Movie Monday on Tuesday

I know, I know, I've been slacking off on updating the blog.  But this summer has been so full of traveling, friends, family, and fun that I've had to prioritize and the blog has been down the list a ways.  I am storing everything up though, for the time when I am able to finally sit down, get pictures ready, and write.  And yes, that may be once the weather starts getting bad.  The last month or so, we've finally gotten decent weather where we can be outside for more than 5 minutes without getting drenched in sweat.  Little Boo didn't mind that weather, but Mommy kind of did!  So we've been soaking up the time we can be outside, running around in the sunshine, playing ball, riding bikes, and getting dirty.

But I digress.  You didn't come here to read about why I haven't kept the blog updated the past couple months; you came for the promised movie.  Have at it!

"Chicken"

He calls the middle strap of his life vest his "tail" and handed it to Daddy while we were waiting to watch the sun set at the lake.  Of course, the two of them turned that into play time as well!

Boo loves ice cream!  He was especially liking eating Mommy's "purple ice cream."  (Honestly, I don't know what's up with my eye roll about 4 seconds into the video - ignore it.  Please.)  At 16 seconds, Boo finally caught the eyes of the two young girls who were at a nearby table and you see him sending his "cheese!" smile their way.  What a flirt!

Binky

A few nights ago, we trialed Boo going to sleep without his beloved binky.  Now, I've been reading about it and many people seem to wait until their children are around age 3 to take the pacifier away.  But others have said that they trialed it much sooner (or forgot it when going on a trip) and the child did very well without it.  So we thought, why not give it a shot...

We had had a couple of conversations with him throughout the day about giving his binky to the binky fairy for another little girl or boy to have who needed one.  And maybe a big-boy present would be in its place when he woke up!  He seemed to be okay with this.  So Daddy put Boo down for the night; he asked to be placed in his crib soon after they started rocking, which is not uncommon anymore (we've come a looong way, baby).  Because Boo was just in there talking up a storm, Chris decided to sit next to the crib until he settled down more.  Wellllll, that lasted over an hour!  At that point, I could hear Boo saying (through the monitor) "Uv oo, Dad-dy.  Daddy night-night, floor.  Daddy, legs, floor."  I had no clue what on earth that last one meant, so I went upstairs to see what he was doing.  Come to find out, he was laying face-down in Boo's doorway, trying to inch himself out without being seen - flashback to last summer!!!  I could hardly contain my laughter at seeing my grown husband on the floor, being caught by our 2 year old trying to leave his room!  (He could only see Chris' legs at this point, hence his last comment.)  So we just decided to bite the bullet; we gave him one of his trains and said good night.  And then proceeded to listen to him cry and sob his heart out for the next 10 minutes.   But not for his binky, nooo...he is scary smart: he cried for his daddy.  Who caved.  That little boy got his binky and was asleep within 5 minutes.  Like Chris told me, if he had been crying for Mommy, I probably would have been up those stairs just as quickly.  He was starting to sound a little panicky by the time Chris got to his room with the binky.

At least we tried.  And we'll try again at some point.  But this round goes to the binky.

Parents: 0  Binky: 1

Zoo and new friends

A friend and I have been putting together a playgroup for families in our extended area who have adopted children from Korea.  Last weekend, we got 5 families together at a small zoo for a morning of (hot!) fun.  Two of the families I had not met before in person, although I "knew" one of them through her blog.  It was great to finally meet them and their families face-to-face!  All the kids had a great time at the zoo and afterwards, we played in a waterpark just outside the zoo.  Everyone was pretty wiped out by early afternoon and left with the promise of getting together again sometime in the near future.  Here are some pictures from this great day:

Sorry, Grandma K., but he really liked petting the snake!!

And Daddy loves that he loved it!!  That's my biologist hubby.  :) 

I thought he was going to try to give the goat a hug like he does with Lexi!

This was THE fastest merry-go-round I've ever been on!

I need to remember that I am no good with going around in circles, fast or slow.  Ugh, nauseating.

Chris gets to take Boo on all those crazy circle rides from now on.

Our attempts to try to get a picture of all the kids.  We're missing three of them, but I think we/they did pretty well, considering!

Movie Monday - Buckethead and Beerman

One empty bucket = loads of fun

(same bucket that he has played in before; we get plenty of playtime out of it!)

Our little beerman...heehee!!

Half his life...

So today marks the time when Boo has been home with us longer than he was half a world away.  He spent his first 13 1/2 months in Korea and we are now hitting just over 13 1/2 months home as a family of three.  It seems crazy that, when we started the whole adoption process, our friends hit this mark when their son was about 18 months old, and new friends who started the process since we brought Boo home are going to hit that mark when their child is about 3+ years old!  (meaning that it looks like the kids are now going to be coming home around 20 months)  I was telling the Hubs recently that, knowing how impatient he is (of course, I can be also!), I don't think we would have had the will to start the adoption process now, knowing how long the wait can be.  I know I complained and cried and got ticked off during our process because it seemed so slow and I knew that we were, obviously, the only ones stuck in that mess (yes, that is how my brain works when I'm stressed), but I can only imagine how those who are going through it now are feeling.  Honestly, it is not somewhere I would wish to be right now.  I admire the strength that they have going forward in their journey and just want to let them all know that, regardless of when your little one shows up in your life, that will be the perfect time for it to happen...and it is all definitely worth it when you hold him/her for the first time.

And back to having our little one home for over half his life...can I just say, a-ma-zing!  So, to honor the 27 months of his life, here are 27 things that we have learned about and love about our son:

1.    the boy absolutely adores choo-choo trains

2.    he also loves trucks and buses

3.    oh, and anything with buttons or wheels

4.    he loves to give "ugs" (hugs)

5.    when someone gets an "ow-ie," he is right there to comfort you with a kiss

6.    he makes up his own "ow-ie's" so that he gets kisses too

7.    he still loves his binky at bedtime

8.    he is a great traveler

9.    he is a daddy's boy

10.  he is a mommy's boy

11.  he likes to chase his "Yexi" (Lexi) around the house (poor puppy)

12.  he is stubborn, stubborn, stubborn

13.  he hates getting shampoo rinsed out of his hair

14.  did I mention he loves his binky??

15.  he can drink from a big boy cup without spilling, most of the time

16.  he loves ice cream (definitely our son!)

17.  he asks for his vitamin in the morning (seriously, what child likes vitamins?!?!)

18.  I swear he thinks our older dog's name is NoJinx, since that's what he says to her all the time!

19.  he loves to dance to music

20.  he likes to get in the driver's seat and pretend that he's driving Daddy's truck

21.  he loves to be outside, regardless of the weather

22.  he loves to eat with a fork, just like Mommy and Daddy

23.  he can count to 20

24.  he can sing his ABCs (although not too clearly, but I know that's what he's singing!)

25.  he loves to be read to before bedtime, especially "Pajamatime!"

26.  he can tell us when his diaper is dirty (potty training, here we come, uh, sometime this year, maybe)

27.  he loves to streak naked after his bath

...and one more for the next month he's with us...

28.  he loves M&M's (which are being used during the above-mentioned potty training)!!

There are soooo many other things we have learned about him, things that make him him.  If we had had to come up with a list of qualities for the perfect child for us, we could not have come even close to the perfection that makes up our little boy.  Everything about him is the right fit for the three of us and changing even one thing would change who he is.  We have been honored and blessed with the gift of getting to know our son over the past 13 1/2 months and we cannot wait to enjoy the rest of his life and watch him blossom and grow.

We love you, Boo, forever and ever and always.

He's doing swimmingly!!

Short brag about swim class tonight...he made great strides (or should that be strokes? heehee) while he was in the water this evening.  After dunking myself under the water and having him pour water over my head, I said that it was his turn.  So he did!  He poured a bucketful of water right over his head...and then laughed!  It was great.  Then he proceeded to kick his legs when I told him to, which he has not done consistently in the past.  Finally, he let me lay him on his back a couple of times, getting the back of his head wet.  We are so proud of our boy!

Friends

A couple weekends ago, a friend of Chris' came to town with his family and stayed with us.  They have a little girl, S, who is 4 months older than Boo.  For some weird reason, the majority of the people we know with kids Boo's age have boys, so this is really the first girl friend he's had!  They were both into the "Cars" movie and we actually took them to see "Cars 2".  The hubs wasn't expecting much from them, but I thought Boo might do okay for most of the movie, considering that he sits through almost all of the first one without too much fidgeting.  He did great!!!  Started him with a snack because the previews were l-o-n-g; really, you'd think knowing that there are young kids coming to see this movie, that they would shorten the previews to, like, none, but I think there were almost 20 minutes of advertisements on first!!  Once the movie started he was awesome, with one more snack and a juice box and a very short potty break near the end.  He did better than kids older than him.  The movie was way more complicated to follow than the first one, but he liked watching the cars race and blow up.  So our first movie theater experience couldn't have been better; what a great kid we have!

Now for some pictures of Boo and his new friend, S.

Having a snack outside on the front porch after an almost 3-hour nap from both of them!

Sharing his toys. S did a great job pedaling the tricycle; I won't be able to keep up with Boo when he's able to finally reach those pedals!!

holding hands after their daddy's softball game...so cute!  Future DIL???

relaxing in the dog bed together while watching "Cars" one morning

Mommy with the two kids...not sure I could handle this all the time!!!  LOL!

We had a great time with their family and hope to see them next time they come through town.