ART MUSEUM & POOPOO LAND (INSADONG WITH KIDS)
My first born son.
He has been in a bad mood lately with emotional breakdowns saying that we NEVER listen to him. I was heartbroken since I knew there was some truth to his words and what he was feeling. Since he is our oldest and the best behaved, he is the last person in our family to get any help or attention. In some ways, he gets the most attention because he is the first to experience important milestones being the eldest. He gets to experience all the excitement of being the first, but he also receives all the stress, worries, and fears that come with it, or at least I do. And as my eldest, he is growing way too fast in some ways, but not growing fast enough in other ways. As a mother, I have this tension within me. I want him to stay as my sweet baby, but I also expect a lot from him...to be good, to be nice, to share, to clean up, to be ready on time, don't whine, don't complain, just to name a few behavioral things. I secretly want him to exceed in everything that he does. I guess what I really want is a fully self-sufficient super 3 year old boy forever. 😏 HA! Now that I am putting my thoughts in writing, I realize that the tensions I experience with my eldest is mostly for selfish reasons.
So that's the backdrop to our overdue date day. He loves LEGOs, so I wanted to take him to THE ART OF THE BRICK exhibit by Nathan Sawaya. I didn't expect much, but it was pretty amazing! It was great experiencing something we both enjoyed together. Here are some pictures from the exhibit.
Location: Ara Art Center in Jongro, Insadong
Date & Time: Showing until Feb. 4, 2018 open everyday from 11AM to 8PM
*Tickets need to be purchase online. I ordered from Coupang. They DO NOT sell tickets at the door.
After the exhibit, we had lunch at Bibigo Season's Table located in the main Insadong-gil which is a 5 minute walk from Ara Art Center. It's a Korean buffet that cost 14,900 per person and half price for kids during lunch. It a good place to try some traditional Korean food with drinks and dessert for a good price. We also got to talk over lunch. He is pretty excited about starting first grade in March. He thinks it's going to be fun. He also said he knows mommy and daddy listen to him many times, but don't listen sometimes. I was so glad to hear that. It made me realize that he is not always driven by his emotions anymore but also with reason. He is growing up...
After lunch, we walked around the Insadong-gil and told him he could go wherever he wants and I will follow him. I was glad to see him be interested in different types of art work and traditional items that were displayed there. Then he saw a sign for "POOPOO LAND." I realized that now that he can read, I can't lie to him to avoid things that I don't want to do. Before, I would say something like, it's not for kids or it's closed and move on, but now he can read! As soon as he read "놀이똥산" which is a play on word of - 놀이동산 (which means amusement park, but literally translates to play garden/land and they added the word poo and the sign says play poo land, which translates to Poo Poo Land in English) he begged me to take him. First, he thought the name was so funny and the whole idea of going to Poo Poo Land excited him. Something about poo and kids. 😒 So, we went.
Location: Inside of Ssamji Street in Insadong.
Date & Location: Open everyday except on national holidays from 11AM to 8PM
*Tickets are 6,000 won per person at the door
Don't expect too much. It's a small place. You could be in and out in 30 minutes. But it's somewhat educational. And don't be surprised by all the farting noises. 😆 There is a section where you enter a mouth as food and make your way through the digestive system and you are pooped out by riding down the slide, but you have to be at least 130cm tall. Jacob is only 120cm, so he wasn't able to go down the slide sad to say. Nonetheless, we were pooped out, so time to go.
Parenting is hard because we need to change and adjust as our kids grow and we also have to be aware of our selfish values and expectations. We think we finally have a routine or system that works for our family, but that doesn't last long. I can't believe we are going to have a kid in elementary school this year who can read and reason. He is becoming more independent and into a little person of his own. And I feel proud to start this new chapter in his life, but not sure if I am ready.
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