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Father’s Day was very relaxing. Christina and I decided to treat ourselves a little. So, after having a great breakfast, and receiving a wonderful card from Kai, we headed out to a nice mall/hotel/park/city called ‘D Cubed’. Up first, Christina had a facial while Kai and Daddy played a card game called King Toad while having coffee, juice and chocolate cake together at Starbucks. Then, Kai and Mommy had lunch at Burger Hunter while Daddy had 30 minute Stress Buster back massage (mostly swedish style) followed by an hour and a half of Thai massage (I like the stretching!) Then we spent the rest of the day shopping, having smoothies, dinner, etc. Kai fell asleep during dinner and we walked around Insadong during the night doing a little window shopping and stopping to listen to 3 guys play and sing for the crowds. Mostly Beatles songs:-)
Once I can get it off of my iPhone I will post it.
After we spent the day with Keegan, we grabbed smoothies from Smoothie King and headed back to the hotel to hit the rooftop pool. Then, out to dinner at an italian restaurant.
Today we were going to get to visit with Keegan and Foster Mom again….and surprise, Foster Mom’s son, his wife and 75 day old baby and Foster Mom’s younger son. What a wonderful blessing it is to get to meet the family that has been such an important part of our son’s life. And they are truly wonderful people. It was great to see how Keegan loves his entire family and seems to have bonded very strongly with all of them. We played on the bouncy, bouncy wall and slide and ball pits for a long time, saw a magic show; well, everyone saw the magic show but me and Christina because we were watching Kai and Keegan the entire time. We sat with Keegan on my left and FM on his left and Kai on my right and Christina on his right. Kai and Keegan loved the show! There were cool tricks and a lot of amazing bubbles including them being blown into the crowd. Keegan desperately wanted to get to the bubbles and has really proven himself to be a real climber today:-) It was really great to have some up close and personal playtime in the ball pit with our two sons.
After, we all went to Burger Hunter for lunch where they make all the burgers by hand. Very delicious. And, in addition to finding out how much he loves strawberries (poor Kai is allergic to them), we found out that in general he just loves to eat! I don’t know where it all goes because he is so little!
We had some great conversation about our lives in NJ/PA, their lives in Seoul, and everything in between. It was amazing to get to know them and Keegan in this way! They also wanted to invite us to their home which is quite an honor to us though their grandmother is currently ill and they said hopefully when we return to Korea we may be able to visit again. Again, we felt very honored. As far as our return trip, we will have to see what our agency advises in terms of how we spend our time once we take custody of our son in terms of what’s best for his transition. We really hope we can continue to get to know them more of course!
Later in the day we returned to our hotel and went swimming in the rooftop pool with some new friends.
After, we went to dinner and since Kai really wanted pizza we went to a nice italian restaurant just 3 or 4 blocks away. However, Kai fell asleep while eating his first slice of pizza (glad it was only a couple blocks away because carrying a 52 pound 4 year old was a lot of work).
Again, how fortunate are we to have had more special time with Keegan and his entire foster family!!!
I’m going to keep this very short because I’m falling asleep trying to get this posted. We had another fun day today. We visited the Coex aquarium, toured the Hyundai department store (11 floors!), saw some of the Coex mall, saw the show, Nanta (which is amazing) and did a little window shopping. But by far the coolest thing about today is I talked with DJ and she arranged another visit with Keegan for us. I asked her if it would be okay to invite them to the zoo with us on Saturday and though we decided getting to the zoo would be a bit complicated, we ended up with a planned lunch and trip to the Pororo indoor theme park which both kids will love. Also, FM has invited us to their home after which will be great to learn so much more about Keegan. Our hearts are soaring; we are so lucky! I am glad I took a chance and asked now:-)
Maybe I will post some pics from today after I get some rest but for now, good night.
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.
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:-)
After meeting with Keegan, we got a little tour of the new Holt Guest house where often times family’s will stay during their trip here. It’s very nice and affordable. Then we returned to our hotel and decided to head out to Insadong to do a little shopping and maybe get some lunch. However, the rain picked up and we were quickly very wet. So, a quick change of clothes and we headed to a restaurant in the hotel for lunch. They had a buffet that included pizza so Kai and I were game. It was more of an artsy pizza (not philly, NY or Chicago); something like you’d get at Pizza Rustica in University City so it took some coaxing for Kai because of the “green stuff” (oregano) but eventually he ate it. Then since the rain stopped, we took a walk through Insadong. While walking we ran into some new friends we know from our adoption community online. It was nice to finally meet Sarah and Travis in person. We’ve all been in this waiting period for so long and it’s nice to have others that are in it to talk to now and then. Kai quickly fell asleep in his stroller so we did some more walking and then returned to our room thinking we’d all take a short nap. We figured we’d nap for about an hour and wake up around 4:45-5pm and get ready for dinner. Well, Christina and I woke up at 9pm and decided there was no good decision from here that would ensure Kai would get plenty of sleep and be fresh for the group playdate scheduled for the next day at 1pm. So, we went back to sleep and waited for Kai to wake up. At 11pm he did (so he got about 8 hours). So, we all got up, ate some oatmeal and bananas and had some juice, played some games (still playing at 2:06am) and I’m updating our blog with pics. Pretty soon we will try to get him to go back to sleep and tomorrow we get another meeting with Keegan.
We decided to keep it simple and use a taxi instead of the subway to get to the new Holt building. It was a nice rainy ride over and Kai really enjoyed all the different color buses he saw along the way. We arrived about a half hour early so we went for coffee downstairs and bubbly lemonade for Kai. He decided that bubbly lemonade “really gives him energy”. He also loves the smell of coffee and really enjoyed the smell of my vanilla latte. He says “when I’m an adult, I’m going to drink coffee; yummy!”.
We then headed back upstairs to meet Keegan. The Holt offices are very nice and it seems like they have a lot more space. The room we were in had 3 couches, a table and toys for the children to play with. Kai couldn’t resist and started digging through everything while waiting. Then, he and his foster mother arrived. He’s so tiny and cute! And, as you will see in the pictures, he and Kai were wearing the matching shirts! FM said to DJ (our wonderful social worker) that we sent about 10 shirts and that’s the one she decided to have him wear today. I think it’s pretty interesting that she and Christina made the same choice.
When he first came in, he became unsure and unhappy asking for omma(FM) and demanded she pick him up. Kai was really trying to get him to play with him too and very patiently. After a few minutes, he started to get more comfy and wanted to play with the toys. Over the next hour or so, we had some great conversation with FM and DJ, learning a lot about his sleep habits, what he likes to eat and drink, how he likes to play, etc. We also found out, we have a biter. Not a big deal but something to look forward too. Kai was not happy about that at all. Keegan went to hug a Winnie the Pooh bear and Kai wanted to hug it with him (it was so sweet) and Keegan decided that he didn’t want Kai to be a part of it and tried to bite him on the arm. I was able to quickly tell him no and no skin was broken but it hurt Kai’s feelings. We reminded him that mommy’s sister used to do the same thing to Mommy and sometimes this is a part of being a big brother. I am really impressed so far with Kai’s maturity about these brotherly issues.
Kai also got to play some catch with FM and DJ with a little soccer ball. They are both pretty wonderful and watching them engage with Keegan and Kai you can really see how much they care about them. It’s really heartwarming to know how much he’s been loved.
Christina was really able to make him smile when playing on the floor with some toys (especially the steering wheel). He loves to dance especially to Gangnum Style. We asked if he liked animals and FM said he loves puppies; so he’ll love Calvin! He loves playing peek-a-boo; we were really able to make him laugh and smile there.
We had to take a family pic and it was a struggle because he wasn’t comfortable with us holding him for long and Kai was giving very cheesy smiles so to get everyone smiling at once was probably tough.
In general, we had a great meeting learning a lot about him and can’t wait for some more Keegan time:-) One more very special thing, DJ asked Kai if the judge asked what he thinks about baby brother what will he say?
“I think he’s a little bit perfect! It’s a little bit because of the biting part.”
