October Adventures

October has been a busy month for us so far.  At the beginning of the month, the little guy and mommy took a 5-hour car trip together to see my two nephews be baptized.  He travels so well in his car seat and loves bopping to the music we play: Korean and English children's songs.  We have one Korean CD of songs that J's foster mother gave us when we met him the first time and we play it all the time!  I don't know if J still recognizes the words or not, but he loves to dance to it and mommy can sing along with them (although I doubt my pronunciation of the words it legit!).  We had all four cousins together and grandma and grandpa were thrilled!  Grandma tried to get all of them to sit with her, but with two toddlers and two infants, it was quite impossible to do in one shot...although I'm sure she won't stop trying!!!

grandma, Cousin C (back to the camera), his little brother E, and J

breakfast story with Grandma

C    up a tree!

Cousin C really wanted to hold J's hand, but he wasn't having any of it at this time...

 ...although a few minutes later, a hug was reciprocated!

Mommy, J, and Cousin C (what an armful!)

Mommy, J, and Cousin J (little less of an armful, but more squirmy!)

J is climbing into his chair that was on the floor...ready to eat!!

At a stop on the way back home.  "Mom, I'm bored!  Turn on some tunes, please!"

We took J to the sheriff's office so that they could serve him his papers.  This is another step that we have to do in order to finalize his adoption and he was so polite when the policeman gave him his papers.  We also told J that that is the only time he is allowed to be in the sheriff's office, unless he is working there!  The nice man let me take a picture of them during the 2 minutes it took to complete:

A few random pictures from this month:

Playing the piano at grandma and grandpa's house. (no pants, once again. sigh.)

Our little monkey-boy!  We just adore these pj's.  J likes them too, but he really just wanted to be picked up here and NOT photographed; hence, the pouty face.  I just want to laugh and kiss that pouty little mouth when I see this!

Rock on!!

He climbed in the wagon great-grandpa made to watch a little TV.  Not sure if he looks comfortable or not...

Yesterday, the three of us went to a Korean reception being held in Chicago where J's Korean SW was one of the honored guests who had come over from ESWS (the adoption agency in South Korea).  It was amazing to meet with her again.  She remembered J and was calling him by his Korean and English names.  J was more interested in trying to climb on the coffee table than in paying attention to the adults around him that were so focused on him!  The SW stated that she now knew how we felt when we saw J for the first time; he has grown up so much in the last 4 1/2 months that he was like a new little boy to her.  She did tell us that his foster mother had taken a couple months vacation after we picked J up at the end of May, but that she talked with the SW after that and said she missed J so much that she needed another little one to take care of.  I am thrilled that she will continue to foster other children; even only having met her twice, we know what amazing people she and her family are to open their lives and homes to these children who need their love and nurturing until they are able to be placed in the arms of their forever families.  It has got to be so hard to take these babies in, knowing that at some point in the future they will have to give them back, possibly never to see them in person again.  I hope that, at some point, we will be able to see J's foster mother again and show her how well J has blossomed in our home as our beloved child.  I believe that part of the reason for J's easy transition into our lives was because of his foster mother.  She helped give our family a wonderful gift and words cannot describe how very much we will always appreciate her.  Here is a picture of J giving his Korean SW a hug (after a single prompt from his mama):

I think we were both holding back tears at this point.

Our family with J's SW from Korea.

It was a wonderful day and I also got to meet a few of my bloggy friends in person for the first time.  There was also yummy Korean food and a pretty intense Tae Kwon Do presentation that I didn't get any pictures of because I was so mesmerized by watching them!  After getting back to town, we ate dinner at a favorite Chinese restaurant.  J had a wonderful appetite and we had no leftovers once he was finished.  I let him walk out of the restaurant where we had to walk down an aisle between booths to get out.  My little guy, who is usually shy around strangers, was waving bye-bye with his hand above his head at everyone as we were leaving...and of course, everyone was laughing and waving back at him.  What a little ham!!!  Too cute.  I wish I had a video of it, but the camera was in the car.

I do have some video of J with his new broom (he would not let go of this broom even to let the check-out lady scan it!  She had to bring the little hand-held scanner to the cart, he had such a tight grip on it!) and him jamming in his chair.

I'm getting him started early with cleaning.  Next up...dusting!  :)

We are planning on getting our first set of professional family pictures taken next week, hopefully while the fall foliage is still in color.  I am really looking forward to this; it is another thing that others may take for granted, but I have been longing for for years, not knowing if it would be something that would happen, at least with a child involved.  Our little family of three, but a whole lotta love!!!!!