We went out to Uidong to go to the park and the embroidery museum today. Unfortunately, the museum was closed, although the signs would have you believe otherwise. So we spent a lot of time in the park, which was fine, because it is a nice big park with two playgrounds and all sorts of stuff to do.
On the way there we took a bus/subway/bus route. That allowed us to pick up some kimbap for lunch at the subway station.
I was afraid August would fall asleep before we got to the park, as he woke up a little before 6 and it was now 10:30. But he made it there and we ate and he played in the water fountains (which had little hoses for him to play with) and with the car and horse spring toys at the playground.
At close to noon he started to act sleepy. So I put him in the backpack. He tried to protest being put in the backpack, but his (fake) cries turned to laughter after blocking my attempts for a few seconds. We walked around the park, and saw a butterfly flying around some flowers. We watched it for close to 10 minutes, with August regularly saying ‘navi’. After that I walked up the hill/trail for a few minutes, then came back to the park and he fell asleep.
He slept 55 minutes. He then woke up and we ate some more. He thought it was fun to throw his larabar in the bush, so we got the ball out of the backpack and played with that. I changed him on the bench, then we walked over to the bathroom to throw away the diaper.
We then changed locations, where he had a couple of steps to play with. There were also a bunch of middle school students near us that entertained him, and he liked watching them ride their bikes.
From there we walked up to try the museum, only to find it closed. So we went back to the park, to the other playground this time. Here, there was a pond area with lily pads that he liked looking at, all sorts of benches and seats he liked climbing up onto, a play structure that he climbed the stairs to several times, and yet another pond with fish to watch. At one point he picked up leaves and was flapping them around; he then started climbing up on a bench to throw leaves behind it.. At another point I was siting on a swing and he was ‘helping’ me by pushing. And at one point he remembered the pond area and went running off to see it again.
At 3:45 we caught the bus home. We took the two seats over a wheel well. He sat by the window. He sat there for about 30 minutes, looking out the windows. For the last 10 minutes, he wanted me to hold him. This gave him a view of the people behind us. He spent the rest of the ride being an extrovert. He waved, individually, to each person. He played a hand grabbing game with two women. And he looked at the people right behind us and clapped. As we got ready to leave, he kept saying ‘bye bye’ and waving.
We got home after stopping at the little store at a little past 4:30. August was disappointed that Carly wasn’t here, but made it to 5 okay. At that point, he kept saying ‘mama’. So we went looking for here. We went downstairs once, but didn’t see here. We went back to the apartment, but he was once again disappointed she wasn’t there. So we went to the elevators and played on the bumps. We were waiting about 7 minutes when the doors opened and there she was. He was standing right in front of the door, so it was a good surprise for both of them.
One thing he has been doing lately is changing the words to the ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ song. I’ve already changed it to ‘One for the dada, one for the mama, and one for little August who rides on a llama’. As he has started to learn the words, I let him say ‘dada’, ‘mama’, ‘August’, and ‘llama’ in the song. His first change was changing ‘llama’ (because he doesn’t know what that is) to ‘baba’, then ‘mama’. Today he took it a step further, and instead of ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ sometimes he will call out other people, like ‘gramma’ and ‘tia’. And he has changed the ‘baba’ or ‘mama’ word to ‘backpack’ several times, making me believe he at least understands the ‘rides on a…’ phrase. Of course, his changes don’t exactly follow the rhyming pattern, but still pretty cool.
Oh, and at the park I was trying to teach him ‘pine needle’. He insisted on calling them ‘hoo-haa’s, that is, noodles.
New words: kimbop, pole, yummy, hawk, kaw, pull (pulling my hand), waterfall, tunnel, string cheese
Holding his smoothie inappropriately:
Pointing out the window:
His prson of the day was grampa. He talked about grampa constantly:
At the park:
After his nap. Sandoo and Larabar:
Sandwich on his head:
Pointing at an ant, err, bee (as he now insists on calling them):
Looking for gaeguli and mulgogi (frogs and fish):
Climbed up all on his own:
More frog and fish hunting:
Sitting on the way home:
Back in our park, watching the stream actually on:
Ready to walk home on his own:
Giving hugs before bed:
