This morning he played in the sink a lot. He wanted to use the measuring spoons to scoop, so I sacrificed some rice and he had fun scooping that into the empty blender, a cup, and the sink. We made a smoothie for breakfast.
About 9:30 we left for Dream Forest. We walked to the bus stop and took the bus on the way there. At Dream Forest, we first stopped at the wading stream in the center of the park. It wasn’t fully on, but there was enough water for wading purposes; perfect for August. He mainly played around and on the big round flat rock that the water comes out of. He liked throwing his shovel in the stream and watching it fall over the edge of the rock. He was also really excited about standing on the rock – the first of multiple places he wanted to stand on today.
From there we moved on to the Dream Cafe we frequented so many times last year. We played there awhile, and I took his photo looking through the cutout of Max from Where the Wild Things Are. In spring it seemed like it would be a long time before that would happen.
He was getting tired, and still wet, so I changed him and put him in the backpack. To get him to sleep I walked up from the building, past the observatory, and found the trail that led over to the viewpoint I found with my parents last year. He fell asleep and I turned around, went back to the cafe, and read.
He woke up after 50 minutes and we went back into the kid area and ate and played. He was being very active and amusing. I divided the sandwich, but he ended up with part of my portion anyway, and was proudly carrying them in both hands for awhile. He realized he could stand and walk on his tippy toes, and he laid on his back on the floor for quite awhile. This was also another place where he wanted to climb and stand on the low bench and tables.
We then went to the art gallery and saw the show there. Kind of cartoon art. August liked some of it, but we didn’t spend a lot of time.
From there we went out to the floor fountain. We watched for awhile, then he actually got up to it on his own and was putting his foot over one of the nozzles. He decided he was all done, so we went to the wading pool, but he walked through it once and was done.
So we started to walk back and stopped at the playground when he saw it. He had a snack and played with leaves and our Pororo mat. As usual, the playground itself wasn’t of much interest. Before we left, a woman came over and entertained him either a cold water bottle for a couple minutes.
We continued on our way, making a brief stop at the wading stream again. Here, he listened to 3 girls play ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ on a piano for 5 to 10 minutes. His was both exciting for him and frustrating; he wanted them to play ‘Baa Baa’ and was saying it repeatedly, but they didn’t do it.
We then stopped at the visitor center to change his clothes and diaper and refill his water bottle. While changing him, he looked up at me and said ‘sleepy’. He said it twice more as I changed him. He managed to stay awake on the way home though.
He saw a set of backpacks, used, I believe, for weed killer or the like, through a door and thought they looked like vacuum cleaners. He stood in the doorway, pointing and making vacuum noises, but never once tried to get close to them.
We walked home. 2.15 miles. Only, it turns out, a quarter of a mile longer than the walk to APIS.
Carly was working a little late, so we stopped at one of the apartment complex parks for a snack. He also went on those spring seats and down the slide a couple times. I got a nice insect bite right on the scar tissue on my arm. Left quite a big bump. He cried a bit when I put him in the backpack to go home. A girl, perhaps 2nd or 3rd grade, who was there on her own, came up and gave me a lemon candy for him. Very nice.
We got home a little before Carly. She was home by 5:30, and he fell asleep about 7. He was feeling a little warm as he went to bed, and doing some tossing and turning. Hopefully nothing major.
Waving to mama right after he woke up:
More feeding:
Dream Forest:
Cafe Dream:
He was proud of himself for ending up with both parts of the sandwich:
Floor time:
Standing on things:
With Haechi, the mascot of Seoul:
Getting close to the fountain and feeling the water on his head:
Before we left the park:
Floor time at home:
