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He was doing well when he woke up this morning after sleeping 12 hours. And he didn’t have a fever in the morning. But around 9 he started to act tired and have a fever. He took 3 short naps through the day and after his last one, around 6:15pm, it had shot to 39 degrees (102.2). 

Luckily, our doctor is 6 floors down, cheap, open until 6:30, and was actually there until well past 7. And the pharmacy is right next door. 

Long story short, they tested for influenza, negative. His throat is swollen, red, etc. so her next guess is tonsillitis or the like. She prescribed antibiotics and, since we haven’t been able to really get him to take the liquid Tylenol or ibuprofen for his fever, a suppository. 

We managed to give him the suppository and get him to bed. Hopefully he will feel better in the morning and I can work on getting him to take the antibiotics (and probiotics) in the morning…

During the day we spent a lot of time cuddling on the couch or with him in my shoulder while we listened to music. I only got him to take two naps – 25 and 38 minutes – but he seemed ready to fall asleep much of the day.

That aside, he did have one big accomplishment today: he started saying ‘knee’ and pointing to his and my knee. He did this without prompting this morning. We have been working on knee, elbow, and shoulders. He will say ‘bow’ and point to my elbow when prompted. 

After Carly got home she let me how for a little walk to get out in the sun since it was close to 70. I feel bad that August once again didn’t get to go outside. Anyway, it was during my walk that he fell asleep for the third short nap. He had just woken up when I got home and that was when we realized his temperature had jumped. 

Relaxed last day of spring break

Carly goes back to work tomorrow. So that was one reason for taking it easy. But the main reason was that August developed a fever again today. It peaked midday a bit over 38 degrees before settling down a bit. But August was clearly off. He slept well last night but took a surprise 2 hour nap this morning. After that we cancelled our dinner plans with Derek and Jill – definitely don’t want to get Logan sick. 

We Skyped with my parents. August spent most of the time sitting in the arm chair and playing with Pooh and SpongeBob and saying funny things like ‘tasty’. 

August took a second nap and woke up feeling better. So in the afternoon we took an easy walk towards the east. On the way back we took a break at a playground in the apartments south of Home Plus where August and I had played before. He went down the flat slide a few times, cruised over to the wavy slide and went down that, rode the bulldozer thing with Carly, and then played with the elliptical machine. 

We headed home and I wanted to do a little more walking so went down by the stream. While I was gone August took a third nap. It was a short one though as he woke up a few minutes after I got home. 

Carly made soup and marinated tofu and August did pretty well in the evening but still had a fever. He went to sleep at a good time but woke up several times and at one point needed to be sung back to sleep. Hopefully he will sleep pretty soundly and Carly can get a good night of sleep. 

August also really liked when we spun the crayons on the floor. And I got to witness one of his huge throw ups this morning when Carly tried to give him some medicine. We really need to figure out a way to get him to take it. 

Oh, and he is regularly using the signs for both ‘nurse’ and ‘more’. The latter he used very clearly and without prompting when he wanted to go down the slide and when he wanted us to spin the crayons again. 

Lovely weather today, so after August took a short nap this morning we took the department store gift certificate and a gift card we had and hopped the train headed north. We went to a small city just north of Seoul called Uijeongbu. August and I had been there twice before: the first time in the rain only to find the department store closed, and the second time where we looked around and played in the kid cafe there. I needed Carly with me to help pick stuff out through and I had picked up a map and guidebook to the city.

So this time we started by walking through some of the nice streets in the city’s downtown. It turns out there is a military base up there as there were a bunch of Koreans in uniform and a lot of American-looking foreigners as well. We ate lunch at Pizza Hut (August wasn’t too fond of sitting at the table, so we took turns walking him around – he liked looking out at the busy street below) and then shopped at the large ArtBox store they had there. The main shopping street was notable because it was a pedestrian street, had some lovely trees down the middle, and had sculptures dotted throughout.

August was getting tired so we headed to the department store as we wanted to change him before he fell asleep. Carly nursed and changed him and he fell asleep. That allowed us to do our shopping. We could have walked away with hundreds of dollars of cool toys, but alas our certificates weren’t for that much. We did pretty well though, getting a Pororo figure, a container of plastic fruits and vegetables, a set of blocks, and one of those square wooden activity things with moving parts on every side and wire loopy things out the top.

He was still asleep so we went and sat in a coffee shop called Carpe Diem in the train station and read. Not a busy place, but horrible acoustics. When a large group came in it got incredibly loud. We did okay, but it was funny to exit out into the busy subway station and be happy about how quiet it was.

Came home and opened the last toy, only to find it is missing one of the four blocks that go with it. Not major, but it was the nicest and most expensive toy we got. So August and I will probably head back up there sometime this week. Ugh.

We then walked to Home Plus to do some grocery shopping: food for dinners and also a new blender as our old one died a few months back.

August only slept 9 (or less) hours and took a short/average nap this afternoon, so today was the earliest he’s fallen asleep all week: 8:15ish.

Morning: 

Uijeongbu: 

Walking home from Home Plus: 

Evening: 

Everyone was pretty much back to normal today and we were able to head out on an adventure and enjoy the nice weather after Carly and August did some Skyping this morning. 

We headed to Children’s Grand Park, which had two clear highlights: August going down the slide with Carly and the zoo reopening.

We played in the infant room the entire time we were at the museum. Carly and August went down the slide together 5 or 6 times. He also played with all of his usual favorite toys. 

He then fell asleep – we thought – while nursing, but woke up when I put him in the carrier. Usually he falls back to sleep right away, but this time he didn’t he stayed awake as we walked through the park, into the amusement park, and. Got lunch at Popeye’s. We sat outside in the sun and August had fun watching the train ride and other rides in the amusement park. 

We did some more walking, expecting him to fall asleep, but still no luck. We were surprised to find that the zoo was once again open, although the ‘dangerous animals’ area was still closed, presumably because it was the sight of the lion attack. But we could stand on a bench and see the elephants as they were out of their really depressing winter enclosure and in their only generally depressing outdoor enclosure. 

More walking and we got to the coffee shop at the top of the old clubhouse (the park used to be a golf course, going back to occupation days). Got our drinks, sat out on the deck, more nursing, and he still wasn’t sleeping. It had been more than 7 hours and he had only slept 9 hours the previous night. So I put him in the carrier and started walking around the abandoned side of the building, and after several songs and about 15 minutes he finally fell asleep. He slept for an hour and Carly and I were able to read. 

I continued reading a book the cafe has on their shelves called The Man Who Loved Books Too Much. My idea is that each week when I go to the park with August I will make sure we are there for his nap. I can sit on the deck and work my way through their English shelf as they had a few books worth reading. They are about the only paper books I read nowadays. Kind of a book group of one. 

He woke up (a bit too early as he was he was really sad when we changed him) and headed home. From the subway station we headed to Home Plus to do some grocery shopping. 

Not much to report after that. August ‘helped’ with the laundry by taking the clothes out of the hamper and dropping/throwing the clothes in the direction away from me. When I was done with the clothes he then insisted on me holding him up so he could pull off some of the socks and diapers so he could drop them on the floor. He then wanted back down on the floor where he spent a few minutes ‘hanging’ the same clothes on the lower bars – although most ended up on the floor below. 

Children’s museum with mama:

Saying ‘tasty’ and ‘eeee’: 

Looking over the fence at the elephants: 

Back home. Helping with the laundry: 

He woke up about 7 – another pretty short night. He took his first of three naps sometime later when he fell asleep on my shoulder. He had a fever and, which climbed to 38.9, and wasn’t happy so we postponed his 12 month well-child checkup and took him to his normal doctor around 11 because a.) we had questions about fever reducers (he had thrown up the children’s Tylenol) and b.) the consultation cost 2 bucks. 

His problem today seemed to be a combination of maybe a fever from the vaccinations yesterday combined with teething: he definitely has two teeth about to come in, and by the end of the day the missing bottom front tooth seemed to be cutting through. 

After that he took a two and half hour nap. On Carly on the couch. When he woke up he was doing better and his fever was down. 

In the afternoon he fell asleep for a third nap and Carly let me go for a walk. When I came back he was wide awake and pretty much back to being himself. A highlight of the evening was Carly opening the ‘magic’ bubbles that his teacher gave him for his birthday and using them for the first time. 

He had difficulty going to sleep though so he and I were up until about 10:30 again until I took him into Carly and he fell asleep with her. 

He started saying ‘knee’ pretty clearly in the evening and is all about standing up for a few minutes at a time.

August pretty much back to normal today. Carly is close. 

We Skyped with my parents this morning and then August fell asleep for and early nap. 

After his nap we walked up to Nowon and looked for two possible kid cafes. Negative on both. We ran into one of the Korean teachers and her daughter near the top of the Lotte Department store and did some shopping in the basement. 

We then went to Daiso and bought a few things before heading home, stopping at Starbucks along the way to get a drink and feed August. There, we ran into a mother and a son from his class. 

We stopped at the dinosaur park on our way home and went on the swings and the slide. The first time he went down the slide he fell forward at the bottom but caught himself with his arms and didn’t hit his head. He kind of whimpered and needed to be held but didn’t cry. A minute later he was ready to get back on the slide. He started to use the ‘more’ sign on his own multiple times to let me know when he wanted to go on the slide again. 

He drew a bit of a crowd at the slide and interacted pretty well with a 15 month old. 

We went into out building and went to his doctor early. He didn’t have a temperature today so he got his shots. He really does not like them and fell asleep right afterwards. 

I then went to PT. I came home to find Carly making a lentil dish. August had fun eating it and started saying ‘tasty’ in imitation of Carly mocking the way I supposedly said it. 

He is now also doing a bunny noise, and I may have taught him the monkey ‘ooh ooh ooh’ noise. He did it several times this evening. We will see if it sticks. The same with ‘wawa’ for water and the sign for milk – both of which he seems to maybe be using regularly but maybe not. 

He went to sleep earlier (9 something) after dancing with me to 6 Hozier songs and then nursing a bit.

Lotte Department Store chairs: 

Starbucks chair: 

Meeting people on the slide:

Getting a shot: 

“Tasty”: 

In and out: 

 

August woke up a little before 7 – less than 8 hours of sleep. 

Carly said she now has a fever and thinks she has what August has, but said her stomach and headache were better. But awhile later she had to go take a nap. 

I got his tub out, filled it with a couple inches of water and let him play with it. Eventually I started getting his hair wet and he let me wash his hair. In fact, he was kind of zoning out and enjoying it. He let me take off his shirt and only started to whine a bit when I started washing his back. That was also when Carly came out.

A couple hours later she went and took a second nap. 

During this nap August surprised me by walking 15 steps. Later in the evening he  was doing more standing and walking a few steps at a time. Not far away now…

August fell asleep while I had him and he and Carly traded places, with her waking up. I then went to the pink building to pick up some pho and a couple groceries. 

When I got back he was still asleep but had woken up for ten minutes. 

He took a long nap and woke up a little after two. August and I then went for a walk and visited two parks he hadn’t yet played at: one behind Carly’s hospital and one east of that that looks like a pirate ship. 

At the second one he really got into using his hands to play with the sand for the first time. He just sat there dropping handful after handful of sand. We also went on the swing. 

We then came home and August played with Carly a lot. He seemed to not have much of a temperature today, but was feeling a bit warmer in the evening. Also, despite waking up a little after 2 he then stayed awake until about 10. Carly went to bed around 8 so it was a repeat of last night, although thankfully not so late. 

Morning: 

Playing with Carly’s socks: 

 

Playing in the tub:

On our park walk:

Playing with sand:

Vocal fun on the way home:

Back home. A conversation:

Playing Endless Alphabet with mama:

 

So today was a rocky start to Carly’s spring break. August continued to have a fever and it got worse in the afternoon. And Carly has a stomachache. 

August took an early nap, which was good, as he woke up just in time to make it to his class. Class was all about colors and, as usual (and actually worse than usual) he was shy at first. But he warned up and ended up having a lot of fun. 

Carly had to leave right at the end of class to head to APIS to work with the NHD students for a couple hours. August and I looked around Home Plus for awhile (the pet section is like a field trip for him) and got a couple things. We then played at the playground on the way home. 

August fell asleep again, but only slept 25 minutes. When he woke up he felt warmer and just cuddled on my shoulder in the rocking chair for 20 minutes until Carly got home. 

At 5 we took him down to the doctor. It was a scheduled appointment for his next set of shots, but turned into a consultation and shots were postponed until Wednesday if his fever goes down (they measured it at 101). 

He was pretty shaken by the appointment, and fell asleep again and slept a long time. In the evening we had a long Skype call with Vivian, Cassie, and Cherie. We thought he would be getting sleepy after that but the long and short of this is that he ended up staying awake until 11. I stayed up with him and Carly was able to get some sleep but isn’t feeling well herself. 

August is really into the long ‘e’ sound. In particular he was doing it with his new favorite book, the one about cats, and saying the end of ‘catastrophe’. 

Morning: 

Class: 

 

 

It was another mellow day. August has been sleeping longer at night, although more fitfully and he has a slight temperature; all probably because of teething. So this morning he and Carly were up from 4 to 5:30, then he slept until 6:30 when I got up. 

I made a scramble for breakfast and we Skyped with my parents. 

He then took a long nap in the middle of the day. So when we got out of the house we just went for a walk along the stream and river. The wind was blowing hard enough that it was bothering August, so I turned him to face in on our way back up the river. Before returning home we stopped in a park and sat on a bench so we could feed August. We then stopped for a few groceries at the pink building before returning home. 

I believe I forgot to say yesterday that ‘Oma’ is now an official word, as he was using it during the Skype call. 

Today he started saying ‘thee’, or more specifically the ‘eeee’ sound. 

I left at 4 to take a very long subway ride (35 stops, but only one transfer) to the other side of Seoul for a free concert. I had fun, and before the show started Skyped with Carly and August. He was very excited by that. 

 

Today was a nice start to Carly’s spring break. It started with a lot of skyping. I had a two hour books group meeting and Carly and August Skyped with the PA gang and then Glecy. 

Sometime later August fell asleep listening to Hozier, as usual. After his nap we went for a walk along the stream and then back east. Along the way we visited to playgrounds but August wasn’t quite right. It was a Goldilocks thing, as the third playground – the one we found last weekend – was just right. We spent a lot of time there, and he spent a good 20 minutes or so entertaining three teenage girls while he sat on the slide and played with the water bottle and performed all of his skills. 

We walked towards home and did our grocery shopping at Home Plus. Carly made stir fry and we ate dinner. August was getting really tired, but made it to 6:40 before falling asleep. 

I had never really heard August talk in his sleep, but just a little while ago he gave a full laugh while Carly and I were out in the kitchen with the door open. At first I thought he was awake and laughing at us, but he was clearly asleep.