Around the time Carly got up, he was reciting letters in his sleep this and said “14”. He woke up at 6:10. We had a full morning of reading Kipper, playing Endless Reader together, writing the alphabet (repeatedly) on the whiteboard, having the Duplo animals eat (he found it funny to line them up along my leg as if they were eating me), making a card for mama (I asked him what he wanted to tell mama – the first answer was a bunch of numbers and things I didn’t understand; the second time I asked he said “I love you.”), and more Kipper. Always more Kipper.
We left around 10. Or something. Walked to the subway in a light rain. Got down to the DDP. Had our coats and rain covers off for the subway. At the DDP we had to cover about 20 feet between the subway exit and the entrance to the DDP. As I hurried across those 20 feet, a woman started calling to us and showing me her umbrella. I told her we were okay (in Korean) several times and kept going. As we waited for the elevator, indoors, she came up to us, having followed us, to offer to give us her umbrella. Very nice, but very, very crazy. If we had wanted an umbrella there were probably 10 places I could buy one in the DDP complex.
Anyway, we looked around the design plaza. August wanted to touch things (“More touch”), so we found a few things he could, then headed to the toy store. There, he really, really liked a big, soft stuffed duck. Then went and changed him and headed to the spiraling design walkway to put him to sleep. It was a long, boring passageway last time I had walked it. But this week was Design Week in Seoul, and the pathway hosted a college design fair. Very cool, actually, and we saw all sorts of interesting stuff. Made it harder for him to fall asleep though.
He fell asleep from 11:42 to 12:28. A little short. We sat back in the cafe at the toy store. When he woke up, we played in the cafe area there, mainly with the push around riding thing and a Winnie the Pooh interactive table thing. We went to the baby lounge area to eat lunch and then went to the i-Play kid cafe. This is where we went on his first birthday. Almost didn’t, as it is bit pricey compared to others (they charge 4 bucks for a parent, and all you get is a lousy coffee in return – others don’t charge for the parent), but glad we did, as he loved it.
Played a lot with the wooden ball pit, then found the big rubbery animals and played with them. Mainly the gaegul (frog) and penguin, which he carried around the play area for quite awhile. After some wandering (and getting my ‘free’ iced coffee), during which he liked the round rubbery things with different textures on them that you can feel with your feet, we ended up at the tool section, where he played with the screwdrivers, a magnetic crane truck, a hammer, and a chainsaw. We spent a lot of time using the chainsaw on different things. From there, he did some sliding, then we went to the sound area. This is where he got really overwhelmed by hearing the sheep last time. He still reacted strongly to hearing the animals, even saying “baa baa in there” as he stared at the speaker. But no getting upset this time. He also really liked the pig and chicken.
We went back to the tools for awhile, then ended our time over at a block area making a tower and sliding down the rubbery stairs. He also met a ‘baby’, getting up really close and just looking at her a few times as she came up the stairs. We used our full two hours, and left at 3:40.
Took the subway home. No rain by now, and quite nice – 50 degrees. It was just hitting 5 as we got back to our area, so we walked to intercept Carly. While waiting at a light, a woman really let me know that August’s hands must be cold. Because, you know, it is 50 degrees. For the record, after I saw two other small children in open strollers – neither wearing gloves.
Anyway, met up with Carly and Megan. August was excited to see them both. He really likes Megan, particularly since she keeps giving him stuff. This time it was a magnet.
At home he played on his own pretty well for awhile. I made him eggs with broccoli and onions for dinner, and Carly gave him a bath. Not surprisingly, he fell asleep early, a little after 7:30.
New words/phrases: leg, screw, penguin, building, froggy, sacs saca (dry dry), dada says becoming big kid
Toy store and the duck:
After his nap:
Play area:
Staring up as we walk to meet Carly:
Asleep in Thatcher’s old pajamas:
