It is late, and we did a lot today. So I will finish today’s post in the morning. For now, here is a video from this evening that includes Z making his cow noise and using the sign for ‘help’ (one hand holding the other and lifting it). He’s been making good use of it this week:
He woke up incredibly happy today. In the morning we spent a ton of time playing with the piano and new instruments and playing in the water. We also played some Endless Alphabet. He had been a bit afraid of it, particularly the ‘R’, even though it is also his favorite letter. Slightly better today, although he insisted on sitting in my lap when we played. He would also grab my finger and use it as a stylus to move the letters. He did this in the evening with Carly, although he seemed to have gotten over his fears by then.
Around 10 we went out to the park and then did our shopping at Home Plus. We came home, stopping to play and walk around at the water fountain, and played some more. He then went to sleep for his nap.
10 minutes later he coughed and woke up. And I couldn’t get him back to sleep. Rather, he would fall asleep on my shoulder but I couldn’t set him down. He would wake up and cry and keep throwing himself on me to pick him up. Long story short, we are thinking it might be a ‘cry it out’ situation to get him to go to sleep without me holding him.
Anyway, eventually he calmed down but was awake. I ended up giving him a bath and he had plenty of energy and did quite well the rest of the day. Carly came home early to see if he would nurse to sleep, but he didn’t.
I went to PT and they did a lot more playing in water and some Endless Alphabet while I was gone. He stayed awake until a little after 7. Not bad for only 10 or 15 minutes of napping.
Couple other notes:
– August and I saw ‘Preacher’, the old Korean guy who wears army fatigues and carries a walking stick, for the first time in months. I had been wondering what happened to him. He says he has been in the hospital due to his broken back.
– He used the ‘help’ sign a lot today, primarily when he needed help putting the shapes in his helicopter and to play the musical instruments.
Happy wake up:
Knocking on the wall:
Reading Jack and Jill has become problematic because any mention of water reminds him of playing in water. Every time I read the opening lines he would do this arm/head movement. This last time he then crawled into my arms:
After his bath:
Today he learned the sign for ‘help’ and was using it regularly by the end of the day. He also likes to hold things in his hands when walking – you’ll see that in the videos. Today his favorite toys were a scrunched up shopping bag I keep in the backpack and a couple of rocks and sticks he found along the way.
And he is now fascinated by ‘baba’ lights. Those are any flashing lights, particularly the round ones, on parking lot exits, police cars, ambulances…even hazard lights on a car. He pointed them out constantly today. And no, I have no idea why he calls them babas.
We walked the first two sections of the Fortress Trail again today. Only this time we did it properly, clockwise, and didn’t missing any of the streets. We left the house at 8:30 and didn’t get home until 5:30. But it was really nice as we could be leisurely about it and stop frequently to let him play and along the way to look at anything that interested him. Thus, we ended up playing at 5 parks, going to a Methodist missionaries museum, and stopping at a second hand store and picking up a few toys.
Our first park was right at the beginning. We played at the playground there for at least a half hour. He played with sticks in the wet sand, then with water at a drinking fountain, where he put his leg in the water, necessitating a change of pants and socks before we left. He also got to see a guy using a leaf blower, which was exciting.
From there we started on the trail. He fell asleep after about 20 minutes, so slept through the 600+ steps up Namsan all the way over the top to the flatter park near the bottom on the other side. There, we found a bench and ate lunch and he did a lot of walking.
We then continued on our walk. From the edge of the park, looking way across an intersection, he kept pointing and making fish noises. I had no idea what he was on about. We walked down and across the intersection and he led me to a drink dispenser outside a restaurant that sort of looked like an aquarium.
Then we were on to Sungnyemun Gate (which Carly calls the Glecy gate because we visited it with her) and past it, headed north.
This is where we found the missionary museum (couldn’t tell what it was until we were inside. But it only took a few minutes and was an interesting building) and played in a third park near the Seoul Art Museum. Here he rode the exercise equipment, watched a fountain, and threw the shopping bag through the bars so I would get it.
On we went. Park four was near the end. Here we played with the little rocking chair things for awhile and had some good bird spotting.
As we got to Dongnimmun (our destination) we went to the Beautiful Store and got some more musical toys, a puzzle, and a frog puppet. Then we went across the street to the last park where he ate some more, got swarmed by girls (I think they were from a women’s college as there was a huge group of them there) and walked around some more.
He did great on the subways, only crying for a little while midway on our way home but then he fell asleep for 30 minutes until we got back to the apartment.
Oh, and I got to be horrified by a guy who started tapping on August’s cheek while he was asleep as we waited for the bus home. He was with his wife and child and they came up and were talking to us. August was facing out, but obviously asleep. I had my arm around him with his head resting on my arm. His eyes were closed, and they had already been there a good 20 to 30 seconds. Anyway, as I reeled back, I think the guy’s wife yelled at him and he apologized profusely. I think it was just a boneheaded move. Somehow he didn’t realize August was asleep.
Stayed awake until after 8. Surprising, as we had to keep him from falling back to sleep when I got home and he seemed to be going to sleep around 7. He is all into playing in the water, so spent a lot of time playing in the tub and also in the sink. And he caught on quickly to the triangle and tambourine and little cymbals we bought today.
Morning:
Park 1:
Park 2 (Namsan):
Sungnyemun:
Park 3:
Park 4:
Park 5:
Coming home:
Home:
August is really walking now. Today was the first time that when Carly got home he walked to her instead of crawling. And in his Dunggae Dunggae class he did a lot of walking on his own. Previously, it had only been a couple steps at a time.
We had his class in the morning. It was about animals eating and pooping. There were even poop hats that, of course, August would not wear. We also made foot prints and laminated them. I wish I had more time to write on August’s, but it was still a decent project.
After his class we went grocery shopping. He was clearly getting tired so we headed straight home. He fell asleep and slept an hour. He still wanted to sleep when he woke up, but wanted me to stand. Eventually he fully woke up and was able to make it to a decent bedtime.
After a little lunch we walked south to the park with a playground shaped like a tree (too lazy to look up the name). We went on the swings, played in the sand and rocks with a shovel, played with the broken faucets (August found it funny when I said ‘sad’), ate a little more lunch, and found some abandoned sand toys and played some more.
Then it started raining. Really only a drizzle and mid-70s but it was close to time to head home anyway. On our walk home there was literally 100+ ajummas (older women) walking the other way – I think they were leaving an event at the community center. Luckily, only one really expressed much concern about August getting wet.
After Carly got home she went walking in the park with him while I worked on the computer. They then spent a lot of time playing in the water in his tub.
Waking up happy. Pointing to his chin:
A treat. The empty cinnamon container:
Belt and coat hanger:
Dunggae Dunggae class:
Home:
Park:
After Carly and August Skyped with Cassie and Vivian and then her parents in the morning, we decided to head to Hoegi.
August and I first went out to the playground right across the street at the apartment complex opposite is. He played with some garbage, went down the slide a few times, then walked around, carrying his shoes, until Carly came down.
We then took the bus and subway to Hoegi. We walked to Dunkin Donuts and got a drink, then walked around Kyunghee University, heading to the area around the art building where August nursed and fell asleep. So we walked back down the hill and found a bench in the trees and read for the next hour and a half.
After August woke up we walked around some more finding a pond area and path and bridge up to the church.
We then walked off campus and stopped at Subway to pick up sandwiches and stopped in a little park area to eat them.
We came home and gave August a bath. We noted today that August has definitely made the transition to walking – he now spends more time on his own walking than crawling, and of course he spends a lot of time walking while holding out finger.
Haven’t given a vocab update lately. He picked up ‘tia’ pretty quickly for Cassie, and can say ‘knee’ quite easily. And today he started to do the sound of a monkey.
Skyping with tia:
Hoegi:
Home:
‘New’ pajamas:
I had a busy book group/hike with Derek day. So I felt I didn’t really see August much. But I got home a bit after 3 and that was enough time to play in the park twice and spend a lot of time playing with the water in his tub with him.
While I had my book group meeting Carly and August were skyping with her parents. As soon as my meeting was over I rushed out the door and made it up to meet Derek at Dobongsan at 9:20. We hiked almost to the top of Jaunbong Peak, which is the crazy steep looking rock up there. Along the way we stopped at Cheonchuksa Temple, which is a really beautiful Buddhist temple with some excellent views. A good destination for a hike when Chuck and Cherie are here…
When I got back from the hike I met Carly and August in the park. They were sitting on the boardwalk by the dinosaurs, picking leaves off a bush (I think August was doing most of the picking). He was very excited to see me.
While I was gone they had gone up to the playground at Madeul Stadium and played in the sand and he had taken a nap. They were going to meet Jill and Logan in the park, but August was napping when they showed up.
We came up to the apartment for awhile, then headed back out. Carly went to do the grocery shopping while I had August walk around in the park area across from Home Plus.
We came back and Carly started making food and I took August into the bathroom and we played in the water. He dipped his foot in a couple times. And I would turn on the water and hold it like it was a little fountain and he would stick his foot in that. So far we haven’t been to a fountain in a park that we can play in yet this summer (they aren’t turning the ones here at our park on until June), but he liked the spray from the CGP fountain. I need to get him to a play fountain sometime soon.
Not much after that as he quickly got tired and went to sleep around 8.
August before I left:
Couple hike pics:
Another 3 hour wake up in the middle of the night for August. This time from 2 to 5. Carly took most of it, then I was up for the last hour.
He was up around 8 and we spent the morning playing in the water (he even dipped his toe in), listening to the fish song on his headphones, and making a smoothie.
We headed to Dream Forest around 11. On the way out, we ran into the two Spanish girls we had met in the park several weeks back. They came running out of the bap burger place to say hi.
We took the bus to Dream Forest and first went to see the deer, which are open again. From then we walked bay the art gallery, where two men were pressure cleaning the fountain area in front of the building. August loved this and we watched for close to ten minutes. He was very sad when they were done and kept signing ‘more’.
But we went to the playground and played there. He spent most of his time around the trees, picking rocks and cones and needles and sticks from the gratings underneath them. There was also a group of high school students that took an interest in him and he liked the attention.
I needed to change him and it was time for him to take a nap. So I changed him in the arts center and we started walking. He fell asleep quickly and I walked to the children’s park we found last.
I sat at the park and read the Murukami book and watched people play croquet. At 3:30 August was still sleeping but we needed to get to APIS to meet Carly so I started walking. He made it to APIS before waking up.
We then walked home together, stopping to let him play at the small park along the way.
He only stayed awake for 4 hours after his nap, falling asleep before 8 again.
Dream Forest:
Napping:
It was our usual trip to Children’s Grand Park today. What was not usual was him waking up from 10pm to 1am last night and then taking a 2 hour nap in the carrier at CGP when he has been going 40 or 50 minutes the last 3 weeks.
Basically, he woke up last night right after I posted the blog entry. I stayed up with him for 3 hours. During that time he discovered his eyelashes. A couple times during the day he would intently touch his eye lashes for several minutes – he made it several stops on the subway doing this on our return trip.
Skyped with my parents in the morning and then got our usual start, getting to CGP around 10:30. Started at water table again today. More people than usual, including one bossy older girl who played pretty well with August after I chastised her for shoving him out of the way.
He lasted about 45 minutes there then we ate lunch. During lunch there was another baby that was crying and started to scream really loudly. This stressed August out and he tried to crawl out of the room.
He fell asleep soon after leaving the museum. I spent the two hours at the cafe outside, reading the Murakami book of short stories. Was able to read about a third of the book.
After he woke up we went to the zoo: first to the baboons and macaques, then to the water birds where he got up close to a swan, then to the children’s zoo where he did all the walking and a lot of it.
When we were done there it was 3. We were going to finish with some time at the playground. On the way we stopped at a drinking fountain to play, as one was at August’s height. While there we were recognized by Bin’s mother. He is a little younger than August. We had met them a few weeks back in the infant room at the museum. Anyway, August now has a play date for next Thursday as we are supposed to meet at the water table.
We played at the playground with the musical instruments, then went on the swings and played in more drinking fountains. I changed him and then I we walked towards the fountain. He walked (holding my finger) over 100 meters. I then carried him a bit. He asked for milk as we got to the fountain. We sat near the fountain (getting some spray from the wind) and ate a second lunch for a half hour. After awhile he climbed into my lap to watch the fountain.
We headed home in a packed subway. I stood in a corner by the door and we were just fine. Whatever food August hadn’t eaten for his second lunch was gone by the time we for home.
We gave him a bath after a little dinner. No crying, although he still wouldn’t get in the water. He made it to 7:40, so hopefully this will be a normal night.
Discovering his his eye lashes at midnight:
Awake in the morning:
Sleeping for two hours like this:
Swan:
Water fountain:
Watching the fountain from my lap:
Today was a weird day of sleep. More of that in a minute. But first, a funny story about fish:
When I came home from PT Carly told me that August had been looking at his iPod and headphones and making fish noises. She asked if I knew what it was about. Well, he had been doing the same thing earlier in the day when we were using it to listen to music. One of the songs from his first class is about fish (mulgogi in korean). The crazy thing is that either he remembered that the song is about fish from either watching the video (which he hasn’t seen in many weeks, as we’ve only been listening/watching the music/video from his current class) or he knows the word ‘mulgogi’ well enough to identify it in the song (seems less likely, but I’ve used the word with him hundreds of times). Either way, pretty cool. Poor Carly thought there must be a music cover with a fish on it so was looking for that.
Anyway, his sleep. He only slept 9 hours last night, which had me worrying he wasn’t getting enough sleep, what with his movement towards a single nap. But then his nap came…
50 minutes in bed and then he woke up crying. He fell asleep twice on my shoulder but would wake up when I set him down. Tried to get him to fall back asleep lying down. No luck. Went to change him and he falls asleep on the changing pad. Turn off the lights. 7 minutes and he wakes up crying again.
Pick him up, back to the couch. This time he lets me sit down. He falls asleep. And sleeps. And sleeps. For almost two and a half hours. In that time I type a few emails and read a good chunk of Think Like a Freak. He only wakes up when I whisper his name.
We eat a late lunch (he had eaten two breakfasts) and make a smoothie. He had smoothie before, but this time I put it in his old straw cup so he can drink it better.
Only an hour until Carly gets home and I go to PT, so no time for our original plans. We go to a couple of playgrounds instead. He shakes the little riding animals (horse, duck, rooster) and walks around at one and then just wants to be on the swings at the other.
We head home, buy bananas on the way and make the exchange with Carly.
And then, on my way home from PT Carly tells me he has fallen asleep already. At 6. He is still sleeping soundly, so we will see how early he wakes up tomorrow…
Morning. One handed piano playing:
Just playing in water. He was supposed to have a bath in the evening:
Listening to the fish song:
The long nap:
Smoothie:
Playground:
When he was done shaking the ‘neigh’ he turned around and got excited by the duck (which he had seen dozens of times) and, in his excitement, shouted some of his animal sounds, except for the correct one – ‘baa’, ‘moo’ …
A double holiday! August celebrated by making today the day he would really start to transition to walking as his favored mode of locomotion. And he is suddenly trying to put on his own socks, shoes, and hat. And this morning he was really trying to plug in the vacuum cleaner (pretty difficult as there was a safety cover in the outlet).
Carly had the day off. So after Carly made a quick trip to the pink building for groceries we headed to Korea University. We first ‘celebrated’ Cinco de Mayo’ by eating lunch at a Dos Mas burrito place. We then walked around campus, stopping for quite awhile at a nice square near the center of campus. Carly and I took turns with August and read. He walked around a lot, played with the tennis ball, and made a lot of funny noises as he explored. This was also where he tried putting on his hat.
We then went to the university museum – August and I went during one of our first weeks alone last fall on a very rainy day. There was a cool art exhibit all about tigers in art. August really liked it. But he was getting tired so after that we left and he fell right asleep.
After he finished his nap back home. I took him out to the crazy Children’s Day festival going on in the park while Carly made soup and did some grading. We walked around a bit and ended up on top of the Buk Museum where I took August out of the carrier.
He immediately wanted to walk down the stairs. About halfway we came across a drainage ditch full of rocks. He sat down and proceeded to play with rocks for 20+ minutes.
From there we headed down to the area in front of the museum where he proceeded to walk and explore all across the park. We eventually came out on the sidewalk on the south end. I put him in the carrier and we went home for dinner.
We ate and then headed back into the park to watch the talent show starting at 6:30. Carly came out and met us a bit later. August did some playing in the playground and really tried to climb the play structure. We watched a few acts before calling it a night.
Morning:
Lunch:
Korea University:
In the park after his nap:
After dinner:
Watching the talent show:
