Wednesday: Back to the US – This Is Our Blog

He was up at 6. When I got up Carly called American Express as our second transfer from the bank hadn’t gone through. The first, to BECU, had gone through quickly. Turns out, American Express, a company whose reputation is sort of built on worldwide travel, doesn’t accept overseas transfers to their bank accounts. We had used American Express both for that transfer transfer and for both of our pension transfers, which would go through in a few weeks.

With banks and pension offices open at 9, and us leaving at 12, we needed to move quickly. We got to work, finishing up our cleaning and packing and taking showers. August and Carly took down recycling. At 9, Carly was able to call the pension office and actually got the guy who helped us in person. He said we could submit new account paperwork via email. So Carly took August outside for awhile. They went to Dunkin Donuts and got a sandwich. August was smelling the donuts and Sarah McRoberts was there and thought that was quite funny. They got a chocolate donut to share.

I stayed at home and did the work for the pension office, then walked over to our bank. Got the same woman who helped us the first time. Took a little figuring out, but eventually she changed the transfer to BECU and cancelled the first transfer as it hadn’t bounced back yet. The new transfer should go through in a few days. I went home, and the pension office needed us to fill out a couple more forms,so I did that. August helped Carly clean, using a spray bottle to spray everywhere. Carly tried to get him to eat oatmeal and he said “I’m too tired for eating. But I’m not too tired to spray.”

When I was done, Carly went in and took a nap. I made French toast and we August and I ate that with syrup and blackberries. We managed to finish off the bread, eggs, cinnamon, syrup, and blackberries all at once. He also put watermelon on the French toast and ate a few bites that way.

There was a little cinnamon left in the container and I let him smell it and dump the last of it out in the compost. I was holding the bag already, and as he smelled the cinnamon it made his eyes itchy and he started rubbing them on the arm he was holding the cinnamon with. In the process, he turned the cinnamon upside down. Luckily, I was able to move the bag and catch it all. When he stopped rubbing his eyes he looked at the container and said “It already poured.”

So just a little after noon we got going. No long goodbyes, and it felt right heading to the airport. We were well weighted down though: I had August in the backpack and pulled one suitcase. Carly had one backpack on, pulled a suitcase with a backpack strapped to it, and pushed the empty stroller. After a couple blocks we stopped and took the backpack off the suitcase and I carried it the rest of the way.

At the bus stop we waited 20 minutes or so. At first, I just set August down in the backpack and he just sat in there. And then, as I took a photo of him waiting there, he leaned to the side and tipped over. Something that has literally never happened since we have been using the backpack. Actually, I got a pretty good set of videos/photos as we left: Leaving the apartment, I took a video and was trying to have him say bye bye to home. He’s getting upset in the video, but not because we are leaving, but because I was initially pulling the suitcase with a backpack attached and it was bumping his foot, which he hates. Then, as we walked outside I didn’t have his sunglasses, so he put his head down in the backpack. Again, it looks like he has his head down because he is upset, but really it is just because of the sun. Finally, I snapped a photo just as he started to fall in the backpack, so caught that on film.

He wanted to nurse after he fell, but was actually just fine. No crying. He then played with a business card he found on the ground. Carly asked what his job was: “I’m working at check if the money is going through.” He then poked it on old gum, and Carly asked if it was a gum bank he worked at. He said the bank checked to see if the gum worked well. He also spit on the ground and stuck the card in spit. Then he was trying to get Carly to hold the card.

We got on the bus and it first heads north past Nowon. He said bye bye to the park as we passed. On the bus he was excited about wearing his vest and did that no problem. We used the button to move his seat back and forwards. He said “What if it was a robot bus?” Me: “I am your bus. I am taking you to your airport. Along the way we may fight some Decepticons.” Him: “Oh, dada.” He wanted to plug in his headphones and was listening to the news on that was playing on the bus TV: “I like it! What your brain is saying.” I also plugged his headphones into my phone and he listened to some of his playlist.

We were to the airport at 1:45. We went to the bathroom, then checked in. We ate lunch at Burger King. There was a boy the same age. Initially August said “I don’t like boys because they take your stuff.” But then the boy came over, and they ended up following each other around and doing high fives. The mom gave us a set of two bracelets and August really liked those. Went through security and used our last Starbucks cards. August got his chia seed drink. Went to our terminal and saw our plane, then August and I went up to the museum area and did the rubbing and rubber stamps. He was excited to take those back down to mama.

They played hide and seek, and I went up a floor to send a couple emails, as the wi-fi wasn’t working at our gate. We all then went to find the play area. Took us awhile, as it wasn’t where it used to be. He got straight to playing with the red and yellow rods thing and I went to the bathroom. When I came back he was still there, but had already had two timeouts in the meantime. Kind of a wild, rambunctious place with both smaller and older kids. He battled with a larger kid for space on the rods thing and said “No. Please! I want some space!” He then had the dice pillow thing and took it into a space where two kids wrestled him for it. That went fine for a minute until a girl came out with it and August didn’t have it anymore. It was rather unfair, as he had it taken from him. But he got upset right away, so we headed back to our gate.

They started boarding quite early, like at 6, so we had quite a but of time on the plane. They played a couple of the games on the in-flight system, then he watched some Smurfs on his headphones. The flight went quite smoothly, so not much to say about it. We each got a different dinner, and he ate a variety of things. The best was the kiwi: he claimed he didn’t like kiwi, but instantly changed his mind once I gave him a bite. He was asleep around 9, and Carly got to sleep sometime after. I finished watching Suicide Squad, then some more Broadchurch, and went to sleep around midnight. I was up at 3:30. They woke up about 3:40 when they turned the lights back on. He fell back to sleep until 4:15. Right before landing, he had to go to the bathroom. Made it just in time, and he really had to pee.

Talked him through the landing and hearing the landing gear and everything. Seemed quite interested in it all. Deplaning and going through the airport was smooth. The best part was when we took his photo for customs. I held him up to the camera and Carly pushed the button. At just the right moment, he stuck out his tongue for the photo. The guy that took our form got a laugh out of that.

We got our bags, then while we communicated with Theresa we sat at a table and found a green germ-like stuffed animal someone had lost. Outside, we put on his vest, then he and I wandered over to look at the little fake stream. He was also interested in the people at the smoking area that were making noise and laughing.

She picked us up and drove us to her house. August had been apprehensive – he had wanted to just walk to her house – but he did quite well, and when we got there he kept playing in the car for awhile. On the way he had w
orn her sunglasses when it was bright. At the house it took awhile to get the cover off our car and everything packed. They looked at the backyard, then August and I smelled lavender in the front yard (he remembered it was called ‘lavender’ on his own) and looked at more roses.

We got going and drove up 99 all the way to the house. August was getting rather tired of the car by the the time we got here, but he made it. We were here at 4:30. A nice greeting from Thatcher at the door. We got our stuff in, then August explored the playroom with Thatcher. Before I left, the two of them had gone up to the play area to play, on their own. A new experience for me and Carly.

I took the car and went to T-Mobile to activate our phones. Went easy enough, but their computer froze while doing the second, so took longer. I was back at 5:45 and found Carly and all three kids playing in the tent in the playroom. Kayla had been in the high seat and doing her shy thing with me, putting her head down, before I left, so it was fun to see the change as she was playing with the two boys in the tent.

Derek made a wonderful meal of gnocchi, fresh asparagus (one of the things we missed in Korea), peppers, and peas. We went back to playing: they made a fort in Thatcher’s room, Thatcher jumped off his bed and bumped his head on a closet door a bit (left a bit of a mark, but he is tough and was right back to it), they all had shortbread cookies, the two of them chased August around the kitchen as he wore a life preserver-shaped pillow around his waist, and they all played with the pillows up in the play area before heading to bed.

Andrea did storytime, but August wasn’t ready to calm down for that. But Carly got him to sleep about 8. At 9, I heard him coming down the stairs. Impressive, as it was in the dark and he also walked right past Eddy (who he also did quite well with, giving her some pets earlier – he was a little worried about the licking potential, but it seems to be mainly small dogs he’s afraid of in that regard).

Carly got him back to sleep, but then the disaster: at 10:30 he woke up, crying and upset it was dark. He wanted to go outside, and at one point asked “Why?” it was dark. I stayed up with them until a little after midnight. I went to bed when they were having some blueberries and cereal in the kitchen. They came to bed at 2:20, nursed, then he watched some Smurfs with his headphones. When he was still up, I took him into the play room from about 3 to 3:30. He wore a red mask, put a bucket on his head, and we read Secret Pizza Party. He wanted to go back to mama. Tried that, and he lay between us, patting me on the back (which was better than the last time, when he was bouncing his foot on me), but then wanted to go out again after 3:50. We went to the play room and ate wheat thins and guessed why the bear in a picture on the wall looks sad. He was thirsty, so we went down to the kitchen where we got water in a cup and poured it back and forth to another cup. We ate a few strawberries and a banana. Before going back up I took him to the bathroom, where he wanted us to see the soap dispenser filled. I don’t think he had seen someone filling it, but maybe it reminded him of the one by our sink in Korea (which we never used).

Took him up about 4:30 and he was asleep after 4:40.