Author: Ryan/Dada

It was mid-20s and windy today. We braved the cold to walk up and catch a bus to Eunhang Junction and walk around a bit. We stopped at an Ediya Coffee and sat there and had a drink. August got to explore a bit. 

 

At home:

Carly tried him in a bath again. He was still opposed: 

But he was his usual helpful self  with the laundry:

On our walk, at the coffee shop. The up and down thing is brand new today. He kind of started it at home when he was playing the plopping-on-the-bed game and he was doing it more slowly. But it was really at the coffee shop that he put it all together:

He was also fascinated by a little pad on the corner of the table:

Skyping with grandma and grandpa. You will note a couple of repeats from the coffee shop: the fascination with something on the corner and the up and down game:

It was a laid back day. August had his music class at 12:40. Carly made lemon chicken in the morning, and went in to work after his class. I went shopping after the class and had fun with August – although he woke up 45 minutes into a nap and I spent the next 35 minutes holding him while he kept sleeping as every time I tried to set him down he would cry. 

Watching Carly in the kitchen: 

Lemon!

And asparagus:

Music class. August continues to get more comfortable. Evidence: we actually had to keep him from crawling away from us a couple times and he let the teacher hold him:

Before the fretful nap, a burst of energy:

A successful meal of food destruction and foot finding:

The weather was lovely so we went to Children’s Grand Park so Carly could see some of the things that August and I saw on our last two trips. 

Morning: 

This boy likes to laugh: 

And brush his teeth. Here he ia actually sucking on the lid to his toothpaste:

At the zoo. Sitting by the goldfish and waterfall in the conservatory:

A moss elephant:

He likes the water features:

Watching baboons:

Carly watching the marmosets, sloth, and tortoise:

Lunch time. August ate a bunch of vegetables and some rice:

Watching other kids run around:

We finished by walking around the ‘fierce’ animals exhibit. On the one hand this is a depressing zoo. On the other hand, being able to hold your child six inches away from a mountain lion, gibbon, or serval is pretty amazing. Of course, then they go and have a hamster wheel for the asiatic black bear, which is basically full acknowledgement that the cages are way too small but you aren’t going to do anything about it:

Mountain lion:

We also found out that August is free up through 3 years old at the children’s museum – and adults are 4 bucks. The weather was too good today for that, but I am sure we will be back soon. 

August slept a nice long time last night, but that made it so that he was getting tired around the time of his class. He made it through, however, and fell asleep on the way home. 

in the late afternoon/early evening we walked up to Nowon to run a couple errands. 

Morning: 

Playing with toilet paper and eating some pepper: 

Class:

Needing a little cuddle as he was getting tired:

Afternoon fun:

On our walk:

Practicing his standing in the evening:

I was doing some editing of my genealogy database today due to my mom’s family getting a letter from a not-too-distant relative in Sweden. Anyway, I’ve been meaning to update the family tree for August and ended up putting a fair amount of work into it. You can check it out here and I will put a link up above. The site is not password protected, but it is set to not show details on living people. For example, my mom’s birth certificate and date of birth don’t show up even though I have them in the database. Please let me know if you have any concerns.

As you might expect, it is Carly’s side of the family that needs the most work. I have most of the basic info for the Rileys (thanks to the book), but the Hoelzers and Althausers will need some work – a good project for this summer. But let me know if you have anything to add.

Today we had fun around the house, particularly with Skype: Carly skyped with Glecy in Sierra Leone, and then August and I skyped with my parents and my mom’s side of the family as they celebrated Christmas.

In the afternoon we went for a walk to the south, passing (and visiting, to change August) the hospital where Carly had her fingertip sewn back on. We stopped in a nice little coffee shop and sat and drank a latte. It was the first restaurant/etc. where August was able to stand on the floor and (sort of) walk around. Kind of a glimpse of things to come…

Around the house in the morning: 

We went for a walk and stopped in a nice little independent coffee shop. The were playing American music from the 70s, which was a nice change from the many coffee shops that blast annoying pop music. We heard Van Morrison’s “Brown-eyed Girl”, the Foundations’ “Build Me Up Buttercup”, and Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy”, among others, while we were there. And August got to do some exploring:

They don’t move, but I guess they are colorful. August has been fond of these inflatable things when he has seen them:

Carly would like it to be known that she was joking in the following video. You can hear her laughing but it is hard to hear:

This is in the hospital lobby. I had noticed it back when we were first going here, but don’t know if I posted it here. Check out the signage:

Being destructive:

He hasn’t been eating much recently, but he was a big fan of the veggies Carly offered him this evening, including red pepper, onion, bok choi, and zucchini:

We went downtown to Tapgol Park and Insadong today to do some shopping and look at some art. 

August woke up at 5am and Carly was up with him until the went back to sleep at 6:30. When I woke up an hour later, this is what I saw: 

Around 11 we made our way downtown. I was trying to get a photo of him flapping his purple mittens as we walked down the street. Mainly just captured some funny facial expressions:

We had lunch at Subway. August snacked on green pepper, black olives, and lettuce from my sandwich:

He really liked both the fan and light fixtures at Subway:

Carly looking at photographs of Angkor Wat:

Asleep in the carrier. He set a new record, sleeping close to two hours in there. It was pretty amazing. From walking down a busy street, going into shops, onto the subway, off the subway, on a street, and on a bus, where he finally woke up a couple minutes from home:

Dancing with his sweatshirt (kind of like rhythmic gymnastics?):

Brushing his teeth with mama:

And cuddling with her before putting on pajamas:

Since he has been complaining about baths, today we went the sponge bath route, which went marginally better, but he got cold quickly, which he didn’t like:

We went for a nice walk in the sun. We went to Toys R Us where we got more bubble solution and corner protectors for the coffee table. Thought they might have some after Christmas sales, but apparently they didn’t get that memo. 

We walked back along the stream: 

We stopped at the Women’s Business Incubation Center. I had long ago seen a sign for a coffee shop/bakery, but we had never gone in. Turns out it is a great place to get a cheap latte and baked goods, and for August to take a nap. The best part was the bizarre bags they used for the baked goods:

Back at the homestead, this game continues:

Kind of like when his hat is in his eyes or pants go over his feet, he didn’t complain about wearing mittens and seemed content to play with them still on:

August had a lot of fun with a chip clip. We have been working on ‘open’ and ‘closed’ with the closet doors and other objects. I am pretty sure he understands the two concepts now:

Got the wall chart from my parents hung up and ready to go:

It has been a long first Christmas for August. And he is finally asleep. 

So not much commentary to this post, at least for now. I might try to tidy things up in the morning:  

Presents: 

His new clothes:

A green mouth from the widen truck. An awesome toy, but it will come down off the shelf when he isn’t teething:

A Christmas nap:

On our way. You can see he is leaning forward to see out the stroller:

Christmas party:

Home again:

Carly got to go to August’s music class today. It was, of course, all Christmas themed. August and I then hopped on the subway and headed to the Lotte World theme park to meet up with some of our friends for some Christmas Eve festivities. 

Morning:

Carly ‘fixed’ the corner of the table so August won’t hit his head on the sharp corner:

Music class:

Asleep on the way to Lotte World:

Santa band on ice at Lotte World:

The one ride we went on:

We got a good view of Lotte Tower. When it is finished it is supposed to be the tallest building in Korea:

Another view of the indoor park:

Our friends with their son Logan:

A tired and dazed boy:

He fell asleep right after we left the park and stayed asleep until we came in the door at home:

We opened a present from my parents this evening. It is a cool ornament with cats on it. And it lights up:

Of course he loves to play with the box:

Today was a bit warmer, so we took a couple busses to the UNESCO tomb that August and I visited in early November. 

August also got to use a toothbrush for the first time, got a couple presents, and added a word to his vocabulary.  

 

In the morning we decided to try out a new configuration for the crib. We decided to put the taller side back in until he is a little surer on his feet, but he got to try it out first:

His first gift today was the banana shaker. The same kind he coveted in music class a couple weeks ago. He likes it:

After his nap we went to the tomb. August got to see the same models that he got excited about last time:

He was actually rather cranky. Eventually we realized he was getting tired. But he got excited by the metal sign. He is pushing it with his feet to make noise:

Back home:

Like food (see below), he has recently decided he can do without baths. So today he played with the water a bit and basically took a washcloth bath:

While he was drying, he tried out the tooth brush:

Later, I would put some of the banana toothpaste on it and give it too him at the same time that Carly and I were brushing our teeth. 

He got a look on his face as if you could see the connection being made: he was doing the same thing as mommy and daddy. It was very similar to the time I showed him a giraffe on a block and then pointed to two of his toy giraffes. He stared at them, and then repeatedly looked at the block, then the toys, back to the block, etc. making the connection that they all looked the same.

He even let me brush his teeth for him a bit.  

 

The past few days he has decided to not really eat food. He did ear a little broccoli today. And then decided it was fun to throw the remaining pieces on the floor. Actually, what I was trying to get on video was that Carly had given him a second piece of broccoli. Instead of eating it, he had fun squeezing it in his left fist to crush it. Then he started throwing the pieces on the floor:

All his hair:

August has three books that he can do a pretty good job of sitting and enjoying by himself so far: Napul Napul (from his Monday class), Peekaboo Sophie, and now the Feely Bugs book:

We opened another present. This time, it was a cool book from my aunt that makes noise about the ocean:

The ribbon is also appreciated:

He seems to have started using ‘dada’ as an official word today, joining ‘banana’, ‘milk/nurse’ (as a sign), and ‘mama’ on his list of words. 

He was saying it repeatedly as he was cruising around the chairs, but changed right as I tried to record it: