He woke up a few minutes before 8. We had a nice long morning of playing with Duplos, on the bed, coloring, Endless Numbers, etc. because it turned out they were cleaning the floors. August had heard what he thought was a saw soon after waking up, and I said no, I thought it was a neighbor vacuuming. But around 9 I noticed it was still going. At 9:30 I opened our door to find the hallway a lake. By 11 I judged it dry enough for us to go out. We were supposed to have gotten a small table out of storage for the Halloween activity tonight, but they were still working on that hallway.
We stood on the bus to Dream Forest. He did okay, but suddenly started dropping his broom. But he did like me crouching to get it, I think. At one point, right near the end, he let out a really long yell. That was it.
We started at the main playground. We were up on the shaky bridge area when a bunch of bigger kids came. I had to get August out of the way, which he was not happy about. Soon after that, he decided he wanted to play in the sand, so we went over to the other playground, which was deserted. Wrote a lot of letters, numbers, and some hangul in the sand. He surprised me by requesting ‘eleven’ as the first number – he had heard it on Endless Numbers. We ate lunch and did some more writing in the sand, then played on the bench, throwing his shovel into the bushes behind. He bravely dropped down to the other side a few times. It is taller on the backside than the front, so he stumbled and fell once, but bounced back up.
It was getting windy and cold, so we went inside to eventually change him and start a nap. There was an exhibit of African art that had just opened, and it was very colorful, and had stuffed animals (lions, giraffes, etc.) out front. So August wanted to see the art. Timing was bad though, as he was tired and hyper. I couldn’t get him to focus, and he kept wanting to run off and touch the art, etc. And he got down and did yoga, which was fine, but then he was grabbing my hand, and pulling me down, saying “more yogas”. He wasn’t happy that I wouldn’t get down and do yoga with him in the middle of an art exhibit.
One of the women working the desk came over and gave him a free cardboard lion. Very nice. He really liked it, and we went back out front of the exhibit and he was putting it on the floor saying “roar, roar”. Later he was saying “I got my roar” as he held it. The tail came off, and he was focused on putting it back on. He needed my help to actually get it. Then he would take it back off, etc. Eventually, the tip of the tail broke off. He wanted me to fix it, saying “help, help” and doing the sign for help.
We were past the 5 hour mark, so I got him changed and in the backpack, and he was happy to give me the lion for safekeeping. We walked around, going up the road then on to the trail past the observatory, then coming back down, for about 10 minutes before he fell asleep. Went into Dream Cafe and he slept 1:46 to 2:37. He woke up, and we went into the book area, where we looked at books and played Endless Reader. He crawled into the hole in the middle of the hexagon of low benches/tables and played in there for awhile.
We then made a second stab at the art exhibit (we hadn’t seen much of it the first time). Did much better this time. Still, he was distracted by the big stuffed animals out front. We’d be looking at the art, then he’d remember them and say “more animals” and want to leave. Which was too bad, as most of the art had animals in it and was exactly the sort of thing he likes. Anyway, as we were leaving, one of the women asked if we could stay, as they were filming a documentary. There was currently no one else in the gallery. So we did one more tour of the gallery, and August was actually at his most focused.
From there we walked to APIS. A quick walk as we needed to meet Carly and get pizza before the Halloween gathering at 5. I dropped him off with Carly, then went and ordered pizza. Walked back to school, got the two of them, and we all walked and picked up the pizza, where we ran into Jill and Nathalie and their kids. We walked into Lotte Castle to the playground where the gathering was happening.
August had a blast. Mainly, he liked the food. He ate the spicy chicken, a ton of pizza, watermelon, and banana, declaring everything “yummy”. He had a nice staredown with one of the older boys, and really liked it Carly or he would poke the eye on Landy’s minion costume and she would make noises. Also, I up a new game, where I would have August jump over Carly’s head. That was pretty exciting.
It was getting quite dark, and we needed to get the table and some more candy before everyone showed up at Brownstone, so we left. First time putting August in the backpack in his big puffy jacket (Carly had put it on before leaving APIS). But we got that figured out. But then it turned out that Landy was driving, so we rode with her. August found this a bit disturbing, but we were able to sing songs and make it home – Landy is a kindergarten teacher, so that helped.
Carly went to do the storage room stuff and get candy and I took August up. He was not happy with mama being gone again. But I got him calmed down by the time she got back. We got things set up, then August and I were playing on the bed. At one point he said “fun” and “fun with dada”.
The second grade teacher, Kim, showed up first. He responded very positively to her, which was a good sign. I was prepping him, saying “Megan will be here soon” and “big kids are coming”. He was also great with Megan, and when the big crowd of kids came he initially did quite well, greeting them, and walking in with them to the room with the cards and stickers. But then it really filled up and he got overwhelmed. At that point, Carly took him in and nursed for the rest of the time the kids (20+ people in all) were there.
They left, and Kim and Megan stayed for 30 minutes or so. August had a blast with them, showing off his flopping on the bed, how he goes under the blanket now, etc. Megan showed him he could decorate the light switch with stickers. He said “bye bye” to them over and over as they left.
While Carly was taking a shower, he walked down the hallway, saying “change diaper”. Very nice when that happens. We then played on the bed some more, doing the mountain thing. At one point he wanted to find the blue broom and said “Blue broom, where are you?”
Thought he would go to sleep earlier, but a crash didn’t happen. He was still awake at 9:50. We read the Korean counting book and were on a second book when he suddenly got up and started walking down the hall. He said “Nurse, bedroom”, then “want go to sleep.” And he did.
He’s really into making things plurals, including overextending the S. He nows says “more ickyS” and “more yogaS”. He pronounces the S with quite an emphasis, saying “lettersss”.
New words/phrases: wet sheet, espresso machine, Max, Kim’s stuff, see Zinnie flop, a-gee moo (baby cow), monster party
Dream Forest:
After his nap:
APIS Halloween:
Back home: