This Is Our Blog

This was one of those days that is supposed to be laid back but turns out otherwise. He woke up at 7:20 – less than 9 hours of sleep. He was still waking up on the couch when we skyped with my parents 7 minutes later, and still waking up 20 minutes later when we were done. We were happy to hear that they were still in the house, with power, and, for the time being, relatively safe. After we hung up, August just wanted to hang out on the bed for awhile.

After that, we made eggs for breakfast, and a delivery came from iHerb. A jar of peanut butter had broken, but everything else was okay. We then took out recycling, in two trips, since recycling was closed on Saturday. When he saw the recycling truck he immediately said ‘backhoe’.

About 9:45 we headed to the water park by Madeul – exactly a one mile walk. But it turns out it the water park is closed Mondays. So we walked to the playground and play for awhile. After a leisurely swing and him complaining about the sand in his toes, he found a pack of cigarettes he really wanted to throw away. So we packed up and walked to the stadium and threw it away, then went to the north end, near the water. We found a shady area right inside the fence and sat so he could have a snack and watch the soccer practice. He also played with the gate and figured out how to pull up the pole and move it.

On our walk home we went by the construction sight and watched a backhoe for a few minutes. We then tried to go to the women’s center cafe for a smoothie, but they don’t accept credit cards, and I didn’t have cash.

So onward to home. He fell asleep right as I got to the building. I set him on the coffee table and he slept just under 40 minutes. He woke up saying ‘all done’.

After his nap, we listened to “Elephant Elephant” http://youtu.be/o7vZqpsJQo0 on repeat. He would clap at the end of each time. We then watched the video a couple times.

We had the afternoon free, so we went to Costco (which had been planned for tomorrow) for our cheese run. In Costco he was really into the samples, and kept chanting ’sample’ as we walked around the store. He ate grapes, orange, sausage, smoothie, mango soy drink, string cheese, waffle, and cheesecake. He knows the word ‘sample’, but doesn’t fully grasp the concept, as he didn’t understand why he couldn’t keep getting more.

We bought lunch/dinner for Carly and me and headed out, then realized I had a text from Carly asking for raviolis. So we made a second loop through Costco.

We stopped in the subway station to eat my pizza and change him. Kind of like back in February (http://thisisourblog.net/2015/2/9/monday-class-and-costco) but no interruptions, and August could wave and smile at other people.

We came home and he wanted to color over everything. Carly was home from her first day of school a little before 5. He had a good evening, and made a game of running through our legs. While we were playing with the stuffed animals he was telling me where to have them ‘sit’, and he said Angeles’s name.

Despite the short night of sleep and short nap, he stayed up until close to 9:00. Carly took a shower and I started chopping and mixing ingredients for banana bread on the floor so he could help. He got enough cinnamon a few times to know it was hot and complain about it, but he kept trying it. 

New words: egg, backhoe, pee-ut, bu-boo (peanut butter), sample, pizza, fingers, beans (on his poster), bear (did I list this before?), Angeles

 

Waking up: 

At the scene of his previous face plant (bar behind him): 

Watching soccer practice: 

Saying ‘sample’ at Costco: 

Eating pizza in the subway station: 

Eating in the exact same spot just over six months ago: 

Home: 

Trying to wear mama’s shoes: 

New game: 

First, I’ve been meaning to mention that a few days ago I measured August’s height. Turns out he has grown 3 inches in the last 5 months. He’s now 2’ 8”. So, no longer on the short side of things. Haven’t been able to weigh him though.

No big adventures on this, Carly’s last day before the first day of school, but we got out of the house four times. Also, August is talking pretty constantly and often using what are clearly intended as words, but as his vocabulary grows it is becoming more difficult to identify what those new words are.

Anyway, one thing that happened in the morning was that August was playing with his bear, Marshy, out in the living room. When he was done, he walked into the bedroom, placed him on the bed, said ‘All done. Bye bye’ and waved to Marshy.

Our first trip was in the morning, before Carly left for work. He suddenly wanted to go outside, so the two of us went. There was a lot of trash left over from last night’s celebrations. August, of course, wanted to pick it up. But the trash bags themselves were overflowing, so I had to hold him above them so he could drop the garbage on top. This quickly lost its appeal to me. So I took him across to the other side of the park and we sat near the art museum and sang some songs. After 30 minutes or so we headed back in. We ran into Carly, headed for the bus, on the way in.

We were inside for awhile, then headed back out. We went to the museum, as the new children’s exhibit had opened a couple days previous and it was the last day of the show in the main gallery (with the big breathing creature things that August likes). We walked through that old exhibit, then down to the children’s exhibit. It was an Alice in Wonderland-themed show, but there was plenty of random stuff. August liked the broccoli forest paintings, but he loved the box that you stick your head in. Inside there are mirrors and projectors showing characters from Alice in Wonderland. He stared into it for several minutes and would occasionally say ‘more’. Before we left the museum he played for a couple minutes in the play area but wanted to leave when other kids showed up, and we took one more walk through the main gallery to see our favorite pieces again.

From there we walked back to our side of the park and threw rocks into the stream area (still off, but there is a little standing water left from rain) and picked up some more garbage.

On the way back inside we stopped to get the mail. I let August grab the one piece of mail, the gas bill. He immediately started saying something over and over. When we got in the apartment, he ran to his crayons and started coloring on the gas bill. What he was saying sounded similar to his ‘coloring’, but different at the end. Possibly ‘color it’. He was very proud of himself for this idea.

For lunch we made a salmon sandwich and had a Larabar. He was acting tired a couple times, but not close to sleeping. We watched the Days Go By video (has a dancer) on the iPad and then the danger from the Take Me to Church video dancing on the Ellen show. He liked that, but got upset at the end when Ellen interviewed him and he stopped dancing. So we watched the actual music video a couple times. August figured out the spacebar and can make the video start and stop, and was saying ‘stop’ and ‘go’. Carly came home 1ish and I thought he’d go to sleep then. But he just kept playing with her. And playing. And nursing. And playing.

Finally, about 3 we went for a walk. We were going to get coffee and walk somewhere, but he immediately started to fall asleep. So we looped back through the park and set him in the backpack, asleep, in the bedroom. He woke up after 30 minutes, but Carly nursed him and he slept another 40, until 4:45

We went out for one more walk. Rain was threatening, but only came at the end. We got a drink at Dunkin Donuts then walked up the stream a ways and back down. Then across to the park, where we looped around the other side (August touching the cool lampposts and hugging the camel) and we went to the art museum once more. Got to see the main gallery stuff a couple more times, and also showed Carly that box. It was even cooler having both of us there for August, because he could see our faces repeated in the mirrors over and over.

It was raining as we left, so we hurried home. There was lightning as well, but we got home before it got really loud. August ate a big spaghetti dinner. Then there was about 3 hours of August at full energy. He carried Carly’s shoes around at one point and put one on his head, we played some Endless Alphabet, he carried his stool around and sat on it in different places, he sat by the sink and cleaned, he nursed a lot. Finally, at 10:30, after Carly had been asleep for an hour, he called it a night.

New words: head, give me(?), salmon (see-bee), stop, go, spaghetti, poop (identifying it on poster), snack(?), tortilla

First trip out: 

Second trip: 

At home. Coloring on the gas bill: 

Finally asleep for a nap after 3: 

Final walk: 

Hugging the camel:

Taking mama in to see the sculpture box: 

In the evening: 

 

A very tiring day. We can hear celebrations going on for the holiday, it is the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender, but I’m too tired to be very curious. I’m not sure how Carly kept so much energy through the day. She was up with August for a couple hours at 3:30. She traded with me at 5:30. We looked at one of his posters for 10 seconds, he said ‘all done’ and went in to Carly and back to sleep. 

Carly left for work – today was new student orientation – about 8 and got back around 1:30. August got up just as she left. We played until close to 10: mainly sink time and making a smoothie. 

August wanted to go outside. We didn’t have a clear plan. August wanted the backpack, but he also wanted his shoes. So we went down with the backpack, but me holding him. On the first floor, he wanted to head north. So we walked to the playground by the youth center across the stream. There, he mainly picked up garbage (and threw it away) and we played chase on a picnic platform. 

From there he wanted to go up the hill, away from the stream. But he kept saying ‘wawa’. So I convinced him we had to go the other way. All this involved me carrying him, as he was rather clingy and fragile this morning. Also, he was making vacuum/car noises as we walked down the street. 

Anyway, we walked north along the stream, past the power plant, where there was some event happening for the holiday, to the big apartment complex construction site. We walked down the dead end street on the south side and sat on the curb and watched the elevators and cranes. We then made another stop to do the same as we heard back north towards Madeul Stadium. 

At the stadium we walked to the north end where the water and horse statues are. We played there and watched some soccer. 

Before heading back we walked across the street to the big water park to check the times and costs then walked home. 

We beat Carly home and started playing the Nighty Night app in the iPad. He was really into this time (you put animals to sleep by turning off the lights in their rooms). Carly came home and he took a nap. 

After he woke up, he helped Carly with the vacuuming. And Carly finished making spaghetti. Then we all went to busy, busy Home Plus to do some grocery shopping. He has been back into pointing out the bunny signs since we’ve been back. 

On our walk home August wanted to play in the park. So I stayed with him while Carly headed home. We went by the dinosaurs, and he stared at them and the puddles in their footprints for awhile. We then went home. 

He played by the sink and got to eat popcorn for the first time. He is now a big fan. He went to sleep a little after that, after 8. 

One thing I’ve noticed him doing is making a ‘beep beep’ sound after he hears a message on the computer or announcement over an intercom (they always end with a series of tones). He did it at Madeul Stadium, and then in the evening when hearing Skype messages. 

New words: playground, Claremay (which he has said before, but is now including when calling out the names of family members), git-moe (not sure what this means, but he says it a lot)

By the youth center:  

Throwing away trash: 

Playing on the platform: 

Watching construction elevators across the street: 

Madeul Stadium: 

Sitting on the water fountain: 

Walking home. He still sometimes wants to touch the trees and posts: 

Home: 

Nighty Night on the iPad:

Helping to vacuum: 

Evening: 

Popcorn: 

This morning he played in the sink a lot. He wanted to use the measuring spoons to scoop, so I sacrificed some rice and he had fun scooping that into the empty blender, a cup, and the sink. We made a smoothie for breakfast.

About 9:30 we left for Dream Forest. We walked to the bus stop and took the bus on the way there. At Dream Forest, we first stopped at the wading stream in the center of the park. It wasn’t fully on, but there was enough water for wading purposes; perfect for August. He mainly played around and on the big round flat rock that the water comes out of. He liked throwing his shovel in the stream and watching it fall over the edge of the rock. He was also really excited about standing on the rock – the first of multiple places he wanted to stand on today.

From there we moved on to the Dream Cafe we frequented so many times last year. We played there awhile, and I took his photo looking through the cutout of Max from Where the Wild Things Are. In spring it seemed like it would be a long time before that would happen.

He was getting tired, and still wet, so I changed him and put him in the backpack. To get him to sleep I walked up from the building, past the observatory, and found the trail that led over to the viewpoint I found with my parents last year. He fell asleep and I turned around, went back to the cafe, and read.

He woke up after 50 minutes and we went back into the kid area and ate and played. He was being very active and amusing. I divided the sandwich, but he ended up with part of my portion anyway, and was proudly carrying them in both hands for awhile. He realized he could stand and walk on his tippy toes, and he laid on his back on the floor for quite awhile. This was also another place where he wanted to climb and stand on the low bench and tables. 

We then went to the art gallery and saw the show there. Kind of cartoon art. August liked some of it, but we didn’t spend a lot of time. 

From there we went out to the floor fountain. We watched for awhile, then he actually got up to it on his own and was putting his foot over one of the nozzles. He decided he was all done, so we went to the wading pool, but he walked through it once and was done. 

So we started to walk back and stopped at the playground when he saw it. He had a snack and played with leaves and our Pororo mat. As usual, the playground itself wasn’t of much interest. Before we left, a woman came over and entertained him either a cold water bottle for a couple minutes. 

We continued on our way, making a brief stop at the wading stream again. Here, he listened to 3 girls play ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ on a piano for 5 to 10 minutes. His was both exciting for him and frustrating; he wanted them to play ‘Baa Baa’ and was saying it repeatedly, but they didn’t do it. 

We then stopped at the visitor center to change his clothes and diaper and refill his water bottle. While changing him, he looked up at me and said ‘sleepy’. He said it twice more as I changed him. He managed to stay awake on the way home though. 

He saw a set of backpacks, used, I believe, for weed killer or the like, through a door and thought they looked like vacuum cleaners. He stood in the doorway, pointing and making vacuum noises, but never once tried to get close to them. 

We walked home. 2.15 miles. Only, it turns out, a quarter of a mile longer than the walk to APIS. 

Carly was working a little late, so we stopped at one of the apartment complex parks for a snack. He also went on those spring seats and down the slide a couple times. I got a nice insect bite right on the scar tissue on my arm. Left quite a big bump. He cried a bit when I put him in the backpack to go home. A girl, perhaps 2nd or 3rd grade, who was there on her own, came up and gave me a lemon candy for him. Very nice. 

We got home a little before Carly. She was home by 5:30, and he fell asleep about 7. He was feeling a little warm as he went to bed, and doing some tossing and turning. Hopefully nothing major. 

 

Waving to mama right after he woke up: 

More feeding: 

Dream Forest: 

Cafe Dream: 

He was proud of himself for ending up with both parts of the sandwich: 

Floor time: 

Standing on things: 

With Haechi, the mascot of Seoul: 

Getting close to the fountain and feeling the water on his head: 

Before we left the park: 

Floor time at home: 

He woke up a little before Carly was to leave. She nursed him, but he wasn’t ready to let her go when she had to, so it was a tough goodbye. But as he was still crying, he looked around and saw his Korean sticker book and pointed to it. So we put stickers in it, and finished the book. I got out his other stickers (from the museum) and had him stick them on the back of his sketchbook. He is working on taking the stickers off by himself. He needs help with that, but he is pretty good at putting stickers on the paper. 

I then showed him how to really use the broom and dustpan, and he started trying to do that. We used his blocks for sweeping practice. 

From there we moved to the sink. He requested a smoothie, so we made one for breakfast. We got in a bit of a smoothie fight. He was sticking his finger in my smoothie and licking it, but then he snuck in his whole hand. I grabbed it and tried to lick the smoothie off his hand before he made a mess. As I did that he managed to put his hand on my face. There was a brief smoothie fight as I tried to get the smoothie off his hand and he tried to smear it on my face. 

We walked to APIS to meet Carly for lunch. He fell asleep along the way, so I stopped in the park across from school. He woke up after 35 minutes. We were going to have water and a snack, but as I got them out, he managed to fall of a bench, face first. He wasn’t too hurt – no bruises or blood – but the dirt proved difficult to remove. I got a message from Carly saying we could go up early, so we did, and we found her in Megan’s room. Megan thought he looked sad, so she gave him two stickers. 

We went to lunch at Cafe Tospia. When I came back with coffee, August started saying ‘Mama’s tea’ and ‘dada’s tea’, and really stressing the ’s’ sound. It rained hard while we ate, but then stopped. We headed back to Carly’s classroom for a couple minutes, then left.

August and I then went to the water park in the other park across from APIS. I first changed him and we played in the regular playground, then went to the water area at 1:20. The water shout off at 1:30, then we went up by our backpack and had some food and played up there. The last loaf of banana bread wasn’t very good, but I made a new loaf last night. He had been rejecting it, but started eating it again while it rained. We were standing under a cover, but he kept stepping out from underneath and got confused when his head would get wet. He was also really excited by some little birds that were close to us.  

At 2:00 the water came back on and we went down. He went in the water a little, but mainly watched the bucket pour water, or walked around saying ‘goona geeha’ and pointing at everything, or shook the bars of the fence.

After the water turned off at 2:30, we went back to APIS to sign some paperwork. When we left, I planned to put him in the backpack on the front porch. But there were buckets and a box of squirt guns. He started playing with them, and we didn’t leave until 3:30.

We walked home and he fell asleep again as we were approached the bridge. He yawned, and said ‘sleepy’, which surprised me. I wasn’t 100% sure that was what he had said, but he later confirmed it when I showed him a photo of him sleeping in the backpack and he said ‘sleepy’, and he used it before going to bed. I stopped and sat on a bench in the park closest to us, then continued to walk home. He woke up as we got back to the building, a 45 minute nap.

He was still a bit damp when I took him out of the backpack. He was saying ‘sweaty’ and wanting to take off his shorts. He started to figure our how to push off his shorts. I helped him with that, then he started on the diaper. So we are getting to that point.

I decided to try him in the shower. So I took him in the shower, holding him. Went really well, and by the end the water was hitting most of his body. 

We had a little time still before Carly got home after 5. We were looking at his bathrobe and he pointed to the kangaroo and said ‘hop’

Carly got home and he immediately rushed to her and said ‘hug’. 

He ate some rice and soup for dinner, but a lot ended up on the floor. He was getting sleepy around 8 but had trouble getting to sleep. He kept missing me, so I went in on the bed with them. Before he fell asleep he kept saying ‘grampa’s shirt’, as he was wearing one of the old sleep shirts. Also, I did ‘this little piggy’ with him for the first time, and he thought it was hilarious and kept asking for more. Both he and Carly fell asleep close to 9. 

New words: freezer, lid, word for blades of blenders, vitamin (bah-bee), sleepy, hug (to Carly when she got home), sweaty, grampa’s shirt

Walking: 

Water park: 

Feeling rain: 

Leaving APIS: 

Sleeping on the way home: 

In the evening: 

Right after he woke up at 6 he played with his stuffed animals for several minutes. I don’t think I’ve mentioned how, a day or two ago, he was playing with Angeles and carrying Angeles around in the living room. When he was done, he said ‘all done’ and took Angeles back in to the bedroom and put him in the bed. 

In the morning we listened to his headphones again. He can now request two songs: the fish song (39) and the baby song (18). We also Skyped with my parents for awhile. 

Before we left for Children’s Grand Park, he was also using his elbows to lay his head down gently and lie on his back on the hardwood floor.

He was quiet on the subway ride, but didn’t go to sleep right away at the park as I had hoped. We walked around, picking shady paths. He likes the music on the loudspeakers, so in two places I just stood in the shade and we listened. After each song he would loudly say ‘more’. Finally, he started to yawn. But he still wasn’t falling asleep, so we went to our picnic area behind the coffee place. We got out the picnic mat and had a snack. He played around with sticks and rocks, and took a little tumble over a curb but wasn’t too upset. A little more walking around and he fell asleep. I went to Peace Coffee, as usual, and started reading Paul Bowles’s ‘The Sheltering Sky’. 

He woke up after 40 minutes and spent several minutes playing in the coffee shop. He was excited to see the popsicle cartoon characters again on the cooler, seemed to long for the bags of snacks in the display case, and sat in four different chairs before he was ready to go.

We walked past the water area, but he wasn’t interested in going in. So we went to the zoo, and first to the primates. The chimpanzee wasn’t out, so we ended up watching the baboons, particularly a baby baboon. He liked saying ‘baboon’ (sounds like ‘baboo’) and used it later for the gibbons, spider monkeys, etc. 

We walked past an area that had a bunch of children’s art and he liked looking at the pictures. He would say ‘roar’ when he saw a lion or tiger, and started saying ‘camel’ after I told him that was what was in one picture.

We then went into the children’s zoo. He looked at the otters, but quickly headed for the tropical animal building. There, he learned how to say ‘sloth’ and ‘skink’. He also made a ‘ssss’ noise to all of the snakes and lizards. We spent more of our time (3ish minutes) on the first floor. He kept walking back and forth from the coatis, the fish (making fish noises), and the skinks/lizards. In front of the fish there is a wooden fence. He figured out how to pull himself up and stand on the log that is its base.

From there we went to the water. We played in 3 different locations. First, in a really shallow pool (about an inch deep) where he stuck his hand in the grate where the water came out. Then I went and changed him. We came back and found a shady spot at the very start of the stream area and played in the rocky area. When done with that, we went to the end of the first stream where the water runs down the path and into a drain. He spent the most time here, picking leaves off of weeds and dropping them down the drain one by one and watching them float to the other end. He would say ‘bye bye’ and wave to each one.

I changed him again near the front entrance. He was perfectly calm for both changings. After this second one, he wanted to sit on the changing table and play with the lap belt that held him in. I put up with that for 5 minutes, but it was hot and stuffy, so we left. He fussed, but went calm when I got him in the backpack. 

We left the park and went to the subway. We got off 3 stops north at Yongmasan to check out the waterfall park. We’ve never actually seen the waterfall on. Success! The waterfall (3, really) was on. He got out and we sat on the steps watching it and having a snack for probably 20 minutes.

From there we headed home. Carly gave him a bath and he went to bed pretty uneventfully. Before he went to bed he at one point asked for a bowl, then a spatula. I asked where he wanted them (I was holding him) and he said ‘bed’. So I put him on the bed. He stirred food in the bowl, then had GG and Marshy eat out of it, making eating noises as he held them in.

He also ‘helped’ as I gathered ingredients for banana bread. He liked watching me grate and chop the zucchini and carrot. He was asleep before it was finished though. The banana/zucchini/carrot bread turned out really well – much better than the last couple loaves.

New words: French toast, tiger, roar, camel, baboon (baboo), skink, sloth, stain glassed window (she-dow), Ruby (ooh-bee)

 

Pcnic area:

After his nap: 

Animals: 

More food: 

Water: 

Fake waterfall: 

Big climbing wall being built in front of actual rock walls: 

Home:

Took him several minutes to wake up, even to the point of being upset that mama was gone. After he was changed and calmed down, we had Cheerios and banana for breakfast and sent Carly a message on skype. He then discovered he could stomp his foot without holding on to something. He played in the sink, and I found out he could say ‘handle’.

We made it down to Ttukseom Resort without much trouble. We checked out the waterpark, but August could be taking a nap soon, so I figured we’d save that until after his nap. We played at a playground just east of the subway station/bridge. He played with his shovel in the sand a little, then got into picking up garbage and putting it in the garbage can. He got his hands on a little plastic spoon, but decided he wanted to keep it, so we went and washed it off. He then had a lot of fun on the bench and standing on me as we had a snack.

From there, we walked down to the Han. We stopped in a semi-circle open space and sat on the edge for more eating, as he said he was hungry. This was the first spot we had to battle the ants, mainly solved by moving down the ledge. He did some more standing on my legs/knees. When finished, we went to the path closest to the Han and headed west. Made it most of the way to the other end of the park and he started to act tired. So I stopped and put him, with some resistance, into the backpack. Walked to the west end of the park, finding a little wetland area, then back to the design building, by which point he had fallen asleep. I got a coffee and we went up to the top floor and sat on the padded bench while he napped.

Only 40 minutes, but not bad. He woke up, and was fascinated by the low crawdad/fish pool. He kept leaning over, wanting to see more fish. They would hide and he would request ‘more’. We went to the other end of the floor and looked in the fishtanks at more fish and crabs. In between, he liked the planets hanging above us, rocking in the breeze of the fans.

That lasted for at least 20 minutes. I needed to change him, and wanted to go to the waterpark, so I dragged him away. I changed him out on the grass, then we went to the waterpark. 

We found the shallow pool with a playground structure in it. We sat to the side and ate and just watched for quite awhile to get him comfortable. We then went to the pool, and he got in on the first step (of two). He was fine there for ten minutes or so. He did a little splashing fight with the woman next to him. He then got all the way in (just one more step) and was walking around. This lasted a couple minutes until a bigger kid (maybe 5) came up and kicked water right in his face and he cried. We took another snack break. We had a total of three more session over in the water. The wettest we got was when I held him and we walked up on the play structure. There was a lot of splashing, the water pouring from the big bucket overhead splashed us a little, and August put his arms in a flow of water that ran down him and me. The end of the third time over in the water, he spent several minutes walking around, splashing in the puddles on the deck. The fourth time we went over to the water, he spent a long time playing with my sandals and getting them wet in the puddles.

August started saying the Korean word for water, ‘mul’ while at the waterpark. He puts his mouth into a big ‘u’ shape to say it. He was saying it over and over the entire time we were there, and he started calling it the ‘mul area’.

Also, I saw two odd shirts while at the pool. The first was one that said ‘Let’s get star spangle hammered’. And the next was shirt for the Styx album, The Grand Illusion. Both looked pretty out-of-place at a child-friendly waterpark in 2015, but for different reasons.

Around 3:40 we started to leave. But we had to stop on our way out to rinse off in the showers a bit and watch a little more of the air compressors (which had caught his attention on the way in as well). And then I had to change him on the grass again, after which he really got interested in the child-sized exercise equipment, so we played on that for a few minutes.

We headed home, and got in right about 5. He wanted to sit by the sink, but it was messy, so I gave him a couple pieces of recycling to take down the hall with Carly. This became a big game, with Carly bringing back more things from recycling for him to take back down the hall. And after Carly gave him a bath, he ended up with the washcloth and his container of soap and started ‘washing’ everything: the table, the laptop, our legs. Quite the helper. It was a long day, and he fell asleep about 8.

New words: peel (pointing to banana), peanut (referring to peanut butter), handle, pool, mul, slippery (we were walking on the deck at the waterpark and he slipped. He kept walking, saying ‘slippery, slippery’), blender, oatmeal (looking at the package of oatmeal from iHerb)

 

In the park before his nap: 

In the design plaza after his nap: 

Water park: 

Saying ‘mul’: 

Helping at home: 

He was up early, before Carly left for work. When she did, he was really good about waving to her and saying ‘bye bye’. In the morning he played with Angeles, giving high gives and hugs, and using Angeles as a vacuum cleaner.

We then made a smoothie as he played in the sink. And he spent a good amount of time playing with his magnet letters. ‘P’ is his recent favorite letter.

We went out at 9-something, headed north. We walked a slightly back road once we crossed the stream and found Korean Bible College behind a hospital. A small campus, but they have a round courtyard with a lot of plants that August walked around for a couple minutes.

As we walked, August, who now pulls his arms out of the top straps on the front carrier, spent most of the time staring at the ground.

We went to Daiso and bought a couple more straw bottles for August. We also found a Spongebob Squarepants fork and spoon set for August. He held the package as we walked around, and got upset when I tried to take it from him at the register. The woman scanned it while it was still in his hands.

We walked a couple blocks to one of the last remaining parks we haven’t visited between here and Nowon, Eumji Children’s Park. He still carried the package most of the time we were at the park. He picked up some garbage, then ate the quesadilla Carly made for him and went on the little springy seat rides and played in the water fountain. He didn’t have much use for the playground proper.

He fell asleep on the walk home. I took him out of the carrier and held him in my arms as he did so, so that putting him on the bed would be easier. Alas, he woke up crying at the mere thought of setting him down. A 12 minute nap.

He bounced back quickly, and we had fun playing around the house. He was carrying the fork around a lot until he found the little broom and dustpan in the front closet. He called the dustpan a shovel. He did a lot of talking to himself in the doorway mirror – even beeped his own nose – and watched himself sweep. He wanted to go outside, but wanted to take the broom. At one point he was standing in front of the door with the broom saying ‘outside, elevator’. 

Eventually, he gave up the broom for the fork and we went outside. We sat on a bench for a few minutes. We then watched the fountains (both the floor and the one by the stage) and he briefly stood close to the floor fountain. He was then ‘all done’ so we walked back to the playground for awhile.

He was rather clingy on and off today. He was startled by a cleaning woman on our first walk to the elevator and started crying. For much of the day he would say ‘down’ but then either cling to me or want right back up.

He started to look a little tired and was saying/signing ’nurse’ so we went home. He no longer seemed tired. We played with his headphones. It took me awhile to find his fish song, and when I did he signed ‘thank you’.

About 3 he still wasn’t looking sleepy, so We went to Home Plus. I had the front carrier, but just had him in my arms. When we got there, he still didn’t want to be turned around and put in the carrier. Or set down for that matter. And then he fell asleep. He slept for the next 40 minutes as I did the shopping, and woke up at check out.

We got home and he started crying because Carly wasn’t home and he didn’t like being set down. I started ‘attacking’ him and myself with the water bottle and he started laughing while he cried. We had a good long silly time and it just turned to laughter.

Carly got home and took over a bit. August spun in circles and made himself dizzy – he learned that from Logan.

Carly took him outside to the park. He was particularly interested in the fountain by the stage. Off now, but it still had water in it. They went over by the museum and he wanted to sit on the bench area. They just sat there for several minutes.

Signing thank you when I found the fish song

New words: pillow, towel, carrot (seeing them on his bathrobe), lizard (pointing at the lizards sculpture as we cross the bridge), cooking area (coh area)

 

Morning: 

On our walk: 

Carrying his fork and spoon package: 

Eating quesadilla: 

At home after his nap: 

In the park:

Back home: 

He started waaaaay to the left: 

 

In the morning Skyped with my parents while Carly made French Toast.  Then we all walked up to the playground by Madeul Stadium. On the way, we passed the women’s business center, but the coffee shop was closed. So we walked east to a Paris Baguette so Carly could get a coffee, then headed back to our usual route.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is that August likes the sound of the cicadas. Their volume fluctuates, and when they get quiet August will say ‘more, more’.  

At the playground, he used his shovel to dig up sand and dump it different places, then watched Carly swinging. Then, Carly was sitting on the sand and he was on the other side of the short bar around the swings. He leaned too far forward and fell forward and landed on his face in the sand. His legs actually went over his head and he did a flip. His face was covered by damp sand, but we managed to brush and wash it off without getting it in his eyes. 

Back home, I watched August while Carly made stir fry. We played on the bed, and August started hugging his stuffed animals and Angeles. He would also pet Marshy and kept saying ‘soft, soft’. 

We were then playing back in his room and I’m pretty sure he told me he needed his diaper changed by going and pointing to the package of diapers. For awhile now we’ve been reaching the point where he can tell when he is about to go to the bathroom, or is going, and where sometimes a dirty diaper is uncomfortable. 

Carly needed some time to read for work, so I took August on a walk. We walked south a little less than a mile to Hagye Children’s Park, the one with a playground that looks like a big tree. He rode a couple of the spring seat things, then walked around. He found one piece of garbage, so we had to find a garbage can. He then wanted to sit next to a turtle on a fake log. He saw some bigger kids kind of climb and run over some structures and was impressed by that. He then tried one of the smaller ones on his own. He found a bench he wanted to sit on, and we had a snack. When he was done, he started to walk away. He turned around to me as he walked and waved and said ‘bye bye’. 

I caught him and we headed home, first looking at a couple of cicada exoskeletons hanging on flowers. At home, he ate milk and cheerios with Carly and showed her how he hugs his stuffed animals and I made banana bread.

Carly gave him a bath, but before that, he managed to pee on the floor. He then kept peeing on the floor, on demand, in different spots, until I held him over the toilet. He was very proud of this newfound ability.

New words: hole (on his stool), soft (talking about Marshy), hop (having GG hop), hug, zipper (playing with the zipper on the backpack), ggot (flower in Korean), I love you (from one of our made-up lines to the wheels on the bus song), ginger (learned it at Home Plus yesterday, used it as we were cooking)

Offering food to gramma and grampa: 

Playground: 

Back home: 

Stuffed animals: 

Hagye Children’s Park: 

The cicadas are loud in the background: 

Home: 

After recycling, French toast, and August pointing to animals on his bathrobe, we went for a walk in the morning when it was a bit cooler. We walked up along the road parallel to the stream and got iced lattes at the women’s business center. We then went to the park/playground next to it, Wild Chrysanthemum Park. 

The women at the coffee place had given us some lemony bread things for August, so we ate those and August really liked them. I’m pretty sure he said ‘more sugar’ at one point. Of course, he held on to a little bit of it the entire time we were at the park, probably close to an hour.

We took him on the swings for awhile and took a drink from the fountain, but his favorite thing ended up being sitting on the wooden worms over on the shady part of the park. I took him over there for a good long time and we took turns riding each of the two worms.

We came home and August took his nap. After that, we went down to Baskin Robbins to get ice cream to celebrate our anniversary. We walked over to the park and sat by the playground to eat it. A storm was coming in and, with it, thunder. I went up to get my umbrella, as we planned to go to Home Plus. While I did that, the lighting came right overhead and the thunder sounded like a cannon. Apparently, it startled both Carly and August, and August started crying. When I came back down I found them under the cover of the building. We tried to go to Home Plus, but the wind had picked up and was too strong for our umbrellas.

So we went back inside for an hour or so and then went to Home Plus. August really started to say ‘umbrella’ and was pointing out all the umbrellas he saw on the way back. We came back home and August surprised us by taking a second nap. After that, around 5, we took the bus over to Jill and Derek’s place. August got to sit on the seat between the two of us.

We ate tacos for dinner. August wasn’t too fond of the spiciness of the chicken, but ate some quesadilla. He and Logan had fun playing together, but at one point August ended up in the back room and kept insisting on shutting the door for some quiet time. He rebounded after we brought him back out and he nursed for awhile.

We walked home, me with August and Carly carrying our ‘new’ vacuum cleaner (the same as our old, but not as loud, hopefully). It was a really nice sunset over the river swollen from the day’s rain.

We did some art and other playing. August started to act tired close to 9. But when I tried to give him a bath he wasn’t in the mood. So we did a sink bath, which worked well. I dressed him in the other old sleep shirt we have and he went to sleep about 9:15.

New words: art, nursing area, twinkle, umbrella

 

Morning: 

Pointing out out animals on his bathrobe, a game he really got into yesterday: 

His first artwork, from the spring,  on a pizza box, before we recycle it. He has now moved on to actual paper:

Wild Chrysanthemum Park:

Anniversary ice cream: 

Riding the bus: 

Playing with Logan: 

View on the walk home: 

Second sleep shirt, also from my dad: