car.” after he played for a minute or two. Wouldn’t insist on it, and would then play for another minute or two and say it again.

Before we left, we took a walk across the bridge and through the forest. We did this last year with Chuck and Cherie and it had rained on us pretty hard by the end. Today warm and sunny. I remembered taking a photo of August looking over Carly’s shoulder last year. This year, he did a fair amount of the walking and wanted to find blackberries. We did, and he had fun pretending to be pricked by the thorns and going “Ouchie, Ouchie, Ouchie!” Or things like that. We kept walking and he kept talking about finding more berries and pokey things. He also liked finding the snow berries, and squishing them between his fingers, but they weren’t as exciting.

We saw the sidewalk chalk while we waited for Carly from the bathroom, then played in the car a bit more before heading on our way. Drove down to the credit union in Chehalis to deposit some cash, then stopped by Safeway and got sushi for lunch and a few other things we needed and for dinner. August was acting tired, but he had slept 11 hours, and when we got home he started playing and never seemed close to going down for a nap when Carly nursed him. He played with Carly and Cherie for quite awhile, around the house and then upstairs too, then came down and Carly got out the artichoke she was cooking. I sat with him and taught him how to eat artichoke and dip it in mayonnaise (which Carly likes much more than me, so I’m not really allowed to eat it). He then sat with me on the couch and did art in Paper on the iPad – both the first time using the new Apple Pencil for him and the first time he’s really done art on the iPad since we were on the plane on the way here. Funny how things change when suddenly there are no other kids around. To underscore that point, when he was done with that, he was talking to himself and said “What else to do? You can read a book.” Also, as he drew he changed the colors and layered them and talked about it: “I wonder if the pink changes color…I wonder if the yellow shows up?”

Evening was a bit of a handful as he was in a no-nap state. But she still had a lot of fun. Carly skyped with Cassie and he gave Vivian and Colin a big greeting. After that he was a handful, and finally I got him in the backpack to go for a little walk. At first though I took him out to the porch to put him in and he covered his eyes. I asked if he wanted his hat and he said “Yeah!” Should have thought about his sunglasses. We told him he couldn’t fall asleep. And we first walked left on the main road (after walking down the hill and around the turnaround, at his request) until it turned the corner and there was no shade. We walked back the other way, singing “Yellow Submarine” together and learning the words. We then sang “Driftin” and he sang along a bit, then I got a message from Cherie saying they were starting dinner soon. He engaged in a conversation about heading back, but then as soon as I did he started putting his head down. So I started running and singing, and he was laughing even as he kept his eyes closed and had his head tilted back. Made it home and got him out and got him awake again, and in fact he got pretty hyper.

We ate dinner outside, and he ate some asparagus and greens, but absolutely loved the beets, which he ate more and more of, using a fork. Their neighbors from across the street (Kelly and Court, I think) came and visited, and August ended up playing with Court, kind of hitting his hand instead of giving him five. They had a dog, Guinness, that is really nice. August was petting her, but then chased after her when she walked away. I had to get him and teach him to be slow and gentle, and eventually he was able to pet her again. Carly left a burner on and the house was filling with smoke, so she and Cherie got out fans. August liked them, of course, and liked pushing the buttons until we ended that.

I gave August a bath while Carly cleaned the kitchen. We used the lavender soap to wash him, and he did a good job of cleaning his own neck. We went down and did a little more playing, and he managed to stay awake until about 9:30.

Morning:

Holding Carly’s hair: 

Park: 

On our walk:  

Falling asleep but laughing: 

Dinner. Meeting a neighbor: 

And the dog: 

He was awake at 7:30 and they did a lot of nursing. Once he was out and playing, he figured out how to put one hand on the small table and one hand on the chair and raise his feet of the ground, suspending his body in the air. He was happy about that. He then found the tape measure, and we spent the next several minutes measuring Colin and other things, like peoples’ feet. His favorite toy was the microwave, and he and Colin were playing with that. I made him a cheese sandwich and he ate that. Vivian slept in, but finally was up, and after awhile we (us and Cassie) took the kids to the Fiddlers Coffee, which we had never been to before, so Cassie could download some new apps, etc. for Vivian for the flight tomorrow. August and I looked at the food choices and settled on a savory croissant, which he then ate most of. The kids played around, and at one point we went upstairs to check it out. Vivian and August also played on the iPads a bit. We left there and stopped at the PostNet store so I could mail the headphones (that I got free with the iPad) that I had sold on eBay.

Got home, and everyone got out. Except for August, who played in the car for a long time. Eventually we headed in, and he took a nice long nap, from around 1:40 to 3:20. They then played outside for a good amount of time, and their outfits showed a bit of the difference between August and Vivian: August insisted on keeping his long sleeve shirt on, and he also wore is brimmed hat. Vivian, on the other hand, after getting wet took off all of her clothes. Eventually, Cassie and Carly ended up in the entryway, drinking ice water, while the kids played around them. Vivian and August filled up cup after cup of ice from the dispenser and brought them back, sharing with Colin, who was having a blast putting ice in Cassie’s glass and eating it. All went well except the one time that Colin dumped it out. Colin was also drinking from the glass, and there was one time that he tried to do it himself. He got some, but poured much of it down his shirt. He gave me a satisfied grin and loudly smacked his lips several times.

The party moved out onto the deck at this point. Vivian and August ended up in the bedroom, playing on the bed. Vivian ran out to remind Cherie about taking the dog ramp to Claremay’s tonight (Misty might want it). Cherie took the ramp out, and a pit later August said  “It’s a T” Carly asked what is a T. “The floor is a T.” He then pointed to the indentations left in the carpet by the dog ramp. August had been doing really well with Colin all day, and at one point the three of them ended up at the bottom of the steps to upstairs. The two of them gave Colin a hug, then I turned away and August apparently hit Colin on the head. Vivian was quite appalled by it (she first insisted that August couldn’t go to dinner now), but I don’t think it was anything more than a pat.

On the way to dinner, I played more of the raindrop game with August. That is, I pretend a raindrop falls on his head, then drips down his nose, onto his lip, down to his chin, and then falls. We had started this earlier, and Vivian had played it with him when I ran into PostNet.

At Steve and Claremay’s August was first hesitant to come in, first wanting to play in the front yard. Got him in and he was fine. At dinner he ate a lot of cantaloupe and a fair amount of everything else. She had made a savory pancake, and we called it ‘pajeon’ (Korean for pancake) and August also kept referring to it as ‘Korean Pancake’. They then went down into the yard and garden. Vivian and August both picked apples and did a good job of eating them. They picked a fig with Carly, and ate that. Then Cassie took the two of them into the garden and they picked and ate peas. Colin played with me and I lay in the grass and he lounged on me, with his head on my legs, and seemed content for a few minutes.

Back home, August did some reading with Carly and Vivian (Thidwick, I think). August got into throwing the green squishy toy (an old dog toy, I think) around, but Vivian wanted to finish the book. Eventually, I had to pull him out, and he got really upset. Got him outside and he screamed a bit. Carly came and took over and he calmed down, but he was a bit off for the rest of the evening. At one point Carly was going to take a shower, but he wouldn’t let that happen. Anyway, he was walking around, saying “Vivian, don’t go in the garage…Vivian, don’t touch that. It will make Oma sad.” Not that Vivian was trying to do those things, but he was copying/repeating the things that Carly has said to him. Carly gave him a bath, and he went to sleep about 9:30.

New words/phrases: measure, pajeon, fig

Coffee shop: 

Home: 

Peter and I had some time to visit in the morning and eat breakfast, then we headed, with Kasiah, up to the Lynnwood pool to pick up Micah from his swim lesson. They then drove me down to the train station in Edmonds. We got out to take a selfie, then said goodbye. I had about half an hour to wait, so I walked over to Waterfront Coffee, got a coffee, and walked along the waterfront for a couple minutes and then to the station. Started listening to the new Invisibilia season. Train came, and I got a window seat on the left. The train was sold out, but I didn’t have a neighbor until Olympia.

Got in to Centralia just after 1 and walked to Chuck’s office. He gave me a ride home. August was asleep, having fallen asleep about 1:15. Cassie and Cherie took Vivian, Thatcher, and Colin to the water park. August woke up at 3:30. After he was awake, he and I played on the bed. He stood on the edge of the mattresses, feet on the box spring, and we talked about the fabric hanging on the wall. On his own he started saying “I also like this one.” That lasted quite awhile, then I changed him. Carly had started vacuuming, so he wanted to do it. He and I vacuumed the laundry room, then he went out on the porch and shucked corn with Carly. I followed him and we wandered around outside and inside, then ended up at the wading pool. Carly and I had just started standing in it when the others got back. Vivian and Thatcher hadn’t had enough and came into the pool as well. August wanted to play with Vivian’s pink shoes and got really sad when she said no. Carly took him and nursed. Back playing, I was holding Kayla. Her eye looked a bit runny, and August said “She has soap in her eye.” Vivian and Thatcher started spraying Carly with water balloons and squirt guns, and August got involved, chasing her around the driveway.

Cherie had ordered pizza, and Chuck picked it up on his way home, arriving around 5:30. We ate dinner out on the porch. Thatcher and August wandered off, and I told them they couldn’t go in the bedroom yet. A minute later, August had gone around through the house and climbed on the bed. He saw me through the window, and, in his Dad voice, said “Auuuguuust!” Got him and Vivian and Thatcher out of there, then a bit later Cherie took Vivian and Thatcher up to the motor home. August had been wanting to go up there since I got home, but now that he had the opportunity he kept getting distracted on the way up; he walked along the boards at the edge of the driveway, working on his balance. Eventually, we made it up and in the motor home. They played with the glass ornament while Cherie held it, tried on everyone’s shoes, including mine and Cherie’s slippers, and played with the dials and switches and air vents – or as much of them as I would allow. We left, and August saw Uncle DD drive the truck down to the lower driveway. So we went down there to him. August played with the stuff around the sand area, and we started singing “Yellow Submarine”. We were talking about them leaving in the truck, and August made the joke “Kayla will drive the car”. He found the container to one of the bubble wands and asked me what it was and I told him. He then told on Thatcher, saying “Thatcher dumped it out.” He kept asking about where they were going, and Thatcher’s house, and I was reminding him about playing in the mud with Thatcher. He showed he remembered that by saying “Thatcher says ‘Watch out August!’”

They left a bit later, and August did a good job saying goodbye to everyone. He got caught in a group hug for Kayla and wasn’t too fond of that. Later, Vivian went up for her bath and wanted August to come along. He played up there, then afterwards smelled dozens of items in the drawers with Cherie, then took a bath with Carly. The two of them read with Carly, then I was with August as he walked up and down the ramp to the bed and did some random counting and singing as he did so. He was then nursing and I dozed off on the bed. But he got back up, and was really thinking about Thatcher et al., particularly their shoes: “Where’s Thatcher’s shoes? Where’s Vivian’s shoes? Where’s uncle DD’s shoes? Where Colin’s shoes?” He was also talking about what makes mama happy: “It makes mama happy if you nuzzle noses.” He nursed again, and was asleep around 10.

New words/phrases: shucking corn, chainsaw

Saying goodbye to Peter and the kids: 

Skyping on the train

Kayla trying to get his corn: 

Eating with Thatcher: 

Wearing my sandals: 

Smelling things with Oma: 

So last Friday to Sunday I headed up to Edmonds to stay with my friend Peter. Visited different friends and got errands done Friday and Saturday, and on Saturday I saw a Chuck Close exhibit up in Everett and visited the old Strand Hotel where my grandpa’s cousin worked during World War II. And on Sunday I visited my cousin Darrin, then my parents and aunt and uncle dropped by to visit, and I ended the day by dropping our car off in Woodinville, where it will stay until next summer, and my friend Peter picked me up and took me back for my last night in Edmonds. While I was gone:

Friday:

I skyped with Carly and August around 8:30. I had been moving fast today, but when I saw little kids at Third Place Books I really started to miss him. August was excited to see me as well, and was immediately asking where I was and wanted me to come home. He wanted to read a book, but when I got home. Carly told him to tell me what he did today and he said “Play” Asked what he played with and he said “Toys”. When asked what toys, he said started talking about coins and spinning them. Carly confirmed that they played with coins again, but hadn’t spun them; August was also remembering spinning coins with me. Monique had also come over with her two boys and they played. And at some point Carly took August and Vivian down to the blackberry area in the trails and picked blackberries. When I hung up with them about 9, August was talking about going to sleep, but Carly thought it would be awhile. He had woken from a 90 minute nap around 3:30. I saw him give forehead kisses to Oma and Opa, then he leaned in for a kiss from me and said “Love you”.

Saturday:

Down in Centralia, Christy and her son, just a few months older than August, came down on the train and visited for 6 hours. August seemed a bit stressed through the visit and wanted to nurse a lot, particularly near the end when Cassie and Vivian took them back to the train, but they did walk to the forest area, and August and the other boy started singing loudly together. August also had some good Opa time: August really wanted to see the generator on the RV, but Chuck couldn’t get the cover open. Chuck was also cleaning and replacing bricks in the garden and August helped with that, and got to use a hammer in putting the bricks back down. He and Carly did letters on the big paper, and when he was in the RV he read ‘reading’ and ‘off’. We haven’t been doing a ton of reading this summer, but I’m sure he’s been soaking up words. Carly had called me just as I left Everett because he wanted to Skype, and I skyped with him just a minute before he took a nap, then we Skyped again around 8. He only took about an hour nap, waking around 3:15, so Carly was hoping he’d get to sleep a little earlier than after 10, like yesterday.

Sunday: 

Got home after 8:30 and skyped with Carly and August.

Learned that things had been pretty crazy there as Thatcher was back in town. A full house. Chuck and Cherie had taken at least some of them (Vivian, Colin, and August?) down to Borst Park for awhile. Still a little hitting, but not too bad. Carly was concerned it might extend to Kayla, but no trouble in that regard. His big scare today was when he was eating and sitting in the high chair. He pushed off with his feet and fell backwards. Carly had him sot his food out as he was in no mood for following. He was pointing to his mouth as if he had bitten his tongue, but when she asked if it hurt he said no.

Friday: 

Saturday: 

 

Sunday:  

He was sleeping in this morning, and at 7:50 Colin got upset about something and started crying. I ran to the door of our bedroom and, sure enough, a second later I hear August asking “What is he crying about?” Morning was mostly about getting ready to go to the beach. I did spend some time with him, looking at the San Diego Zoo books. He really liked looking at all of the animals, and decided he wanted to tickle them. The best was him saying “Want to tickle the snake in the exhibit.”

We left at 9:40. I was sitting in the back, next to August. Carly was driving and Cassie was up front with her, with the two other kids in the middle. Chuck and Cherie drove the other car. We sang some songs along the way, and Colin fell asleep. August wanted to see, but he couldn’t really see Colin, so I took a photo. August wanted to take photos then, and took a decent one of his legs. Vivian was needing a break from the drive, so in Aberdeen we planned to go to the Scoops ice cream and coffee place. I asked what flavor of ice cream August wanted, and he really thought about it: “What flavor in the ice cream you want?…blackberry…want the strawberry one.” Once there, he was most drawn to the bright ones, like sherbet and bubble gum, but really he was open to a lot of them. Carly got bubble gum for her, and I talked August into blackberry revel, which we shared, and I got a latte.

As we continued our drive, we sang more songs, and August started making up songs. He sang about all of the people in the car, and Mama and Tia Cassie being his favorite, etc. Around 12:30 we made it to the cabins at Iron Springs. We went in and said hi to everyone, then all walked down to the beach. Claremay came down with us for awhile, then headed back up. Colin basically threw himself down in the sand and started playing. Cassie stayed with him and the rest of us went down closer to the water. Carly and August started making a sandcastle. Vivian got the bucket and took it down and brought up some buckets of water to pour out. Then she started collecting jellyfish in it. August walked over to the water with Cherie. He didn’t really get wet or anything, but suddenly he started hugging her legs, and stood on her feet. She didn’t know what had happened, but would take the cuddles. Very, very cute. Cassie did bring Colin down for awhile and he was playing with a shovel on the sandcastle, but eventually just decided he wanted to run out into the ocean and got upset when he was told no, so they went back up and I believe nursed and took a nap.

August and Vivian spent a long time in full jellyfish collecting mode. August appears to have really learned ‘yucky’ and ‘ooh’ from Cherie as she responded to this activity, but it didn’t deter him and Vivian from picking up the slimy jellyfish bodies and putting them in the bucket. We had one ‘rogue’ wave that sent us all running back. Cherie had picked up August and run backwards with him. As I ran, I realized it would have been an awesome video, alas did not catch that.

I wanted to try to get August to take a little nap, so I put him back in the backpack and we walked through the entire resort area, and saw all the cabins and viewpoints. Chuck and Cherie and Vivian had headed up with us, leaving Cassie, Colin, and Carly down at the beach. Carly was finishing up her complex of 3 connected sand castles. There were berries along the walk through the forest (which August really liked) and we looked at those a bit, but couldn’t look them up. Anyway, he fell asleep at 3:15 and I put him in the bedroom of the cabin. They had prepared a full meal, so we ate and were stuffed.

He woke up at 4:10. They were about to sing happy birthday to Claremay in the other cabin, so Carly missed that as she was nursing August. When he was up for it Carly brought him over and he had a spicy ginger cookie, which he liked except for one spicy bite, and dipped it in the frosting of the carrot cake I was eating (but he wasn’t too impressed with the cake).

In front of the cabin, August hit Colin again. Vivian is trying to take care of it, and sternly said to August “Go home August. Go to Korea.” Which was frankly very funny.

We drove back the same route. Vivian had heard August playing the Cookie Monster/Elmo letter/word game on the iPad on the way there, so on the return we let her play on our iPad, and August and I watched an episode of Daniel Tiger on hers. Cassie and Carly switched seats in Aberdeen. We were almost home when first August started to get upset. That set Colin off as well, I pulled out the animal crackers again, and August was fine, but Colin could not be placated. He was pretty upset for the last 3 or 4 minutes.

While we got stuff out of the car, August stayed in, playing around in it. Carly got in and put on my sweatshirt and hat. She asked August who she was, and he said “A triangle”. He was wondering what the buttons in the car do and started speculating, but couldn’t decide “Maybe, maybe for if want to move but…woof woof woof.” Like he couldn’t think of anything, so decided to just bark instead.

Inside, he hit Colin again and I took him into the bedroom for an ‘actual’ timeout; ‘actual’ because August actually got upset about it and didn’t find it fun, and had to be upset for awhile when I wouldn’t let him out of the room until he agreed to say sorry to Colin and Cassie and say he wouldn’t hit Colin again. Unfortunately, it still didn’t have a huge impact as he did still more hitting later. Cherie had suggested giving the attention to Colin instead of August; not sure how that will work though, as August seems to be doing it as a game (Colin has yet to get upset) and not out of spite, etc.

Anyway, Vivian had a bath and August watched/played but wouldn’t get in today, then Carly gave him a bath. About 9:30 Carly realized that August hadn’t eaten in quite awhile, so he and Vivian both had cereal while sitting at the island. He was asleep by 10.

On our way:

Ice cream: 

The beach: 

At the cabin: 

Home. Not getting out of the car: 

Evening cereal: 

When August got up at 7:30 Carly was holding Colin, so August also climbed on Carly’s nap and shared her for a minute. She was then able to go in and they nursed. They came back out, and then Carly was setting some things down, cleaning out the car, and the green spray bottle was on top. It fell off and hit August in the eye. August was hurt and felt betrayed: “Hurts!” Calmed down, he then was helping feed Colin. But then he hit Colin on the head, and said “We hit.” The start of a new problem, as he kept hitting Colin throughout the day. Not hard (Colin has never complained), but not acceptable either. August was playing with the spray bottle and I told him he could only spray people with permission, so he was doing a good job of asking, going up to Cassie and saying “Can I spray you?” Cherie was gone, doing errands, so he asked “What does errands look like?” He said he wanted to dip something in my coffee, then said “Dip it…just kidding”. But then also “Want some coffee.” Oh, and Carly has been doing a thing with him when he wants to smell something that she is afraid he might spill or touch where she has him put his hands on his head before smelling. Pretty funny to see.

I had made some toast for breakfast, and August was giving pieces to Colin. Carly was busy getting stuff ready to go, but he wanted to go to her. I said, “Mama can’t do everything.” To which he responded “Mama CAN do everything.” Next, he was sitting next to Carly, sort of between chairs, and I was holding him up, my hand under him, so he wouldn’t fall through. He said “Holding up you (me) so don’t get an ouwie.” I changed him, and got him out of his pajama pants, putting on his black and yellow shorts. He kept on his bee shirt though, and noticed himself that they matched: “Match the shorts and bumblebee.” He was then looking through the refrigerator and smelling things. He wanted to eat a pickle, so I made Carly get it out for him and he ate it. I went and took a shower, then he and I did some art on paper, focusing on W words. We heard Colin crying, and he started speculating on why: “What he crying about? Maybe he wants the snail cup. But Tia Cassie says ‘No’.” There was a series of them. He was holding a package and asked “What is this dada?” Notable because he doesn’t usually call me ‘dada’.

He then ate some Cheerios, in the Abby Cadabby bowl, and made up a little Abby Cadabby song. He and Vivian played on the iPad together for a little while, then we went out and played with water balloons, played in the car, spilled a little Pepsi in there, then excitedly greeted Cherie when she got home.

Carly and I then turned around and took August on an errands run. We went to Chehalis and to the library, then walked to the used kids store and got August a couple of clothing items. He was looking at toys, then Carly said he had 5 more seconds. She counted down, and at one he reached out and touched one more item, then jumped into her arms. This strategy turned out to work pretty effectively though the day. We drove back to Centralia and to Safeway. Carly went in to start shopping, and August and I dropped a package off at Mailstop, then stopped to identify a few flowers before going in and finding Carly. We ended up in the soap and deodorant section, with August smelling everything. Carly went up to pay, and August grabbed a lavender soap and followed her a bit, saying “Pay this, pay this” before changing his mind and going back to smell more things.

We went home, and Carly took him in for a nap. I drove into the outlet stores and bought a few things for August at Gymboree, then a bunch of shirts for myself at Eddie Bauer. Came home, and August was waking up. But Carly nursed him and he slept a bit longer.

After that, we were playing around and August remembered the Wheels on the Bus Book. We hadn’t read it for awhile. We went out and found it in the car and took it inside and sang/read it several times. When we were outside we saw Chuck pull up. August spotted him and yelled, then screamed and ran to him when he got out the car. Good greetings today.

Twice or thrice in the afternoon I tried talking to August after he hit Colin. He was very open to these talks on the bed. But one time as I took him in he said  “Let’s talk about the rules” And another time he gave himself a talk before I could say anything: “Auugust. You need to follow the rules.” Shows he is thinking of it as a game.

We had veggie burgers and vegetable skewers for dinner. He mainly shared with me, and used a fork for some of his veggies and pieces of the burger.

He watched Colin take a bath, but didn’t get in. After that, all 3 kids were in playing on the bed. No hitting by August, and he had a nice ‘be be bi be ba’ chant.

Vivian had helped back the cake with Cherie earlier in the day, and did the frosting after dinner. I had taught August to say “Happy Birthday, Mama!” and “Happy Birthday, Tia!” and then had him say it several times through the day. We had eaten dinner outside (warm enough!) and after singing ‘Happy Birthday’ we also ate our cake outside.

In the evening we took all the kids for a walk while Cassie stayed home. Just along the road, past the trails. August was in the backpack, Vivian in the stroller. Off to a rocky start, as Vivian fell and scraped her knees again before even getting in the stroller to leave. We made it though, Carly pushing Colin in front, then me with August in the backpack, then Chuck and Cherie with Vivian. August wanted to identify several plants along the way, and we stopped to pick blackberries on the way back, from the bushes up on the main road. August ate a couple of red ones, after declaring the purple ones “Too sour” but eventually declared the red ones the same.

Back at home, I read Horton Hears a Who with him and Vivian. August took a bath close to 9, with Vivian. Carly started, then I took over after Vivian was out. He was singing about Vivian’s towel, and ended with something like “Vivian’s towel…My towel is 17 minutes…” He was up late again, not going to sleep until just after 11. They had started a bit after 9, and were really quiet, so I thought they were asleep. Then Carly came out at 9:45 or so, and I was surprised when he walked out a little later. He was up for another half hour or so, then we all went in, and I sang a few songs and he was asleep.

New words/phrases: errands, unlocked, just kidding,

 

Errands: 

Back home: 

Birthday time: 

Walk: 

He was up at 7:30. While changing him he started working on his pronouns, saying “you like it…I like it.” Until now he has used the second person when referring to himself, which gets confusing, but today he started using ‘I’ multiple times. Spent a lot of time playing outside, and wanted to go everywhere with Oma, including saying he wanted to hold Oma’s hand as we left to go to Olympia. Sadly, she was staying behind to paint the garage, so he couldn’t do that. As we got in the car, August was beeping along to the beeping that occurred with the key in the ignition. We left at 10.

We made it to Olympia and first played in the stream area. We had the stream entirely to ourselves at first. All the kids enjoyed playing in it. Although August slipped after several minutes and got upset and went and nursed for awhile, then played with a bush with berries on it for several minutes before returning to the stream. Colin bent over and put his face in the water several times and seemed to like it. Vivian liked when other people showed up and talked to them. Last year, we had a yellow rubber ball (which August and I lost sometime this spring) that we were throwing in the stream and letting float down. This year, I tried to play with the orange shovel in a similar manner. But neither Vivian nor August seemed to get it. In fact, I took it to the stream 5 times: 3 times, Vivian simply grabbed it, wandered around with it for a bit, then returned it to the area with our stuff. August did this twice. Strange kids.

We played there for about an hour, roughly 11 to 12, then walked over to the playground a few blocks west. Along the way we checked on the water museum, which is free, and decided we might stop there on the way back. Right after that, Vivian was running on the sidewalk and tripped and scraped her knees. Got her bandages up though and we were able to keep going. At the playground, Carly left to drop videos and slides off at Don’s Cameras to be transferred to digital, then she walked to a new coffee shop and got the 3 of us drinks. I pushed Colin and August in the swings for a long, long time, and Cassie stayed with Vivian, who was doing a lot of climbing. There was an interesting man walking around talking to himself/maybe reciting poetry. After awhile August asked about Bluie and we got him out and threw him from the swing, then Colin held Bluie for the rest of the time.

A bit after 1 we got going again, walking down to first see the big tree mural, then walking back around to the water museum. Played there for about half an hour. August liked flushing the pretend toilet, cooking in the kitchen area (pretending to pour things in pots, and stirring the pots), and pretending to wash and scrub the big dog. Carly had forgotten one videotape in her backpack, so I had run back to the camera place to drop it off.

We left Olympia about 2:15. In the car, I started singing songs and did some of the songs I haven’t sung much recently. I sang “Imaginary Bars” and August asked me what a bunch of the words “looks like?”, like “made a splash onto the sky” and especially “morning”.

We got home and played outside. They play around outside and got into the coolers from the party, which still have cans of soda and beer in them. And ice. August kept bringing Carly cans and saying “Save it for dinner.” Then had the delicious tofu and corn on the cob for dinner. August again was working on his first versus second person pronouns, trying to distinguish between “my plate” and “your place”. He have been doing the same earlier when talking about Vivian’s bed.

He took a bath with Vivian. Carly hung out with them while they were playing, then I took over and washed him and washed his hair. He is still playing the milkshake game.

After his bath, he was jumping on the bed and once again working on pronouns, correcting himself:  “You like jumping…I like jumping…it’s fun.” We made some reference to ‘family’ and he asked what is family. I explained by telling him people in his family, and asking if he could name any more. He thought and said “Uncle DD is your family!” He then turned it into a joke: “train is your family…dragon is your family.” He actually requested that I sing songs when he went to sleep, and told me to choose them. I sang three songs, like Puff the Magic Dragon. He continued to ask “Looks like?” questions. He was asleep about 9:30.

Stream:

Playground: 

Water museum: 

Outside at the house: 

Evening: 

Photos: