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August woke up early (5:45). I was afraid he’d be wanting to take a nap right about the time of his class today. But we went out to the park and walked around for an hour before class. He discovered rocks and throwing them from the wooden walkway into the empty pond area below. We came home for a few minutes to change him and he started to look tired, but we headed back out and to his class and he recovered nicely. 

Class was all about paper and all the ways you can play with it. August decided to start standing up all on his own and did it twice in a row. 

We came home, Skyped with my parents, and then August let me know he was tired by simply crawling into my arms. I sang him one song and he was asleep by the end of it. 

A pretty remarkable morning overall, as he was awake for close to seven hours and I don’t think he shed a single tear the entire time after Carly left. 

After a ninety minute nap we ate lunch (during which he ate an entire banana for the first time) and then went out again. This time we headed toward APIS and went to Maebong Children’s Park right by Wolgye Station. We had never been there before. Some swinging, walking around, and playing in the sand with shovels. At one point August walked twelve or so steps by himself. But his favorite part was playing with the shovels in the drinking fountain. 

From there we went and met Carly halfway on her walk home. August spotted her across the street at a crosswalk and was very excited. 

We walked home, stopping to nurse and briefly play at a playground in an apartment complex. 

Oh, the other thing that has to be mentioned is that during lunch he stole a cracker from me. He simply grabbed it out of my hand. He has never had a cracker before and thought it was hilarious to steal my food. At one point while he was eating it he was literally spraying crumbs out of his mouth while laughing. 

 

English Science Park: 

Dunggae Dunggae class: 

Home. Stealing a cracker from me:

Maebong Children’s Park and coming home: 

Spotting Carly: 

Slightly drizzly and ‘only’ hit the mid-60s despite a forecast for 77. But made for a great day to walk through the parks and along the stream – everything was really green. 

Skyped with Chuck and Cherie in the morning and we did a lot of Sunday chores. Then we went for a walk in the park. Turns out there was a little science fair going on thanks to the Science Edu-Center at the north end of the park. August got a balloon, liked looking at the tarantula, beetles, and scorpions, and got to see lab rats (although he wasn’t too interested in the rodents – he wanted to go back to the insects). He also walked around a lot. 

We then went to Home Plus and did our grocery shopping. Came home and August took a nap. 

After his nap we walked over to the stream and through the park/wooded areas by the power plant. We then walked up the stream to Madeul Stadium and the playground there. Went on the swings, but the definite highlight was using the toy shovels we bought on Friday to play in the sand. The sand was wet from the rain, but mostly dry under a slide. After digging in the sand for several minutes he was done and as he was walking by the swings he used the shovels to hit the pipe railing around the swings in order to make noise. 

Another calm bath today. He made it through without having to nurse and actually played in the water a bit. He still didn’t want to step in the water though. 

A rough day. I learned that my grandpa, my mom’s dad, passed away the morning of May 1st. Not much to say about that here, but we are particularly sad that he won’t get to see August again. At least they got to meet once last summer. 

This morning was also filled with a long tech support call to Apple and a few other things that meant we didn’t leave the house until after 11. We headed to Myeongdong so Carly could do some clothes shopping. While she did that August and I scouted out places to eat. August also finally fell asleep for a nap. 

When Carly was done we walked to a sandwich place, Longbread, and had a good lunch. August kept sleeping and sleeping, and after he had been asleep for two hours we decided to leave. We walked east towards the cathedral and he finally woke up – close to two and a half hours of sleeping in the carrier. 

We played around the cathedral. August did a lot of walking, watched people trimming flowers, and played with the tennis ball. 

We walked back to the subway station and headed home. Crowded and long, but August managed it well. We got off at Changdong to transfer to the bus. August needed to nurse, so we went to the book cafe under the station and got a drink. 

Back home August stayed awake until 9:30. He has been playing with his magnets on the door a lot. We have some letter magnets up and he particularly likes the ‘T’ and will make the T sound when he sees it. He does the same with ‘R’, but to a lesser extent. These are letters he has started to pick up from Endless Alphabet. 

Piano stairs: 

Asleep in Myeongdong: 

Myeongdong Cathedral: 

Watching people trim the flowers: 

Pointing at birds: 

Pororo in the subway: 

Book cafe: 

And we saw this on the way home. It moved back and forth. August was very amused: 

 

In the morning we went and played at the playground up by Madeul Stadium. We went on the swings a couple times, but the big events were playing in the sand and walking around the wooded areas. Oh, and we adopted a tennis ball we found when walking around the tennis courts. Finally, August got an unintended physics lesson when he pushed a platform on the exercise equipment. It is basically a pendulum and came right back to hit him in the chin. He wouldn’t have cried too much, but we were quite a ways from the backpack, his nose started to run everywhere, and his hands were covered with black dust I didn’t want him rubbing in his eyes or on my clothes. 

We came home and he fell asleep in the carrier, facing forward, just as we left the elevator and walked down the hall. It has been a long time since he fell asleep facing forward. 

He took an hour-long nap after which he ate lunch. We then walked up to Daiso and bought another straw cup to replace the leaky one we’ve used in the house, some clay, and a little set of beach toys – he can use the sailboat in the water at home and the shovels in the sand next time we go to the park. 

We took the bus home and played in the drinking fountain in the park until we saw Carly walking by. We all walked home and then I headed to PT. While I was gone the two of them went back to the park. August did a ton more walking around. 

I got home, August ate a spaghetti dinner, then he ate a second dinner of banana bread, Carly gave him a very calm bath, then he ate a third dinner of broccoli, and finally he went easily off to bed. 

 

First time he’s really paid attention to what is in his shirt. Very cool: 

Playing with the sheet: 

Pointing at an ant: 

About to get a physics lesson as it comes back to him. Note the dirty hands: 

Sand: 

Walking among the trees, tramping on leaves, and following pigeons:

Playing with the tennis ball we liberated: 

Asleep facing out: 

In the stream on our way back from Daiso: 

Walking home with mama: 

 

August ate a large breakfast and continued to eat a lot throughout the day. That just seems to be his MO now. 

August and I skyped with my friend Sarah and her two kids (her daughter, Lauren, is the one that did the painting of a baby for August’s wall). We then quickly headed to Children’s Grand Park (where it hit 81 today) as I wanted to make sure he got to play at the water table as long as he wanted before a big group showed up. We got there at 10:20 and it was no problem – he played for about 45 minutes and decided he’d had enough of that. Only one other kid had shown up that entire time. After that:

– he ate a big lunch (he ate a large chunk of my peanut butter sandwich) while standing, as he didn’t want to sit in a chair

– I changed him

– he played in the infant room (he was excited to see it as we didn’t go last week)

– he played in the book room

– he fell asleep

– I went to the Peace Cafe and chose a book off their shelf for my book group of one: a Haruki Mukakami collection of short stories called The Elephant Vanishes. I read two and a half stories before he woke up. 

– we went on the swings at the playground and he walked around and played in the dirt

– we watched the baboons and macaques 

– we went to the children’s zoo where he was out of the carrier most of the time. He primarily looked at the goats and miniature horses. He also watched the waterfall ‘sitting’ on the ledge – he saw other kids doing it so I let him do it, but he was still strapped in the carrier at the time. And we watched the otters play in the water and catch fish. 

– we went into the building next door because he wanted to. Turns out he was most interested in the vaporizer inside the door. 

– we went to see the small ‘fierce animals’ – foxes, hyenas, servals, etc. He was on the ground again and got a ton of attention here. We found a spot in the shade and ate a second lunch, and that just drew more attention. 

– we swung by the bird exhibit to see if the penguins were any more active than during previous visits (they weren’t). He wasn’t happy that we went by the water birds quickly. 

– we headed home. He did great on the crowded subway. 

– we played in the drinking fountain at the dinosaur park. He liked it wen I put water on his head, arms, and legs. We tried to meet Carly at the bus but gave up after the 5:05 bus. We beat her home by 10 minutes. 

He ate a big spaghetti dinner again. And he was doing this funny thing where if we asked where Zinnie was he would point to himself as usual, but then also very dramatically grab his head. 

 

Waking up up in the morning: 

Water table: 

A mouth full of teeth (including the crooked one): 

Playground: 

Watching the waterfall: 

Looking at animals: 

Exploring the zoo on his own: 

Center of attention: 

At the drinking fountain:

Where’s Zinnie? 

This morning we left before ten to go to Toys R Us. On the way there August liked all the paper (well, plastic) lanterns now lining the streets. 

Once we were there we watched the puppies in the pet store, pushed buttons on the machines outside Toys R Us, and then spent time letting August walk around the toy store. He kept getting excited by the piano each time we went back to it, so I knew it would be a good purchase. 

We bought it and headed home. A little awkward to carry, but luckily the rain had let up so no need for an umbrella. 

At home he continued to stay up for a long time and didn’t fall asleep for almost 7 hours. When he did take a nap he woke up after 40 minutes and cried for awhile before I got him back to sleep. And when he woke up at 3 he cried more and sort of dozed on my shoulder. But he got upset if I tried to sit down. And when he was crying he would sign ‘more’ and ‘please’ but I couldn’t tell what he was talking about. 

Finally, at 3:30 I decided we should just go outside. He wasn’t happy with the process of getting ready, but his mood changed when he got outside. 

We spent time exploring the park on foot – first in the area close to Carly’s morning bus stop and then over in front of the museum. We returned home a bit past 4:30, beating Carly home by about 10 seconds. 

In the evening we made a quick trip next door to the grocery store for a couple things. Carly was carrying August and he was incredibly hyper  

He ate a ton today: eggs, bananas, banana bread, broccoli, salmon… And he continued that with a spaghetti dinner. Carly gave him a bath after that for obvious reasons. 

Walking to Toys R Us: 

Toys R Us: 

No, August. We are not spending 400 dollars on a Tayo bus you can drive: 

He really liked this pink scooter and picture: 

Home: 

Standing on a book in his zombie shirt: 

Not happy after his nap while I get ready to go outside: 

In the park: 

Touching the statue he calls ‘mama’: 

Pointing at an ant: 

On our way to the pink building: 

Noodles: 

A big adventure day today. I planned to walk the fortress wall around downtown Seoul this spring. This was sort of part 1. Although we had such a hard time following the trail as it turns out it is set up for walking it clockwise and we headed counterclockwise that we did a lot of backtracking and took a lot of ‘off’ paths. So I consider this more of a scouting trip. 

In total, my phone tells me I did just over 26000 steps today, and our walk today was a bit over 13 kilometers and took a little over four and a half hours. But we left early and put in plenty of breaks for August. He got to run around and play four times, we stopped to play at water fountains, ant hills, and to watch construction equipment, and I walked during both his naps. 

I might put in a fuller description of our route later, but roughly we started on the opposite side of Seoul and did a third of a circle, counterclockwise, that took us past Namsan Tower (yes, I walked up to Namsan Tower carrying a baby) and ended a bit to the NE of Itaewon. 

The highlights for August were:

– watching a backhoe for 10 minutes

– watching and chasing pigeons, both at Seodaemun Independence Park and Sungnyemun Gate

– playing in 3 water fountains in Namsan Park

– playing with another boy as they both pulled on a chain at Namsan Tower

August also got a ton of attention (a lot of tourist with cameras up at Namsan) and enjoyed that. He did great overall and even the long subway rides weren’t a problem (of course, he was still sleeping for part of the ride back). 

When we got home we were both exhausted. He was starving because he hadn’t eaten much at either of our eating breaks. And I was sunburned on my arms. Luckily, he was properly lotioned and hatted, and got turned around in the carrier. I, on the other hand, had my right arm facing the sun much of the time. 

Morning:

Sporting the new bug shirt:

Seodaemun Independence Park: 

Lunch at Sungnyemun Gate:

Namsan Park: 

First fountain: 

Going up: 

Playing at the top: 

Very dirty pants: 

Drinking fountain #3. His height. Unfortunately, he hit his head against an edge trying to play with two faucets at once and left a nice mark: 

Back home he and Carly were playing with his helicopter and he has suddenly gotten much more interested in and better at putting the shapes in their holes. The first few times he did it he put both arms in the air with his palms facing up. Alas, he didn’t do it when I turned on the camera:

Finally, a couple random wall shots since I took a lot of them: 

He took an early nap but slept until 10:43, meaning we were quite late for his class. He missed bubbles, but enjoyed what he made it to. Class today was about monkeys and there were two toys (a felt monkey with expanding plastic arms and legs and a monkey percussion instrument) that he was upset he had to give back so quickly. 

From Home Plus we took the subway to Costco. Took our time looking around. Bought him a bug themed set of clothes (two shirts and a pair of pants). Then went down and got our cheese supply. I emailed Carly to ask if there was anything else she wanted. While we waited we walked around and got free samples – August got to try orange juice for the first time and then we both tried a yoghurt with granola already mixed in. He really liked both. 

We then paid and went and got food. We took our food outside to the platform in front of Costco that had a family statue on it. We took our time eating and he crawled around a lot and checked out that statue. His hands and knees of his pants were nice and dirty. He also walked around a bit. 

We then went home. Thought he would fall asleep for a second nap but he never did. Eventually made it to close to 8. 

After Carly got home we all went to Home Plus. August loves free samples now and we got more here: he tried pineapple and watermelon for the first time, liking both, then had orange and a big piece of red pepper. 

Also at Home Plus, August and I ran into the same autistic guy from yesterday. He recognized is and immediately brought up Howard Zinn. Today he also brought up John Maynard Keynes and David Cameron, among others. And August got really excited when he saw the stuffed animals. He grabbed onto the pink sheep he looks at every time and wouldn’t let go, basically hugging it. He carried it around for a few minutes but I was able to peacefully return it to the shelf. We have plenty of stuffed animals already but I have a feeling I might be getting him a sheep at some point. 

We came home and he had a huge dinner of spaghetti (noodles included this time). It was like I hadn’t been feeding him all day. He was a complete mess and due for a bath anyway, so even though he was tired Carly have him a bath. He went to sleep soon after that. 

 

Watching his Dunggae Dunggae video:  

Waking up before class: 

Class: 

Intently watching the teacher behind me:

Costco: 

Reading the name of the statue:

Eating: 

He was focused on the wind in the trees: 

A walk around: 

Home: 

Eating spaghetti: 

Another three park day. In the morning August invented a new percussion instrument by putting one of his shakers in the baby blender and then using a stick from the xylophone to rattle it around. And when Carly was vacuuming he got even more excited and closer to the vacuum than usual. They also had a good time skyping with the PA crew. 

He took an early nap and during his nap I got a message from Derek saying he and Logan were coming to our park. So after August woke up we went down and met them. Like before they ignore the play structure and instead walked around the park. August was again I to following Logan. But August’s favorite thing was the big anthill we found. He wanted to sit down and watch the ants. This was fine while I was right there to keep the ants at bay, but when I tried to get a video one ran up his arm and Carly put an end to that. 

Derek and Logan were walking on to Eunhang Junction so we tagged along as far as Hangeulbi Park. We played at Hangeulbi, going on the swings, but mainly walking August around. We then went to Toys R Us to look around. We didn’t buy anything but August found a toy piano that he really likes. 

We returned home for awhile. Carly wanted to make spaghetti, so August and I went out one more time, this time to the playground by the youth center and stream. He walked a ton. He tried following a boy around who was driving one of those electric cars and he really liked walking on the grates over the drainage ditches. And when people were playing basketball he was very much into that. 

We were there for a little over an hour, and on our way back he walked from the playground to most of the way across the bridge before asking to be picked up. 

Back home he pulled out the train set, which he hasn’t really used in weeks, and played with it for quite awhile. He is much better at putting the trains in the starting tunnel and pushing the button than he was back then.

A close up while skyping: 

Dinosaur park with Logan: 

Hangeulbi Park: 

Playground by the youth center and stream: 

Walking the grating: 

Dirt: 

A break for circle time: 

He climbed into my lap for awhile: 

Walking home across the bridge: 

Spaghetti dinner: 

Playing with his train set: 

 

Olympic Park and SOMA with Meg

We went to Olympic Park and to the Millet et al show at the Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (SOMA) today. 

Much of our day today seemed to involve cleaning the snot off of August’s face. And he wasn’t terribly happy in the morning and took a 35 minute nap after a couple hours. It didn’t seem to improve his mood much, but once we got outside he was a new person. And he was thrilled to see Meg and had a lot of fun with her. 

We took the subway to the back (south) entrance to the park and walked to the north through the sculpture area. We went to Lotteria to get lunch before the art museum, but it was packed and the whole process took a long time. 

We ate down near the lake though, which was nice, and after we were done it was clear August was ready for another nap. 

We got our tickets and Carly and Meg went in while I made sure August was asleep. I only went in a couple minutes after them, but they moved kind of quickly through the show so I didn’t see them inside. 

When we were all done we walked back to the subway, past the huge crowds forming for a K-Pop concert, and headed home. After we transferred we were on a Larva-themed subway for the first time. 

We came home for awhile but needed to get some grocery shopping done. And August hadn’t actually gotten to do much playing yet. 

So Carly did the grocery shopping and I took August to the park. August and I got to talk to a very interesting, but very difficult to follow, autistic man. I wouldn’t mention it (we talk to a lot of people I don’t end up writing about here), but he talked a lot about George H.W. Bush, Noam Chomsky, and…Howard Zinn. What are the chances of talking to an autistic Korean guy in Seoul who admires the historian your son is named after? 

After that August and I walked through the art museum and then walked to the playground. He instantly wanted to start walking on the rocks and hills around the playground and did some bird spotting. When he did walk back down to the level ground he went to the exercise equipment and wanted to stand on that. 

After a certain point though his tiredness became too much and he was done. I took him home and he was almost asleep a little after 6 when Carly got home. He perked up a bit though and was able to make it to 7. He has been restless in his sleep though due to his cold. Hopefully both he and Carly will be able to get some decent sleep. 

 

First time wearing his Kermit shirt: 

August loved this rope fence at Olympic Park: 

By the time we left there was a huge line for the museum: 

Finding mama’s elbow funny: 

We got to ride one of the Larva-themed subways on the way home: 

More of the Larva decorations: 

Ready to go off the beaten path: 

His favorite piece of exercise equipment right now. He was riding a similar machine at park #2 yesterday: 

Exhausted boy, asleep early: