Category: Uncategorized

 

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: 

A pretty normal morning. August ate well and we played a lot. He figured out how to climb over the pillows on the bed to get both off and on. 

He fell asleep a bit before 11 and slept right until 12:30. His last music class started at 12:40. I was all ready to go and changed him, put him in the carrier, and headed to Home Plus before he knew what was going on. As such, when we got to the class he was very mellow and clingy for much of the class. He turned outgoing and started crawling around the room right near the end of class. 

We went downstairs and did our shopping. We bought a mask for the next time pollution is bad and we need to go outside. If I can get him to wear it. I am trying to break it to him slowly, using it as a game as we walk around. We will see how it goes. 

It helps that it is a Tayo mask. Tayo has invaded our lives. The kid cafe we went to yesterday was a Tayo cafe. I got home and opened the new YouTube Kids app and found out that Tayo is a full Korean cartoon. Today I realized the little kid rides near the entrance to Home Plus are Tayo characters, and now the mask. What is Tayo about? It is kid of like Cars, Korean style. The characters are city buses and taxis and other vehicles. 

Anyway, the plan was to drop off the groceries and eat, and then head back out for a little adventure. But after practicing putting things in and out of the backpack, August started having a hard time. His nose was also runny, necessitating wiping, which he hates, which leads to more crying, which leads to more mucus, etc. He ended up crying and resting on my shoulder for a long time and I thought he was going to take another nap. 

But he didn’t, and eventually we headed back outside because it was so warm (50 or so). We walked around the park and went to the playground. We ended up surrounded by and playing with a bunch of elementary school girls. They were much calmer and helpful than at the kid cafe on Saturday. Two of them, sisters (Miguela and Claudia – their dad is Spanish but, alas, they don’t speak Spanish), played with him the most and even took him down the slide and held him a bit. 

Came home and he proceeded to eat another big meal. He loves broccoli and ate a ton of it today. Carly came home a few minutes later and I headed to PT. I didn’t see him much after getting home as he went to bed right at 7. 

 

Morning: 

Waking up: 

Class: 

Back home: 

His mask: 

At the park: 

Watching all the kids play (it was busy) before deciding he wanted to join the fray:

First off, August has two verified new words. The first is ‘baby’. It basically sounds like ‘baa baa’, but with a different intonation. He uses it primarily when reading the ‘Where is Baby’s Belly Button?’ Book. 

The second is a word for pigeon. It sounds like ‘gamma’, so basically what he started saying a couple days ago. But he used it repeatedly when reading the Korean birds book and we come to the pigeon page. Also, he has said it several times when we have been in the park. I thought maybe he was thinking ‘garden’, as he has also said it when we read the garden book, but it seems very clearly connected to ‘pigeon’ now, so he was probably seeing or looking for them in the park.

So for our day today, with the pollution index 1/8th what it was yesterday and the sun out we spent much of the day outdoors. 

But before that his sleep was a little weird. He (and thus Carly) woke up at 3:15. And stayed awake. I, luckily, blissfully slept through all of that. But he fell back asleep a little before 6:30 and took a regular nap. Pretty much a regular day for us after that. 

We left the house a bit after 11 and returned close to 6pm. Perhaps our longest outing. We:

1. Took the subway north to Dobongsan to find the guide and stamp books for the Seoul Trail. We first ate some food and he tried to follow a pigeon that came close. We found the books and he fell asleep as we walked around the iris garden.  I sat on a bench swing and read in the sun while he slept. 

2. When he woke we took the subway south and east to Danggogye. We walked up to the stamp box we had seen on our hike and got the stamp we couldn’t get for lack of the stamp books. There was a pagoda nearby so we went there and ate some more and played and waved at hikers. 

3. We walked to the Sanggye area. We found an art/toy store along the way and looked around. We will have to go back. We then found a new park and played on a slide. August liked spotting the magpie in the tree and waving to some girls sitting on a bench. Oh, and practicing his standing and sitting sans hands. 

4. We walked across the street to the Tayo kid cafe. He was free (until 12 months) and I only cost a buck fifty. We played for an hour. It was pretty amazing and much nicer and bigger than the one next door. 

We then headed home via bus and arrived at the elevators at the same time as Carly. 

At home, August used his new words with Carly and enjoyed some soup. He also started making an ‘s’ sound. He managed to stay awake past 7 for a normal bed time. 

Random thing: I forgot to mention about a week ago that he sneezed 6 times in a row. A record from my counting. 

Waking up:

Kicking during breakfast: 

Saying ‘baby’: 

Word for pigeon: 

On our adventure: 

Iris garden: 

Pagoda: 

Playground: 

Pointing/waving at a magpie: 

Tayo Kid Cafe: 

Back home: 

I had planned on spending a lot of time outside today, but a dust cloud from China changed those plans. We stayed at home until his nap, only going downstairs to do recycling and walk around a bit on the second floor. He took a bath before his nap and ate a lot while working on talking and opening cupboards.  

The craziest thing to happen today is that he fell asleep as I placed him on the changing pad to get him dressed after his bath. He hasn’t slept on the changing pad in months. He did it a second time this evening when he fell asleep early and Carly had to change him before putting him to bed.

After his nap we went to the kid cafe. It was a zoo as it was after the elementary schools get out (which seems really early and I haven’t figured out their schedule yet). But we had fun and stayed a bit over an hour.  

The dust levels dropped quickly in the afternoon, so we then went out and enjoyed the sun by walking around the park and going on the swings.  

We got back home just a little before Carly arrived. August fell asleep while nursing a bit after 6:30, so we will see how his night goes. I should get to sleep now to be ready for an early rise. 

And I forgot to mention it, but he has an eighth tooth coming in. I felt and saw it a couple days ago. It is in the back left of his mouth.  

Our pollution level: 

Waking up: 

Before his nap: 

Still entertained by the washing machine, although the freezer and various cupboards now take up more of his time: 

Eating blueberries: 

Contemplating the bath: 

Nap time: 

Waking up: 

Kid cafe and walk: 

Not his mess: 

Getting a lot of attention: 

Watching flags: 

Evening: 

 

We’ve had four busy days of Carly’s break so today we took it easier. And August continues to be a bit stuffy and off. So we stayed around home until after his nap, and in the afternoon we went for a walk to the south to play at two playgrounds I had walked through when we were first back in Seoul and to find a third I had seen on a map.  

The first playground is big and amazing but really busy and August got upset. So we walked to the second, which was nice and empty, but the one slide was full of water. The third park turned out to be almost perfect so we played there the longest. All it was missing was swings.  

August continues to work on his animal noises and moves. He is now working on his elephant noise and stomping (see below).  

He is also fascinated by sheep (baa baa). More about that in a later post.  

Mans he continues to eat everything. Current favorites include banana bread, asparagus, cooked carrot, and egg.  

Lunch and acting like an elephant: 

On our walk to three playgrounds: 

Back home: 

I had another hike for our trek around Seoul. Both of my friends could make it this time so we made some progress. We only did 5km though as it was raining pretty steadily. But it was something.  

When I left for my hike Carly left with August and went to the kid cafe next door. It was almost empty the entire time they were there and stayed almost the full two hours. They also did some Skyping with Oma and Glecy and he fell asleep just a few minutes before I got home. 

After he woke up we went to Home Plus and when we got home Carly made delicious soup.  

I write this at about 10:30, and August has only been asleep for about 20 minutes. He kept finding more energy despite looking sleepy around 7. Perhaps he got the energy from the large lunch or dinner or second dinner.  

Today he was working on his kicking for the head to toes book (not on video yet) and on saying what sounds like ‘grandma’ (see below). I say ‘sounds like’ as he wasn’t actually looking at a photo of her when he started saying it. He said it several times, however, so we will see if it sticks when we next Skype with my parents.  

Oh, and I had a book group meeting this morning via Skype. So it was a pretty busy day overall.  

With Carly at the children’s museum: 

Taking a nap: 

After his nap: 

Using a pen. He did this once before and is clearly ready for some markers or crayons:

Afternoon and evening shenanigans, including maybe saying ‘grandma’ and staying up too late: 

How he tells me he wants to read this book next: 

Looking ready for bed, but it took another hour: