He came out at 7:05. Sat in the hall several minutes waking up and started to act kind of silly. Didn’t want underwear on. We went in on the reading area and read Loch Mess Monster. Carly Skyped with us for a few minutes. He got a hair in his mouth but we got it out. After we said bye we finished reading the book, then he wanted to play Mammals. Did that, then Human Body and found a Korean app that he watched/played with a bit. He wanted Cheerios and banana for breakfast. He got his headphones out of the bowl and wanted to listen to them. We were listening to Erasure (which he liked: “Add it to your playlist!”) and listened to some with his headphones. He told me to talk, and that he couldn’t hear me: “Dada say something…I can’t hear you! I’m plugging my ears!”
He played on the iPad and exercised, then took a shower. He had started to play Elmo’s Animals though and wanted my help, so came and waited somewhat impatiently for me. We played that for a few minutes. He acted out the animals, then there is a sort of memory game, where you match cards with animals on them. He liked that, but when we went up to the second level there is a timer. He did not liked the idea of a timer at all, so that was the end of that.
I made a peanut butter and honey sandwich and he ate a quarter, and had some peanut butter on his spoon. He got the red and white soccer ball and was throwing it around. I got him to kick it, and we were kicking it back and forth pretty well. He also said “I don’t like bouncy things because they roll away.”
He was sort of playing with his ‘skateboard’ and out of nowhere said “I don’t like Megan.” I was asking why, and he then said “I don’t love Megan.” So we discussed the difference between like and love, applying it to all sorts of things. At one point he asked “Dada LIKES this song? Dada doesn’t LOVE it?” “Why dada doesn’t love it?” And he went and did something to the garbage can and said “I’m playing in the garbage.” “Dada doesn’t like Zinnie cuz Zinnie was playing in the garbage?”
And he also, on his own, was saying “I’m not comfortable with Megan.”
“I don’t like Megan. I’m UNCOMFORTABLE with Megan.” “I’m uncomfortable with Uncle Paul.” And ended with “I’m uncomfortable with a lot of people.” I was then asking him who he was comfortable or uncomfortable with. His answers changed a bit through the day, but at first he said he was comfortable with sangsaengnim and Jenny, but uncomfortable with Cora. And he sometimes gave reasons. When I asked about Olivia, the girl from the playground, he said “I’m UNcomfortable with her. BECAUSE I wanted to play with the toys.” I asked who else he is comfortable with and he said “The trees…the trees are people.”
We spent some time rolling up the bandage. He’d then unroll it, but wanted it rolled back up, and without any bumps. Did it a few times, then brushed his teeth and we left at 10:50. We heard someone being loud in an apartment across the hall – singing or chanting or something – and August was interested in that. On the way through the park we forgot to pat the mama statue. When I mentioned it he wanted to go back and do it, so we did.
On the train up to Dobongsan he ate some banana bread, then sang “More is a number…counting more…more and more and more…” to the tune of “It’s O.K.” We went to get bop burgers at the station, only to find that the bop burger place has been replaced with a Korean snack food place. We got some kimbap instead and walked into the Iris Garden. As we walked through the sun he sang, to Ode to Joy:
It’s not shady
It’s not shady
It’s not shady
It’s not shady
(Repeat)
But it’s shady over there
It is shady over there…
We went up to the picnic tables in the trees and ate lunch. As we ate, he said “I want peanut butter. I want the song.” Meaning the “Peanut, peanut butter, and jelly” song I only knew one line of. We found the lyrics. When he was done with his juice he said “pretty much gone”.
At about noon we headed to recycling and stopped at the water faucets to play. He could press the faucets on his own. I put his hat on him and he wore it for a few minutes without complaint. He was done at 12:10 and we went to the bathroom.
We got walking up to the stream. Stopped at our hat stand (where I got my tan hat) and he liked a bright blue hat that he tried on with the help of the woman that worked there. Later, as we walked up, I mentioned his glasses and he asked where they were. I said “In my pocket.” He asked “It’s closed?” I assured him “Its closed.” Him: “So it won’t come out?”
At the stream we started playing. I was floating the boat down, but he was concerned that it would escape. We used a rock to block up the stream in the one place it could keep going. He threw rocks for awhile, then was unhappy when I put sunscreen on him. He wore his hat for a bit before taking it off. He was scooping water into the boat and into his shoes. I got him to put his hat back on by saying “Wear it for ten seconds.” He counted to ten , then said “That means you’re getting used to it?” and kept wearing it. He continued to playing on his own, filling his shoe “the fish spitted it out. The whale is spitting it out.”
Then a couple of kids showed up. August picked up all his toys and his shoes and watched them. They were wading in the water, and he started to wade like them. He eventually set his stuff down except for the blue cup. They boy and girl had a white cup, and August really wanted it. I think he was almost ready to trade at one point, but it didn’t happen. Eventually, he wanted to put all of his stuff in the backpack, so we did that.
The boy was throwing rocks, so I was getting rocks for August, and the grandmother gave him some too. The boy showed August a rock and he took it, then the boy gave him a second rock. I suggested August give him two rocks as well, and August did. August then slipped while throwing and got a bit wet, but recovered.
Played for a few minutes, then we got going in the backpack and headed up to Bukhansan National Park. We washed our hands, then sat on a bench over near our usual lunch spot. He called him his “bread snacks” as he had finished up the banana bread, the quarter of leftover french toast, and the peanut butter sandwich. Unfortunately, he didn’t really like the kimbap. When those were gone though he ate some apple. A little bug was bothering him, so we got going, first using the bathroom. Then he spotted a little trail down by the stream and we went and looked down there a bit.
On the way out of the park he spotted the fire danger scale and we spent several minutes discussing it. Difficult, as he’s quite unclear about fire in general. Very curious about it and the sign though. Then we got our last Seoul Trail stamp. We walked back down the hill. He didn’t want to stop at a coffee shop. As we went through the shops area he commented on all the shoes he liked. I wanted something to drink though so we stopped at what used to be the Mug and Spoon and is now a convenience store and I got a cold latte drink. August said he needed to go to the bathroom, so we got going quick. As I paid he looked at the guy and said “I like that guy.”
We got back to Iris Garden at 3:30 and went to the bathroom. He then played with the drinking fountains again, doing the footprint game. I asked him why he liked the guy “Not sure. I just liked the guy.” At 3:50 he wanted to go up to the coffee shop and have a look. I sang the “so much” song and he was changing to include other people, like me, grandparents, etc. like our “loves August, loves Zinn” song. At the coffee shop I was g
oing to let him have either apple juice or a San Pellegrino, but he pointed to just a bottle of water and said he just wanted water. So I just got out his water bottle and he was fine with that and we didn’t stay at the coffee shop. Out on the deck area he looked out at the Iris Garden for a few minutes and we left at 4.
He was still hungry when we got to Hagye Station so we sat on a bench on the platform and he ate the last of the pine nuts. He then asked about losing our Stickies – that is, our sticks that we keep in the backpack for writing in the sand, etc. We lost the first stick when he dropped it as we walked to Dongdaemun.
We were home at 4:35. We listened to his playlist, and he liked it – he said he really liked one of the Woody Guthrie songs. He was then shaking the Listerine from Carly’s bathroom, and I was out in the hall seeing if we could fix the foot platforms on his bike. Got them on, and he wanted to try it out, so we went over to the elevators, waited a minute, and surprised Carly when she came off.
Back in the apartment they nursed, then he played in sinks with bottles. Ate some food and had some orange juice. Then played Mammals. I complained that he just fed the bats over and over again and he said “I want Dada to do it. But it’s my favorite.” He then was on GarageBand when Carly wanted to take him in for a shower: “But I’m playing GarageBand!” Carly lured him to the bathroom with Sesame Street songs. He played for quite awhile in the bath, then we read Mulberry Street and half of The Butter Battle Book before he was clearly ready for sleep. He was asleep by 7:50.
Photos:
Stream:
Holding all the things:
Hiding the cup in his shirt:
Snack:
Fire danger:
Footprint game:
Looking out at the Iris Garden:
