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He slept all the way to 9:30. Made for a nice morning for us, but we were expecting/hoping he wouldn’t also want a nap. When he came out, he did the standing in the door and not coming out first thing with Carly – the first time that has happened; usually he just walks right out to her. After he was up a bit, they Skyped with Chuck and Cherie. He is getting more into Skype, and seemed to be following their conversation a lot. He then wanted the iPad, and was playing Todo Math on the couch. He was doing the months of the year puzzle, and I sat on the table and helped him. When I tried to get up, he said “dada sit” and pointed back to the table. After making green eggs for him yesterday, today Carly made green spinach pancakes. They turned out really well, and quite green.

Eventually, about 12:30 I was getting him ready to head outside. Carly was staying home to do some work and make hummus. He chose the tree playground and had a lot to say about it: “No wear hat in the sun. No hat on the hair. No raining today…Find garbage.” We headed out, and as we walked south of the main east-west street he saw the strip mall area ahead and started saying “See the S”. Well, he couldn’t see it yet, and it took a couple minutes for me to figure out what he was talking about, but he was referring to a big Hangeul S (ㅅ) that is on one of the businesses. It is kind of square and looks like a mountain, flat on top. We looked at that and a little of the other Hangeul, then kept walking. When he saw the playground he pointed and said “Raining here”, remembering the last time we were here when we had to take cover in the bench area.

Of course, the first thing he wanted to do was “Find some garbage.” But he wasn’t into throwing it away today. Instead, he would use his shove to bury it or, in the case of a can, just put a little sand on it. We then found some of those little plastic balls that are everywhere and we don’t know what they are from, and that became the next activity, finding more. Of course, I was the one that was good at spotting them, and he kept wanting more. After awhile we turned to writing shapes in the sand. He wanted me to draw up to a nonagon (9 sides – he learned it on YouTube). He then wanted food, and as we were sitting by the backpack he looked at the little sand area and asked “What shape is is?” then insisted it was a “Nonagon” (really a triangle). He also started repeating “Answer me questions”. I didn’t know what he was talking about. He could explain that it had something to do with the zoo, then the picnic table where we ate lunch and played, and that it had to do with letters. Later, when Carly was there, we figured out that he wanted me to ask him how to spell words. I don’t remember doing a ton of that on Friday, but we of course did a lot of word stuff. Anyway, asking “How about ‘nose” etc. seemed to make him happy.

I had tried to record him talking about the “Answer me questions” so maybe I could figure it out later, but he said “No photos” and turned off the video. But that got us into taking photos. He wanted to take photos of the screw in the bench, etc. then wanted to take a photo of his “messy hand”. He did that, after I taught him to hold out his messy hand and take the photo with the other, then wanted a photo of his “clean hands”. We then moved over to the the little grassy area, where he took photos of flowers and sticks and rocks and looked at ants. We ended up sitting there, and just sitting and singing “Bingo” for a long time. He didn’t like me taking the letters out and clapping – he just wanted to sing the whole name over and over again. I tried getting up a couple times, but he wanted me to keep sitting next to him. Eventually he got up too, and started running around the little grass area with the stick, writing ‘BINGO’ in the air and on the bushes and everything over and over. At least 10 minutes.

Carly showed up, and they sat in the grass area and nursed. He just kept wanting to do that, until I suggested he play with mama on the play structure and shaky bridge. He agreed to that, so we went up there. Carly and I had been talking about how high he could reliably count, and we had said 8 or so, but hadn’t tried him recently. As if he heard us, as he climbed up the stairs he easily counted all 13 stairs, even pausing for the landing in the middle. So, at least 13.

They climbed to the top of the tree, and he was fascinated by the kids going down the big slide. The sudden independence thing kicked in again, and he wanted to go down the slide. By himself. We talked him into one of the shorter ones, and I went to the bottom of the slide. Carly let him go, and it went just fine. It was actually a pretty slow slide, and he took awhile to get down. He then wanted to go up again. We were going to let him try the next bigger one, but he wanted to go to the tall one. Up there, he changed his mind though, which was good as it was faster and he’d probably fall off the end. He agreed to ride with Carly, and they went down the slightly smaller one.

He then spotted some Hangeul in the said that other people had written and spent several minutes trying to read it and trace it. He then found a little stick that looked like the Hangeul character ‘ㅏ’ (ah). We ended up back at the sand area where we had done shapes earlier and ate grapes, then sang a lot more of “Bingo”, both there and up in the grass area, and with him standing on the little posts in between, writing in the air. We changed him, did a little more writing in the sand, and then I was ready to head out at 4:15, as it was really windy. August set the stick across his legs and saw that it looked like an ‘H’.

We walked home and stopped at the pink building and did some grocery shopping. Finally noticed that the grocery store has changed from a Sing Sing Mart to Lucky Mart. Went home and heated naan for dinner. August still isn’t into hummus. I tried to share my sandwich, but he declared “No hummus” and just wanted naan. He ate a little soup instead. Carly drew his bath, and I started it with him while she made a cake to take to Megan. I was with him quite awhile, doing words on the door, then we switched nd Carly took over.

After his bath he started saying “Answer me questions” again so we did a bit of that. It was now past 7 and we thought he might be going to sleep. He read with Carly (Rub-a-Dub from set 2 of the Bob Books is now easy for him) and nursed and seemed to be falling asleep, but would pop back awake. Eventually he just got back up. He and I sat on the couch and table and worked on our mosaic, then he started working on ‘K’. At the playground he had been working on ‘K’ in the sand and seemed to be getting it (up until now his best Ks still looked mostly like Rs). He was getting it down, and was very proud of himself. He would do one and then look at me, smiling. After awhile he wanted to nurse again, and he fell asleep at 8:30.

New words/phrases:  help me find…, answer me questions

Green pancakes:

On our walk. “See ‘S'” (the one that kind of looks like an upside down V): 

Shapes: 

His photos: 

Bingo: 

With mama: 

Home: 

August was up at 7:15, before me. They skyped with Vivian and Colin. August was talking a lot, and in particular kept calling them “naked” as they weren’t wearing clothes. Later, he would see Chuck wearing a tank top and call him naked as well. They were then reading Kipper and other books when I got up. Carly took a shower and I went to the bathroom in the other bathroom. August came in and tried to reach in the toilet and I said pee was dirty, to which he asked “How pee dirty?” He had used ‘how’ a few days ago – the start of how/why questions. We then worked on our mosaic we had been coloring on the paper and wrote letters. He then did more reading and nursing with Carly. They were surprised when a bee was flying around the parlor. August was very excited by it though and wanted to touch it. I caught it in a tupperware container. August and I looked at it, but he kept wanting me to open it. Then, while they skyped with Chuck and Cherie, I did recycling and let the bee out by the bushes down below. August would later remember it and want to see it again.

We eventually headed out for a walk before the rains were supposed to come. We walked up the stream, getting coffee drinks for us and a cookie for August at the women’s business center. We walked a bit farther up the stream, stopping to see the fish jumping, until we got to Junghyeon Children’s Park – one we’ve never played at, but only walked through. August sat on the structure a little, then came and sat right next to me and played in the sand. He ate a little more of my ice, until an ant crawled in my cup. I got the shovel and he played with that, then went and played with the faucets with Carly, and then recycled our cups before we left. We walked back and smelled some flowers along the way. We got back just in time, as it started raining soon after.

August climbed on the table and knocked the long crayons from the shelf below. He got down and started picking them up. When he was all done, he dumped them out again. Repeat. He dumped them out a third time, but of course got distracted after that and I had to finish the clean up job. He fell asleep and napped from 1:10 to 2:08.

In the afternoon we went to Home Plus. Down at the clothes, August decided he wanted out of the backpack. He suddenly became Mr. Independent, as he wanted to walk everywhere and not hold our hands. Mainly he was focused on clothes and looking for names. He has been fascinated by all the brand and store names, and has started saying “Lots of names!” In the first couple minutes of looking at clothes he surprised us by reading “wild” on a shirt, then sat down with Carly and read the inside of the basket, then surprised us by reading “never” and “black” on another shirt. He also saw a sign and says “Says ‘Home Plus’.” We went downstairs to do grocery shopping. I managed to carry him much of the time, but only after he had walked across half the store but then realized mama wasn’t around. Carly shopped and August got a couple samples. We then paid (August reluctantly gave up the sponges he was carrying for a minute), and on the way out he rode the moving walkways by himself, me poised to grab him at the end, but he did a good job of stepping off. He almost fell backwards getting on the second one, but kept his balance.

He walked out of the store, but then I was trying to pick him up when we were on the sidewalk, when we ran into Jeff carrying Garvey. I got August up and we all walked across the park – they were headed to the dinosaurs. August impressed him by spelling ‘gargantuan’. It was raining, and when we got to the playground I put on our raincoats and hats. August complained a little about the coat, but not much. We walked around much of the north end of the park, August leading the way. He was talking about walking to the play area, but it was a couple minutes to 6 and probably closing. He picked up one piece of garbage to throw away, but lost interest in it before getting to the garbage can, so I had to do that as well.

We came home and dropped off the groceries and big backpack, then headed back out and to Burger Ton, the new place that opened in the pink building a few weeks back. We ate there, August eating some fries and most of the teriyaki mushrooms off my burger. We then came home. Carly drew a bath for August and I gave him his bath while Carly started making soup. A usual bath: a lot of letters on the door (‘saxophone’ was the big one – particularly since it also has ‘phone’ and ‘one’ in it), then he said “wash” when he was ready to be washed and finish. We then put all the bath letters away (he finished this job), except for 6 he set aside for further washing in the sink. He then stood on the stool and washed the six letters in the sink for a few minutes before declaring them done and putting them in the bag as well.

He then moved to the kitchen sink, bringing the stool out, and played in a pot with a measuring cup for quite awhile. Only one scoop ended up on the floor. He and Carly then were on the couch singing and spelling words. He was standing against the back of the couch in just a diaper and I sat on the table to get a photo. I didn’t, however, as he came and sat next to me on the table. Sat with me for a few minutes, then went back to Carly. He was still pretty high energy, but didn’t put up too much of a fight and fell asleep around 9:30.

 

New words/phrases: naked, spelling yummy cold wawa water, reading ‘world’ ‘room’, spelling ‘nose’

 

Park: 

Home. Cleaning up: 

Home Plus: 

Park: 

Burger Ton: 

Bath: 

He slept until 8:24. Sat on the couch, waking up for several minutes.  When he came out he pointed a bit away from him and said “Dada here.” When he got on the couch and I was following him he kind of put out his hand and said “Ahh” as if he was telling me he needed some alone time. Eventually I was able to sit down next to him and he turned and whispered “iPad” and grinned. We made oatmeal for breakfast, then were spelling words – he is into ‘enormous’ and was spelling ‘teeth’, which he recognized was like ‘teen’ and ‘three’ and ‘tree’: “Teen and three have two Es! Tree has two Es!” He got on the iPad and we wrote in Paper, playing “This is a?” At one point I took too long and he answered himself: “This is a…quacking bird.” We then were figuring out the smart draw tool in Paper, and he was working on drawing squares and circles.

When we went to get ready to go to class, I picked him up off the couch like yesterday. He complained, but instead of screaming and pinching like yesterday, he said “No grabbing!” Much nicer. We made it to class as it was starting. He avoided the songs at the beginning, but was sucked in by bubbles, then of course sticker time. He could tell when she said to put the books away, as he suddenly started sticking really fast to finish up all the stickers. The kids then all got dancing ribbons, which he was excited about at first, but then she played a song they were supposed to wave the ribbons to. He lost interest in the ribbons because the song had counting (in Korean) in it, and he was following along, putting fingers in the air. The main activity was about playgrounds today, and she demonstrated (in a rather long fashion) four toys: a balance beam, basketball hoop, soccer goal, and ball target. They then had ten minutes or so to play with them. He did the target thing a bit (although he wouldn’t throw the balls, just walk up and place them right on the numbers). But he spent most of the time with a soccer ball, throwing it over the net and occasionally setting it down and kicking it.

At the end of class he got an Eddy handstamp. Eddy is a fox character on Pororo. I mentioned there are foxes at the zoo, and that became the must-see animal of the day. From class we headed to the subway, then to the park. I suggested three places we could eat lunch, one being the picnic table we read at last time. I think that won out because I mentioned the rectangular pond, and he liked the shape. We went up there and ate lunch. There were a bunch of workers working all around the building doing various things. Several were working near us, then left. He then said “Where the workers?” He got on the table and wanted to stand – I took a photo of him standing on the table before making him sit after that. We walked to the garbage to throw away our garbage, but held onto the plastic straws to recycle later.

After lunch we changed his diaper and put him in the backpack. We went to see animals – since he had slept so long I didn’t have high hopes for a nap. We saw the primates, including the chimpanzees (finally out in their cage), then went in saw the prairie dogs, meerkats, otters, and fennec foxes. Later, as we were leaving the zoo, he would say “Bye meerkats!” And at the fennec foxes we were comparing his handstamp to the foxes, when two women with kids came up next to us and started pointing to the foxes and saying “Eddy!” We then went and walked around the elephants, etc. While watching the elephant it walked behind the wall and August said “Elephant hiding.” He was very excited when he could see it walk out the other side. We walked around, getting a good view of the lynx for once, and seeing the red foxes as well. We then stopped in the square and had a snack and played around a little. He inspected the recycling bags. We were sitting on a square curb around a tree and he started walking on it. When he came to me he said “Dada in way. Walking through dada.”

Put him in the backpack and started on a walk. He first insisted on going in the tropical building, so we did that. At the fish tank he looked at the sign identifying three kinds of fish and then wanted to find them in the tank. First time that has happened. We walked out, quickly saw the horses and goats, then I insisted on walking. He got frustrated when I walked by water faucets without stopping, but he quieted down quickly and went silent. After about 15 minutes he fell asleep. He slept 2:35 to 3:35. When he woke up, a woman called his name. It was the same woman we met last week, who lives in Sweden and has a son named Noam (after Noam Chomsky). So I got to tell her that August’s middle name is after an historian. We talked to them and he ate some ice, then we headed outside. Played in the water faucets for a bit, using my cup to pour on the ground. About 4 I tried to head out, but he saw the playground. We compromised and spent a few minutes reading the Hangeul on the playground that says “Chalk Doodle Area”.

Headed home and got to Brownstone a little after 5. August tried taking his hat off as we got to the elevators, but it fell backwards so the strap was around his neck. I set him down in the elevator lobby to get it off, and Carly caught up to us there. We went up and they nursed, then he wanted to play with balloons with me. He got out the new blue balloon and I blew it up. He said he wanted me to tie it, but I said we should let it fly around a few times first and let it go. He got sad and ran to Carly. I blew it up and tied it, then we were playing with it and it was popped – loud enough to make my ear ring and kind of startle August. He went and had Carly pick him up and he cuddled with her a little.

Carly made a smoothie with spinach. August was spelling a word (‘fork’, I think) with her and when she said ‘or’ he said “Like ‘orange’” – he’s been noting that for a couple days now whenever a word comes up with ‘or’ in it. He got Angeles down off the couch and took was using Angeles’s hand to feel the textures on the floor.

At 6:30 we headed down and met Megan and Torrey at Baskin Robbin’s to celebrate Megan’s birthday. We all got comes. I got the flavor with Pop Rocks in it, as that was one that August wanted. He shared my ice cream and Carly’s (she had something chocolate-y). We then went for a walk around the park and ran into Charlie from APIS. We were standing near the bridge talking and a dance class was going on by the stage area. August was watching them and started copying their arm movement. He also took our ice cream cone paper things over to the garbage. He was patient for a couple minutes but then wanted to go to the playground. So we all walked over there. August ended up on the teeter-totter with Carly and Megan. They were on for a long time, and August was thrilled. He was also looking up and reading ‘Brownstone’ on our building and spotting the “D moon”.

Megan and Torrey left, and we stayed a little longer. August pulled himself up onto the play structure for the first time – he was getting close a couple months ago. He walked back and forth on the shaky bridge with Carly and sat with her up on the platform. I did some hiding from him. He was content to just keep sitting with Mama, but they were kind of in the way, so eventually we headed home.

Carly gave him a bath and washed his hair. A lot more reading and nursing after that, and he fell asleep about 9:45.

New words/phrases: spelling ‘has’, ‘banana’, “look up what it means”, “something’s in the Picasso’s Trousers. It’s the balloons!”, spelling ‘uh-oh’, “sit with Angeles”

Waking up: 

In the middle of an ABC song: 

5-Touch class. Counting along to the song: 

Lunch: 

Holding himself up with his hands (his feet aren’t touching anything): 

Zoo. Seeing the elephant come back out from “hiding”: 

Inspecting recycling: 

Water: 

Hangeul: 

Home: 

Stickers and ice cream: 

In the park: 

Home: 

It was May 20th of last year: 

He was up at 7:07. Much like yesterday we ended up playing on the bed, but with the door open. We ended up learning to spell ‘monster’ with Green Monster – by the end of the day he could spell it pretty well. We did some reading, and he can pretty much read Teacher Says on his own. We also went out and read some Bob Books before he wanted to switch to the iPad and do Todo Math. Seemed like a pretty calm and happy morning, until I picked him up to go change him before leaving. He got upset and started pinching my face. Not sure what the problem was, and he wasn’t able to explain why he was upset. Once we finished getting ready and headed out though he was fine.

Got to Teuni Teuni class. Shy at first as usual, but not for long. But then on the walking path/forward roll thing August stepped back onto the ramp and a boy ran down the ramp and they bonked heads. August got the worst of it. No screaming, actually pretty quiet, but he huddled on my shoulder. My shirt was soaked from the slobber, snot, and tears. Then, when he got back into it, he was reaching down for a toy (a fan), when another kid walked by and kneed him in the head. August huddled on my lap for this one. Luckily, no more incidents after that one. Class was about wind, and they used hand fans to blow bubbles around, and make pieces of meat roll to lions. At the end of class we realized we’d left the water bottle at home. So we went downstairs and did a little shopping, also getting kimbap for lunch. We also got a new water bottle for him.

Went home and he wanted to eat at home. So we ate kimbap there, and tried the new crackers – black bean hardtack – that we had found. They are basically the same aster ‘Jesus crackers’ we get handed from time to time that he likes. Changed him, and got in the backpack. He started saying “T E D spells Ted” and it took me a minute to figure out he was looking at the cover of the Perro Grande…Perro Pequeno book, where the little dog is wearing a shirt that says ‘TED’. We walked a couple blocks to the bus stop. On the way, we sang the A is for Apple song. He inserted a lot of new words for their letters, including “Inchworm, jump, kite, rabbit, wonder, Zax”. We sat on the bench and he looked across the street and saw the hospital. He said “Mama here. Mama go to work. Mama go to work doctor…sad about the mama go to work here.” Remembering the times we’ve had to accompany Carly to doctor appointments and then wait for her. He also liked looking for the numbers on the busses: “See the numbers. This the 100 bus.”

It is about 15 minutes on the bus. Both ways he just sat next to me and looked out the windows. At the park, we got in the backpack and started walking. At first we stopped to turn on the faucets, then I figured out a U-shaped route around the park that avoided them. He had his water bottle at first and drank a lot of water (new water bottle!), then finally settled down. We were walking over 30 minutes when he fell asleep. We sat on a bench and he slept from 1:15 to 2:05.

When he woke up he was happy but just wanted to stay in the backpack for several minutes. Like 7 or 8. He did some funny stretches while in there, putting out both his left foot and hand. By the time I got him out he had started to leak. Changed him standing up on the bench. He sat on the bench for several minutes more and played with his water bottle. He kept pointing to the cap on the bottle today and saying “This is a?” So he made up a “This is a cap” song. He also touched his own nose and said “Nose. Beep.” I finally convinced him to go over to the playground. We looked at the recycling bins a few times, and he walked around the play structure. He saw his shadow with the hat and said “Zinnie’s a queen” a couple times. Oh, and of course when we headed over there he said “Look for garbage.” While looking at the bins, he got down “Supposed to be…” and would go down the line saying “Supposed to be general. Supposed to be plastic. Supposed to be metal. Supposed to be glass.” He saw a fly and figured out how to spell it himself. “How bout ‘fly’? Starts with F L Y.”

Finally, he sat on a kind of tall platform for several minutes. There was a slightly bigger boy there playing and he watched him, pretty fascinated by him. He stood on the platform and I stood next to him. That lasted a few minutes, then we had a little snack, recycled the last of our garbage, and went across to play with the water faucets. The last time we had been here was August 15th, and he played with the same faucets and little hose. He played with it for several minutes, then noticed his shoes and pants getting wet. Rolled up his pants and took off his shoes and socks. But then back at the hose he wanted me to hold him – he didn’t want his feet on the ground. Ended up standing on my shoes as he played with the hose for several minutes more.

We headed home a little after 4. At some point when he was in the backpack he was talking about his fingernail hurting. I offered to kiss it and he immediately stuck his finger out for me. He doesn’t usually do that. After we got of the bus and were getting him in the backpack, he said “Two big eyes looking at me.” He said it was from an ABC song, specifically  C. Wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but he was very clear on the phrase. Later, at home, we got out the iPad and opened YouTube. It was on the last video he was watching. A series of puzzle reveal videos where one piece of a picture is revealed at a time and you guess what it is. The narrator says it during ‘crab’.

We got home a little before 5 and were reading Picasso’s Trousers when Carly got home. She had stopped at the store. She made a spinach smoothie, as he’s been pretty anti-vegetable recently – we tried pizza bagels this week, but all he wants is the bread part; any sauce even and he rejects it.

On the iPad we found that video, and then he went to his favorite Timmy Time episode, and skipped to a part where they get messy. We played on the bed, and he went and got Peter Rabbit. Carly gave him a bath, and they had their usual fun spelling words like ‘home’ and ‘think’ and many others on the door. He also likes making up words like ‘homet’. He went to sleep about 8:45.

New words/phrases: spelling ‘yellow’,  handwritten, enormous, spelling ‘fly’, reading ‘pRking’, saw-sal (3 years old), spelling ‘eleven’, ‘tricky’

 Morning:

Teuni Teuni class: 

On the bus: 

After his nap: 

A few minutes later. Note the new water bottle and the change of pants: 

Playground and recycling: 

Water: 

On my shoes: 

Evening. Wanting the balloon when playing with the balloons in the cloth book: 

He woke up at 7:51. I went into the bedroom and he quieted down after a few seconds, then shut the door, with both of us inside. We got up on the bed in the dark and played under the blanket for awhile with the stuffed animals. Turned on the light when he started stalking about reading to Peter Rabbit. Eventually got up and continued on with our morning, having oatmeal for breakfast, watching songs on the iPad, etc. We left the house right at 10. August was excited about riding a bus downtown, so we walked to the stop for the 172. He kept talking about the 1144, his now favorite bus. We got a couple seats near the back and settled in for the long ride. Got the iPad out, but spent a lot of the ride looking out the window and playing I Spy. And a lot of asking “This is?” – referring both to the neighborhood/spot (he clearly understands that subway stops have different names, and seems to be applying that to bus stops as well) and specific objects he sees.

Got off at Anguk and walked up to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Stopped a few times along the way because he wanted to read a banner about today’s election, and signs on the roadway (One Way, etc.) Got to the museum and he said “Food!” so we sat on a bench behind the museum and started to eat lunch. After a few minutes he said “Leaking!” and he was, so we went inside to the changing room and changed him and ate a little more. He was fascinated by the sink and water dispenser – we had to refill his water there. Before we left, a couple came in and were changing a baby, and August was very concerned (or hoping?) about the baby falling. We had to stay until they were mostly done before we could leave.

Before we had entered the museum I had asked him “Ready to see some art?” And he had replied with “See some shapes.” We then also talked about looking for colors, patterns, and textures. We didn’t actually end up doing much of that, but it was a cool conversation. Inside, most of the big shows were closed. He really liked the Art Box piece though, with the falling water spelling words. Watched that for several minutes, and saw Spanish and ‘Ñ’s and English. Left when it switched to German. The Ahn Kyuchul show was still up, and we went in the curtained rooms just a bit, then went back to the big echo chamber piece. August loved this, and started making noises, then sang ABC. A docent came in and told us we had to be quiet. I went out to talk to him about that and he pointed to the title of the piece ‘Silent Room’. That wasn’t an instruction, mind you, just the title of the piece. I wanted to explain to him that the title was supposed to be ironic, as it is only a silent room when no one is in it, and as soon as you are in it it stops being silent, as even the rustling of clothes echoes. And last time I was in it people were whistling, snapping, making noise, etc. Anyway, I think he just wanted us to be quiet when other people came through, but hard to expect a 25 month old to just quiet down when other people enter. Just another example of art museums not really welcoming children here (see: furniture show at Design Experience Zone, etc.)

Anyway, there was only one other show. We went in that, and started out well. But then there was a series of drawings with writing on them (“blah blah blah” and other things). August wanted down, but then wanted to touch (it was behind glass). I was holding him back, not letting him, when another docent came over. Not sure what her plan was, but it sent his frustration over the edge and there was a lot of screaming after that. Took him out and walked around until he calmed down, then we looked at the gift shops for a few minutes and left.

He was acting tired, but seemed early for a nap. Put him in the backpack and we headed north and up the winding street we walked with Chuck and Cherie. We stopped at one gallery along the way to look at some art. Past where I sat that time when he took a nap, then we saw on the neighborhood maps a park, Samcheong Park. We headed for that. On the way up we saw a train museum and a sign for an owl museum. Figured we would check them out on the way down.

We got up to the park and he was quiet. Could tell he was close to sleep as he didn’t say anything walking past the playground near the entrance. He did want me to turn on water at a drinking fountain. Kept walking, up into the park, first through a higher nature playground, then started walking up a path to a lookout point. This is when he fell asleep. A couple hundred steps later I found a rest area and bench and settled down. He slept from 1:19 to 2:14. Quiet location at first, but as time went on more and more people came by, including big groups of hikers and tourists. He woke up and wanted to sit on the bench. We were eating and he was asking for words to spell: miss, mister, cat purr, noise, after, seeds, crackers, etc. He was climbing on the back of the bench area, then on the railing itself. Saw a plastic bottle down below and wanted to go get it and was sad when I wouldn’t let him – later, when we were at the top, he would point to a similar railing and talk about being sad that I wouldn’t let him climb them.

He saw women climbing the stairs and said “Going upping!” There were people behind me and he started hiding from them; he was then singing for the crowd. Two people offered him candy, which I declined. One woman said “Ai-po!” (pretty) and he immediately said back “Ai-po. How bout ai-po?” Sadly, it is what people have said to him a million times, but I’ve never figured out how it is spelled. Changed him twice on the platform – once after he woke up because he was leaking, then he pooped.

I wanted to go to the top, and August was up for it. In fact, he wanted to walk up himself. He tackled the stairs himself, and only wanted my help when they got too steep (got that moment on video). In fact, he was quite daring, wanting to climb up the rocks and all. We got to the top and he got a rock that he held on to and wanted to drop in water. So we headed back down to find water. He wanted to walk at first, but I convinced him to go in the backpack. He heard someone say ‘kimchi’ when taking a photo (the equivalent of “Cheese!”), and said “Kinchi. Don’t fall.” All the way back down he kept asking “Where the wawa?”

We got back down to the upper playground and got down and played with some rocks and a big chunk of wood for a few minutes, and watched a bee buzz around. He picked up the chunk of wood and said “Parallelogram!” (it was actually something more like a trapezium, but close enough). He still wanted water, so we grabbed a second rock and headed down to a little stream area I had spotted but avoided on the way up.

It was pretty perfect. It was small, and there were several other people there, including a couple having a picnic. But the stream kind of went around the corner a few feet and we could go over there and actually step across the stream to where there were a ton of rocks. Threw rocks in, then got interested in flower petals and would drop those in the water (“More flower petals!”) There was a sign telling you you couldn’t go farther up the stream. It said ‘Stop’ so he kept reading that and turned it into a little song. He also wanted to look for frogs (none of those around). And we took off his shoes and socks so he could put his toes in the water. He was pretty daring walking/climbing on the side of the stream, and I told him that if he fell in he would have to wear his yellow pants (which he continues to refuse to wear).

Looking at the time, I knew we were going to run late, so let Carly know. Eventually, around 4:30 I think, he started talking about going home. We went back to the backpack and put on his shoes. He saw the sticky spot on his shoe and remembered that it was “from picnic” (Easter). A minute later, the woman having a picnic offered him cheese cubes – which he had first (and only) eaten at that picnic. He was so cute taking the three cheese c
ubes from her, then whispering “Thank you”. He ate the cheese cubes as I put him in the backpack, and he interacted with her and another woman across from us, reading off the letters on her shirt. He also waved and said “Bye!” to everyone as we left.

We walked down, stopping at the drinking fountain for a drink. Then we walked by the first playground again. This time, he wanted to play. At first he started to whine, but then I had him ask nicely. He said “For a few minutes…look for garbage.” I said “Oh my gosh”, which he then parroted back to me. I then said “You are funny” and he parroted that as well. Got him down and he started running around, playing. He was putting sand on everything: platforms, benches, toys, pieces of garbage and, as I took a video, on the back of a girl. She didn’t notice and soon stood up and it fell off.

We left and started the long walk back. Walking back was slow as the sidewalks were now crowded. We stopped to check out the train museum, and he pushed the buttons on the trains outside for awhile. We were singing the ABC tongue twister song, and he said “Zinnie do it.” He had the first 4 letters down, then needed help. He know a lot of it though. We took the street behind the MMCA and he was reading off signs. He said “C H I C A G O” and it was the sign for the pizza place we ate with Cherie and Chuck, so we stopped and I told him about that.

We finally got to Anguk Station and got on the subway. A boy dressed in hanbok sat next to us and August was fascinated by his clothes, to the point that he kept trying to touch him, both with his finger and his foot. We got to Seokgye Station, and August wanted to walk down the stairs. I was holding his hands and he started to take two steps at a time. I told him to do one step at a time, but he kept taking two and said “Uh-oh one at a time!” Sigh.

At Seokgye there’s a little park area, and he asked what a sculpture was. I said “Arte abstracto” and asked what he thought it was. He thought about it, and said “Nose. With snot.” We then got on a bus, and as we drove away he said “Bye snot! With nose!”

Got home about 6:40. A pretty long adventure. Carly made him a pizza bagel, which he ate a little of. We had snacked on pine nuts, crackers, and banana chips on the way home. He nursed a lot and they read books and Carly gave him a bath. I played with him on the bed with the animals and balloons, and he had a hilarious time playing with Marshy and making him dance and holding him upside down. August fell asleep about 9.

Shirts seen today:

– not tour guide

– not a human being what’s limitation?

New words/phrases: spelling ‘miss’, reading ‘kind’, reading ‘kids’

Waking up:

Art museum: 

Nap spot: 

Up to the top: 

View from the top: 

These were some of the stairs he climbed up: 

First play spot. “Parallelogram!”: 

Stream: 

Flower petal: 

Playground: 

Train museum: 

Walking: 

“Nose. With snot.”: 

Looking out the window of the bus: 

Waiting for Carly to pour milk in the smoothie: 

August was awake 6:45 and nursed. He then came out and got on the couch. The Dog book had been left there, so he gently pushed it over the end onto the reading area and said “Bye Dog.” Carly explained she had to go to work and he said “Bye Mama…Mama going to work.”

He was focused on shapes videos this morning. We ate Cheerios for breakfast. At one point, I suggested Timmy Time, and he wanted the “messy” one. He hasn’t watched Timmy Time since I first introduced it to him months ago. Anyway, we found that episode (Snapshot Timmy) and watched the whole story, twice. We hadn’t made it through the whole story (10 minutes) before.

August requested the pigeon shirt and we left by 9:30. We of course stopped for eggs and kimbap for lunch. We headed for the children’s museum, a little after 10, and stopped on the benches for what I thought was a snack. Turned into a full lunch, as we ate the apple cookie, most of the kimbap, an egg, and then another strawberry cookie that a teacher gave us. We went and threw away some of our garbage, then walked by the flowers. He pointed at them, saying “Mama here”, remembering when we were here with her. When we were back he wanted to throw away the kimbap wrapper. But we still had kimbap left so I wouldn’t let him. This led to some screaming, and once he calmed down he started pulling up his shirt and hiding. He then sat on my lap for several minutes and talked about falling asleep “Fall asleep, read Oh No”. But despite talking about going into the children’s museum, we never did, as he just kept playing outside. Finally, we went to the nearby bathrooms to change him. We had to wait though as a school group was using the bathrooms with changing tables for a bathroom break. He was’t happy about this, but we eventually got in and changed him. Back out, putting him in the backpack, he looked very tired and got his sad face. Later, after his nap in the coffee shop, he would talk about being sad and screaming because he wanted to go in the bathroom and get walking.

Despite looking really sad, took rather a distance to put him to sleep. But he fell asleep and we went to the first floor Peace Coffee and he slept from 12:09 to 1:14. When he woke up he did some iPad on my lap, but really got into the ice in my drink, playing in it and eating it. I felt like a bird, as I would crunch up the ice to give him little pieces. He was talking about ice and I asked if he remembered being on the ice. He did, saying “remember ABCD in the ice.” We ran out of ice, which I thought would be the end of it, but he said “Get more ice. Please ice. In the cup.” and pointed to the pitchers of water they have. So we had more ice. We were in the coffee shop until after 2. I had mentioned looking at the letters on the floor, so eventually he got up and said “Look at the letters for a minute.” We did that for awhile, then left. As we walked away from the building he said “Bye ice” – referring both to the actual ice, and also the word ‘ice’ (in ice cream) that he had been reading inside the door. As we walked away he turned around and looked up and pointed and read “Peace Coffee” on the sign.

We walked away, with him talking constantly. He was kind of leading the way, and he said “Find a bench” as he wanted a snack. It was busy, so we decided to walk up to the theater. He walked the whole way up the hill. We sat in the theater for over another hour, eating a second lunch and playing. We made a bit of a mess with the egg, and watched as ants carried away some small pieces. He also watched a little spider crawl across the bench. Eventually, we took some garbage up to throw away and recycle, him walking all the way up again. On the way down, he pointed to a tree and said “This is?” I said I didn’t know what kind of tree it was. He said “Maybe oak trees.” and kept walking.

It was getting close to 4 and we headed down the hill. He saw the bank of water faucets and wanted to play. We had finished up the ice in the theater and brought the cup down, so I would fill it with some water and he would pour it out. He would also stop and watch everyone who came back to wash their hands (or kid’s hands) or take a drink. That was going fine until he was trying to drink from the cup. He then spun the cup the wrong direction to spill it, and got it down his shirt. He wasn’t super wet, but wanted to change his shirt. So we went over to the playground and changed his shirt. The shirt I had in the backpack was a striped blue long sleeve shirt, and he really liked it for some reason. Later, while playing in the sand, he would say “Shirt fun.”

We took the lid and cardboard and a bottle he picked up by the faucets to recycle them, and August decided he was done with the cup that had gotten him wet as well and recycled that. We then went and he sat in the sand and played “This is a…” One of the things he started drawing was a tilde – later, on the etch-a-sketch, he would draw ‘Ñ’ over and over. He found a business card in the sand and went and threw that away. That turned into a game, finding garbage in the sand to throw away. He was doing a lot of talking:

“More play This is a…”

“More tracing. More this is a… More dada Zinnie sit.” (in the morning, when Carly was still there, I asked him what he wanted to do today and he said ‘tracing’ – tracing in the sand/dirt is what I think he meant)

“Something in the sand again.” (looking for more things to throw away)

“No rain today…sweatshirt.” (he started talking about rain and putting on a sweatshirt a couple times today. I have no idea why, as it wasn’t raining and I never mentioned wearing a sweatshirt)

“More look for garbage.”

“More ABC. Please Dada. Help Dada. Lowercase.” (this was what he said, all cute, when I first told him it was time to go)

“Hard to see W” (If he couldn’t see my letter well in the sand he would say this and then grab my hand and make me trace the letter)

The first couple times I tried to get him ready to leave he used the “Please Dada, Help Dada” lines. Then it became “(Screech) Please Dada.” Then it was “No. No. No.” as he ran from one piece of garbage to the next (there was a lot) in the sand area and covered it with sand and did his best to avoid me. Finally, I picked him up and he was a little sad, but not too much. On our walk out there were a bunch of new flower pots, snaking down the center of the walkway. August liked looking at them, but then wanted me to hold his hands while he stepped on the low flower pots to get to the taller ones. I wouldn’t let him do this, and he got sad, hugging me and pushing his head into my legs.

We went to the bathrooms by the front entrance to change him. He said “Mama here. Hiding” remembering when we hid from her when she came out of the bathroom. I asked him what he loves, and he said “Zinnie love A.  Zinnie loves B…” Got all the way up to H.

We got home at 5:35. He ate a little dinner. We played on the etch-a-sketch, where he wrote ‘zero’ and ‘going’ and did a lot of This is a…? Carly gave him a bath. She washed his hair, but he was mainly sad about the 8 falling behind the door. Carly made a salad and he inspected that (“Oooh”). Looking at his flashcards, he said “X-Ray has a hyphen”. They read some Bob books and Carly read him the Native American alphabet book. They then saved the 8 behind the door, which meant he had to agree to let the water out of the bath (which he doesn’t like).  I suggested he put his dirty socks, which were in the bathroom, in the basket. First, he just went and dropped them by the changing pad. But then I showed them where they went, and he kept putting his other dirty clothes in. When they were all gone, he said “More” and took clothes out of the basket a few times and put them back – saying “goes in there to” with each item. One sock though he was convinced was clean, so tried hanging it on the drying
rack, then putting it in the drawer. I suggested he could put some of the dirty clothes in the washing machine, which he did. He then helped me take the rest of the clean clothes of the rack and put them in the proper drawer. I would hand him a sock or shirt and tell him which drawer, then he would point to it and look at me to make sure he got the right drawer.

He then did some reading with Carly in on the bed. I was out in the living room, and a couple times he walked out – first to get his water bottle, then Peter Rabbit – then back down to the bedroom. Carly took a shower, and he started by reading with me. But then he wanted to open the third set of Bob Books. I said no, so he just kept pointing to the photo saying “this one, this one, this one…” It wasn’t necessarily funny to him, but he wasn’t showing any frustration, then suddenly he started a low screech and got up and tried to go in Carly’s bathroom as she showered. I wouldn’t let him, and the screaming got louder. Took him into the screaming room while she finished up and he screeched. I sat in front of the door. When Carly came out, she got him, and as she took him in to bed he was saying “No blocking…no sit on dada.” He was asleep at 9.

New words/phrases: get out-of-the-way, they are being funny, sunny out so put on a hat, spelling soy milk, spelling zero and ten, spelling gargantuan

 

 IPad watching:

Shirt as a hat: 

Lunch: 

Throwing away garbage: 

After his nap: 

Second lunch: 

Home. Putting dirty laundry in the basket: 

He was up bright and early at 5:40. I put together lunch and snacks while Carly was still here. The pollution was down and the weather was nice, so our first trip to the big zoo at Seoul Grand Park seemed in order. August was ready for that, and when asked what he wanted to see, the first thing he said was “giraffe”. So changing him and putting clothes on him went smoothly – he requested the tree shirt. We left the house at 8:30.

I was reminding him a lot that we would have a long subway ride, and it went pretty smoothly. Didn’t even get out the iPad much, as we sand the tongue twister song for quite awhile. Eventually, we got out the iPad but just used it to read Bob Books. Looked out the window across the river, then as we went through stations he would point out at each one and ask “This is?” and I’d tell him what station it was. We also sang our three languages song, focusing on ‘enormous’ – he remembered ‘enormous’ in Korean when I didn’t.

We made the long walk into the park and up to the children’s zoo. By the time we were actually in the zoo it was a little past 10, and August wanted to stay in the backpack and keep walking instead of getting out at the sheep. So we walked to the other side, watching the workers on the bridge cutting the stone for a minute. On that side we spent almost all our time in or outside the building with all the rabbits, mongoose, tamarins, marmosets, squirrels, birds, and turtles. We would go from inside to outside and back again, around in circles, looking at all the animals. There was also a zookeeper washing out some of the cages, which he liked.

We did that for quite awhile, then he decided he was hungry. We sat in a pagoda and ate and watched school groups come and get a little talk on the steps, then put on glove things and go and feed the rabbits. We goofed around a bit (he had spilled some soy milk, then joked about wanting more soy milk on everything else, and he sang an ABC sound song while making funny noises), then changed him and got in the backpack. Oh, and we threw our garbage away and turned on the water faucets, which was the first of many times of both looking in garbage cans and turning on faucets today. Not sure which he liked more: the animals, or those two activities.

We walked back and forth along the lake on some paths we had never been on in order to put him to sleep. We saw a coupe cranes and two different water birds we’d never seen before. One of them, which actually looked kind of penguin-like, dove and came back up with a big fish. He fell asleep and I found a picnic table and he slept from 11:56 to 12:39.

He woke up, and we walked over to the sheep. The machines with hay in them were empty (I don’t think they’d yet been filled today) so we were gathering some stray pieces to feed the sheep, when a couple of workers came along and started filling the machine. We waited until they were done and bought a bag. Then spent the next 20 or 30 minutes feeding the sheep. August was at first just trying to drop the pieces inside the fence. Which was kind of funny when his path was blocked by sheep trying to get it out of his hand and he was saying “uh-oh”. But he caught on and fed them a lot from his hand. I would also feed the sheep so August could pet them and write ‘ABC’ on them, and feel the horn of one of the rams.

Finally, it was time to move on, although we stopped near the entrance to first have a snack. We went out and across the street to the main zoo. Once in there, the first goal was giraffes, although on the way we saw the flamingos and stopped and looked at those for a couple minutes. We studied the big flamingo sign, then August wanted me to point out specific kinds of flamingos. Next were the giraffes. There was 3 of them, and we watched for a few minutes.

From there we started walking through the zoo. August was in explore mode, but there was so much to see he couldn’t decide which way to go. He led us up to where we saw the meerkats and fennec foxes, then he saw a statue of an elephant and wanted to find elephants. We saw hippos and water buffalo along the way. We found the elephants, but they were off in the distance. He wanted to get closer, but first we saw the playground and the stream.

We went down to the stream and he wanted his socks and shoes off. Took them off, then went and played on the rocks for 15 or 20 minutes, dipping his toes and fingers in the water, and generally having fun lightly holding my hand and walking from rock to rock. We went up to our backpack and ate a little snack, then he wanted his shoes on and went in the sand. He was talking a lot and seemed to entertain the two girls playing there. Someone before had dug a big hole, which August was standing at the edge of when it collapsed and he found himself sitting on the edge. Didn’t phase him though and he just sat and played there, writing shapes in the sand. First scribbles, playing the “This is a?” game, but then he was doing letters. He was having fun, but it was now past 3 and we needed to head home. Finally got him headed the correct direction. We saw the elephants again, which he wanted to “See elephants outside” (closer – we were already outside). Later he would say he was sad about not seeing them closer up. But we kept walking, and he wanted to turn on all the water faucets and look in the garbage cans. I skipped one set of faucets and he wasn’t too happy about that. But we did actually play at one set of them for a few minutes near the entrance.

We got to the subway and got a seat after one stop. We stayed on the 4 all the way up to Changdong (about an hour). More iPad this time. Off the train, August was talking about going home, but seemed to really understand the whole needing to first take a bus. He was interested in the bus numbers and looking for our bus (1144). We got home about 5:45.

He was pretty worn out after our long day and was looking to fall asleep nursing, but we managed to keep him up. He ate a little dinner, and did a lot of reading with Carly, then she gave him a bath and they did more reading. Earlier in the day he had been spelling ‘nine’ and ‘ten’ and working on ‘eight’. In the evening he also spelled ‘eight’, so he has all of the numbers 1 to 10. He and Carly were reading Wild About Books and he likes the big words from the insect critic, particularly ‘pretentious’.

He lasted until about 8, at which point Carly took him in to bed and he fell asleep a few minutes later.

New words/phrases:  spelling nine and ten, 거대한 (enormous), spelling your and going, reading ‘food square’, reading ‘pretentious’, spelling eight

More soy milk on the olives: 

Silly letter sounds: 

Feeding the sheep 1: 

ABC on the sheep and climbing the fence: 

Feeding the sheep 2: 

Feet in the water: 

Waving his arms and “walk there”: Playing in the sand: This is a …: 

Luch:

View from the nap spot: 

Feeding the sheep: 

Animals: 

Rocks and stream: 

Sitting on my lap: 

Sand: 

Water time: 

Reading time with Peter Rabbit: 

Pollution was high again today, so August ended up staying indoors all day. I had thought about taking him over to the art museum play area at one point, but he wasn’t excited by it, so we stayed home. August and I slept in until 8. After he woke up he did a lot of reading with Carly: Bob books, Wild About Books, and others. He then did art with me and Peter Rabbit (he liked Peter Rabbit to do all the erasing) while Carly made some food for one of the new moms at work.

Carly then went downstairs to a coffee shop to get some work done. We did more art and some reading, then played with balloons. We then did fort time on the couch. We were back in the parlor, and he was looking at the set of Bob Books and noticed the photos of the other sets on the back of the box. He really wanted collection 3. I went to the closet and got out collection 2 and we opened that, and were reading the first book, Rub-a-Dub-Dub.

Carly had gone to the store to get fruits and veggies, then came home around 1:30. I then headed out. The art show, Rubens and Other Masters, was from the collection of the Prince of Lichtenstein and at the special exhibit space at the National Museum. It was the last day of the show, which was a mistake, as it was busy. Stood in line for about a half hour only to go in and find that you had to take a number and it would be another hour. So I went into the regular history museum and went and saw their current special exhibit on preservation science, which was kind of interesting. I then walked over to the new Hangeul Museum, which we haven’t yet been to, and saw the main exhibit space there. I then returned to the Rubens exhibit and went in. Stayed for a little over an hour and a half. Very worth it for the Rubens, but the Brueghels were my favorite. We had seen Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s Triumph of Death at the Prado in Madrid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Death). Here, they had a copy made by his grandson, Jan Brueghel the Younger. It was 99% identical, but with changed colors and details, including more carrion birds and a few more Catherine wheels. Similarly, they had a copy of the Numbering of Bethlehem by his son, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, but I haven’t seen the original.

Before I left I got two copies of the Where’s Waldo?-type book based on the show called I See 100 – a copy for August and one for Meg, who had planned to go with me but needed to work on school stuff.

I got home just before 7, and just in time: August was ready to go to sleep. I was basically able to say hi, then he nursed and went to sleep a few minutes before 7. While I was gone they had done some painting, nursing, reading, cleaning, math, and listened to the new ABC tongue twister song on repeat. He is getting better at the sponge painting: he can now press down on the letters to make a letter on the page. When the letters were tipping over, Carly showed him how to use his palm to do it and he caught on quickly. He would then run into the other room to get more letters to paint with. They made a smoothie, and he was upset when Carly put fresh strawberries in the smoothie: he only wanted frozen. I think this happened once when I did the same thing. He spent a long time in the bathroom, spelling words. ‘Gargantuan’ has been the favorite of recent baths. We only have one of each letter, so Carly has to move the letters around, which he finds funny.

New words/phrases: spelling mommy, several others I keep forgetting to note.

 

Opening the second set of books: 

From my trip. The restoration science exhibit: 

Hangeul museum: 

Art show: 

He was up at 6:30. Carly Skyped with her mom in the morning. August was quite clingy with Carly this morning. Early, it seemed like it was because he thought she would try to leave for work. But it basically continued through the morning. At one point he told her he wanted to “cuddle”. We were thinking of heading to Dream Forest today, but the pollution was high and the weather just didn’t seem to be improving like it was supposed to. Also, he was looking tired early (he didn’t sleep for a long time last night). He fell asleep for a nap just before 11:30 and slept to 1:08.

After he woke up and nursed, he and I played with Peter Rabbit, with Peter hiding behind me. After awhile we decided to at least get outside for awhile, and did a stream walk. We went to the new playground in that apartment complex – after, of course, stopping to look at all the recycling. He spent most of the time sitting either on the rock or on the edge of the spider web with Carly. On the rock we were spelling ‘Zinn’ and he did it over and over: “Zinn Zinn Zinn”. While sitting on the spider web he was focused on the shapes, saying “Octagon has eight sides”. He also wanted me to sing the counting song (the Mother Goose Club “Count with Me”). When I got done with 5 he said “keep going 6 to 10”.

He wanted to nurse, so we walked up to the playground at Madeul. As I was carrying him he was looking at the bushes and suddenly started saying “Mama’s tea! Mama’s tea!” We walked back and he pointed to a Pepsi can in the bushes. Very funny. They nursed and then August spotted the little Sejong Park area with the statues of Hangeul characters. He and I walked over there for a few minutes. We went back to the playground and got the stick and started writing letters and numbers in the sand. We moved over to the dirt where we could better see the writing. We decided we should get going, so I told August we could write one more word. Of course, he chose the longest word he knows: gargantuan. I wrote it, then he traced it a couple of times and then walked around singing a “Gargantuan” song. We got him in the backpack and started to leave. As we walked past, he said “Bye gargantuan!”

On the way to Tolerance Cafe, he was saying letters and said “M O O S S”. I said it sort of spelled ‘moos’. He then repeated it with two Ss a few times and excitedly insisted “It’s a word!”

When we got into the cafe, he remembered being there before and immediately said “Get dalghi smoothie” We sat in three chairs looking out over the stream. Carly and I read and he was on the iPad, doing Dr. Seuss by himself for much of it. We were talking about our plans for afterwards, and Carly was planning on going to Home Plus. August was fine with letting her go and going home with me, saying “dada Zinnie fun”. Before we left, Carly changed him in the bathroom. The sign on the counter that said ‘order’ had an ‘E’ that was coming down, and as we left August said “Bye falling E!”

We stopped out on the platform to put him in the backpack. This was where the ‘fuzz’y incident happened, and he remembered it both directions on our walk.

We got home, and then I headed out to Home Plus, as I also needed to drop off my camera with Meg, as she needed to borrow it. Took quite awhile at the store as it was busy and there were things I couldn’t find. When I got back, they were finishing August’s bath. She was washing his hair – he wasn’t happy about it, but he has gotten better with it. While I was gone they had done a lot of reading, including the Dr. Seuss birthday book.

He nursed, then Carly took him in to bed. He got up though and they were reading. Carly was surprised he could read so much of the Picnic Bob book. After awhile they came out, and he wanted to find Bluie and Green Monster. We searched for them, and found them in a drawer in the parlor. We then took them and Peter Rabbit in on the bed and played under the blanket and hid from Carly. August wanted Green Monster and Bluie to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. We also read Picnic, and he read the full sentences “Sam, Tanner, and Dot cut up pizza and pie for the picnic.” And “What a yummy lunch!”

He then read with Carly again in the parlor. After awhile he came out to the living room, looking for a book. We didn’t understand what he was saying at first until he found the book and we realized he had been saying “Cheerios”. He read that with me, then wanted Cheerios to put in the book. I got those down, and he also ate a few. He then spotted the box and had an idea: “ABC here…ABC on the box.” He got an orange marker, and had me write the alphabet on the box a few times. We then read Dot, and then spent a lot of time on the Corduroy cover. He did a good job figuring out the “funny” letters, but was particularly fixated on the ‘F’ in ‘Freeman’ that looked more like a ’t’. He had also done a good job of figuring out the confusing Hangeul characters on the door to the cafe earlier.

He also wanted to sing the ABC tongue twister song, then remembered the biting my finger game. He’s done this a few times – I think it started the day after he actually bit my finger a week or so ago. In it, he pretends to bite my finger and I go “Oww!” and he laughs.

Carly skyped with Cassie, and August was excited to see Colin. He wanted Colin to be messy though, as he really likes a video of Colin being messy.

Carly tried to take him to bed after that, but he still wasn’t ready. Carly went to sleep, and he stayed out with me for awhile, reading books. I said ‘no’ to something and that was too much for him, so he went in with Carly and fell asleep, a little after 9:30.

New words/phrases: spelling short words form sounding them out: can, be; More really want to nurse in the fort.

 

On our walk: 

Q: 

Gargantuan: 

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