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Around the time Carly got up, he was reciting letters in his sleep this and said “14”. He woke up at 6:10. We had a full morning of reading Kipper, playing Endless Reader together, writing the alphabet (repeatedly) on the whiteboard, having the Duplo animals eat (he found it funny to line them up along my leg as if they were eating me), making a card for mama (I asked him what he wanted to tell mama – the first answer was a bunch of numbers and things I didn’t understand; the second time I asked he said “I love you.”), and more Kipper. Always more Kipper.

 

We left around 10. Or something. Walked to the subway in a light rain. Got down to the DDP. Had our coats and rain covers off for the subway. At the DDP we had to cover about 20 feet between the subway exit and the entrance to the DDP. As I hurried across those 20 feet, a woman started calling to us and showing me her umbrella. I told her we were okay (in Korean) several times and kept going. As we waited for the elevator, indoors, she came up to us, having followed us, to offer to give us her umbrella. Very nice, but very, very crazy. If we had wanted an umbrella there were probably 10 places I could buy one in the DDP complex.

 

Anyway, we looked around the design plaza. August wanted to touch things (“More touch”), so we found a few things he could, then headed to the toy store. There, he really, really liked a big, soft stuffed duck. Then went and changed him and headed to the spiraling design walkway to put him to sleep. It was a long, boring passageway last time I had walked it. But this week was Design Week in Seoul, and the pathway hosted a college design fair. Very cool, actually, and we saw all sorts of interesting stuff. Made it harder for him to fall asleep though.

 

He fell asleep from 11:42 to 12:28. A little short. We sat back in the cafe at the toy store. When he woke up, we played in the cafe area there, mainly with the push around riding thing and a Winnie the Pooh interactive table thing. We went to the baby lounge area to eat lunch and then went to the i-Play kid cafe. This is where we went on his first birthday. Almost didn’t, as it is bit pricey compared to others (they charge 4 bucks for a parent, and all you get is a lousy coffee in return – others don’t charge for the parent), but glad we did, as he loved it.

 

Played a lot with the wooden ball pit, then found the big rubbery animals and played with them. Mainly the gaegul (frog) and penguin, which he carried around the play area for quite awhile. After some wandering (and getting my ‘free’ iced coffee), during which he liked the round rubbery things with different textures on them that you can feel with your feet, we ended up at the tool section, where he played with the screwdrivers, a magnetic crane truck, a hammer, and a chainsaw. We spent a lot of time using the chainsaw on different things. From there, he did some sliding, then we went to the sound area. This is where he got really overwhelmed by hearing the sheep last time. He still reacted strongly to hearing the animals, even saying “baa baa in there” as he stared at the speaker. But no getting upset this time. He also really liked the pig and chicken.

 

We went back to the tools for awhile, then ended our time over at a block area making a tower and sliding down the rubbery stairs. He also met a ‘baby’, getting up really close and just looking at her a few times as she came up the stairs. We used our full two hours, and left at 3:40.

 

Took the subway home. No rain by now, and quite nice – 50 degrees. It was just hitting 5 as we got back to our area, so we walked to intercept Carly. While waiting at a light, a woman really let me know that August’s hands must be cold. Because, you know, it is 50 degrees. For the record, after I saw two other small children in open strollers – neither wearing gloves.

 

Anyway, met up with Carly and Megan. August was excited to see them both. He really likes Megan, particularly since she keeps giving him stuff. This time it was a magnet.

 

At home he played on his own pretty well for awhile. I made him eggs with broccoli and onions for dinner, and Carly gave him a bath. Not surprisingly, he fell asleep early, a little after 7:30.

 

New words/phrases: leg, screw, penguin, building, froggy, sacs saca (dry dry), dada says becoming big kid

 

Toy store and the duck: 

After his nap: 

Play area: 

Staring up as we walk to meet Carly: 

Asleep in Thatcher’s old pajamas: 

A new session of classes started today. He has his 5-TOUCH class again today, and his new class on Thursday.

Carly and I heard him talking about letters in his sleep before we woke up today. Something like “More letters.”

He woke up at 8:14. The first thing he said after ‘mama’ was ‘Endless Reader’, and then ‘iPad’. But I got him distracted by reading Kipper on the bed instead. We had oatmeal and strawberries together for breakfast, then I let him do some Endless Reader/Numbers while I did some cleaning. That didn’t last long, however, as when I got out the vacuum he wanted to help. I’d just planned on doing the living room, but he kept wanting us to vacuum, so we did most of the house.

We read a bunch more Kipper before heading off to his class. We had a little time beforehand, so we went down to the first basement and got a couple things, then went up to class. We saw his teacher out in the hall, and he got really excited about class, saying “Sangsaengnim there. See Jungbin.” And when we first walked in he went exploring around the room and walking up to everyone.

But class turned out to be a bit difficult. He seemed to be getting overwhelmed, and after 10 or 15 minutes he was done. We took a break out in the hall and talked about it. And he agreed there were “too many peoples.” There were 8 other kids in there, and we have been used to starting with 2 or 3 in the room. That first break took place during the wearing-a-penguin-outfit activity. We went back in as they were putting them away, and he happily returned the outfit to the teacher. The next activity involved catching shrimp on a magnetic fishing pole. He started that activity, going right to the center of the action, then was done after a minute. We took another break, but he happily helped clean up all the shrimp at the end, and stood patiently next to her with his fishing pole until she collected it. But then he went to the door again, declaring “all done class.” I held him during the last activity, which was story time, as she showed a book about a penguin (class was all about penguins today). He had also been acting tired, and saying “Sleepy. nap.” So I wasn’t positive he meant/knew what he was saying with “too many people.” But when we ended class with the same song we have every time since last winter, and we bring them close together, he kept saying “too many peoples.”

We went down and got a few groceries, then headed home. At home we ate lunch and were then getting ready for a nap when he spotted the wooden car puzzle my aunt gave him for Christmas last year. It has been up on a shelf, as he would put it in his mouth, and the bright colors would bleed off. He spotted it, and came and grabbed my finger, brought me over, and wanted up. He was admiring it and reading the letters (CAR), then said “hold it.” I got it down and he happily spent the next 15 or 20 minutes playing with it, carrying the pieces back and forth from one room to the other.

We were over 5 hours from waking up, so I tried to get him to sleep. He was agreeable to nap time, and went in on the bed, where he wanted to read Kipper. But then he wouldn’t sleep. I held him for a long time and stood in the room and he just cried. Out in the hall he calmed down (we did some breathing, even) but he was still too distracted by/thinking about letters and numbers. Finally, I put him in the carrier and walked around the 8th floor. He twisted to the side and sat there quietly for a good 20 minutes before finally falling asleep.

He was asleep 2:29 to 3:22 and wasn’t too happy to wake up. After that I tried to take him down to get a flu shot, but they just told me to come back on the 10th for his appointment. Came back to the apartment but we needed to get out, so we got in the backpack and walked up to Madeul Stadium. Walked around, looking at many of the new geographic history displays they have installed (on history of the earth, continental drift, mass extinctions, etc.) Went to the playground and played for about 15 minutes. Not long enough, as he wanted to dig a hole and write more letters. But got him back in the backpack and headed home to Carly.

We got home at 5:40 and she wasn’t there yet. I was prepping him for the possibility she might not be there, and he lasted for a minutes (saying “mama soon”), but once he was out of the backpack he started to lose it, so we put our shoes back on and went out to the elevators where we greeted her coming off a few minutes later.

He was very happy and hyper once she was home. A lot of singing letters and numbers very loudly while playing on the couch. In fact, he’s pretty much ignored every other song except singing ABCs and our number song. I kept trying to get him to sing “Warm Kitty” today, but the only time he did it was when I asked him in front of Carly.

He ate broccoli and tofu and some orange for dinner (but was still talking about chicken soup). Continues to say “becoming big kid” when we change him, because it was the pull up diapers that started that thing.

A very happy and loud bath, followed by all of us playing on the bed and reading Kipper stories. Seemed like he might be ready to fall asleep, but it was only 8:30. Turns out he wasn’t ready to fall asleep, as when he went out to the living room he started playing on the couch: he would slide off the side of the couch over the arm, superman style, and land on the reading area. As he got up he would say “I did it! I did it!” Repeat. About 10 minutes of that and then he grabbed his stool and took it in on the rug, where he then proceeded to climb all over it and stand and take steps off of it. We also spent time writing the alphabet on the whiteboard. He knows ‘in order’, so I taught him mixed up by writing them all over the board. He would request the next set of letter by saying “Lowe case mixed up.”

A little after 9 he made the call that he was ready to nurse again and they headed to bed. He fought sleep a little, but was asleep around 9:15 or so.

New words/phrases: Arnold, don’t you think? (both from Kipper), no touchscreen (referring to the laptop, which doesn’t have one), too many peoples, dalgi for home (taking strawberries out of the stroller from the grocery store), Zinnie sleep soon(?), hold it, flying giraffe (he said it himself as he was paying with Sophie in the bath), mixed up

Class. Not dressing like a penguin and heading towards the door: 

Looking at signs in the grocery store: 

Wood car:

Falling asleep: 

Park. Picking up a ginkgo berry: 

Home: 

With the weather getting colder, I figure it is time to up the visits to Children’s Grand Park to two a week. It is easy to get to, with plenty to do, between the zoo, children’s museum, cafes, and the playgrounds. So we went today, which was kind of a bad choice, as I had forgotten that the children’s museum is closed on Mondays. Luckily, we only tried to go near the end of our day, and the weather was nice so we went on a walk instead.

 

He woke up right at 8. Upset to find mama gone, saying “Mama here”, as if arguing or wishing she was here. But as I was holding him, he then said “Kipper”, so we ended up starting the morning by reading Kipper stories on the bed.

 

We did Cheerios and strawberries for breakfast, did a load of laundry, and played on the iPad. We got bundled all up and left a little after 10. When we got to the park, August chose the playground over the museum or the zoo. We went to the Adventureland Playground and mainly played in the sand, although he went up on the play structure a couple of times when “big kids” went up there. He also called the turning thing “heavy”, his term for things that are actually or figuratively hard or difficult, until I showed him how to work it. When he was done playing, he suddenly said “head home, all done playground” and starting walking off. I got him to come back, and we went over in the sun by the musical instruments to eat lunch. We ate there and played the musical instruments. Eventually he was done playing there and we had about an hour until it was his nap time.

 

He wanted to see animals, but when I asked him what animal, he twice said “giraffe,” which they don’t have at this zoo. After that, he would say “giraffe, no” to himself. His second choice was serval, so we headed that way. On the way, he noticed that the primates were out in the open today (they were inside last week, so we couldn’t see them). So we watched them first, then went around towards the servals. On the way, we noticed that the elephants, hyenas, lynx, foxes, and jackals were either asleep or gone. When we did see animals asleep, August would make a joke, saying “puma sleeping,” when clearly they were not.

 

He also did not want to be set down. When I did so, and he wanted back up, and he wanted right back up, I asked if he was asleep. Whether he was or not, he used that as an excuse, saying “more sleeps, more sleeps.” He then wanted to see the outside birds, so we did that. We then heard a donkey or zebra braying, so he wanted to see those. We walked around and saw the zebra, and he noticed that the kangaroos were still not out, that they were “inside.”

 

After that, it was getting close to 1, and he was clearly getting sleepy. So we walked up to our usual bathrooms, only to find that bathroom and the one nearby were both locked. So we went to the building with Peace Cafe in it and changed him there. Took his coat off so he wouldn’t roast during his nap, but he still had a sweater on. Only took a few minutes for him to fall asleep at 1:21.

 

We went to the 1st floor Peace Cafe, as it has a slightly nicer sitting area. He slept exactly an hour, then explored the cafe, pointing to the letters on the floor, and examining their Christmas ornaments. He knocked an ornament off the tree, and while I put it back on, a barista came and gave him a hard candy before I knew what was going on. He crunched it up and ate it just fine. We played a little Endless Reader and looked around at things they had for sale, then headed out.

 

It was now getting close to 3. This is when we tried to go to the children’s museum to find it was closed. We looked at the robots, then I changed him by the entrance and put him in the backpack. I figured it was sunny so we could go for a nice walk, going on the last trails in CGP that we had yet to walk on. They run from the seals exhibit along the south edge, past the south and east gates and to the rear gate. Along the way, we saw the camping experience area (with tents looking like Native American teepees), the ‘totem pole village’ (Korean totems, not Native American), the one cafeteria area we hadn’t seen, and a big statue honoring three heroes of the Korean War.

 

We walked out the back entrance to Achasan Station, then took that one stop to Gunja and transferred to our line home. Got home a little before Carly. He was upset to find she wasn’t home, but then wanted to watch ABC song videos. He was doing that when Carly got home a few minutes later. He went and said hi, but then went straight back to the iPad and was engrossed in that. The battle over screen time has begun.

 

Sometime later he was carrying Marshy and dropped him, and said “Oh gosh, oh my goodness” – phrases he has picked up from Carly. When Carly was preparing dinner for him, he kept wanting “more yummy chicken soup”, referring to the soup that Megan and Torrey brought last Friday and is now long gone. A lot more playing with play dough, pretending it was coming from our mouths or nose or ears, then he took a nice long bath.

 

Not sure if I’ve mentioned the ‘happy/sad’ thing: he finds it funny when I act happy or sad. Started with him turning on/off the light when I was trying to read. Continued tonight, with me playing with him while he was in the bath. He also wanted me to sing the counting song (a song I made up from 1 to 30) over and over again. He has also started to use ‘yes’ more. For example, I asked if he was ready to get out of the bath, and he replied with a simple “Yes.”

 

Before he went to sleep, as Carly was trying to get him to the bedroom, he walked down the hall saying “Night night, sleep sleep.” Despite that, he put up more of a fight falling asleep tonight, but was still asleep before 10, so pretty good overall.

 

New words/phrases: cold outside, F to E, n turn to m, move, lynx, poor Marshy, coming (out of) my nose

Playground: 

Zoo: 

Cafe. He is writing ‘E’ on the table:

Turning an O to a Q. He was also magically turning things into E, saying “A turn to E” and scribbling on it: 

Home: 

It was one of those worst sort of weather days: just above freezing and wet. We did make two trips out: once to take August out to the park and make a quick trip to Home Plus, and once with the stroller for a longer walk to get coffee and get groceries in the pink building.

 

Sleep seemed to be getting back to normal. He woke up a little before 9. Did a lot of playing at home in the morning. Carly also made hummus and pizza sauce. August spent a long time with Carly looking at all the decks of cards we now have. He particularly liked the number cards in the Korean deck. When using the cards, he started saying “For Zinnie’s”, remembering that we got them for him at Costco, and also evidence that he’s developing an idea of possession. As we were getting ready to go, we heard him sort of grunting in there, and found him trying to do a forward roll. Getting close, but couldn’t figure it out. His stool has ended up in the parlor a couple times now, where he has started to use it for his yoga moves. Also while getting ready, Carly called to him, “Auuuggguust.” He then repeated it back, several times.

 

We finally ventured outside around 1. August was walking and took his blue broom. We slowly wandered across the park, August sweeping the bricks along the way, and finding pieces of garbage. For the garbage, he would point and say “icky” and “someone”. We made it over to the other side of the park, by the pagoda, where he was really happy about sweeping the puddles. A guy walked right up to August, stood over him, and was taking photos or video of him. While August was was doing that, Carly went into Home Plus to look for a few things. August then started drawing letters in the water, and wanted me to do so as well. After writing the alphabet (lowercase) using my finger or the broom handle several times, I was cold and wanted to go inside. So we went into Home Plus and found her.

 

We went home and he took a 45 minute nap, getting up a little before 3. Good that it was a shorter nap. In the later afternoon, as it got dark. We took August out in the stroller. As we were putting him in the stroller, August was pleading for the backpack. But since it is easier to keep him warm in the stroller, we went with that. He was just fine once he was in.

 

We walked over to Coffee Bay, behind See and Me. We ordered, then I went outside with August while Carly waited. A long wait for drinks, so we wandered up and down the street. August saw the signs with food on them, and was saying “More yummies.” Carly came out, and we had a nice walk back, south of Home Plus, then over towards the stream, before looping back to the north and then going to the pink building. We went to the grocery store, then came home. We interacted with August a bit on the walk, but mainly he was talking/singing to himself, or lounging comfortably. I kept opening the zipper to give him more banana or veggie chips to munch on.

 

We came home and he ate dinner and had a nice long bath. Went to sleep without much of a fuss at all about 9:15.

 

New words/phrases: Closet, turn on light, mama hide, where did mama go

Park: 

Outing in the dark: 

August woke up sometime after 7, but fell back to sleep on the mattress out in the parlor, and slept until a little before 9. Skyped with Cassie and Vivi after he woke up. I did recycling and picked up the package siting for us at the guardhouse: an iHerb order and a big box of gifts from my parents and Dee. Carly went to Home Plus to get some last ingredients for enchiladas, then came home to make them for the dinner tonight. August and I skyped with my family a couple times to Paul’s phone over at Dee’s house. August wasn’t much into skype today though, and we couldn’t hear them too well.

I took August out for a walk about 1:30. He chose the backpack over the stroller; asked him several times and it was clear.  He wouldn’t wear his hood at first, but I could just stretch my arm back far enough to put it on him. After several minutes, either because he was cold or because he was falling asleep, he let it stay on his head. Hands are next: there is no way he will allow gloves/mittens on, but he would generally keep them up behind my neck, and I could put my scarf over them. Still, I had a woman tell me his hands were cold. Mind, it was still mid-30s, and I wasn’t wearing gloves myself. Later, someone at the party, who has a 3 and a half year old, said she would actually hand the gloves to people so they could try to put them on her daughter’s hands. Should have done that.

Anyway, we had walked to the stream and looked at the fish, spotting the flashes of the small ones as the turned sideways in the stream, then walked to the first bridge upstream and then back. He fell asleep as we neared home right at 2. At home I was able to pull him out of the backpack and lay him in bed and take off his coat. He slept until a little after 3.

Carly had finished up the enchiladas and I had made a brownie in the rice cooker. We packed those up, and August, in the stroller and headed over a little after 4. We were greeted by Logan at the door, and August was a little hesitant to enter their apartment at first. But once he did he went straight to playing. He got a backhoe and dump truck, and then a hammer and was happily playing by himself. Later he found a toy screwdriver and was calling it “dada’s screwdriver”. He got a juice popsicle before dinner, and did a good job of not trying to eat the chips and puffs on the coffee table – although he would pick up the ones other kids left on the table and put them back in the bowls.

Derek let Logan watch “Let it go” on his phone, and it was fun to see the three kids crowding around to watch. It was August’s first real Disney experience besides briefly watching the robots dance to that song at the science center.

He ate mashed potatoes and a little turkey and stuffing. We ate quite well. They did good on the turkey, and Carly’s enchiladas were a hit. There were a ton of desserts. The best was Jill’s pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting. August took bites from both of us.

At one point August went and was standing by the door. I asked him if he wanted to sit with me and read, and he agreed. So we had quite time for awhile. Tried to read him a new Boynton book, but he recognized her books and wanted the A to Z book. Carly found it among their books and so that is what we read.

Near the end, he was most interested in Rosie, who was sleeping on Nathalie on the couch. She would pull the blanket down so August could see her, and August would gently stroke the blanket. Earlier, I had been holding Rosie and August would touch her hair and toes.

We left close to 8 and had a fine walk home. He took s bath about 9. Wasn’t happy about going in, but we ended up hanging out there a long time. He did a lot of talking about letters. He went to sleep a bit after 10.

New words/phrases: ABC book, chicken bouillon, dada go bathroom, wait (for) dada, no thanks, sleepy Rosie

Party: 

Home: 

You can kind of see the fat lip from where he tripped over me yesterday: 

August woke up at 4 something. Carly got up with him- I didn’t notice a thing. They skyped with Chuck and Cherie. August was typing messages to them. He now knows to hit ‘return’ to send his random letters. He also knows how to push the power button to put her computer to sleep. He did it twice while they were skyping.

 

He then fell back to sleep as I was getting up around 7. When he woke up an hour later we had a usual morning, then headed to Costco. When we got to the subway station at the other end, he was walking. He started counting the steps as he went up. After 7 his counting started to be slower than his steps, so I helped him count the rest. He would then start counting on each flight of stairs.

 

At one point he walked in front of a woman, and he heard me say ‘sorry’ to her. The rest of the time we walked through the station he kept kind of waving to people and saying “sorry”.

 

At Costco we first went to the toys. Carly and I wee looking at books when we realized he was looking at something and saying “for Zinnie”. And so it begins. We did get a box of hangeul cards to match our English and Spanish ones, then headed downstairs.

 

Downstairs was crowded. Maybe because it was Friday. Around the usual time that August and I go to Costco, but I’ve never seen it that busy. I was carrying August round, but he was getting frustrated and kept wanting down among the carts. But when I offered to put him in the carrier, he eagerly accepted, and was happy with that arrangement for the rest of our time there.

 

We did our shopping and got a few samples, of course. Carly paid, while August and I went and got food. We found a table and ate – August ate all the olives off my pizza.

 

On the way there, we were forcing August to wear his hood when we were outside. And he was not happy about it. But on the way home he tolerated it, wearing it to the subway station, and then from the subway to home. That is a happy development.

 

Also, as we left Costco he found a little paper cup. It became his favorite toy for awhile, until the subway, and was even singing a song about it as we walked to the subway.

 

It was fun to have him in the carrier again. Haven’t used it at all in a few weeks. He held my fingers, and I got him to flap his arms and make bird noises. And he did the ‘rocky, rocky, rocky, like a chimpanzee’ thing as we got close to home.

 

He took a long after noon nap (probably too long). After that, Carly was letting him type in Word. I showed him how to use the caps lock.

 

At 6, Megan and Torrey came over. We had planned to order pizza, but they surprised us with homemade chicken soup and chocolate pudding. Delicious chicken soup and chocolate pudding. They were here until 8:30. August loved it, especially when Megan let him eat big bites of her pudding.

 

August started looking and acting tired around 9:30 or 10. One sign is when he stops paying attention when I sing to him, instead continuing his own talking or singing. But he didn’t fall asleep until close to 11:30. We read a lot of Kipper. Finally, we turned off the lights and forced him on the bed. A lot of crying, but 5 minutes later was asleep.

 

He was also really into his alphabet books today. He got a Sandra Boynton book out, and noticed that it showed a book on the back with ‘A Z’ on the cover. I told him we actually had that book and we got it out. He had never shown much interest in that book before. I got the rest of the alphabet books out so he could find them more easily.

 

New words/phrases: mama back, nurse on train, next stop, for Zinnie, type a…, castle, sunflower

Costco: 

Home: 

With Megan and Torrey: 

I woke up with a headache and went back to bed. While I was asleep, Carly and August Skyped with her parents in Mexico. When I got up, we basically got ready and left, as Carly had an appointment to get her hair cut in Hongdae, about an hour across the city.

We made it there about 11:15. The subway ride went smoothly, with August playing iPad games with Carly much of the way.

While Carly got her hair cut, August and I say in the waiting area at first and had a snack. But he wanted to go outside after awhile, into the cold.

We walked up the street to the park. It was barely 30 degrees, but he was happily drawing letters in the sand. He was not happy though after 10 minutes when I made him out his hood on. Some very big tears rolling down his face. Carly found us by following the noise.

We then walked one stop up to the Sinchon area, to find a Little Prince kid cafe. We weren’t sure it would be there, as the last two we have looked for were closed. But the website still lists the locations, and lists cafes they have opened around the world in the last few months.

And indeed, to add to the mystery it was still listed on the building but wasn’t actually there.

August was having a difficult time by now, as he was tired, cold, and bothered by us bothering him about wearing his hat and gloves. We went into the Espresso Bean and Tea Leaf. Carly got him down for a nap and I ordered our drinks. He had a nice long nap (from around 12:45 to 2:20), and we had a nice long reading session.

When he woke up he was in a much better mood. He played in the cafe and I changed him in the bathroom.

We went to McDonald’s because it was convenient, being right between us and the subway stop, and we didn’t feel like wandering in the cold. Also, I had the grilled mushroom burger, which turned out to be really good. August liked the mushrooms, and he also likes the Korean pickles they gave us. He drew a line though at the radish.

We then headed home. At the subway station August really liked the statue of a bunny and art they had on the floor. He played around and on that (and looked at letters and numbers on signs) for ten minutes or so until Carly and I were getting cold and decided it was time to go. Took a slightly longer subway route, but it paid off: got three seats together, taking us to within two stops of home. The shorter route would have had us transferring in downtown, and seating would have been worse from the beginning.

At home he ate some food with Carly and I gave him a bath. Oh, and Carly found the blue broom – it had ended up under the couch. Also, he was playing the piano and xylophone and singing as he did so. He hasn’t paid them much attention lately, so that was fun to see. And when he was done with the xylophone he put all the sticks on it neatly. Not a long evening, as he fell asleep a little past 8:30.

I got one string of Christmas lights up, and Carly started listening to Christmas music. She also got some more work done on the free she is making for our door.

Asleep 12:45 to 1:53

New words/phrases: Ready teddy, building up there, Brownstone, give me mama

While Carly got her hair cut: 

Lunch: 

At the station: 

Waiting for the train: 

Home: 

We have officially moved our weekly Children’s Grand Park visits to Wednesdays: this week because tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and from next week as he will have class on Tuesday and Thursday.

 

He woke up at 9:03. Picked him up as he stood in the hall and the first thing he wanted was to go find stickers. So we did that. Oatmeal and strawberries again for breakfast and then our usual morning stuff and we left the house about 11.

 

Got to CGP a little b/f noon to basically find it deserted. The entire time we were there (until close to 5) we literally saw two other children with parents and one small school group of about 6 kids. Besides that there were a smattering of adults or college students wandering around, but that was it. And no construction work happening. Like the whole city called off field trips due to a little rain and cold.

 

We made the most of it. He was only interested in animals today. He first wanted to see the seals, so headed that direction. Saw the deer and zebras, then he changed his mind about the seals and didn’t want to go inside. He wanted the lizards instead.

 

So we went to the tropical building. Had the entire building to ourselves for 20 minutes. One man wandered through near the end, but that was it. We were able to set our stuff down and sit and watch the coatis and play in the sand. Would have stayed longer but his diaper was leaking.

 

Went to the closest bathroom and did another standing up change. He is getting the hang of them. Then went into the botanical gardens (this is where we saw the one group of students as they left the building) and went upstairs and sat in a corner and ate lunch.

 

From there he wanted more animals, specifically the elephants. This ended up being the coolest part. I held him up on the railing to watch the elephant for a good 10 minutes. Normally, with the crowds there is too much distraction/worry for him to focus like that. He watched the elephant and counted things in the exhibit – namely the drainage holes, I think.

 

We then went around the corner. To the hyenas. We were there even longer – 15 to 20 minutes. He spent much of the time standing on the little concrete ledge, propped up against my legs, his forehead pressed against the glass. More counting of things here, as there was with the servals before we left.

 

Eventually moved on, paying the servals a short visit. But I needed to change him and it was time for a nap. Walked up to our usual bathroom, happy to find that the room we use is heated. Changed him then went to the stone benches by the statue where I put him in the backpack.

 

There is a stone with an inscription in Hangeul. He stood there, pointing not out Hangeul characters, then started drawing on it using the drops of water on it. Again spent 15 minutes or so here. He didn’t want to stop, but I was getting cold and he needed to sleep. Put him in the backpack and he fell asleep quickly.

 

He slept 2:50 to 4:40. I left the cafe before he woke up, meaning he slept through the whole putting on the backpack process. He woke up as we approached the subway station. The first time he entirely missed the cafe.

 

He was groggy on the train. Could have had a seat of his own, but wanted on my lap. Got home around 5:20.

 

A pretty standard evening, but for two things: he was not happy about his bath, at all. And he stayed up until 11:30. He took a shorter nap and woke up earlier from it than yesterday, so thought he’d be asleep by 10:30. He had other ideas. He would be reading books or doing art with me (we don’t do iPad or any other playing this late), then act tired and say he was sleepy, but when he went in to bed with Carly he would change his mind.

 

At 11 I took him in while I brushed my teeth, then took him to bed. The last 25 to 20 minutes he flopped around the bed. Tried to leave once but I kept him on the bed. Finally, he laid down with Carly and fell asleep. Thinking I will start trying to wake him at 8:30 in the morning if he is still sleeping by then. And the same with afternoon naps if they extend to 90 minutes.

 

New words/phrases: hyena, feel (his socks), no touch poop, Hangeul drawing, flashlight

Zoo: 

being welcomed by the deer: 

Home: 

We went to class, taking the stroller this time as we had a long grocery list for afterwards. Class was about the tiger and the cat. He likes that page in the book, so kind of knew what it was all about already. He really danced around to the opening songs. When she offered him cat or tiger hat and paws, he chose the tiger, but wasn’t about to put them on. There was also a shaker activity, and he really got into playing with them and stacking them with the teacher. But at one point August decided the activity was over, saying “all done”. He started handing shakers to the teacher (which is what they do when we are done with an activity), but she just thought he was being really nice. When she got down the bin to actually put them away, he was right on top of cleaning them up, even trying to pull one from Jungbin’s hands when he wasn’t putting it in the bin.

At the end of class, I had August hand out sticker packets from the DDP to all the other students and his teacher. That went well. And at the beginning of the class the teacher noticed August’s hair was cut and was impressed I had done it.

We then went shopping. Got all sorts of stuff. August saw the digital temperature gauge in the lizard’s cage and called it a clock, then “Oma’s clock”, remembering the clock at home.

We came home and made a smoothie and had salmon and crackers for lunch. At one point August got out his Korean baby animals counting book and ‘read’ the first pages, something like “Mama cow. One baby cow. One.” After lunch, he started ‘counting’ the red spots on the soccer ball. He’s known his numbers, but this is the first clear evidence that he understands what numbers stand for.

At the 5 hour mark he wasn’t looking tired at all. Finally, around 3 (6 hours) he was looking tired. When giving him choices he was choosing the bed over the stroller, and then being held over the bed, but he wasn’t falling asleep. Finally, I put him in the carrier and went for a walk. After taking a photo of the ‘Mexican’ chicken at the chicken place across the street, he finally fell asleep at 3:40. Got him in bed, and he slept until 4:20. Would have been good enough, I think, to get us through dinner, but he wanted more sleep. After crying for a few minutes he fell back to sleep on me at 4:25. At 5:00 I started trying to wake him up by talking and jostling him, and playing YouTube videos. Nothing. Finally, at 5:13 Carly came home and forced him to wake up.

Carly skyped with Glecy before we left for dinner. While she did that, August and I wrote on the whiteboard. We made the shift from ‘big’ and ‘little’ letters to ‘uppercase’ and ‘lowercase’. He liked that, and just wanted me to write the alphabet over and over. He would declare a case (“lowercase”), and I would write it out, then he would erase it with the eraser.

We went to dinner. On the way out the door, August was excited that we were all wearing coats, repeating “Mama’s coat, Zinnie’s coat, Dada’s coat.”

August liked standing on a chair and watching everyone as they came in. When the service started, he liked the music, but for the talkier stuff I took him out to where Miles and Cora were playing. He did great at dinner and ate a ton, trying a lot. The chicken was too spicy for him, but he loved the noodles, pizza, Korean pancake, and fruit. And dessert. He also liked spotting Megan in the crowd. We sat with Karl, Melinda, and Don and had good talks with them. When Carly was eating dessert, I took August out, and he just wanted to go look at all the yummy foods and try more things. He ate a couple of seasoned fries while we walked around, and ended up trying all of my desserts.

As we left, I had him give another pack of stickers to Megan. They were Le Petite Prince stickers, which turned out to be one of their favorite books.

Back home, we were talking about the fun we had just had and listing the foods he had eaten. He piped in with “Pizza. Yummy pizza.”

He was in no hurry to sleep. Carly ended up going to bed, and he stayed up with me until about 11:20 before going in to bed. Luckily, no false alarms. Around 10:30 he was almost ready to try to go to sleep with Carly, starting to close the door and saying bye bye to me, but changed his mind, coming out of the door to close Carly in, saying “night night, Mama.” He didn’t go back to the bedroom until he went in and fell asleep.

He now knows 5 digraphs: ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘oo’, ‘er’, and ‘qu’. He’s identified at least the first 3 on signs as we are out and about. Have started showing him Korean words to work on syllables, starting with Jungbin (중빈) and sangsaengnim (my teacher – 산생님). Need to start hanging Korean words in the house as well.

Oh, and his awareness of outside sounds is continuing. Really noticing sounds coming from the hallway today. I taught him it was neighbors, so he was saying “hear neighbors”. Carly then taught him it was monsters, so he was saying “hear monster”.

One minor tragedy today: I think we lost blue broom on our return from Home Plus. Farewell, blue broom. You served us well.

Class: 

Back home: 

Asleep: 

Dinner: 

Today we went up to Sanggye to go back to the children’s library which was closed last Tuesday. Before that, we had to get his sleep straightened out for the day. He woke up at 5:30, less than 7 hours after going to sleep. Seemed pretty tired several times in the morning, but did fall asleep. We ate oatmeal and strawberries for breakfast and did a lot of writing on the whiteboard.

 

He finally got really tired a little after nine and just let me hold him as he fell asleep – first time that has happened in quite awhile. Managed to set him (he stirred and said a couple things, but went back to sleep) and he slept from 9:24 to 10:48. When he woke up he wasn’t ready to and kept saying “sleep” and “more sleep”. After holding him for 15 minutes or so he finally woke up.

 

He ate a big lunch of thawed mango, fresh strawberries, banana chips, and grilled cheese (his first grilled cheese, as far as I know). We were ready to leave, but he wanted to read Kipper, so we spent a long time reading the Kipper book. He requested two stories by name: “Kipper Birthday” and “Kipper’s Toybox.”

 

So we finally left around 12:30. Walked up the stream to Sanggye and the children’s library. Went in and looked around. He played around the sitting area in the infant’s reading room for awhile, then we went out into the lounge to play with stickers and color since he was a bit to wound up for reading. We then went out to the playground, playing a little with it, but mainly writing letters and words in the dirt. He was getting hungry, so we sat on the bench and had a snack: banana chips, string cheese, and some strawberries.

 

We then went back into the library and got some books. Read a dull Eric Carle book, The Bee and the Robber, the Mo Williems book The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, and a really nice illustrated version of Puff the Magic Dragon. August really liked the last one and had me read it three times.

 

From there we changed him and headed out. They didn’t have a changing table in the library bathrooms, so I changed him standing up, as we have pull-up diapers now. The first time doing so, and it felt like a very big kid thing to do. I said something to him, and he repeated “becoming big kid.” He liked that idea, and was repeating it in the evening as well. I didn’t expect him to take another nap, but suddenly he fell asleep at 4:10. Could have stopped at a coffeeshop, but wanted to get home and didn’t want to encourage a long nap. Walked to Daiso in Nowon and bought a case to hold the whiteboard markers and eraser. August woke up at 4:46 as I was in line to pay.

 

On our way back I gave August the option of taking the bus or walking home. He chose ‘bus’ several times. So we went and caught the bus and headed home, getting home a few minutes after Carly.

 

He played and nursed a lot with Carly. With me we played a little more Duplo guy driving the car and wrote on the whiteboard. Gave him some iPad time. He pretty much has Endless Alphabet completely figured out. All that is left for him is understanding the words themselves. And he now knows all the Korean consonants. Just need to work on the vowels and how they form syllables. That’s the trickiest part.

 

Didn’t know how the second nap would affect his sleeping, but he fell asleep a little before 9:30, so not too bad. Bath and everything went smoothly. Only difficulty was that he was addicted to Fox in Socks on the iPad before leaving to go to bed, so wasn’t happy with having to part ways with it.

 

 

New words/phrases: erase, erasing, my lid, Mick Inkpen, Kipper birthday, Kipper’s Toybox, hear music, someone else’s, home right there, cups, what that say?, alley cat, witch

Listening to me read in the morning: 

He’s really aware of the outside world now. Says “hear something” and looks outside all the time. Here he is trying to locate a saw noise: 

Asleep on my shoulder: 

First time in library:

Infant room: 

Stickers in the lobby: 

Outside: 

Feeding me: 

Puff the Magic Dragon: 

Home: