Life with SeungHwan

Things are getting better each and every day.  I have wanted to hop on the computer and give you all an update but wow, that has not been an easy task.  And yes, I know....welcome to parenthood. Believe me I am not trying to sound like I am complaining. 

This is going to be another bullet list and scatterbrained post...and I am sure I will forget something crucial (like my long time friend coming to the airport and me completely NOT including her in my last post...love you Elisa!!!) but we are so thrilled.  We have been home two weeks yesterday and it is funny how it already feels like longer. We are loving this boy.  He is an elephant loving, dinosaur roaring, sweet, active, affectionate, stubborn, joyful, brave, silly, talkative, acrobatic sleeping, two year old who has completely stolen our hearts.

Many, many things have happened in the last two weeks and I need to remind myself (as our social worker did) that we have only been home two. We have tried to read our son and he when says, let's not stay in all day we try to go out and he also tells us when he wants to go home so we listen whenever possible. He has enjoyed meeting some people (friends and family) and knows when we are home. So if you are reading and haven't met him and would like to, please get in touch with me or Keith. All of the transitions (good and not so good) we are all going through are making us stronger as a family. If I could someone how clear up any of his confusion...answer his questions, speak more Korean to make things easier..I would. I can only imagine what his little heart and soul is struggling with.  And even though it might not look like it all the time, I know it's there. He has lost so much in the last few weeks and his world has completely flipped.

here we go.... :)

• Enjoyed Thanksgiving with Keith's parents...thank you for bringing us a feast.
• We love going to the park around the corner. He loves the slides and running around everywhere.
• SeungHwan enjoys music...which means we all get to break out our awesome dance moves.
• SeungHwan has discovered the love sac.  There is this really fun game where you count to three or in his case "one, two, four" and run and flop into it. You should try it sometime.
• Our sleep flip flop of days being our night stopped on Sunday, December 1st. SeungHwan went down for a nap around 4 am or so and was still sleeping at 8:30...cue good morning wake up call and our first day out in daylight since Thursday.
• We went to the pediatrician.  Lots of screaming after having to take off clothes and shoes. Dr. was awesome and looked checked for birds in his ears (made super bird sounds) and listened for apples in his tummy. Appa's too. Along with that visit....the next day included three shots and blood work. SeungHwan was really brave even if it kinda sucked.
• Someone really loves the pets.  He is learning to be gentle with them all.  My original thoughts on Gemma loving him turn out to not be true and my original thought of we just made her life a living hell a little more accurate.  He really, really loves Gemma though and even if he wakes up a little crabby as soon as he hears her sweet meow will perk right up. "Hey, Gem Demma. *click click*)
• Keith has been wonderful. So thankful he could take so much time off for our family's adjustment. It was and continues to be crucial for everyone here. He has been most patient when I admittedly have not been.
• Speaking of....Keith saved our backs (literally) and bought a memory foam mattress topper ( I think it was day three?)....cosleeping on the floor in SeungHwan's room has been great but our bodies are not used to that style....soooooo.....
• Someone got a really cute big boy haircut today.  I miss his longer hair but it needed to be cut and he was awesome. That was a surprise as we had heard he didn't like it.  I expected more tears, SeungHwan you are (and look) fabulous!
• Every time we leave the house, he says (my translation): bye bye house! See you later! 
• SeungHwan met a model at Nords.trom and instantly fell in love.  She received the first deep bow I've seen him do to a person, a hug, lots of "안녕요?s" his adorable way of saying 안녕하세요?), and a share of a his lollipop. He visited with her for a couple of minutes. Too hilarious.
• We went and cut down our first family Christmas tree.  This should be it's own separate post but I have a feeling that won't happen.  We went with our favorite Hall family and it was quite chilly but so fun.  It was also Keith's first time cutting down a real tree. And how cool we went to the same place Krista and I went to as kids. Lots of exploring and some great pics!  Our tree is up and decorated. SeungHwan said his Korea "wow" when he came downstairs yesterday morning. It is his first Christmas tree.  He can say "ornament" and asks what they are.  I pointed out the penguin one I bought last year. Now he points and says, ""....love.
• SeungHwan loves his dinosaur camel.back water bottle. How cool that I happened to pick out the perfect one before he came home.  Elisa....he also loves to play in the footie dinosaur jammies you gave us..too hot to sleep in (he must be hot blooded like Claire) but asks to put them on and roars and claws around once on. 
• Experienced playdough his first Saturday home.  Not sure if he played with it in Korea but he loves it and helps with clean up.
• Attended his first American birthday party...yay Claire. Met more of the family.  By the way...he loves his 이모 and  이모부.  He now asks to go to their house.  He also has played with Claire and Paige quite a bit now. I am looking forward to watching their cousin love grow and grow.  Paige drew the most adorable picture of the two of them the other day and I am looking forward to more time with them these months that I am home.
• Keith snuck the dogs out for walks until the first Monday.  When I went to class, a walk was a great distraction.  The next day the dogs went on many walks and were quite the tired pups.
• I had another baby shower...this one a surprise one thrown by my awesome Master's cohort and professor at Santa Clara.  Me and another classmate (who is expecting) received an awesome surprise for our last class. So sweet. My professor (who I love) said some things to us that are so true...things like enjoy the moments, being a parent and children are the best gift, they grow up to be your friend, etc. Our cake said "Happy Parenting"....I love it.
• Today we had our first post placement visit.  We were happy to welcome our social worker back in to our home, she is truly wonderful.  We will see her again in January I believe.  She pointed out how when we first met her..Claire was three years old and Paige was one....nuts.
• SeungHwan came to my school and met some of the staff there.  He also received a Panther pride shirt....hehehehe.
• Cereal has been discovered and might be the new favorite food. We shall see.  누룽지 (burnt rice soup) is still the most consumed food here.
• SeungHwan loves the camera and will often strike a quick pose before running over to see it. Same goes for videos which can make it hard to film if he sees you. 
• He is also now an independent tooth brusher.  We brush teeth together and I promise you, our teeth have never felt cleaner with all the brushing they get. If only he would let me help with his molars but I will wait on that one. I'm just happy he wants to try!

Here are my top three favorite things right now.

1. At bedtime, I have been singing a song called "Moon, Moon, Moon" to him.  I used to sing it to Claire too. SeungHwan has been starting to sing it too the last few days. Especially the "look up it's the moon" part and it melts my heart each time. Tonight he added the "moon, moon, moon...shining bright part".  I love the way he sings it and I can already hear his sounds changing.  In the daytime he tried singing it and when I started he just watched my mouth move.

2. I have a special necklace that I have worn the last few years on my journey to a family.  I added a charm when SeungHwan joined our life from far away, and Krista gave me another last year.  The one gift from Krista has his name on it.  Some time ago I told him it had his name and he nodded in understanding. At Claire's party, he was looking at them (he often does when being cuddled) and told me the names of each one. Starting with his name 승환, then one of the circles is엄마, and the other 아빠.  Such a sweet, sweet boy.

3.  SeungHwan acknowledges our words of love to him. At first it was with nods and then with an echo back.  The first time he echoed it back was in Seoul.  The other night, he said it all on his own to me.  I love you too SeungHwan.

I'll try to edit this soon and add some pictures.  Need to sleep now! :) love to you all.