Grant's 12 month update

This week we received an extensive update from Grant's 12 month appointment (from April 22, 2013)!


The highlights are:

• He drinks formula 4-5 times a day.  He eats solids twice a day that include chicken in boiled rice, beef in boiled rice, vegetables in boiled rice, steamed sweet potato, apple, orange, strawberry yogurt, etc.  It says he eats very well! 
• He is given a bath every day and he likes bath time.
• He goes to sleep at 9:00pm and gets up at 7:00am with 1-2 naps per day for one hour. 
• He is WALKING on his own!
• He understands what is said to him.  If he is asked to give over a toy he has been playing with, he knows to give it to the person asking. 
• If he is angry, he arches his back and lies back to throw a fit (haha).
• He likes playing with a ball.  He turns pages in a book and looks at them.  He tries to scribble.  He puts small objects in a box and takes them out again.  He opens drawers and takes things out of them.  He stacks about two blocks on each other. 
• He imitates taking a spoon to his mouth.  He holds a cup with two hands and tries to drink from it.
• While he plays he say "umma" (mommy), "mamma" (baby talk for food), "ahppa" (daddy). 
• He likes to go out.  He tries to take off his own shoes.  He especially follows his foster father and like to play with him. 

At 12 months old his stats were:

Weight: 21.4 lbs (approx. 30th percentile, for comparison Auden was 19.5 lbs at 12 mos.)
Height: 30 inches (approx. 65th percentile)
Head Circ: 46.8 cm (approx. 65th percentile)
Teeth: 4/2- I think that may mean 4 on top and 2 on bottom? 

I've been to enough of Auden's appointments with the developmental specialist to know that Grant is doing wonderfully!  He seems to be ahead of the curve on many gross and fine motor skills!  And his language at 12 months is completely age appropriate (and several months ahead of his big bro I might add, ha).  It is so nice to know that he is thriving with his foster family...but of course bittersweet that we can't see all of these fun things he is doing.

They have a special birthday celebration in Korea for the child's first year.  It is called a Doljanchi or DOL for short.  They dress the children in traditional Korean attire called hanboks and have a nice party with lots of food and sweets.  The highlight of the DOL is a ritual where the child is placed in front of food and objects. The child is urged to pick one and the item the child picks is believed to foretell the child's future. This ritual is called Doljabi. Guests are urged to guess what the child will pick and to submit their guesses.  More modern items are used today based on current occupations.

Some of the items typically used and what they symbolize are:

money- wealth/entreprenuer
pencil- scholar
brushes- artist
stethoscope- doctor
gavel- lawyer
microphone- entertainer/celebrity
ball- athlete
hammer-atchitect

So, what did Grant pick at his DOL celebration?!?!?  the MICROPHONE!  We got a little entertainer on our hands!  It would be nice to bring some singing talent into our family since Cody and I are lacking in that department:-)  Can't wait to see if he fortune comes true! 

We are suppose to be getting pictures of the celebration shortly, as they are being sent via DSL to the agency before they get to us.  Looking forward to seeing Grant in his cute hanbok with the microphone in his hand!