This Is Our Blog

We had to say goodbye to Cherie and Chuck, Oma and Opa, today. Which wasn’t easy, but went very well. It has been a really good 4 weeks, and we’ll see them soon on Skype. Also, August and I got started on rearranging the back bedrooms after he woke up from his nap, so that was fun.

He woke up just a little before 8. Just walked out again. Inquired about Oma and Opa, then went to the music area, wanting the fish song on his iPod and then playing with his xylophone. He scarfed down at least two eggs with Cherie, then helped her vacuum. He looked at his art books more with me, and spent some time sitting with Angeles in on our bed. And he sat with Opa again and read Feely Bugs.

We headed out a little early for his class. We played by the lizards for a few minutes and then headed to his class, meeting up with Chuck and Cherie, who had done a quick visit to Home Plus.

Class was about the three little pigs. August was on the active side today; really into the songs, bubbles (he has figured out how to catch the bubbles on one finger and pop them with another – did it several times) etc. but when she was telling the story, he did some walking around, then lay down on the mat next to Cherie and wanted to do yoga. But he really got into the main activity: building with cardboard bricks. Just totally into it. And when it was time to start cleaning up he got sad. I saw the look on his face and picked him up. Held him for a few seconds, then he recovered and said ‘help’ and wanted down so he could help clean them up.

We came home and Chuck and Cherie finished packing and ate lunch. August knew something was up (he understands suitcases, for one), and said goodbye to Oma and Opa a few dozen times through the day.

A little after one, I put August in the carrier and we walked them to the bus stop. August was actually falling asleep on the way there, but made it to the bus stop. We said goodbye and headed home. He fell asleep as we crossed the first intersection. Got home and managed to lay him on the bed.

After he woke up, we worked on moving the twin bed frame in to the other room (the room we set up as the nursery) next to the queen bed. They just barely fit. Amazing, really. We now have one sleeping room, a second room for laundry/ironing/baby changing/storage and then our two living rooms.

Moving the bed involved a lot of screws. I gave August the stubby screwdriver and I had the long one. He pretty much played with it the entire time I was working on the bed. He kept pointing at each and saying “Auggie’s screwdriver, Dada’s screwdriver”. A lot of our work involved getting the headboard on and off, so he was pointing at it and saying “headboard”. 

He got hungry before Carly got home, so he walked to the freezer and opened it and started requesting mango. Gave him to helpings of mango, then had him in his chair eating “Oma’s yummy stew” when Carly got home. We ate dinner, did some more cleaning and rearranging and playing, then I gave him a bath and Carly got him to bed a little after 9.

At some point in the evening he was playing by himself with the Duplos and was suddenly saying “uh-oh, Spaghetti-Os”. I believe Cherie, Chuck, and/or I was using that with him the other day.

His class today got very huggy. At one point his teacher wanted to hug him. August would have none of that. However, I asked him to nuzzle noses, and he did that to me and Oma and Opa. He then beeped our noses. I asked him to nuzzle his teacher’s nose, which he wouldn’t, but he beeped it. Then at the end of class one of the the other students hugged him. He tolerated it, but didn’t know what to do with it.

But in the afternoon evening suddenly he was into hugging. He was hugging his stuffed animals, then handing them to me or Carly and saying “hug”. He also started actually kissing Carly and me, something he’s never been into.

New words/phrases: wolf, headboard, screwdriver, uh-oh spaghettios

Class: 

Helping move the bed: 

   Q

He had a nice long laugh in his sleep sometime this morning. He woke up at 8:10 and had some Duple time before we left the house about 9:30. We took the bus and subway to City Hall, then walked down to Namdaemun, the old south gate to the city and National Treasure #1. August got down there and played around a little, then we went into Namdaemun Market so Chuck and Cherie could look for a couple things. August was still down and did pretty well. There are only so many toys you can look at but not really touch before it gets frustrating though.

When they were done, we walked south out of the market, then up to Namsan Park. We first stopped close inside the west entrance near a statue of a guy on a horse. We sat on benches and had a snack. This was the start of him eating a lot throughout the day.

We then started the trek up the hill to Namsan Tower. After taking a look at the building with the folk museum, we played in the rock area outside. August climbed across one of the big rocks, but then focused on throwing smaller rocks into the bushes. We continued on, stopping once again for more food next to some exercise equipment. Here, August played with Opa with the barbell (and really liked the letters spelling ‘barbell’). One unfortunate moment as August tried to walk around the barbell and walked right into the end of the bar, leaving a red bump next to his eye. He recovered really quickly, however.

We then made the big haul up the stairs. August fell asleep along the way at 1:47. We reached the top and Chuck and Cherie went and looked around while I sat with August on a bench. It was a short nap – he woke up at 2:23 – and he was in a daze for awhile. I changed him in the same spot I changed him a year ago when my parents were here, then we tried to play by the chain area where he played in the spring, but got upset when he couldn’t crawl past the chain. 

So we continued on. We walked east along the trail, and found a path down to the folk village/time capsule park. We got down to the time capsule, and this is where August really perked up. He had been on the quiet/introspective/moody side most of the day, but this changed when he got on top of the time capsule. The time capsule has messages from mayors around the world engraved on top. This was the best thing in the world to August. He kept pointing out letters and naming them, then scooting/crawling across the top, saying “more letters, more letters.” We did this for probably 20 minutes. I had to change him and we needed to get going home, so we ended it there. But August was ready to keep going.

Went down to a grassy area and changed him. While I was putting stuff away, Chuck and Cherie were trying to keep him from running over to a drainage ditch. August was kind of yelling, so you couldn’t tell if he was upset, but then he would suddenly break out laughing.

We walked out of the park, stopping to have August put his head through those cutout people things, then got on the subway. His energy continued here. Cherie had the fun of sitting next to him, while I stood in front. He kept looking “out the window” and ate a couple crackers and the rest of his sandwich (by now he had also eaten slices of apple, our supply of broccoli (which he also ate for breakfast), and a Larabar).

We transferred to the 1144 bus and Chandong. August and I sat in front of Chuck and Cherie. Along the way, I asked August what he wanted to do. He surprised me with “Art”. I said we could color when we got home. He then said “Want to SEE art.” Which was a total shock, as he constructed that sentence all on his own (although we’ve clearly been working on the ‘want to…’ structure).

We got home a few minutes after 5, and Carly had beaten us home. After eating dinner, August did some more yoga with Cherie, and we reconstructed the photo of Carly, Cherie, and August on the couch from when Cherie was here after he was born. He also looked at some of the art books with me. Primarily we looked at the ‘Arttoys’ program from the show we went to with my parents down at the college of arts and science. He’s liked that one in the past, but today he started to pick up on the names of the figures, saying “More BB” or “More MooL” or “Bambino”. I also had mentioned the colors of the MooL figures, and he started saying the names: “Grey MooL” and “Colorful Mool”.

Because of the short nap, he got to sleep earlier, a little after 8, after Carly gave him a bath.

New words/phrases: dada here mama at work, fall down, up here, more buckle shoe, too big rock, want to see art, sail, BB, colorful MooL, grey MooL, Bambino

 

Morning: 

Namdaemun: 

Namsan Park: 

Getting changed at Namsan Tower a year later: 

Time capsule: 

Headed home: 

A relatively lazy Sunday. Still getting used to this autumn weather. Before his nap, Carly, Chuck, and I got around to taking him down to the playground south of here where the play structure looks like a tree. He played in the sand, and sat on the rocky thing that looks like a butterfly. He couldn’t reach the sand from there, so he wanted me to scoop up sand, hand him the shovel, then let him pour it on my shoe. He also spent some time getting rocks out of the sand and throwing them in the bush, and using his broom to sweep Opa.

We walked a bit around the rest of the playground. He identified the turtles and chipmunks, and then went down the small slide a few times; we were working on having him do the loop of walking up the stairs, getting on the slide, and repeating.

We walked home, and after awhile he took a nap. After his nap, Chuck and Cherie took him out for a walk in the stroller. They went down to the stream and past that new mural of colorful circles. August started pointing out and naming the different colors in the mural.

Megan came over and made soup with Carly for the other couple at APIS that just had a baby. It is always a fun, hyper time when she is here. August sat in his high chair for a long time, and Oma spoke some spanish with him, which he thought was hilarious. After Megan left, August was pretty wired. Finally, Carly changed his diaper and he calmed down after that.

I went down to the GS25 (first time I’ve been in it since it opened) for sugar and got a couple of random beverages (including watermelon milk). When I came back, Chuck told me that August had been standing near him, when suddenly August slipped and fell down. Instead of being upset, August started laughing. Chuck found this very funny as well.

August spent a good half hour reading Feely Bugs with him and then playing with the cube thing with him. It was really cool to see. With the Feely Bugs book, August was most interested in the centipede-type bug, and was counting/naming off the colors of the feet. Very focused on small details. And with the cube, he has totally figured out the shapes and how to get them through the holes.

After that, Carly and I played Duplos with him for a quite awhile, and that was a lot of fun. He is very focused and intense, and wants to build them higher and higher; but he also laughs a lot and thinks it is hilarious when they fall over on him.

We were trying to get him to sleep and a decent time, but he wasn’t interested. So I ended up staying up with him while Carly went to bed a little after 9. I gave him his vitamins and brushed his teeth. We were working on “want to”, as he kept wanting to leave the room (I had the door locked). He started to say “want to see mama”. Finally, around 10 I was convinced he was ready to sleep, and I took him in to Carly.

New words/phrases: mama’s book (her Nook), yellow, give me dada (give me that dada), hard (difficult – when playing with Duplos), whale, brown, want to see mama

At the playground: 

At home: 

Sticker from Megan on his finger: 

Playing with Opa: 

Climbing/sliding on the couch: 

Want to see mama: 

After a rainy, indoor morning we made three outings, one before and two after his nap. The first was me and August going to the science center to look at bugs. The second was all together to walk east: we went over to where they are building the science center, past the cemetery area, through the park, and to the garden area. We then stopped at the playground in the park and played. After we came back and ate dinner, August and I went out to the ‘Sunset Concert’ that was over on the art museum side of the park.

In the morning, I had my book group meeting for two books: The Slap and Leonardo da Vinci and the Last Supper. August was asleep when I started my meeting, but awake when I was done. Carly was wearing her cat socks, which he really liked, and he kept saying “more kitty cat” so she would show him her socks. We were going to go for our walk earlier, but a thunderstorm came over and it was on the chilly side. So Carly went to Cafe Heim to get some work done, and I stayed with August. Chuck and Cherie went to Home Plus.

While everyone was gone, August and I listened to the newest Mark Lanegan album, fixed the korean words poster he’d ripped again with tape, and spent a lot of time out in the hallway between our apartment and the elevators using his broom and ‘shovel’ to sweep the floor.

We then got our shoes and sweatshirts on and went outside. We walked over to the science center and he spent a lot of time looking at the beetles, scorpion, stick bug, and praying mantis on the first floor. We went upstairs to see all the other animals, but the hall was devoid of aquariums. August seemed to know what we were doing, as he said ‘no animals’ and ‘animals all gone’ as I searched the floors trying to see if they’d been relocated. We went back to the first floor and did some more looking. As we left, he did his usual “bye bye scorpion”, “bye bye stick bug”, etc. But before we could leave he got really fixated on the toy dinosaur kits they have in a cabinet behind the main desk. I think he’ll be building those when he is older.

We went home and met back up with everyone else. He took his nap.

We then went on our walk east. A few rain showers, but nothing bad. We saw the set up for the concert on our way there. August really liked the big horse puppet, and kept saying “more neigh”. He would do that in the evening as well. 

The big surprise was when we walked past one of those electrical boxes with the rainbow picture on it. August got incredibly excited and started shouting out his colors – rather out of the blue, as he hasn’t called out colors when we are out and about before. He would say “bye bye colors” and then “bye bye blue”, etc. He definitely did green and orange as well. Not sure if there were other colors in there. He did it on the way back as well.

At the playground, he did a lot of sweeping with his little broom. When it started raining, he noted the drops on the slide and called them ‘bubbles’. He then liked to “sweep bubbles”.

We headed home and ate a dinner of homemade popcorn, salad, french fries, and leftover potatoes. That sounds a bit odd, but it was quite enjoyable.

August and I then went out to the concert. A guy with balloons was performing first. After that, it was older-style (i.e. not K-pop) Korean pop/adult contemporary/rock music. Fun, but not amazing. August did listen to it, and would occasionally clap when other people did, but he spent most of the time playing around the lizards. He would point out colors on the colorful lizard, walk back and forth on the paving stones (like he had done at the waterworks museum), and climb and walk on the benches. This part would scare me a bit, as he would take off running. I’d try to hold his hand, but was afraid I’d knock him off myself. I was able to get him to focus on sliding down the edge of the benches a lot of the time. He’d keep asking for “more wee”.

He also wanted to go in the art museum, saying ‘art’ several times, and at one point walking over to the doors and pushing on them. He didn’t understand why we couldn’t.

A little after 8 he decided to take off walking east. He wanted to go to Home Plus. So I carried him across the street. I asked him what he wanted to see, and he kept saying something that sort of sounded like ‘cup’ or ‘cap’ or ‘cake’. No idea. Anyway, when we got in, he first pointed to the pinwheels and called them by name. He then directed me towards the moving sidewalk going up. At the Dippin’ Dots he got really excited, pointing to the cups, and kept saying ‘cup’. Don’t know if that was what he had in mind, as he hasn’t pointed those out for several months.

Anyway, after that we went upstairs. The rooms where he has his classes are used for band rehearsals/music lessons in the evening. He got to see into his own classroom. It was dark and set up for a music lesson. He had a confused look on his face, like he was trying to figure things out and expected to see his teacher. The door opened on another room, and a guy was practicing on a drum kit. August watched that intently for a few minutes. He also walked around in the hallway, balancing (holding my hand) on the little rail bumper things that keep carts from hitting the wall.

At 8:30 we headed back. We stopped on the first floor so he could sit in the kid rides, then walked home, seeing the horse puppets and concert for one last minute.

His nap had been over two hours, so he was in no hurry to go to sleep. He had a lot of fun with Oma getting her to tickle Opa. Around 9:30 Carly went to sleep. I stayed up with him awhile longer, playing Duplos. Finally, he decided he wanted to go to mama. He whacked his forehead on the door when he tried to open it to go see her, so started crying. He fell asleep right after that.

New words/phrases: all done spinning, come on mama, green ball, throw dada (throw to dada), more dada’s teeth, lips, all gone more up (there were no more letters to push up the door), tongue, I got my goodness, bye bye colors…, more bubbles up there, pinwheel, more tickle, honk

 

Watching the rain: 

Sweeping the hallway: 

Science center: 

Random posters in the English Science EduCenter. Others include things like ‘Scientist doing research’, which is at least on-topic: 

Walk east: 

Sunset Concert: 

Watching the music: 

Trying to go into the art museum: 

In Home Plus: 

At home. Ticking Opa: 

When August woke up at 8:10 he didn’t make a noise. He opened the door and walked out. Didn’t really cry, but wondered where Mama and Opa were. He then saw my shirt (Strangers) and started naming of all the letters, correctly. He then did some yoga with Oma and was playing with Duplos for quite awhile until he started throwing them. We moved to trucks, then he helped me crack eggs for breakfast. He sat in his chair and ate breakfast while listening to the Andrea Bocelli album with “Funiculi, Funicula” on it; a couple times he would say ‘more’ when a song was over.

Chuck had left early in the morning to go to Incheon to watch a golf tournament. When August woke up I told him “Opa is at golf.” 45 or 60 minutes later, August walked down the hall and looked into their room and said “Opa golf.”

We left the house around 10:30 with the intention of going to a park over by the school until the carnival. But we heard a marching band over in the park and went to investigate. It was a Hanguel Parade, and the park was its staging area. We stayed there for over an hour, watching acts rehearse and start down the parade route. August wanted to go into the art museum, so we went in for awhile and showed Cherie the sharks, etc., and then a little later went down stairs to the children’s area.

Finally we walked over towards the school, stopping at the park by Wolgye Station. We’d only played there once before and it has sand. August played there for awhile. I had to change him at the beginning because he had leaked, and then again before we left. He really gnawed on a big carrot that Cherie had, but would spit out the pieces. At one point we were sitting on the bench, and he turned to me and said “nuzzle noses”, and so we nuzzled noses (that is from the Kiss Goodnight book we have).

Got to the school at about 1. Found Carly then went down to the carnival. She took August in to nurse, and I helped set up the booth she was to supervise. It was giant Jenga, made out of styrofoam, so it really didn’t work in the wind, so we cancelled it.

Went up and found Carly, Cherie, and August. Changed him again, then went down to the carnival. We ate on the bleacher steps, then walked around. He spent most of the time playing with the little and big rubber duckies in a kiddie pool area. A 6th grader, Sophia, played with him awhile (he had pinched her nose once when I first brought him to visit APIS sometime last year), and he also got to see Anna.

At 2:45 the middle school carnival was over, so we left. August was hyper and I didn’t think he was going to fall asleep before home. But as we went under Wolgye Station he crashed. So he napped at the same park we had played at earlier, for just under and hour, waking up at 4:07.

When he woke up I changed him again (#4). Carly and Cherie were going to leave school soon, so we arranged to meet at Jill and Derek’s, as Carly had to drop more stuff off. August and I got there first to find Jill and Logan playing in the playground by their building. We had Logan and August on the seesaws at the same time, then I had August on the slide. He kept going down it by himself. It was like he had forgotten how much he liked the slide.

Carly and Cherie showed up, and we all went up to the apartment. I got to hold Rosie, who, at 7 pounds something, is smaller than August ever was. 

We left and walked home. He performed a little more yoga for us, and sat on the couch with Oma and Opa and watched videos of the parade and of the trees they cut down. Carly gave him a bath and put him to sleep around the usual time.

New words/phrases: Opa golf, pinch, garbage truck, fire truck, armored truck, leaf, sweatshirt, jammies, dragonfly, watch, counter

 

Morning yoga: 

Parade: 

Pointing to his pineapple cookie a woman gave him: 

Park: 

Carnival: 

With Anna. She played peekaboo with him last year at the carnival, and did this year as well: 

Walking home and seeing a sign along the way: 

At the park. He knows the letters in ‘osprey’ really well by now: 

Playing with Logan: 

Home: 

A little more yoga: 

Watching parade and tree cutting videos with Oma and Opa: 

August woke up a little before 8. After rolling around on the floor and doing some yoga as he woke up, H\he pretty much went straight to his Duplos and played with them a lot. As we left, he was saying goodbye to everything: Oma and Opa, of course, but also the people in the wall hanging from Glecy, his chair, the lizards on the chair, the ‘sass’ (snake) on his poster, and to “Zinnie” when he saw himself in the mirror in the elevator.

We made it to Seoul Forest a little after 10. When we got to the top of the subway station, he said “sun, sun”. The first things he saw in the park were the empty drainage ditches, and a fountain that wasn’t on. He would point and say “sad”. He chose animals over playground again, and we first went to the butterfly house. He enjoyed that, but he really wanted to play with the rocks by the waterfall, which wasn’t allowed. I took him outside to play with rocks there, but then he saw the building next door and started saying ‘inside’. I don’t know if he remembered the building from the spring (doubtful) or if he saw other people going in, or if he saw the animals on the windows, but he threw down the rock he was holding and wanted to go in.

We went in and walked through, seeing frogs (gaeguli, that is), which was exciting. Upstairs, they have chipmunks, but they were asleep and you could barely see them. As we walked down the passage, he said “bye, chipmunks.” And as we started to go downstairs, he suddenly got really sad. I asked him what was wrong, and he pointed back and said “chipmunks.” We were stuck in a group on the narrow stairs, so I said we could go back later.

Downstairs he perked back up, and he loved walking around the room with the fish, spiders, turtles, axolotls, and iguana. He wasn’t too perturbed by the crowds of bigger kids, and was wanting to see what they could see (which also happened upstairs with the pinned beetles). We were in that room quite awhile (several other groups came and went) and then we went back upstairs. 

And the chipmunks were awake! He watched them, and in fact went and got a little stool and set it in front of the chipmunks and sat on it. He wouldn’t sit still, however, and ended up going and getting the three other stools as well, and climbing on and off them as he watched the chipmunks.

We finally headed out. We went to the CU convenience store and got a rice thing and banana chips. The rice thing, unfortunately, had kimchi in the rice. He ate a little, but not much. But he loved the banana chips. We had sat on the benches between the CU and the bathrooms (I remember changing August on these benches when we came with my parents). This meant we had tons of elementary school groups walking by, one of which was pretty annoying (I had to tell one kid to knock it off when he yelled in August’s face, and I was looking around for their teacher), but we made it through.

Now close to 1, so we went walking, down towards the deer area. He fell asleep and we sat on a secluded bench close to the deer. Slept for close to an hour, 1:07 to 2:04. When he woke up, we went and bought deer food and went into the deer area.

The next 30 minutes were pretty crazy. He loved feeding the deer. We also shared that small area with a girls’ middle school. They were all over August. Luckily, they were pretty good about it, and respectful of August. He started to get overwhelmed at one point, but I think it was a combination of a deer almost knocking him over with its head and the girls. I held him for a minute, and then he wanted back down. We worked on his deer-feeding technique, since he didn’t understand holding his hand flat – he wanted to hold the food like he did with the sheep. He was getting the idea by the end.

From there (and getting a lot more attention on our way out as we were walking with the girls when feeding time ended) we walked across to the Waterworks Museum. It is located on the site of the first water treatment facility in Korea. August really liked seeing pictures of animals in the first building, the Ari and Soolee statues (the water mascots) outside, the big map of Seoul on the floor in the second building, and the statue of a water seller that talked when you stepped in front of it in the third building.

We headed home. Carly called when she was leaving Derek and Jill’s (she and Megan had dropped off the food and cards). A couple minutes later I got a photo from Derek, showing he had the wrong card. So August and I intercepted them walking home and showed them the photo. When they figured out what they were looking at and why, they started laughing. August was thoroughly amused, although he didn’t know what was going on.

We headed home and ate the yummy peanut sauce pasta that Cherie had made. Chuck had seen that they were setting up for a concert in the park. So we headed over, catching the end of a saxophonist playing “Hey Jude”. August loved playing with Oma and Opa on the bench by the tree. Oma got him to dance, and he walked out on the fountain area and started dancing. Cherie took him over to see a woman’s dog, and she started dancing with August too.

I took him up closer to see the singers. After awhile he wanted to go back to Oma and Opa. But later he then surprised me and Carly by asking for “more singers”. So I took him back up for the last two numbers. He sat in my arms, starting at them the whole time. The encore was “Funiculi, Funicula”. 

After the concert we all walked home. He kept saying “more singers”, so I ended up pulling up a video of Bocelli singing it on YouTube.

He watched it a few times, quietly sitting in my lap. Eventually, he was getting tired, so against his protests we got him ready for bed and he went to sleep a little before 8:30.

New words/phrases: alligator (his duplo in the morning), eyebrow, buttons (vending machine), yoga, sun (as we came out of subway station), inside, hedgehog (photo in waterworks museum), buttons (in museum), dark (our hallway, as we left to go to the concert), bye bye Megan (he had said it when I showed him the video from yesterday, then was saying it after we saw her today), more singer

Waving to people on the subway: 

Seoul Forest: 

Banana chips with lunch:

Deer park: 

Waterworks Museum: 

Home: 

Dancing in the park: 

A little “Hey Jude” on sax: 

August managed to sleep in until 8. Close to 12 hours. He ate a bunch of eggs that Oma made him for breakfast. While playing with Duplos, he sang a new song: “Got my Duplos, got my zookeeper.” 

We left around 10 and headed up to Dobongsan. I took August out of the backpack each way so he could sit next to Oma and Opa. Up at Dobongsan we quickly stopped so I could buy a hat, then continued to walk on up and into the park. We hiked past the first temple you always go past as you enter the park, up to the temple that August and I went to on Buddha’s Birthday, walking past the old swimming hole where he took a nap. August was really noticing the lions at both of the temples.

We then turned around and headed back down to the stream area. It was a little past 11 but still in the shade. When I took August out and set him down he said “cold rocks, cold rocks.” And the water seemed freezing at first. But we spent close to two hours there. Cherie played with August in the stream, helping him get rocks. She also taught him ‘wowzer’, ’superwozer’, and ‘awesome’. By the time we left, the sun was hitting most of the stream and August and I had been wading back and forth through the stream with no problem. So probably an afternoon activity for the last few weeks before we give it up for the winter.

We left after I changed him, and we walked down the stream. He fell asleep, and we all sat on our usual set of benches by the river. August slept close to an hour, waking up about 2:40, then we walked to Suraksan Station and came home.

I changed him and we played for a few minutes, then we all went over to Sing Sing Mart to get chicken and a few other things, then stopped at Tous les Jours and got the black bean bread.

Carly got home soon after, then Megan came down a half hour later. She and August made cards for the two babies born here in the last week: Garvey and Rosie, and Carly (with help from Megan) made enchiladas for Jill and Derek.

Carly gave August a bath, and he played in the bathtub for a long time after. He still won’t actually sit in the tub, crouching instead. Carly’s first attempt to put him to sleep didn’t work, but the second attempt, sometime after 8, did, and they both fell asleep. 

New words/phrases: beep Oma nose, out the window, awesome, person, wowzer, super wowzer, popcorn (looking at a photo of himself eating popcorn), chukahaeyo (‘congratulations’ in Korean; Megan looked it up for the card; he repeated it on his own in the bath), blue car (in the bath)

Waking up: 

At the stream: 

Biiig rock: 

Uffta: 

Awesome: 

Super wowzer: 

Sweeping Haechi in the subway station: 

Cards and food with Megan: 

Duplos with Opa: 

He woke up a little after 6. He listened intently to Cherie talk to Derek via Skype, even though it was only a voice call, no video. He made a smoothie with me, then we skyped with my parents.

Chuck stayed here to work, and before his class Cherie, August, and I made a quick grocery trip through Home Plus for diapers and a few other things. We then went up to his class. Today’s class was all about the leaves and weather changing for fall. In addition to the usual songs, bubbles, and sticker work at the end, there were three activities: a felt board with leaves and trees to attach to them, big trees on the wall where they got to hang leaves, and then a big bucket of paper leaves that she poured on the kids, and then they got to pour on themselves and each other. August really loved the last two of these activities, and really liked helping pick up the leaves at the end.

After his class we came home. August ate a bunch of apple and the rest of the peanut butter sandwich Carly had made for him this morning. He was tired, but too excited with Oma and Opa in the house (even though they were trying to calm him down), so I took him out for a nap in the park. I developed a nice figure eight walk around the lower half of the park and the community center that allowed me to stay away from the playground (which would just distract him more). Two circuits of the figure eight and he was asleep.

We sat on the bench nearest Carly’s bus stop and he slept for just under 50 minutes (awake at 1:53). After he woke up, we went to the rocky fake stream area and played with the rocks – stacking them (like at the folk museum) and throwing them. He was all about “big rock”s. Eventually he decided he was done with that and he climbed out of that area and was walking around the pigeon area happily clutching a “big rock”. 

From there I gave him the choice of going home or to the art museum. He excitedly chose art museum. So we went there, but I first changed him inside. The changing room is next to the little play area in the museum, so after changing him he wanted to play. He crawled in and out of the structure for the first time, and when he got on the trampoline he got a little air under his feet for the first time. I think that kind of startled him as he did try it any more after that.

When he decided he was done, we put on shoes. He then wanted to “go see art”. I didn’t get that on video, but when I would ask him what he wanted to do next he would keep repeating “art”. We first walked through one of the small rooms, then over the walkway to the main gallery. As we went over the walkway, he pointed down to the children’s art area and said “art” and “down there”.

We spent most of our time in the first floor main gallery. His favorite pieces were the sharks, a shovel, and fish on the wall. I didn’t know he knew the word shark until he said “shark, shark” as we approached them. Several times we started going up the stairs, but he would stop at the landing to wave at the docents down below and then say “more shark” or “more (fish sound)” and we would go back down.

Eventually, we went through upstairs and then downstairs to the children’s art area. He spent a fair amount of time on the Alice in Wonderland piece (although they’ve put clear plexiglass over the holes, meaning you can’t put your head into the mirror area anymore – which kind reduces the effect, and sucks when you smash your face into it, having put your head in a dozen times before). 

We went to the mask exhibit in the community gallery, but he wanted to go outside. Somehow he had the idea that there was a waterfall outside (perhaps we had beed there when it was raining and there was water dripping from the tree sculpture outside?)

He climbed on the wooden benches near the lizards and drank his water. It was empty so we went back in the art museum to fill it. We ended up back in the play area. He saw a pair of small shoes and said “kid shoes”. I said the kid was in the play area and he should go say hi. August went in, saw the boy and waved, and kept saying “Hi, kid.”

This time when we left we went home. But Chuck and Cherie were gone (they had gone on a walk up the stream and to the Buddhist temple Chuck had visited before). So after August ate an entire banana, more apple slices, and two pieces of crab, we headed back out. He wanted to go to the dinosaurs, so that’s what we did. He played around them and the playground, waving to a lot of people (dozens throughout the day). We ended up over on the fountain, where a bunch of kids had collected crab apples and were playing with them. August joined in, throwing and kicking them.

It was now about 5:30 and we tried to go find Carly. We walked down past the pink building and waited a few minutes but she didn’t come by. Could have waited by the building longer, but smokers had taken over the sitting area. Went home and she wasn’t there. Thought about turning around and going back to the elevators, as August usually gets upset if she’s not home, but he saw Oma and Opa in their room, spotted a phone, and exclaimed “Google!” Carly was home a few minutes later, and he was reluctant to leave Google behind.

He ate a little more for dinner (mainly a couple crackers) and had fun playing with Carly with his cars and climbing on Opa, first in a chair and later on the couch. I gave him a bath and brushed his teeth and Carly put him to bed sometime around 8.

Twice today he put Duplos away. At one point he found the owl out in the hall. I asked him if he could take the owl in and put it with its animal friends. He did. The last time we left the house, he was carrying a few Duplos. He made it a few steps out the door. I held the door open and asked if he could take the Duplos back inside. He turned around and went back in. As he got to the little step I told him he could just set them there and get them later and he set them on the step and came back out the door.

New words/phrases: excuse me, cave, yoga, Loopy (Pororo character – on the wallpaper in the changing room), shark, bagel (spotted in museum cafe), kid shoe, police car

Class: 

Awake from his nap: 

Rocks: 

Art museum: 

His favorites of the day, the sharks: 

Back home: 

Back out to the park: 

Asleep: 

 

He woke up at 8:20, a nice long night of sleep. He played and ate eggs (that Chuck made) with Cherie. Afterward, when Cherie brought him his water bottle, he said ‘Thank you, Oma’. And at some point he got the little broom out of the backpack and was walking around sweeping everything, saying “sweep, sweep, sweep.”

It was a little after 10 that we all got going. Chuck and Cherie were going to Costco, so got off the subway before us. August is repeating more of the train stations after he hears them on the loudspeaker. Today he said ‘Yongmasan, Junghwa, and Taerung’.

We made it to Children’s Grand Park and headed to the zoo. We walked through the folk tale/robot area as all of the little streams and fountains were back on for some reason. He identified the conservatory from even farther away, pointing and saying “(fish sounds) there, go there”. So we first went to the conservatory. I let him down earlier, letting him walk around the conservatory and look at the fish and waterfall. We then went and looked at the outside portion.

From there it was to the animals. First the horses and goats (there are now two baby goats), then to the waterfall and in the building. He identified the lemurs by name immediately, even though they were curled up sleeping. And he said “lemurs sleepy.” Other animals he referred to by name included the goats, crocodile, turtle, and gibbon. And when we saw the big cats later, he really liked the names ‘serval’ and ‘puma’.

Anyway, we spent some time in the top of that building (birds, gibbon, crocodile, turtles), then went out on the square and sat in our usual spot and ate. At one point, he decided he was done and walked off on his own and then started up the big tall steps on his own.

From there we went and saw the water birds. Here he was into saying ‘egret’ and ‘pelican’. He spent a lot of time just staring in at the birds.

I needed to change him, so up to our usual set of bathrooms, and then trying to put him to sleep. It was a little early, but he woke up late and it was already past noon. Took a little longer, but he was asleep at 1:13. He slept until 2:11 at the coffee shop.

After he woke up we found that counting book with the elevator and read/played with that. I then gave him the option of playground or more animals. He kept choosing animals.

So we went and saw the big cats and dogs. He is really into tigers now, so that was the draw, but the tiger was asleep on a rock. So we spent most of our time with the lions and leopards. A leopard was walking back and forth by the glass, and August tried to beep its nose a few times. He really liked the word ‘serval’, and was saying ‘hi serval’ and bye bye serval’. The same with ‘puma’ (which he chose over ‘cougar’ when I gave him an option).

We headed home, walking through the robot/little stream/folk tale area, changed him again by the front entrance, and headed home, getting home around 4:45.

Chuck and Cherie had bought him a set of cool cars/trucks at Costco and he was very excited by that. I ate a little and Carly got home. I then headed to my writing group meeting over at Lotte Castle at 6. When I got back a little after 8, he was asleep.

New words/phrases: scorpion (pointed it out on his pajamas when I was hanging laundry), family, push it, yellow truck, bulldozer

 

Morning. Playing with his lion but taking a moment to eat Oma’s breakfast: 

CGP: 

Baby goats: 

People watching from the steps after he started to walk away from lunch: 

Beeping the leopard’s nose (do not try this at home): 

Singing “Hungry, hungry baa baa” (hands on his head is the sun drying up all the rain):

Headed home:

New cars/trucks from Oma and Opa: 

We went down to Insadong again and to the Folk Museum – actually the first time Carly and I had been there, as we always go to the art museum across the street when we are in that area.

He slept in until around 8, not really getting up until 8:30. We left the house around 9:30. We first went to Tapgol Park. When August saw the park and first started walking in, he did a few dramatic double finger points and “ah-ha”s and “I see it”. He explored the park, and followed the pigeons. But had to take away his shovel and not let him have more rocks as he was starting to throw them towards the pigeons. We needed to change him so we did so outside the bathrooms in the park.

We then walked through Insadong. August was pointing out a lot of animal knickknacks and pictures in the shops.

We stopped at Subway so the rest of them could get food. We then walked over to the palace/folk museum. We first went in the parking lot entrance. Can’t get to the folk museum from there, but there was a changing-of-the-guard type of performance going on, so we got to see that.

Then up to the folk museum. A few minutes in the outdoor area, then we found the children’s exhibit and got tickets for 2pm. Carly took him in to nurse and I walked around. She then took him to play outside and I looked around more. We switched at one point, and August and I found Chuck and Cherie. August liked sitting next to Opa on a concrete wall, but it was 2. So we all went in to the children’s exhibit. 

This is where August really had fun. There were a lot of things to do, but the highlights for him/us were:

– stacking the plastic rocks

– climbing up the little climbing wall and sliding down the other side

– putting stars in the light wall thing

– him crawling through the tube under the climbing wall

– putting the clear colored pieces of plastic in front of his eyes so things appeared different colors; got a good reaction from him

A little after 3 we decided to head out. August had not napped, and I was hoping it would be a napless day – if he could make it to 6:30 we would be back to a normal schedule, as he’s been staying up so late and sleeping late. Alas, he fell asleep on the way to the subway.

We stopped at Starbucks so people could get drinks, then got on the subway at Anguk. August slept until just a couple stops before our last stop. I had to get him out as we approached Seokgye as he was getting upset. Carly nursed him on a bench on the platform before we headed out and caught the bus home.

At home, Atsuko brought us a surprise – a delicious chocolate dessert. Carly made popcorn using a pan, and Cherie and Chuck entertained August for awhile while I caught up on blogging stuff.

New words/phrases: hiking (said it as I was taking him to the changing pad and he was looking outside), more heeby jeeby (playing with mama as we waited for the bus), pine needle (at Tapgol Park), come here, more whistle, chestnut, woodpecker, baa baa black sheep, yes sir yes sir (lines from the song that he started singing on his own), pumpkin, honk (may have recorded these last two before), leaf, carrot, Old King Cole, zookeeper

 

Tapgol Park: 

Pointing at pigeons: 

Subway: 

Palace: 

Folk museum: 

Children’s exhibit: 

Home: 

Ladybug on Oma’s phone: 

Eating mango: 

Putting his feet up like mama: 

Duplo tower: