Author: Ryan/Dada

 

 

I’m tired, have a bit of a cough, and need to get up early for a hike tomorrow, so a quick entry today. Between us we had 4 outings:

 

– First we all went to the pink building to shop at the remodeled grocery store. 

– Then I went alone to Home Plus to buy a new frying pan and a few things we couldn’t get

– Next we all took the subway 3 stops south to Meokgol to meet Nathalie and return her phone that she left in the van yesterday. She walked us around the neighborhood and showed us a kid cafe and an Italian restaurant that has a play area. We didn’t go to ether today though because August fell asleep. We then walked the three stops home as it was warm. 

– Finally August and I returned to Home Plus while Carly started the spaghetti because I had forgotten spaghetti sauce earlier. On the way back we stopped at the playground and played on the slide for awhile. 

 

August’s big accomplishments were really starting to walk and adding a new word: he did 3, 5, and then 8 steps for Carly. I then caught a 3 stepper on video. I am sure we will soon have more to show. 

 

His new word is ‘tea’, which he used to refer to Carly’s tea this morning. That is his eleventh official word. I’ll have a post with all of his words sometime soon. 

 

In the morning: 

Being silly while Skyping with Oma and Opa: 

Disliking the vacuum cleaner: 

(Currently hiding in iCloud and YouTube land) 

Asleep on our walk home: 

Walking home from Home Plus: 

At the playground: 

Bending his neck for the book: 

Playing with his new crayons. At least the box: 

Taking 3 steps (theoretically in YouTube land but ‘still processing’ as I write this): 

Carly had to leave at 6am to make it to her conference. August wanted to make sure he saw mama before she left, so he woke up a little after 5. A highlight of his playing in the morning was using the empty diaper garbage can as a walker and a toy, shoving it around the apartment. 

After his first nap we went to see the new art show at the Buk (okay, but not too exciting) and then went shopping at Home Plus. After that we went and played in the playground where we were able to use the swing, slide, and bouncy thing as there was almost no one else there. August seemed to be falling asleep on the bouncy thing, or at least very relaxed, but he stayed awake after we went home. 

At home we ate lunch, read books, and played some more. He had salmon for the first time. He reacted to the first bite kind of oddly but ate the other two bites I gave him as well. 

He seemed on the verge of taking a nap a couple times but rebounded. It was warm and sunny outside so I felt we should get out of the apartment so we headed to Dream Forest. He fell asleep along the way and woke up when I was sitting in the cafe listening to podcasts. Not sure what woke him as it was clearly too early. 

We went into the kid area but didn’t last long. When he got up to crawl over to see the birds on the wall, he was startled when he passed a corner and a man was sitting there and bent forward to say hi. Startled, August turned around and ran into a table. I got him calmed down once, but then when playing at one of the wall toys a girl and her mom getting too close set him off. 

We beat a hasty retreat and I planned to head home. But he saw the playground and wanted to go. I almost said no, but it turned out to be a good idea as we spent more than an hour playing on the slide and hanging out in the sun and snacking on Cheerios (dododos, thanks to Vivian). 

We headed home when Carly was on her way back from the conference, but ended up beating her by more than an hour. He was falling asleep so I was trying to keep him awake until he could see mama and make it closer to his 7pm bedtime. With some dance music and playing with Marshy on the bed we made it until Carly arrived a bit after 6 and he fell asleep around 6:40. 

A couple notes, primarily for those who have visited Seoul:

Turns out all of the pond areas and the deer park at Dream Forest are also closed due to avian flu. We hadn’t been in three weeks so this was the first we knew of it. 

The grocery store next door in the pink building was closed about a week ago. They have reopened, having replaced a bunch of the shelves and other storage areas. It looks a bit nicer now and, more importantly, has a lot more products than before. August and I just looked around for a couple minutes, but I am hopeful this will improve our shopping and variety of foods.

Oh, and Carly’s conference went well. She had some computer video issues right before presenting but got that worked out and it went smoothly. She was then able to attend two sessions, one on global service and one on mindfulness in education.  

Morning: 

At the park after Home Plus: 

Going off the end of the slide for the first time (oops). He was okay: 

On the swing: 

Still has a sticker on his butt from playing with them earlier: 

Getting sleepy on the bouncy thing: 

Lunch time. Salmon for the first time: 

Playground at Dream Forest: 

Enjoying the sunshine and dododos: 

Trying to stay awake until mama got home: 

 

We went to Children’s Grand Park today as we usually do on Thursdays, but we got a bit of a late start as he took a 2 and a half hour nap after only sleeping 9 hours last night. 

We first walked over to see if the zoo was open (still closed) and then went to watch the seals, peek in at the deer, and walk through the conservatory. 

We then headed to the children’s museum and played there for 90 minutes. He showed interest in a puzzle for the first time, although it was in asking the pieces out and putting it away in the box, not putting it together. He did that several times after I placed the pieces. 

It got really busy in the toddler area so we went in the book room where he worked on mastering putting the magnifying glasses in their holes and showed, again for the first time, some interest in actually looking at the books after pulling them off the shelves. He also went up the short set of stairs without any trouble, but is now hesitant to try going down them. 

We headed home at 4 and went first to the Buk art museum where a new show was opening today. They had a string quartet and pianist playing in the lobby so we watched for awhile and looked around just a little bit. It was very busy so we will go back tomorrow. 

We bought strawberries from a vendor on the way home. 

At home Carly Skyped with Glecy and August started to get tired soon after that. Carly have him a bath which he was in no way fond of and we only managed to keep him awake until 6:30. So it might be an early morning. 

Got him saying ‘river’ on video today. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but for several weeks now he has been calling me ‘mama’. He clearly knows how to say ‘dada’ and knows that word refers to me, so I kind of think this is his longest running joke. Sometimes he slips up and says ‘dada’ but if we point it out he immediately starts saying ‘mama’. Also, he is great on the changing pad nowadays and will often spend extra time there looking up at the ceiling or art. But he pretty much hates the bath. We will have to work on that one.

 

Morning: 

An unusual sight, as there is very little air traffic over Seoul. The joint U.S.-South Korea exercises perhaps? 

At the children’s museum: 

Looking so big in this shirt: 

At home: 

Cuddling with Carly as he listens to his Korean music: 

It was cooler today, but what made it hard was the wind. And the fact that August and I were on top of a hill when it hit. 

The idea was to go to Hyehwa and go up to the park on the hill (one of the original defensive hills of Seoul with the wall running along it) to play and eat lunch, then go back down the hill and go to our favorite art gallery (the Arko), then hit the Salvation Army for books before heading home. 

Books at the SA was the only piece that went as planned. We got to the top of the hill to find that the ‘playground’ labeled in the map was actually an outdoor theater (so, technically, ground on which you could perform a play). 

We ate lunch at the park, but it wasn’t all that pleasant and we huddled on a concrete bench next to a wall to avoid the wind. 

Then, it turned out that the art gallery is closed for another week. Also bummers: the first coffee shop I found in the area and the art shop where I bought the prints in the guest room are both closed. 

Anyway, things didn’t exactly go as planned, but we still had fun. August liked a window display full of tchotchkes, two ceramic cats outside a restaurant, a dragon outside a museum, and seeing green monster’s twin in the Artbox store (where I bought Green Monster and Bluie). 

And another new word: ‘river’. As we took the bus home and looked out the river, he said it, with no prompting from me,  as we crossed our river. Like ‘Pororo’ it had been a practice word a week or two ago but he hadn’t used it since. So it was a surprise to hear him pull it out. He has said it many times since today and is quite clear. In fact, it might be his word that is closest to the correct pronunciation. 

I thought he might take a nap after we got home at 3:30 but he was full of energy (see the magnet video). But then he crashed at 4:26 and Carly got home a couple minutes later and I went to PT. Luckily, he only slept for 35 minutes. But that didn’t stop him from being up until 10:30. 

Oh, and he just lay in my lap for 10 minutes after waking up this morning. He hasn’t done that, outside the 40 minute stretch the other day, for months. And that was more like sitting, whereas today he was stretched out across my lap. Later, he sat on my lap for 20 minutes, staring at the speakers, as we listened to his music.  

 

Morning: 

Poking his palm. This is from one of his songs from class: 

Our adventure: 

Waving to people down the steps: 

Top of the hill looking towards downtown Seoul:

Lunch: 

In his shoes. A little complaining at first, but he wore them for the rest of the trip and did fine: 

Pointing to the flags blowing hard in the wind: 

Cats: 

Rosy cheeks: 

Back home: 

Tonight is apparently the traditional holiday where they burn the fields to prepare them for planting. We have seen the parade the last two years but only from our window. Today I saw it up close as it went by as I returned from PT: 

It was rainy today. So we played at home in the morning and after August took a nap we headed north out of Seoul to Uijeongbu and the Sinsaegae department store. It was open this time and we found the toy store on the 8th floor. There was also a cafe and play area so we played for an hour and then sat and ate/drank. We didn’t buy anything, but got some ideas and will probably go back with Carly sometime. 

On the way home something unusual happened. We had a set of seats to ourself, so I was going to take August out of the carrier. He started to yawn a bit so I figured it would also be a good time to turn him around. 

So I sat him next to me and adjusted the carrier. And then I look over to realize that he has fallen asleep next to me, sitting up. He has never fallen asleep while sitting up. And he barely made a peep doing it. 

Back home he woke up when I removed him from the carrier so it was only a 36 minute nap. He seemed tired later, but managed to stay up pretty late. 

He pulled the word ‘Pororo’ out today as we were in the bookstore. He said it on his own when he noticed a Pororo display while I was looking at books. He then said it several times. So I count that as an official word now. 

His maybe words for the day were ‘Zinnie’ (he repeated it after me a couple times while looking at a photo of himself) and ‘strawberry’. We will see if they come back in the next couple days. 

Also, he is starting to make some little steps. Two is the most so far and he did that three times today after he pushes closed the desk drawer and then needs to get closer to it. 

Morning: 

Our adventure: 

Pororo, the little penguin: 

Kid cafe: 

He loved the fruits and veggies: 

and the rolling things: 

Falling asleep on the train: 

Awake one second: 

Asleep the next: 

Back home: 

A step (I didn’t get any of the two step ones on video): 

Awesome new shoes! He loves them: 

Just not when he has to wear them indoors: 

Finally, eating some banana bread while sitting on the couch like a big kid: 

 

It was the first day of August’s class for this session. It is the same teacher as his previous Monday class, just a bit earlier. 

He slept less than nine hours though so he took a nap this morning. It wasn’t a long nap, however, and it was clear he was still tired. He then cuddled with me on the couch for the next forty to fifty minutes before waking up enough to eat and go to class. 

Not much to say about the class as it is pretty much the same as the last class. There are only four kids (including August) in it, and the others all seem younger. 

After class we played in the playground. He can now go down the slide from halfway on his own. 

We went home and he fell asleep again. It was a monster nap: nearly two hours and fifty minutes. It made up for the missed sleep last night and this morning as he woke up in much better shape. 

While he was asleep I worked on further baby proofing the living room, moving wires and base stations and power cords around. 

He ate some more and then we quickly got ready to go outside and walked to meet Carly halfway along her walk and walk home together. 

He stayed up a bit late this evening, but it wasn’t too bad. He was in fine playing form, playing both by himself and with us.  

His accomplishments for the day:

– Going down the second half of the slide by himself. He went down while sitting, turned around on his hands and knees, and sideways. Kind of sideways seems to be his favorite. 

– Eating yogurt (his first dairy) and dipping food in it. I started giving it to him by dipping Cheerios in it. He caught on and dipped Cheerios, strawberries, and carrots. 

– Unzipping the milk carrier. I zipped it up to keep him from the ice pack, which he loves to play with. I turned away for a couple seconds and when I turned back he was unzipping the whole thing. Totally caught me off guard as it didn’t seem like something he should be able to do. He didn’t repeat the stunt, so it may have been a fluke, but we will see. 

– Putting away all the blocks. This evening he took the can of flat blocks and opened it by shaking it upside down. We played with them for awhile and he started putting a few back in the can. I turned away, and when I paid attention to him again I realized the were all in the can except two or three. I made sure he knew where they were and he put those in as well. He then took the lid and tried to put it on. 

– Trying/starting to say ‘chin’ and ‘river’. We will see if they stick. ‘Squishy’, from yesterday seems to be sticking. He has also tried to say ‘Pororo’ at one point but it didn’t stick. And he hasn’t seemed to extend using ‘baby’ beyond the one book he uses it with. 

We begin with the long cuddle after the short nap: 

Class: 

On the slide: 

Still asleep after two and a half hours: 

Waking up: 

Eating yogurt: 

Playing with mama: 

Pointing out a bird in his new (since yesterday) favorite book, Biscuit’s Picnic: 

Putting the lid on the blocks after filling the can: 

Finally, our newly organized living room. All the electronics plugged in in one spot: 

With another hike postponed for a week, we had an open day. We made use of it by playing around the house, walking to Home Plus and Starbucks, making a few Skype calls and messages, playing at a playground, making soup (Carly), and learning a new word (August). 

Morning:

Reaching for more banana bread: 

Pointing at the Christmas lights with the xylophone mallet: 

Putting the tube on his foot: 

Watching pigeons perched on top of the bridge. They weren’t really doing anything, just sitting: 

Skyping with my mom: 

His word is the day is ‘squishy’. You can sort of hear him say it a couple times in this video. Hard to explain what it sounds like, but he used it multiple times throughout the day: 

Playing with a can: 

He then spent a lot of time using different objects to see how squishy other objects are: 

At the playground by the stream: 

It doesn’t look like it due to the nature of the panoramic image, but he is actually looking directly at the boy playing basketball: 

Back home: 

Attacking Carly while she talked to Glecy: 

Still awake at 9: 

Finally asleep at 9:45: 9 hours after he woke up: 

 

We met Derek and Logan in the park for awhile and then took a bus up to a new neighborhood to go to a different Beautiful Store and see what we could find. 

Alas, the Beautiful Store no longer existed. So we headed home. August fell asleep along the way and we picked up a pizza at Pizza Hut and walked home. 

Carly went down to a coffee shop on the second floor to work and August and I hung out. He used markers for the first time. 

Notable today was that he took two naps today and neither of them involved Carly putting him to sleep. I was holding him, listening to music for the first one, and he was in the carrier, on the bus, for the second. Of course, he always falls asleep with me like this during the week, but when Carly is around he usually insists on nursing first. 

Park: 

Waiting for pizza: 

Markers: 

When Carly was about to come back from working at the coffee shop, August sat in our little step and was chanting ‘mama’ over and over again at the door. Carly heard him as she came down the hall and opened the door to see him sitting there without a shirt and chanting away. This is the end of it, after he had said ‘mama’ dozens of times: 

Finally, showing how he can pick up sticks: 

Today August and I went down to Dongdaemun to meet up with Meg and Jeff and their art and design students after they went to the Cartier-Bresson photography exhibit I saw a couple weeks back. 

But first, August woke up at 4:30. And this so did Carly. He had a bit of a meltdown after I gave him a bath and fell asleep about 8:30. He slept two hours and woke up in a much better state. 

We caught the bus and subway downtown and first scouted out a park west of Dongdaemun. We then went back to the DDP and ate our lunch on a comfy chair in the very boring design spiral and then wandered through the design shops before meeting up with Meg and Jeff and their students.  

August was a little overwhelmed by the attention and did a lot of staring and holding on to my finder and Meg’s finger.  

The students were able to go off for lunch on their own, and we went with Meg and Jeff to the Russian restaurant I went to with my parents.  

August had fun there, playing with the string thing hanging on the wall and with his cover, hat, and mittens.  

We caught a ride to APIS on the school bus and visited Carly for a few minutes. We then left to fill some time until she was done working and he fell asleep right away. I sat in the sun in a park and listened to podcasts. 

When Carly was done with work we walked home. August was still sleeping and we woke him up as we got close to the bridge. This was a 90+ minute nap in addition to the 2 hour nap in the morning. Contrast that with the single 35 minute nap of yesterday.  

Not much to say about the evening. He had another meltdown or two similar to this morning, but playing the Hozier album totally calmed him down.  

 

Waking up from his long nap: 

On the bus. He were sitting at the front so he was waving to people as they got on and looking out the front window: 

Our lunch at the DDP: 

Tagging along with Jeff and Meg as they got lunch at the Russian restaurant: 

Hanging out with the high schoolers: 

Taking the school bus back to APIS: 

Waking up on the walk home with Carly: 

Looking out at the street: 

Reading with mama: 

 

August woke up a bit before 6. Not surprising since he went to sleep at 7 last night. What was surprising was that he seemed quite tired this morning and ended up taking a nap at 9. But it was a short nap and only 36 minutes long. And it was his only nap. He would end up staying awake more than 9 hours before going to sleep. That is a long day for the little boy. 

We went to the children’s museum only to find out along the way that it is a holiday, meaning that kids were out of school. This was good for the subway as August and 2 teenagers and 7 elementary kids to entertain him on the way down. But it was bad for the children’s museum because it was a zoo. 

We had fun though and lasted an hour and a half before it got too crazy and we left. We swung on the swing for several minutes then went and ate lunch outside, which was nice when it was sunny but a bit cold when cloudy and windy. 

We then checked on the seals (the zoo is still closed) and walked through the conservatory to see the fish, waterfall, and banana flowers. 

We left the park and took the subway north. We transferred at Taerung and went one stole east to pop out the exit, get the Seoul Trail stamps we missed, cross the street and take a bus back west.

Then we walked north to find a second hand store called The Beautiful Store. Crews were hanging Korean flags in all the poles for the upcoming Samil (March 1st) holiday. And it was windy, so August had a great walk spotting all the flags and other signs flapping in the wind. 

At the store we bought a xylophone, a Pooh pillow (August picked it out), and one book. 

I expected August to take a nap somewhere in here but he never did. We walked the rest of the way home and still no nap. And once home he was happy with playing and waiting for Carly to get home, chanting mama many times. 

She got home and we had to work to keep him from falling asleep at first, watching his Napul Napul video, etc. but soon he was pushing his truck back and forth, etc. and made it quite handily. 

Children’s museum: 

Lunch out in the (mostly) sun: 

Seals – the only thing we can see in the zoo: 

Back north, catching up on the Seoul Trail stamps. August helped stamp Jeff’s booklet:

Korean flags going up for Samil (March 1st) AND the first dancing man I’ve seen in Seoul. With all the wind it made for a great walk for August as he could spot so many things: 

Our awesome finds from the Beautiful Store: