Author: Ryan/Dada

Seoul Trail is a 170km or so trail around the entirety of Seoul. My friend Derek and I are planning on doing it in 20 chunks or so over the course of a year. We got started today on the first portion. While I was busy doing that, Carly and August were, I’m sure, doing equally exciting things. But I wasn’t there to take photos, so it basically didn’t happen. 

I was around in the morning though to watch Carly spinning this bottle for August. He was pretty transfixed: just not when I was filming:

The hike was quite excellent. Pretty easy, as hikes go, as the trail generally runs parallel to the city a few hundred meters away. You go up and down a bit, but there aren’t any peaks you are going over. I’ll spare you the details (I’ll link to Derek’s blog posts about the hike when he gets them written in case you want to know more), but here are a few shots I took along the way:

After finishing our 7.2km hike, I returned home. We had about an hour before we set out for dinner at their house.

With the potentially slippery sidewalks, we have gone back to using the stroller more often. He is still getting used to it, and totally fought being put into it, but was fine once we got going:

Falling asleep in the stroller. I should have worked to get less glare, but the light was changing. He fell asleep right before we got there and finished his nap in the stroller:

Once he woke up from his nap, August had all sorts of fun. 

He ate dinner in Logan’s high chair and then sat there for quite awhile – I think because he had a great view of everything going on: 

It turned into a game of putting the container in my glass:

Derek was pretty successful in holding him this time:

They had Christmas lights up and August loved them. We will have to get ours up soon:

Winnie the Pooh:

Looking at the Christmas tree:

Playing in the general vicinity of Logan:

This is a great photo to end on. You have to love the hair and the eyes:

Snowed nicely this afternoon and evening, starting with a few flakes when August and I started a short walk and picking up during our walk and while we were in the grocery store. 

In the morning: 

He is really moving around more. At one pint he started in his room, went into the hall, contemplated the bathroom, went into the guest room, back to the hall, and down the short step to the front door:

He played with himself in the mirror for several minutes:

On our walk:

By the time I was coming home from PT and Home Plus it was snowing nicely again and the park was quite white:

Crawling around, he decided he would go into the bedroom:

He managed to spill a bunch of water from his sippy cup, so then got to splash in it. Much fun. Thus the wet sleeves:

August and I had fun checking out a couple parks in the Suraksan area and scouting out the beginning of the Seoul Trail (which runs around Seoul for 170km or so and my friend Derek and I plan on hiking it – in pieces – over the next several months). 

We also hung out in a coffee shop for awhile and then headed to APIS to visit with 7th graders and encourage them to finish their National History Day projects, which are due tomorrow.  

First, August is really loving the book we got from his Monday class. Also, I don’t think I’ve mentioned that it came with a CD of music that she also uses in class. If I put on one of the three songs he has heard in class he totally snaps to attention and listens. Very cool. Anyway, here he is with the book: 

He loves this flap of the duck and duckling so much that he will probably rip it off soon:

As he has suddenly gotten much more mobile over the last few days, he can also move from his tummy to sitting with ease. It also means that he moves his body into all sorts of different shapes. 

Combine that with the new silly faces he was making today and you get photos like these: 

Our walk was cold but lovely. We were in the area a few miles north of us where you have Bukhansan just to the west, our River in the center, and then Suraksan just to the east. You can walk from the base of one mountain to the base of the other in about 20 minutes. 

I had women (not) helpfully worried about August being cold headed both ways on the subway. He was wearing two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, two sweatshirts, in the carrier strapped to me, with the cover, and wearing a warm hat. 

For example, when we got on the very warm subway headed north, a woman got up out of her seat and adjusted his hat over his ears even though I was about to take it off him. She then tried covering up his hands with the sweatshirts even though I had just taken them out so he could actually use them. 

Note: It only got down to 32 today and was sunny. 

Anyway, after we had been walking for awhile, it was indeed time to get in out of the cold for awhile. So we went in a coffee shop and had a latte (me) and milk (him) and warmed up for awhile. 

As I mentioned, he is really workingn on lids. Got to develop that fine motor control. He was practicing in the coffee shop:

Of course, we are also working on sitting at a table. He managed to make it without banging his head on the table. Although he kept trying to climb on the table. But for a few minutes at least he was calmly sitting on the bench:

Some of the scenery:

Base of Suraksan with the mountain in the background:

From a lovely green area along a stream looking over at Dongbonson (the peak at the north end of Bukhansan National Park) to the west

Didn’t take photos/videos at APIS as we were trying to keep students focused on their homework. However, he fell asleep right as we were getting ready to leave, so I took this:

Back home he continued to play with the book. He also really enjoys these pages, which have two of his current favorite things, cats and dogs. Even better is that the ears of the dog and tail of the cat are fluffy, and thus suckable:

Carly noticed the older babies first handing objects to other people at the first birthday party we went to a couple weeks ago. August must have taken note because he started doing it soon after:

He’s been out in the world for as long as he was inside Carly. Somehow that makes him seem old. 

He had his second music class, which went great. But first, a new toy in the morning:

Playing in the chair before his nap:

Music class. Playing with a drum:

Finger puppets:

Finishing with bubbles:

The best part was that at the end of class he wanted to just keep playing and didn’t care if I wasn’t right with him. While he has enjoyed the classes up to now, he has generally wanted to be in my arms all the time. This made putting on my coats and the carrier at the end difficult. But today he just kept happily playing:

Back home:

Working on the standing. His record is 15 seconds:

He has loved the quilt for a long time and enjoys feeling the green fuzzy part. Think this is the first time he got it filmed:

Note: I am posting two days tonight to catch up. Generally, each night I have been posting about the previous day. This allows me to simply post about the current day.

 

We went to Children’s Grand Park again today. There is so much to do there, and still so much to figure out,  that I am sure we will be returning several times through the winter and into spring. 

But first, I have to start with this photo, taken as we were getting ready to go on our adventure:

It looks like a photo of him standing on his own without holding on. But that isn’t it at all. 

What had happened was that I needed to brush my teeth. So I had left him on the mat, about six feet away from here, and run into the bathroom to get my toothbrush. I was hurrying back with the toothbrush to brush my teeth in the living room, as I didn’t want him sucking on the bottom of a shoe (he has a tendency to do that).  

But I didn’t find him sucking on a shoe, I found him standing at the table. It happened very quickly. Luckily, he was focused on a crumb of food on the table and hadn’t gone after the computer or its cord (yet). 

He was quite proud of his accomplishment and was standing there for a few minutes. So I got my phone to take a photo. On seeing me raise the phone to take a photo, he got excited and kind of did his excited arms waving thing. This of course took both of his hands of the table.  

I snapped the photo at that instant. What came next was he instantly fell backwards. Luckily, he first landed on his butt, then kind of rolled backwards. So when he managed to miss the mat and hit his head on the hardwood floor he wasn’t traveling too fast. A little crying and comforting ensued before we could continue getting ready. 

 

Taking a step back, this is a video of him on the changing pad pounding the pad with his right hand raised over his head. He does this quite regularly, at least when I change him: 

Sitting in a chair and eating his lunch:

My lunch:

August eventually bumped his head on the edge of the table. This woman instantly appeared next to us and wanted to pick him up. Apparently she thought she could calm him down. Right. Anyway, I picked him up and calmed him, and then let her hold him. She responded by kidnapping him and taking him behind and down the counter to see the other women. You can see me catching up at th beginning:

This is actually the same place where August stole his first straw when my parents were here. So it was funny when one of the women reached to the same straw dispenser and gave him one this time. Unfortunately, I didn’t get that on film. 

We spent most of our time watching seals underwater. Here are the fur seals:

I call this the sad ball because it floats around the pool that used to be the polar bear exhibit. The exhibit was always sad, given the small, isolated, concrete nature of it. But the bear has been missing for a couple months now. I don’t know what happened to it, but this ball still floats around, with polar bear teeth marks:

Spotted seal:

More seal watching. Spotted seals this time:

And we of course saw deer. Because every big park in Seoul has to have a deer park:

August spotted the haechi statues (the mascot of Seoul, based on the mythical creature that defended Seoul) as we were both entering and leaving the park. A note to my parents: they have removed three of the dwarves, meaning that now four are missing:

A rather odd new game on the subway. What is great about this video, is that you get the new biting of the hood thing, some trying to hit me in the chin with his head action, and then him getting startled by the subway doors near the end:

A nice long video of a little playing/crawling around the floor:

Finally, standing at one of his favorite places, the washing machine:

August had his second Monday class. It went quite well; August cried less and the teacher commented on it at the end of class (I can’t believe I am already havin conversations with a teacher about his behavior). 

Anyway, there were all sorts of little bits and pieces we were dealing with during class, so j didn’t think to take any photos or videos. But plenty else to see from the day: 

His first new thing is using a block to make plenty of noise banging on a pan: 

His second new favorite toy is the salad spinner. And he is now starting to really like lids. He has played with the lids on the salad spinner, pots, and on his bottle:

Walking through the park after class:

He didn’t take his second nap until late, so we were in a rush to get to the school to do the handoff. So we took the bus:

At his class we got a big packet of materials. Some of it stayed in the classroom for later use in the class, but there were a book, CD, and DVD for us to take home. Here he is looking at the book:

Shaking his crinkly book:

Some nice work on his hands and feet before a face plant:

Playing in the kitchen before bed. More banging of stuff:

It was our second first birthday party, this time for our friends Derek and Jill’s son Logan. 

But first, around the house. August now gets excited for his baths:

Here he is wearing his new sweater and pants from Home Plus and sitting with his shapes from Costco, the Sophie and Panda bear books from our recent Itaewon haul, and the firefly book from the COEX Mall:

At the party. We found our little spot in the kitchen and avoided most of the craziness of the party. It was still plenty loud and exciting though and Augist had fun playing on the floor:

Headed home, here are a couple shots of him wearing his ‘new’ hat:

I don’t think I have mentioned that his fifth tooth, the top left front, is now coming in. It is starting to look and feel like a full mouth of teeth. 

We went shopping at Home Plus and did a lot of cleaning and cooking and playing with August throughout the day. 

In the morning, August enjoyed Skyping with his Oma and Opa:

A random photo, but this is the pattern made on my tea when I put in cream:

At Home Plus and then in the park, the new cover for the stiller at work. August seemed to generally like it and it worked well at keeping it warm:

Last time Carly vacuumed August liked it. Not so much this time:

In the afternoon Carly was cooking stir fry and food for August. He was fascinated, and spent a lot of time standing at the back of the couch just watching her work:

While he watched, he got to try raw yellow pepper:

Dinner time:

Playing in the evening: