He woke up a little before 8. A pretty normal time, but he went to bed so late it wasn’t really a full sleep. We had Cheerios for breakfast. He was using my spoon pretty well, and gave himself at least one “I did it!” We skyped with my parents, then did laundry and got ready to go, leaving around 10.
At the park he wanted to see the animals. First, the horses. We spent quite awhile there, making it our lunch spot. Then one of the horses was over at the fence because people were feeding them. August and I spent several minutes hanging out with the horse. I was petting it, which August found exciting. Eventually, he would touch the horse’s snout, and draw a “little C” on it with his finger. Later, he was patting it and talking about the “pattern” (I think he meant ‘texture’). The Koreans, even the ones feeding them, were keeping their distance from the horses.
From there he wanted to see the goats, then wanted to go “inside.” So he led me up and into the tropical building. He pointed out the lemurs, sloths, and marmosets, then drew letters in the gravely dirt. We watched the birds for several minutes, then headed downstairs where we did our usual lizard/turtle/mole rat/coati watching.
From there he wanted to go see the birds, and wanted to go upstairs. So we did that, then he wanted to go to the playground. We walked up and over the hill to the Adventureland Playground. He seems to have been a little less independent in his playing recently, so when he took his shovel and started walking around the big sand area, drawing and singing by himself, it was kind of cool. That lasted maybe 10 minutes, then he wanted me to draw things for him.
He started getting sleepy just before the 5 hour mark, declaring “all done.” So we walked up to our usual bathroom and did the nap routine. Less than 10 minutes of walking and he was asleep.
Went to the cafe where I got the grain latte there for the first time. I like them, but it isn’t on the big menu here. I had spotted it on a small sign last week after ordering. August slept 38 minutes, 1:19 to 1:57. In that time I finished ‘My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me’ (the collection of modern fairy tales I’d been reading), and started ‘Still Life With Rice’, which my mom had bought while here in Korea. Interesting, but I might switch to the ‘Guernsey Literary and Potato…’ book next week.
Anyway, we sat for awhile in the comfy chairs and looked at a book, then headed out. He was a bit whiney and talking about home/mama/nursing, but when I gave him the choice of ‘serval’ or ‘home’ he clearly chose ‘serval’. We walked over to the big cats/dogs and first got down to look at the lynx. It is usually asleep up in the corner, but was at the glass today. August was happily looking at it for awhile, but then some other people came and started crowding around. He didn’t like that, and started to get upset. I picked him up and we kept heading for the serval. He saw the photo area statue of a leopard in a tree and a big kid standing up next to it. August got it into his head that he should be able climb on top of it, something the girl wasn’t even doing, and he was upset I wouldn’t let/help him. He gave a good frustrated yell, which I haven’t heard in a few weeks.
We briefly looked at the serval and a couple other things, then headed home a little before 3. That was the planned time, as we needed to go shopping at Home Plus.
Made it home, and August was not happy to find the apartment empty. He started making his nursing sound when he got in, and then started saying ‘mama?’ He calmed down once I got him in the stroller and we headed outside.
We went to Home Plus. He did quite well, in part because of all the samples: chicken nugget, sausage, crab, and several pieces of apple. Stopped and got mandarin oranges from a stand on our way home. Carly caught up to us just as we were entering the apartment – which was good because August was just starting to look in and make the nursing noise.
Got out the hangul magnets from the Pororo set, and August had fun with those. And a lot of laughing, practicing Spanish with Carly. Happy bath time with Carly, and then me, followed. And then he just exploded in a ball of hyper on the bed, starting when I tried to put the sheets on the bed. But he crashed pretty quickly when Carly started nursing him and he was asleep by 8:15.
New words/phrases: baby goat, marmoset, sloth, mole rats, head home, sooo much, Spanish: mehia, aqui, Korean: pemang (pepper), dangeun (carrot)
Zoo:
Writing in sand wherever he can find it, including the tropical building:
Playground:
The lynx:
Ready to head home (he is looking at numbers on a sign):
Home:
