Up at 7. Played on the bed for awhile. Happily said goodbye to Carly, but rethought that after she was gone for a few minutes. Got off the bed and found Marshy, and spent a few minutes hugging and playing with him. Spent a little time doing letter work on the iPad – mainly tracing letters in the Montessorium app and then a little Endless Reader, during which he identified ‘after’ on the screen before it was said out loud. Also in the morning he chanted the A to Z song, only skipping ‘m’ and ’n’ and ‘won’t you’.
Before we left, he had requested watching an ABC song. So we watched one twice, and called it enough. He was not happy about this. Kept trying to climb back up on the chair and table. Eventually calmed him down, and then he was saying (almost like he was mocking me, as he was using the same tone/intonation) “Dada says NO” and “Dada says NO ABC song.” But when I got him on video it was just a (very cute) “Dada says no song.”
We left the house around 11 and took the subway up to Nowon, then got seats on the line down to Hyehwa. We took out the notebook and pencils we bought yesterday and drew most of the way there.
In Hyehwa, we walked up the steep hill to Naksan Park (where the wall goes through the area – last time August and I were here it was really windy). We ate lunch. he was playing in the sand at the foot of a tree a few feet away. He stood up and walked towards another man that was walking towards us and wiped his hands on the man’s black pants; pretty sure he thought it was me. Luckily, the guy wan’t too upset. Later, after August’s nap, he would see the guy across the plaza and say “sorry, sorry.”
By 1 August was saying he was sleepy and wanted in the backpack. So I changed him on the floor of the bathroom and we walked around the park until he fell asleep. He slept from 1:13 to 2:01 and I sat on the same set of concrete stools where we had eaten lunch.
When he woke up we played by the little pond. He spotted magpies up above, and called the rectangular empty planters under the water a “trough.” I asked a trough for what. He said “animals.” I asked what animals. He said fish, then snake, then turtle. He even joked, saying “Dada’s trough. No.”
We finished up and walked down the hill. We went to the Arko Art Center and saw the show there. August wasn’t a fan (dark, with scary noises), but there was one screen which was a projector projecting what looked like stars or dust moving around and it changed color. We could stand in front of it, and he could see the movement and color on me, which he liked.
From there we went outside. We were going to go over to the science center, but as we walked across the park in front of the art center, August started saying ‘Y, Y’, Y’. He had seen where the paving stones diverged, making a pattern that looked like a ‘Y’. Then he wanted down to write letters, and we spent about 15 minutes making pretend letters and numbers on the pavement.
We then walked over to the science center only to find it is closed for renovations. Until 2017. So we walked up to the Salvation Army to look for books. Along the way we saw a croquette shop, so we got a cream cheese croquette and shared it. He loved it and handled it being gone well, but for the next hour or so he kept saying “more cream cheese.” We bought a good stack of book (about 12) and headed out.
Before we got to the bus stop/subway area, we came across the Hyehwa Gallery. We went in and looked at the two shows there, one of high school art, the other a painter. It was pretty much empty, so August had fun running around the gallery and sliding backwards on the floor. I changed him on the floor of the bathroom (3 floors for 3 changes today), then we went to try to get home.
First tried to take a bus. Packed. Went down to the subway and couldn’t get on the first two. Made it on the third train. Entertained August most of the way by holding the phone up for him (he was in the backpack) so he could play Endless Reader. He was done with the a couple stops before the end, but was content with singing.
We made it home about 5:30. He wasn’t too happy at first, but eventually ate a good amount of chicken soup. He and Carly played with the fake fruit and veggies in the fort. He and I read in the fort and also out in the reading area. Carly gave him a bath and brushed his teeth, neither of which he was about about. He must have looked up on the shelf above Carly’s desk, because first he requested playing with a balloon, so we did that. Then he wanted bubbles, so we did some of that as well.
Currently 8:44 and Carly is singing to him on the bed. Might be going to sleep not, or not.
New words/phrases: fuzzy head, hot air balloon, drum, all gone magpie over there, cream cheese
Headed to Hyehwa. Wearing his vest and drawing in the new notebook:
Naksan Park:
Arko and park:
Hyehwa Gallery:
Headed home:
Home:
