He was up just before me, at 6:10. After nursing they read All in One Piece and Kipper’s A to Z. August and I were catching up on the 1Second videos while she left. Then had Cheerios and bananas for breakfast. We played with the Smurfs, then I suggested we read some Smurf comics. He wanted one about Farmer Smurf, but I found one about Baby Smurf and we read that instead. We finished that first story, then he started talking about machines: “I’m going to build a machine with coffee.” “I builded a mixing machine. I put a lot of scoops on it.” There was more talk of machines – made lollipops, etc. I had the idea of getting out the small fan and that kept him occupied for awhile. Did some exercise, then we read the rest of that volume (14) of Smurf stories. We had crackers, crab, and cream cheese for snack. I showered, and he just played around with things on his own. He was then talking Smurf: “Smurf all the crackers…” Sound outside: “Smurf that sound.”
I made a peanut butter and honey sandwich for later, and he wanted some now, so he hate some peanut butter and honey on spoon. We Skyped with gramma and grampa. Had fun with that, but we were getting a lot of feedback. At the end he was frustrated when an emoji he sent didn’t show up big like the used to do. He wanted to cover it up with a sticker on the iPad.
We were listening to Cream and he liked a song. He helped pull out the garbage bag so we could take it down, and we left at 11:40. As we walked, he took me apart, like Brainy does to Clockwork Smurf: “Sorry, I just want to see the bones…of the robot.”
We stopped and got some kimbap (again at his request, but then he didn’t eat any of it). We discussed how he has gone three nights in a row with a dry diaper and that he could try underwear soon. He said “Umm, no. I’m still learning.” We ate a quick lunch as was really hungry, but he just wanted to get in to the children’s museum to play. We were to the blue blocks at 12:40. Oddly, someone had left a plastic tiger toy on top of a very symmetrical fort that had been built out of the blocks. We started playing. He tripped and fell once and said “I’m okay.” A boy came and August was a little protective of the blocks he was playing with. The woman he has played with before came over and he was very happy about that, and they played until he needed to use the bathroom. As usual, on our way out though he wanted to play with all the things. Did some good waving to her as we left.
Went to the second floor for the bathroom, then went into the space area. He spent a long time on a ball game thing, where 4 people work together using ropes to maneuver a plastic circle to catch a ball, then to put it in in a hole. At first it was just a tug of war with a bunch of other kids. But then they left, and August really liked turning the wheel to make the next ball come out, and we worked together to catch the balls and put them in the holes. Other kids then came, and they played it properly, with August releasing the balls, and them catching them and putting them in the holes.
He hopped on the skateboard-ish spaceship game, then got in line with a group and walked up the ramp with them. But when they headed for the construction area August kept going and went to the water area, getting there about 2. A lot more playing with the hand dryers, and working on the hand over hand thing with the bucket. He then ran over to the fashion show area, still in his apron, and I took a photo before taking the apron off him. We played with the swirly thing, watching the bubbles form then disperse, then he ran back to the clothes area for the fashion show. He chose, on his own, the girl hanbok to wear. He did the catwalk with that and I took photos, then he walked in it over to the microphone area, then the swirly thing. Wore it for a few minutes before deciding to take it off.
We left at 2:30 and went back down to the blue blocks. There was no one there, but he said “I don’t want other people here…No, I can’t share.” Played a bit, then needed the bathroom. We went up to the bathroom again, then from the balcony we saw the woman (or she saw us first, rather) from the basement now working the front door and waved at each other. We went to the cafeteria for a snack at 2:50. I had brought the custard cake snack from the bag of treats from Jenny and he ate it. I was just letting him eat all of it, but he offered me a bite: “Dada, have it!…You like it? I like it.”
Back over on the third floor he played with the wind stuff: the scarfs up the pipe (which a worker had all tied together in a row) and the pipe where you can set the pipe on top of it and it will hover. I was pushing the button on this one, and he was both fascinated by it and terrified. Not sure if it was just the noise, or he was worried the ball was going to fall.
We then went downstairs and to the hand puppets 3:15. He started with the baby one again. He said “The baby’s name is Squeap.” He wanted a story from the mama puppet about a baby getting eaten by a dragon, so I made one about a boy named Thorton who finds a golden egg. A dragon, seeing the gold, tries to steal the egg, but accidentally swallows the boy as well. Didn’t really get farther than that. August sang a “I’m a floppy baby” song. Then, he started to follow and play with other kids and adults: first with the tree thing, then in the drum room, then at the zoetrope. However, at the zoetrope he was putting the used papers in the zoetropes and spinning them, but he didn’t want a little boy to take a paper out of the zoetrope.
From there it was to the colorful shadows, birthday cake lights, light rods, and light blocks. With the light rods and light mixing things though there were a couple of twin boys. They, probably used to battling each other for toys, etc. kept pushing and hitting August. The mom, right there, on her phone, wasn’t to bothered by one of them swinging a heavy light rod at August’s head, although she redirected the boys a couple times. But at the end there was a little girl. They first played together with the light rods, then he followed her in to the shadow animals and played together there. He twice had the snail slime her head, and she had the squirrel or giraffe kiss him. Then she was copying him as he put them against the wall or kind of banged them on the table.
We left a little after 4. Went to the bathroom by the entrance to the park, then ate apple on the train. As we walked home he saw a picture of food and said he wanted to eat octopus. He knows I don’t like it though: “I want to eat octopus. I’ll eat octopus but not dada.”
We met Carly at the corner, and were home by 5:10. She read us a couple of scenarios for their project at school. Of the first one he said “I like it.” The second wasn’t as good and he wanted her to go back to the first one. Carly made him some broccoli nachos for dinner, then she ran to the bank to transfer some money. He then ate rice and beans and broccoli on chips. We read the first two stories in volume 14 of The Smurfs (Baby Smurf and A Little Party). Carly gave him a short bath, like the shortest bath ever considering she also washed his hair, as they watched part of one of the outside orchestra piece video. They then were doing the pillow surfing on the bed, and August ran out wanting the surfing song, so I found “Wipe Out” on the iPad and played it. He was plugging his ears though, and it wasn’t clear if he didn’t like the song, or was just being silly. He ended with some random craziness on the bed: “I want the pillows… to do the craziness!” He was asleep a bit after 7:30.
All day he was singing snippets of a “I don’t know how to poop and pee…” song.
Photos:
Backwards on the video game:
In line:
Fashion show:
Hand puppets:
Little girl:
Shadows:
