Group Playdate

Today I woke with a terrible headache. Lack of sleep combined with not having my normal coffee throughout the day doesn’t work out well for me:-( After breakfast, the hotel concierge wrote down the Korean words for pharmacy and gave us directions to get there so I could get some Tylenol. They were also kind of enough to book us reservation for ‘Nanta – A cooking show’ which we understand to be a bit like Stomp and that Kai will love it. So, tomorrow night (Friday) at 5pm will we have a great show to see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanta_(show)

http://nanta.i-pmc.co.kr/Nanta/en/About/AboutNanta.aspx

I am pleased to say we managed to find the Pharmacy well and having the Korean words for pharmacy really helped. Wow is it small! Basically you tell them what you want and they give it to you. He recognized headache and suggested something that looked more like non-drying sinutab. So, I broke out my Jibbigo-KR iPhone app and recorded me saying Tylenol and it translated for him perfectly! I used that app a couple times so far and it really worked well with a little practice.

Then, on to Starbucks to add to my headache remedy; plus Kai likes the smoothie drinks there. And then a quick royal lunch at the Burger King. It was quick (and efficient) and we knew Kai would eat there.

From there we took a taxi to the Holt office for our second meeting with our son and a group playdate. The taxi driver really tried hard but insisted the address I gave him was correct based on his GPS and would’ve left us about a half mile away. So, I broke out my Evernote on my iPhone (yes, AT and AA, I said Evernote;-) and searched for my city map I scanned in and found where we were and pointed to where we wanted to go and it helped him get us there:-)

Once we arrived (5 minutes late), the staff took us into a room but Kai wasn’t having that and immediately ran to the room we were in yesterday and yes, baby brother was there waiting!  We all walked from there to the park together. I got a lot of great pictures of him and omma(FM) and also got him to let me hold his hand while walking a lot including across busy streets and down a lot of stairs:-)

We walked through a beautiful outdoor mall with some wire shaped animals and he just loved the elephants. I’d write the Korean word for elephant but I’ve forgotten and Christina just fell asleep for a nap so I can’t ask her. Then we arrived at a nice little playground. He started on the slide (which he loved) but very quickly he apparently upset another little friend and got bit:-( I understand it was a revenge bite because earlier while waiting for us he kicked his little friends car. Of course it breaks our hearts a little to see him upset and while it was a good bite that left an impression, no skin was broken and only his pride was really hurt. Maybe he’ll even learn from it that he shouldn’t bite others? This was a great opportunity for all of us though. Omma was consoling him but also let/encouraged us to console as well. I got him to smile with some fruit snacks and silly kisses on his boo boo and we all got to feed him some more fruit snacks. It was a nice little bonding opportunity. Then he played for awhile and DJ and the FM’s went for some coffee and left us for a little bonding time. It was us and two other couples (one of which we know a bit already). He was fine for a little while but when he fell on some steps, he looked for omma(FM) and immediately became unconsolable. I was first on the scene so I got to hold him for awhile. He was full of tears and just cried out for omma over and over. Then he reached out for Christina and calmed a little while she consoled him. After a few minutes though, he was still very upset and reached out for me. Yes, our hearts were warmed. So, he and I walked around a lot and at times I’d get him to calm briefly but then, very quickly he’d be upset again crying out for omma. I should note, it was his nap time but had to skip it due to the timing of this visit. So, I took him to see some floating umbrellas in the mall and walked in circles around them saying ‘Woooh’ over and over. He’d repeat what I was saying and smile really big! Awe, the first thing I taught him:-) And when he did, I’d tickle him under his arm and he’d laugh like crazy.  We did this for about 15 minutes and then I found he really liked riding on my shoulders. So we did this for about 10 minutes and then started to return to the play area and met everyone on their way out. Then we all walked to some very cool dancing water fountains coming out of the concrete in the middle of the mall. FM said she has a change of clothes so all of us let our kiddos play in the water. Both Kai and Keegan just loved it! She says he really loves water which is great because so does Kai. In fact, Kai is Hawaiian for ocean! What a blast! I got in there too (thankfully my camera is waterproof) and got some great pics and some video. After awhile it was time for everyone to go. Just after FM left, I asked DJ if we could invite FM to visit the zoo with us on Saturday and she said yes!!!! I am so glad I asked. So tomorrow I will call DJ and ask her to help set this up (if FM is interested and available) so we may get a third visit!

After our little party broke up, we decided to get some smoothies at Krispy Creme and then walked around the mall a couple times and then on to dinner at TGIF’s. We wanted to make sure Kai ate so today was a day of eating as American as we could. Tomorrow, we will try and eat something local (while visiting the zoo) and again after the show (Nanta). Even I am craving some Bulgogi right now. I am having urges to be a bit adventurous with my eating right now and that is not like me! If you are an adventurous eater, wow is Seoul a great place to be. There are seemingly endless interesting restaurants and street foods available. I think you could walk for a month stopping at every place to eat and not travel more than a block or two!

Now, we are back at the hotel and Kai and Christina are taking an unintentional nap on the couch. I guess we will get a good nights sleep tonight and be plenty rested for our trip to the aquarium and then Nanta at 5pm.

I hope everyone is doing well and the derecho/tornado’s didn’t happen at home like the weather reports are saying.

I want to summarize two very big things about today. First, Keegan was willing to let me and Christina comfort him even when he was crying out for omma. When she wouldn’t be there, he’d bury his head into my neck and grab me really tightly. This is very, very good. Second, Kai was awesome about all of this. We told him we were very proud of how he tried to comfort baby brother and especially proud that he understood that sometimes Keegan will need our attention and he replied “It’s kind like me yesterday when Keegan bit me and I needed mommy”. He is one smart, mature, caring kid in my humble opinion. We are so happy and proud it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. What an amazing day! It seemed like it was both hours long and only a few minutes:-)

Lunch at Burger King

WalkToPark

Getting upset because he couldn’t find FM when he fell.

Playing in the fountains (yes I got wet too:-)

Playing in the Fountains(medium)

Playing in the Fountains – 2

Smoothies at Krispy Kreme

Kai giving mommy a “frozen kiss”

Some funny signs

Yes, Pizza in a Cone!!! I will try one later this weekend!