August was up at 6:15. When I woke up a bit later, I heard Carly go to the bathroom, so I went out and got Carly’s gift out and August carried it to Carly and gave it to her in the hall. It was a box of choco pies, six small packs of M&Ms that make a hexagon, and one of those fidget spinners, because Carly had mentioned she wanted one after August and I played with them at Children’s Grand Park station. I then made Swedish pancakes that turned out pretty well. August ate after he had gone to the bathroom, and Carly said “We didn’t wash your hands.” He replied “I’m okay with that.” And a bit later “I’m okay with germs.”
After eating, Carly told him to tell me “You’re the best.” He then said it a minute alter, and Carly was shocked he knew that phrase – she had forgotten she had told him to say it jut a minute earlier. They read Bob Books, then Carly took him outside about 9:30. I showered and did dishes. They were back a little after 10. They had walked along the stream. A nice wind and someone loved his blue eyes.
We were getting ready to go to Hoegi, and he carefully pulled out all the art supplies under the coffee table and dumped them in a big pile and stacked the empty bins. He then kind of just stood and admired his pile. Cherie called, so they Skyped with her for awhile. As we left, he chose his black sandals. We asked why, and he said “I just prefer these ones.” We left around 11. The whole way down, and thoughtout the day, he was humming a tune that I think is from one of his apps – perhaps Park Math or something like that. He didn’t know where it was from either. Need to try to find it… On the bus he did it in different instruments, and in different octaves. He was also thinking about the rhythm and said “Those are dotted eighth notes?” They were. Carly got to sit down, and we stood. August pointed and said “Toure sitting next to that guy?”
At Kwangwoon Station he looked at a bakery sign and said “That says Hot Bread.” From Hoegi Station we walked to Subway and got sandwiches. I got teriyaki chicken this time. We walked into Kwangwoon University for lunch and sat on the top of the big set of steps in front of the administrative building or whatever it is. He was worried about our bags blowing away. From there we walked to see the group of kids that had walked by, then he saw a group of people having a big picnic. They had been occasionally cheering, and he was curious about him. They waved, and loved it when he said “Anyanhasayeo!”
We planned to head south, then west to a park (홍릉근린공원). We first used the bathrooms we’ve used several times before there, then got going. But first he saw a path through the trees up towards the library and really wanted to walk up there. So we turned around and walked up there a bit. He wanted to proceed up the hill, but we convinced him to head the other way.
It wasn’t incredibly long, but August wanted out of the backpack at one point, then wasn’t moving too quickly. He found a broken orange cone and played with that for several minutes. That was pretty funny. He pretended to spray water out of it and put it on his head. We continued on when he was done. But then we got to the park but it didn’t appear we could go in the east end. We continued to walk around to the west side, but first found the Soorim Arts Center (수림아트센터). We spent about an hour there. They had some cool art, and while I looked at the main show Carly and August rode the elevator because he wanted to see what was on other floors. They found the rooftop terrace. They came back and looked through the main gallery for a bit. Then August got to break the rules by nursing outside of home. He was quite excited about that. I went up and saw the roof. Tried to take the stairs but a guy said I couldn’t go any further, so I went back and took the elevator instead. We used the bathroom and left at 2:15.
We went a bit farther south, but the next entrance to the park was closed – we’d have to go to the southwest corner. We walked up a side street and found the Sejong Museum. There were some King Sejong-related artifacts outside, and some event going on with drumming. We looked around and sat and ate more of our sandwiches and listened to the drumming.
We then walked back to 8st Coffee. Much faster this time, as August happily stayed in the backpack. They have remodeled the first floor and moved the counter and art spaces around. We each got a drink – August with a blueberry yogurt smoothie. They have three specialty drinks that I’ve had before, but I couldn’t really tell you the difference. Went with the Saigon one this time. We filled up a free drink card, but we couldn’t use it this time, so we’re ‘forced’ to go back once more.
Anyway, August chose to sit on the third floor again. While we sat there and read/played the iPad, a woman who worked there came by and recognized us. She pulled up the photo on her phone of when she took her photo with August like a year and a half ago.
We briefly saw the dog before leaving, but August wasn’t too interested. We headed home. At Kwangwoon I made the mistake of wanting to walk quickly though Daiso to look for small caribiners to use as zipper pulls on a suitcase. August immediately wanted to get down and explore. We left, but he was not happy at all. He was pretty upset the entire way back on the bus. We got home at 5, and as I got him out of the backpack I apologized for the Daiso thing – it was too soon, as he got his totally sad look and started crying again.
They nursed and I set up the scanner to scan medical paperwork, notebooks, etc. I wanted to get rid of. He really got into that and would press the button for me. We had dinner, and he watched videos about pasta machines, then Parmesan cheese. He then requested pine nuts. We had a few left, so I gave him those. Carly said it was time for his bath and he said “No, I’m eating pine nuts.”
She gave him a bath and he watched Pink Panther. We then cleaned up the big mess from earlier. At first he didn’t want to because it was too big, but we worked together and he got into it. We then read while Carly took a shower: Cat in the Hat, Steak for Supper, Gustav the Goldfish, some of The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. He went in to bed at 7:35 and was asleep by 8.
Photos. Lunch spot. Notice him holding the bags:
Cone head:
Coffee shop:
Selfie with the woman again:
His card:
