Category: Uncategorized

August continues to catch up on sleep. He slept well last night. And Weezer going to go to Itaewon, but as we were getting ready to go, a mere two and a half hours after he woke up, he went down for a nap and slept 90 minutes. 

When he woke up things were going well, but the. He had a meltdown. That ended with him clinging to my shoulder as we listened to several songs. 

When he was fully recovered we only had 4 hours until Carly would be home. So we caught the bus to the Kwangwoon University area, which he haven’t been to in a few months. 

We headed across the railroad tracks to figure out, in reverse, the path I tried to take from eMart to this station last week. We ended up enjoying the artwork on the pedestrian overpass, watching the railroad workers put together a train, and then playing in a playground in the apartment complex on the other side. We first went on the swings and then he ate some food and we went down a slide together. I then put on his shoes. I was dreading his reaction, but he barely made a peep. We walked around and he sat and played in the sand before we returned to the swings. 

We then headed back across the overpass and walked through that neighborhood again. As we were walking near the station we came across a restaurant that had a seating area of red plastic chairs in front. August pointed at them and and started making the sign for nursing. He then started saying ‘mama’. I think he knows that we always sit down when he nurses or eats and thought that would be a good place. There were actually benches across the street in front of the station. We sat there and he ate and drank quite a bit more. 

We walked a few blocks west and then back east and over the over pass for a third time. We walked through the apartment complex, stopping for some more swings, found an exit on the other side and walked home. 

Actually, we walked to Home Plus where we did some grocery shopping. On the way home we stopped and watched a pigeon getting a drink and bathing in the fountain. August found this very funny when he wasn’t being distracted by the kids playing with balls. 

Back home I knew Carly would be getting home soon. He was doing great hanging out in the carrier, so I left him in there as I opened the windows and put groceries away. We then walked down the hall and met Carly at the elevator again. 

He wanted to go to sleep while nursing but it was way too early. I put on the Dunggae Dunggae video and he watched it as he nursed and then as he teethed on a straw. Made it to just about 7 before going to sleep for the night.

And his new thing today was wanting to touch all the parked cars as we went by them – particularly shiny black ones. Oh, and spotting cords and wires and power adapters in the bins of products outside of stores.  

Morning:

Nap: 

Adventure time: 

Train watching: 

Playground: 

Overpass art: 

You get points if you know what this is: 

He particularly liked this: 

And this: 

On our way home: 

Home: 

Taking up the whole bed:

August was really close to being his usual self today. Everything went smoothly this morning and he took a nap that was close to two hours long. It has been quite some time since that has happened. 

And he woke up from his nap happy, but clearly missing Carly, he kept saying ‘mama’ and pointing down the hall. Eventually, we went down the hall, and then out the door and finally to the elevators. We had surprised Carly by meeting her at the elevators yesterday when she got home. He clearly thought we should be able to do the same today. He kept pointing in different directions and saying ‘mama’ and after we were back in the apartment we had to go to each room so he could check to see if she was there. It would have been really sad, but luckily he wasn’t upset at the time. 

For our outing we walked to Toys R Us to look for headphones for the airplane ride. I was annoyed, but not surprised, to realize they have a specific section of the store that is blue and labelled ‘boys’. This is, of course, where they have all the robots, cars, and trucks. And no luck with the headphones. We did get a few things off the clearance shelves. 

We then walked to the secluded park a few minutes away (the one I discovered with my dad). We were there for two hours and we had the playground entirely to ourselves. He ate a good lunch, and took a long time, crawled around a lot, practiced walking, worked on climbing stairs, went down the slide, and, most of all, we went on the swings. Again and again. He now says ‘baabaa’ and points to the swings when he wants to go on them because we sing that song over and over on the swing. 

We headed home, but made a trip through the art museum on the way. 

At home he was still going strong so I gave him a bath. Unfortunately, this is where he kind of lost it (along with when I changed his diaper before his nap). The bath ended with a naked baby clinging to me. Even after he had calmed down he wouldn’t let me set him down. Then, I look down to find him asleep. A total surprise since he slept well last night and took a monster nap.

7 minutes later Carly gets home and I need to run to my PT appointment. She hurt her foot on the way home, but had to take a naked, sleeping child from me. He woke up when she took him, but he was happy. Just enough of a nap to forget the bath. 

Made more use of ‘up’ and ‘please’ and ‘more’. At one point at the park we were walking together and he clung to my legs. I looked down to find him signing ‘please’. I then asked him what the ‘please’ was for as he hadn’t made a sound. He just looked at me and said ‘up’. And this evening we opened the cheap harmonica we had bought at the store. I was playing it and he was intrigued. He would take the harmonica from me to look at it, set it down, and then sign ‘more’. 

Oh, and he had an interesting way to eat apple at the park. He would chew a piece and spit it out. He obviously liked the taste though as he went through a dozen pieces. 

Morning: 

Pointing at Carly’s photo using Pororo: 

Smelling and tasting cinnamon. He gave a really big grin the first time he smelled it: 

Playing with veggies. Long videos. Sorry, don’t feel like editing them down: 

His favorite thing at Toys R Us (because he isn’t allowed to get to them at home): 

Seriously?: 

The park: 

Offering me some banana bread: 

Home again: 

After missing our usual Thursday trip to the CGP last week since he was sick I decided to go on Tuesday this week. August is still not acting his usual self and is more easily frustrated, so it seemed easier than the other trips I was considering this week (ha – I now consider 10 subway stops ‘easy’). 

Today started out well. August woke up happy and seemed to be feeling happy. That lasted until we were skyping with my parents and I wouldn’t take him to play with the handle on the window. Things got tough after that. 

He seemed tired and fell asleep at one point, but woke up (twice) when trying to put him down. 

Eventually (after 11), I decided we should just leave the apartment. Total change. August was great on the subway down to Children’s Grand Park. We then went and saw the seals and then the herbivores, where he saw his first favorite zoo animal, the guanaco (when we went with my parents August got upset when a guanaco walked away from him). He also quite liked the mouflons as they are basically wild sheep. 

He then fell asleep so I went to Peace Cafe to get a smoothie and start my book group of one idea. I read one chapter and then August woke up after only sleeping 30 minutes. 

We then went to the children’s museum for a couple hours. Spent time in the toddler play area until it got busy. There was a 9-month old, Bin, that played with and alongside August. At one point Bin was holding August’s foot. We spent the rest of our time in the book lounge. August had just as much fun in there but it was almost empty. He played more with the magnifying glasses, and in fact when we found two of them left across the room he pointed back to the set and then set off crawling, carrying one to return it to the set. We then went back together and got the last one. 

He started to get upset and look tired again and it was time to leave (close to 4). We headed off and things were going fine until a woman was freaking out that I was letting him sit on the floor between my legs while I fed him Cheerios. Not sure if she was concerned that it was dirty or unsafe, although I was bent over, with one arm around him to hold him. 

I tried to tell her it was okay but finally gave in and out him on the seat next to me as she wanted. She then was upset that I had him too close to the edge (again, I had an arm all the way around him). She may have actually touched him as she was trying to get me to scoot him back. Anyway, at this point he started to lose it (and I wanted to get away from her anyway) so I got up and put him in the carrier. He screamed until the next stop. I got off and he fell asleep almost instantly and we hopped back on the next train. 

Second nap lasted another 30 minutes until we were home and I tried to set him down again. He was again rather on edge until Carly got home. I think in part it is because he is sick, because he is getting all of his milk through nursing nowadays (he only drank 1.5oz from the bottle today), and because he simply misses Carly. He was much happier and content for the rest of the evening. 

The good news today though is that he has started to say ‘up’ and even sometimes signing please when he wants to be picked up. He did this pretty consistent with me throughout the day, although needed some reminding with Carly. So much better than a shrieking infant pulling at your pants. 

Oh, and Carly got him to pretend to wipe his own nose with a tissue this evening. He thought it was funny, but clearly gets what is happening. He had pretty much hated the process to now, but hopefully this means he will now be more accepting of it. 

On our trip: 

Guanacos: 

Spring: 

Eating a good lunch: 

Note the red spot on his cheek from where he had tipped over and bumped his cheek (but didn’t cry!): 

Bin: 

Book lounge: 

Back home: 

Wiping his nose: 

 

Cough, class, and Carly

His cough continues. He is getting tired of being sick and we are getting tired of him being sick. But, this whole thing seems to be an extended version of how a cold goes for me: sore throat, then post-nasal yuckiness, then a runny nose. So, we are getting towards the end of it…

Both of his wake ups were rough on him today, probably because he woke up too early each time because of a stuffy nose and then had to endure us constantly wiping it. He was crying heavily when Carly left for work (she could hear him at the elevators, but calmed down and was fine after that. 

His appetite is better and he ate quite well today: from the pasta dish to broccoli to a lot of strawberry and Cheerios dipped in peanut butter. 

He is using the ‘more’ sign a lot now (for more food, to reread a book, to sing a song again, or to go down the slide again, etc.), as well as constantly pointing. So he is getting better at communicating. He is also doing pretty well with ‘please’, occasionally using it without prompting. 

His class went pretty well. He was hesitant at first, and there was one activity he sat out as he was overwhelmed, but otherwise it went smoothly. He is interacting more with the other babies. He and a girl were having fun playing together with a rotating stool. Class today was about cars and busses. He enjoyed throwing around the big plastic ring he got to play with, but sat out getting pulled around the room in tubs decorated as busses. 

After class we went on the swings and looked at the ‘dino baabaas’ as we sang “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. We then went home where he ate quite a bit and then took a nap. It only lasted 52 minutes and he woke up crying. The next half hour was filled with a lot of the loudest crying he’s produced in the last several months. He fell right back to sleep in my arms but woke up when I put him down and I could not get him back to sleep. Finally, I put on Hozier and he was silent on my shoulder for five songs. He didn’t fall asleep but he was back to normal at the end. 

We went back outside and played at the two playgrounds in the apartment complex on our way to the bridge. We then met Carly halfway on her walk home (this time meeting her in the underpass). We walked home, stopping again at the second playground to nurse and play. 

Just yesterday he started to be interested in going from sitting to standing without holding on to something. He attempted this at the park and continued to try it out at home. He got very close before he went to bed, so he might figure it out soon. 

At home he and Carly had a great time playing together. You could tell the both missed each other today. His shrieking slowly started to return and he was pretty inconsolable while Carly took a shower. He went to bed pretty quickly after she was done. 

Playing with tea. He loves the tea cupboard, and was going crazy pointing and saying ‘tea’ at it. So, I let him play with some tea: 

Class: 

Putting it on his head when I ask him to: 

Walk to meet Carly and playing at the playgrounds: 

Evening: 

A lazy Sunday morning, for the most part. August and Carly were up from 4:30 to 6:10 (they made use of their time with some Skyping) and then slept in, so I had the place to myself for a bit this morning. 

August didn’t seem too bothered by his cough, but with the weird night and the fact that his teeth are bothering him (he has yet another tooth coming through – I think that is tooth #43), we decided to stay home until after he took a nap. 

So August filled the morning with a lot of reading of the cat book, pointing at people on the photo wall, and being entertained by Carly using the vacuum cleaner. Oh, and screeching. Lots of screeching. 

After his nap (which was too short) he was in a bad mood but decided to go out anyway as I thought that might cheer him up. It did. We went to Home Plus and August had fun doing some shopping with Carly while I shopped for pants. We then finished the grocery shopping together and headed home. 

Carly wanted to make a pasta dish, so I took August back out. We were going to go to the playground, but it had rained in the meantime so I decided to just walk first. As we neared the pink building, August made it known that he wanted to go inside. 

So, I went where he pointed, and thus the August walk was invented. By following his pointing and asking him which way to go next, we:

– saw the balloons in Home Plus

– walked down and out the other side of the building

– crossed the street to the fruit stand and continued down the street

– crossed the street to the small playground

– went in the swings

– walked around the playground

– did more swinging while we watched kids play soccer

– headed home when he started doing the sign for milk

– went back in the pink building

– went downstairs and looked around the grocery store

– exited the grocery store and headed to the book/toy store

– looked around the store at the children’s books, balls, and toys (spotting all the Pororo toys, of course)

– exited the other side of the book store and meandered around the food court area

– headed back up the escalators to the second store where we looked at the furniture

– spent a fair amount of time looking at the fabric at a hanbok (traditional clothing) stand where August was upset I wouldn’t actually go in to see the colorful fabrics up close (it was closed)

– went back downstairs, looking at the balloons again

– headed outside and back to Brownstone

– examined the motorbikes outside the noodle place, where I learned that what he most likes about them is actually the helmets sitting on the handles – he went back and forth from one motorbike to the other, looking at the helmets

– started to walk around the building before he changed his mind, looked at the motorbikes some more, entered our usual entrance, and went up the elevators

– went to the mailboxes and played with their doors for a few minutes

– finally returned home

He nursed and then we left again to let Carly finish and get some relief from the screeching. This time we spent about 45 minutes walking around the park across the street. We went on the swings, looked at the dinosaurs (dino baabaas), played on the exercise equipment by the bus stop, admired the ‘mama’ sculpture (it must remind him of Carly somehow), and then stood on the rainbow bridge for a few minutes until he started saying ‘mama’. 

All of that must have worn him out as he fell asleep quickly once he started nursing, barely making it to 7. 

 

Getting his Pororo figure: 

Our first outing: 

The August walk: 

Our final outing. The ‘mama’ statue: 

August’s minor cough continued. I’d say that he is otherwise back to normal, but he took a really long nap and had difficulty waking up, and then fell asleep again at Derek and Jill’s. He then had a somewhat difficult time the rest of the evening before finally going to sleep. 

I don’t think I mentioned yesterday that he has suddenly developed a shriek. It started yesterday and continued today. So we are working on having him sign ‘please’ and find other ways to communicate besides shrieking at us. We will see how that goes. 

Anyway, a bit after 10 we went for a walk first to Home Plus and then north into Nowon. Carly was looking for some storage bins for organizing supplies at school. She had success at Daiso where we also bought a new Avent straw cup for August. We then went to Starbucks and hung out for quite awhile. Not the Starbucks on the way to Nowon, or the Starbucks just east of the Lotte Department Store (the Starbucks where I first changed August on my own outside the house when we walked up there with my parents). No, this was the newest Starbucks just across the street from the department store to the west. Sometimes we feel right at home in this city…

While Carly and August were exploring another part of Starbucks (August apparently liked climbing in and out of the chairs), an elementary school girl across from us said hi and asked if we lived in Brownstone. I thought she looked familiar; I think we rode the elevator with her just a day or two ago. Her name is Jessica and I think her mom was happy for her to practice her English as she kept encouraging her to ask me questions. 

We headed home and August took quite awhile to fall asleep. Carly ended up taking a nap with him and they didn’t wake up until after 3:30. When they woke up I went down to Baskin Robbins and got the ice cream cake we were taking for dessert. We then finished getting ready and took a cab to go to dinner at Derek and Jill’s. 

August was having a rough wake up so it took him some time to be happy there. A few minutes playing with Logan’s toys brought him around. They also exchanged gifts. We gave Logan the caterpillar puzzle I bought at the DDP and they gave August and awesome set of Pororo magnets. 

August and Logan still did interact a ton, but it was definitely much more than in the past. They apparently also had their first argument – over a puzzle – that Carly had to mediate. But mainly their interactions involved playing with something at the same time, or Logan taking something away from August. 

We ate some great lasagna and then fit in dessert as August started to meltdown after 2 hours. We walked home in a very comfortable dusk. August stayed awake until close to 9.

Oh, and August has two more teeth poking through. Making a total of 13. One is coming in in the gap between two of his top teeth. So haven’t figured out which tooth is which, and it looks like he’ll be in need of some dental work, if baby teeth are any indication. 

Today I realized that since August can day cheese I could having say it and take his photo. It worked: 

First, an update on words and whatnot: In the last few days he has developed a word for broccoli (that sort of sounds like broccoli) and SpongeBob. The latter basically sounds like ‘baa’ or ‘ball’, but he is clearly referring to his SpongeBob backpack. And today tooth number 11 started to break through. He now has all 8 front teeth, a pair of molars on his left, and now a molar in the bottom right. And I had him play a few minutes of Endless Alphabet today and it is clear that he is starting to catch on and knows to match the letters. And his ability to move the letters around is much more precise than it was a couple weeks ago. 

August developed a bit of a cough last night that mainly affects him when lying down – so when he is sleeping or on the changing pad. Actually a bit scary when he coughs while sleeping because it sounds like he is choking at first. Hopefully this is just the conclusion of his throat issue and not the start of something new. 

August woke up early, and Carly was going in to work late, so they got to hang out together in the morning and talk to Cherie and Vivian about Vivian’s new brother, aka Floppy Phil. 

He spent a lot of time this morning playing with his fruit and veggies. For a couple days now he has been able to get off the couch pretty easily without grabbing on to the arm of the couch or my leg. He is also taking one or two steps more often. 

We had his government-provided well-child checkup at a doctor over at eMart. August and I walked over and met Carly and Atsuko there. We went early so we had time to use the swings at a new park and then get some photos printed for his photo wall and do some shopping (looking for headphones for August for the plane ride in June). 

His checkup was at noon and went pretty quickly. It was mostly based on the questionnaire we filled out in advance. She noted his cough and asked if we wanted medicine… They really like medicines here in Korea. 

Atsuko gave Carly a ride back to work. August had fallen asleep right after the appointment so I started walking. The idea was to find the pedestrian overpass to the closest subway station and head to Itaewon, but the route I chose was a dead end. Would have required a lot of extra walking to get to a subway so we headed home instead. 

August only took a 30 minute nap and woke up as we walked through an apartment complex. He saw a playground so we went on the swings again (slides were still too wet). 

Back home we had lunch – he ate a good amount of my sandwich. In the afternoon we went to Home Plus and did our grocery shopping. We stopped at the dinosaur park on the way home. We played on the slide and August had fun meeting two women there with their two granddaughters. He interacted a lot with the baby who was a few months younger than him, talking to her and her grandmother a lot and touching her nose and chin. 

Carly showed up and we came home. He was tired, but we managed to keep him up until 7. He didn’t really eat dinner, but didn’t seem too interested. 

The day started out smoothly. August slept in, we learned that Cassie had given birth to a new cousin, he ate a good breakfast that included his last full dose of antibiotics, he played with his bucket of fruits and vegetables for the first time, and we Skyped with my parents. 

But after that I realized that the small rash August had on his stomach now covered his chest, right arm, and neck. 

Long story short, after August took a 45 minute nap and ate a good lunch (salmon, broccoli, and and cheese), I took him down to the doctor for his planned follow up. Turns out is just a usual case of exantheun subitum aka Roseola (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseola). And his throat is all better. So, no more medicine and the rash should go away in a day or two. 

After that, we headed out for a walk. I had planned to walk over by APIS, but we were running late and the rain seemed to be showing up earlier than forecast. It was windy and raining as we crossed the bridge and were on the other side. I could handle wind OR heavy rain, but the wind turned out umbrella inside out once and I didn’t fancy having that happen again if it started pouring and we were a long way from home. 

So we turned back, went across the river, and walked up the river then the stream to the playground with the swings. We went on the swings for awhile (the slide was too wet). August was facing in in the carrier so that was new. 

I really expected him to take a second nap but he never did. I thought he was going to fall back asleep after his lunch and then, in the carrier, he put down his head several times but never fell asleep. 

Carly got home around 5, having walked home in the rain. He didn’t eat much dinner, but overall he ate and drank more today than he had in quite some time. He made it a bit past 6:30 before falling asleep. 

 

How August was sleeping this morning: 

Fruits and veggies: 

His rash: 

Tired after his nap, but not going back to sleep: 

Liking the rain on the umbrella: 

Spring: 

 

August went the entire day without a fever and, especially come the afternoon, looked a lot like his usual self. 

It wasn’t entirely clear sailing. He woke up in the middle of the night, crying and in discomfort, much like how he was acting when we took him to the hospital. But eventually he went back to sleep. He cried out a few times after that, but slept through the rest of the night. 

In the morning he was acting pretty normal, but ate and drank almost nothing. 

Then, around 11 he fell asleep for a nap. 28 minutes later he woke up but clearly needed more sleep. I got him to sleep on my shoulder, but he woke up as soon as I set him down. So then a miracle happened: I got him back to sleep while he was lying down. That hasn’t happened in…months. 

He woke up 30 minutes later again. I assumed that was it for his nap, but he immediately put his head down on my shoulder and fell back to sleep. I knew he would wake up if I tried to set him down, so I carried him out to the couch and held him for the next 70+ minutes while he slept. I got some good YouTube video viewing done.

When he woke up he seemed back to his old self. I let him watch one of his videos while I checked his temperature and now it was down close to 36. I have him a bath; he wasn’t too happy, but it wasn’t horrible. 

And then he has his appetite back. He drank and ate more than he has consumed at a single sitting for over a week. His lunch consisted of broccoli, tofu, peanut butter, and refried beans. He made a nice mess, so he got washed off a second time while I held him over the sink. 

He then ate a good chunk of my peanut butter sandwich before we headed outside for awhile. 

We went to two playgrounds over by the stream: one at an apartment complex and our usual one by the children’s center. They were both pretty busy but August got to play on a slide at each and spent most of his time watching bigger kids playing. 

We went home and Carly came home soon after. I went to PT and then two of them went to the grocery store to get apples. Carly made apple sauce and, what do you know, August loved it and ate a full dose of the antibiotics mixed into it. 

August made some progress today. He woke up at 4:30 and Carly have him more of the fever medicine at 5. After that his temperature stayed between 37.0 and 37.2 the entire day. So no more suppositories for August, at least today. 

He slept an hour in the (still) early morning, but after that he only took a single 39 minute nap the entire day and stayed up past 9. 

Not much luck getting the antibiotics into him. The most I managed to get into him was mixed with milk while he was asleep. But even that only worked a bit. Awake, he basically refused to drink more than a few sips all day. 

He started to put a lid on his head and I realized he knew what ‘head’ meant and that I could tell him to put something on his head and he could do it. Also, he can point at or get a surprising number of things, like his drum, xylophone, crayon, and blender parts. 

And we watched a video that Glecy sent us of an orchestra. Early on there is someone playing a xylophone. When August saw it he said ‘baabaa’ since I always play “Baa Baa Black Sheep’ for him on the xylophone. 

Had to return to the doctor and pharmacist today as I left the antibiotic on the table last night. Went smoothly but was surprised when the doctor did a full reexamination. 

In the afternoon I took him out for a short walk outside (just to the park because he spotted some pigeons from across the street) and then we walked around inside the pink building, mainly looking at furniture, and through Brownstone. 

Carly had her culture club but got home a little after 5 as someone gave her a ride home. 

I went for a little walk in the evening but shorter today as I had at least managed to get out for a bit earlier.