frustrated baby

Last Sunday, Kai was having fun pushing his Pooh car and trying to load various items onto it. He was having a hard time "stacking" things, probably due to his lack of finesse. Here is what Daddy helped him load up (notice the nice variety of items...ranging from my flip-flops to kitchen utensils).

This is what happened when he attempted to go mobile with it!

Poor guy...but it did give Mommy and Daddy quite a chuckle!

4 month update

Today our sweet boy has been home with us for four months! Wow! It’s hard to believe it’s gone by so fast. It’s been amazing to watch his transformation, adjustment, and attachment to us. He is really an easy-going little guy, he’s adjusted very well with my return to work and going to day care. And, he’s so smart! We can’t get anything by him anymore! He no longer screams at the sight of his sippy cup, and even embraces it. We have not used a bottle in well over a month! Oh, did I mention he’s a dare-devil? This kid has no fear! Although, I’m happy to report he’s learning how to properly get off the couch. He is learning new sounds and words everyday, and babbling constantly! Often, he really sounds like he is telling us something very important, and we really wish we could understand. It wasn’t a huge surprise that one of his first words was “dow” (down), since he hears it about a million times a day! (As in..."Willie, get down....Willie, get down....Willie...DOWN!!”) He’s nearly an expert walker, and went for his first “outside walk” last night. He loves to be outside, and when he feels the cool breeze on his face, he just smiles and takes a deep breath in. He’s going to graduate to the next class at church tomorrow! My baby is no longer in the “baby room”, now he’ll be with the “runners”! Oh, man, he’s growing up so fast!

Also, a million thanks to our close friends and family, who very kindly gave us our “family time” during his first weeks home. We can see that it really has paid off, and helped him bond well with us. 

OK, enough of the Mommy gush...here are some pictures over the past 4 months!   

Family Day~12/26/07

1/26/08

2/26/08

3/26/08

Today~this is what we get now when we ask him to smile!

The next Picasso?

Kai drew this all by himself! We've had a couple tries at coloring that lasted all of 30 seconds before he started eating the crayon. A few days ago we gave it another shot, and he played with the crayons and scribbled for nearly 5 minutes before he started eating them! 

Can you tell I'm proud of my boy??

SUN!!!

Finally!! We have been enjoying unseasonably warm weather for the past two days. Today our patio thermometer topped out at 80 degrees! Kai has been having a blast playing outside; running around the back yard, blowing bubbles, and doing what boys do best... digging in dirt!

Yesterday afternoon we had a nice play session outside. It was nice and toasty warm, but still cool enough to require long sleeves and pants. Today we had a down and dirty play session outside. No joke, that little boy was outside from about 2pm until bedtime, only coming inside for a little while once! What started out nice enough, ended with a little boy who had to take his clothes off outside because he was so dirty! He also ate his first meals outside today. To add to the fun of  a beautiful day, Grandma & Grandpa C came for a visit! He had so much fun with them, we went to the park and swung on swings, played with his new sand table, blew bubbles from the "bubble gun" they brought him, and ate dinner outside. He was also giving them both lots of loves and hugs which was awesome to see! So far, a totally fun and beautiful weekend, but looking forward to a little down time tomorrow! Here's a few pics from our outdoor fun!

Enjoy!

What happened to my baby? 

He looks like such a "little boy" here!

Kai decided he didn't like the taste of dirt...

Eating snack outside today

This is where things started going down-hill. 

Notice the sand he's dumping on his head...

 

After attempting a new fashion trend, called shirt-a-la-sand, 

we just gave up and took the shirt off!

Yuka!

This past weekend we had a very special visitor. Almost 5 years ago, Yuka stayed with us for 3 months while she was here on a student exchange program from Japan. Over the past week or so, she has been on vacation with her family in the US, and last Sunday she came to see us!! We've stayed in touch through Christmas cards and email, and she especially wanted to come meet our sweet little Kai. We had a great time visiting with her. She really enjoyed playing with Kai, too! She wanted to visit the University, go to Cafe Yumm to buy some yumm sauce, and go to Costco. So, that's what we did. She had a wonderful time as we walked around campus, and she reminisced about her days there. Kai did great while riding in the ergo for nearly 2 hours! He started to get a little tired of it by the end, but he did fabulous overall! This is what it looked like towards the end!

After our adventures around town, we went home and had pizza for dinner. She said our pizza is much better than the pizza in Japan...imagine that! She also had fun looking at pictures of our family. When she was last here, Ryan (our nephew) was Kai's age...now he's 6! 

After Kai went to bed, we showed her some of our pictures since Kai's been home and watched a bit of Ocean's 12 before we all started falling asleep. She liked watching the movie since she just visited Las Vegas before she came to Oregon. 

It was really nice to see her, and she kept saying that maybe she'll come back to visit again in another 5 years!

Kai is wearing his Japanese "happi", which Yuka brought for him. 

It is the traditional Japanese festival attire. He looks so cute in it!

Yuka and Kai!

How sweet it is...

...to be loved by Kai! Our little guy is really starting to show us affection! On Monday after I got home from work (btw, the day Joe buzzed his hair), I picked him up to hug him. He wrapped one arm around my neck, and snuggled his head on my shoulder. After a few seconds, he pulled back, looked me in the eyes, then snuggled some more. He did this 2 or 3 more times before he was done. He did the same thing last night when I was getting him out of his high chair after dinner. Talk about melting your heart! He's also been leaning his head in and bumping heads with us. I'm not sure if this is a sign of affection, but it seems like it is. 

On another note, today we had our first encounter with a curious child. We were waiting in the check-out line at Costco. Kai was in the cart, and I was on the other side of the belt, waiting to pay. I was talking to him across the belt, and there was a little girl behind us (probably 8 or 9 years old) who was talking to Kai and playing with him a little. When she noticed me talking to him, she started asking questions. The conversation went something like this:

Girl: "Do you know him?"

Me: "Yes, he's my son."

Girl: "Do you like taking care of him?"

Me: "Yes, I love it!"

Girl: "Why does he have different eyes, you know, like this... ?"(and she made her eyes almond shaped with her fingers)

Me: "Because he's from Korea."

Girl: "How can you be his Mom if he's from Korea?" (very puzzled look on her face)

Me: "Because I adopted him."

Girl: "Oh."

And she happily went along playing with him until we were finished in line. It was pretty cute.

No jokin'

BABY GOT BUZZED!!

Needless to say, I'm a little nervous to leave "the boys" home alone again!