Ups and Downs

Well, Grant slept through the night again last night so that was great.  With the night time bottle he still takes he is asleep in 10 minutes of me laying with him and stroking his hair.  So we are going to keep it up until we get back home and then start to wean him off of it so we can brush his teeth after it and not before it.  Auden actually slept in and Grant was trying to wake him up with hugs and kisses, it started my morning with a very big smile and I'm so glad I captured it! 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we decided to be too adventurous and take the subway with him for the first time to Children's Grand Park to see the animals.  Unfortunately, it did not work out too well and on the subway he was looking for and calling out "omma" a few times and when we got there he just wanted to wander by himself (not hold hands and not walk forward through the exhibits).  So, he got mad at us when we tried to redirect him or had to carry him somewhere.  There were definitely a few angry outbursts.  The playground there made things a lot better and it was obvious that he loves and is used to going to the playground every day like his foster mom said.  He loves climbing and going down slides.  He fell asleep in the back carrier on the subway ride home which was good. 

 

After our exhausting outing we went down to the pool.  Unfortunately we did not pick up where we left off yesterday and Grant didn't even want to touch the water.  Even watching his favorite people- Daddy and Auden (and 6 other kids) having fun, he wanted nothing to do with it.  I know we can't force it but I was sad to see he didn't at least want to kick our legs like we did yesterday.  If anyone has any ideas how to help a 2 yr old who is terrified of water, please let us know!  Because I can't have one child whose favorite thing to do is swim and one who is terrified of water- not going to work at the pool this summer!  Hopefully our time here every day at the pool will help but I'm pretty weary about this issue.

 

Grant is still giving Daddy lots of affection but not so much Mommy.  I'm trying to grow thicker skin because I know it's going to take time but it remains hard.  I do cherish the little things he lets me do- change his diaper, blow raspberries to get laughs, dance with him, color with him...  But he is not ready to give me a kiss or a hug freely yet.  I'm glad Daddy is getting them though, better one of us than none:) 

 

Auden and Grant had a really good day together, they found things that they enjoyed doing together, like jumping on the bed and rolling off a couch onto a mattress, etc. and running loops around our hotel floor while Cody and I jumped out and scared them around the corners.  You know, typical boy stuff!  So, I'm happy to see their relationship progressing.  Grant loves imitating Auden and he likes to give him hugs several times a day.  Auden thinks it's pretty cute too:-) 

Here is an adorable video of Grant slurping up noodles.  He is the best slurper!  I love it!



First full day with Grant

When all is said and done, we had as good a day as we could have asked for given the circumstances.

He didn't cry at all during the day and was pretty happy and content the majority of the day.  His foster mom said he loves being outside and riding in the baby carrier on her back so we went to the Target like place down the street called Lotte Mart.  He did great on my back and it went well.  Then we found a little area for the boys to run around and we found out what an independent little guy he is- doesn't want help climbing rocks, steps, or anything- even if I know he can't do them.  So when I tried to hold his hand and help I got some good "teradactyl screeches" and some mean looks.  And of course the language barrier doesn't help things, wish I knew what he was saying when yelling at me in Korean!  This continued when we took the boys to the hotel playroom when I had to say "no" when he started throwing hard toys.  He's a bit aggressive at times (hopefully just part of the grief).  Of course, rationally I understand his mean behavior towards me (wasn't even 24 hrs with us) but emotionally it was hard for my heart.  

We heard he hated swimming (ut oh, Auden's favorite thing in world), so after lunch we took him down to pool to watch how much fun daddy and Auden were having.  He wanted to splash with hands right away and then in few minutes he was imitating me kicking my legs in water on the edge of the pool.  He splashed enough to get his whole body wet but he was definitely not ready to get into the baby pool.  But really, we should consider this progress a huge success based on what his foster mom told us.  But of course, I worry how the summer will go at home if he doesn't like the pool still.

I got him down for a nap pretty easy because it was an hour later than he usually goes down by the time we got up from the pool.  He lets me lay with him and stroke his hair but not his back because that is what his omma did.  Cody demanded I go down to gym to do cardio during naptime and hottub to de-stress and that felt good.  As always, Cody is my rock with the positive outlook.

The afternoon went much better as far as  Grant's behavior towards me.  He woke up happy from his nap and we decided to go on a walking adventure around our the area our hotel is and found a great old palace and running around space for the boys.  It was a great bonding experience for everyone as I would give Auden and Cody high fives as we were walking and Grant soon wanted in on them!  Then we would do "po po" (kiss) breaks and Grant soon wanted in on them too.   I stroked his legs when he was on my back and he even started stroking my arm for a couple minutes.  

After we got back he ate his first substantial meal- he likes spaghetti, yeah!  I wasn't sure if he'd like the red sauce but we knew he liked noodles.  And boy can that kid slurp up a noodle- it's the cutest!   We turned on music and he is a dance machine!  He thinks it's hilarious when I dance for him.  It was a good night and once again only cried for about 10 minutes until he fell asleep after his bottle by 9:45pm.  

So the afternoon definitely helped Mommy's heart and I hope we can continue today where we left off yesterday.  But ultimately, I know he is doing extremely well given the circumstances and the fact that he was happy the majority of the day and loved being outside with us is huge.   I know I have to give him time to warm up to me, after all, I just replaced his beloved omma.  I am glad to see how much he has taken to Cody, it's fun to watch how he does things to try to make Cody laugh- he's a big ham!  And Auden and Grant are doing better, mostly because Auden is being a great big brother and letting Grant grab toys from him without a fuss.  The biggest source of contention is when Auden gets to watch something on iPad, Grant wants to touch the screen and not watch it.   He is a busy little guy and won't stop for one minute, maybe a little longer if it's coloring.  

We just need to remember that we can't expect Grant to be like Auden was at 2.  Every child is different.  Grant seems to be very independent for his age, very tough, and strong-willed.  He is also quite the ham and will win you over with his smile even if he is being mischievous.   But some of what we are seeing could just be a grief coping mechanism so it could just be too  early to tell what his little personality is.  

Right now, just taking it day by day;-). 

Smoothie time!  

We captured the one minute Grant stopped moving in the hotel room and watched the nature channel program that was on TV.  He's a busy, active boy!

PS- please note- while we are posting pictures of Grant on this private blog (not searchable by google, etc, we just give the link to our family and friends personally), we can't put pictures up on Facebook until the Court has issued final approval and he is legally ours.  This is because of rumors that Government workers check our Facebook pages due to privacy of the child issues.  And we wouldn't want to jeopardize our final process in any way.  So we ask that our friends and family please respect this as well- thank you!!!

Videos of Grant!

Well, the boys are all still thankfully sound asleep (6am and Grant slept through the night!) but I am up so I thought I would try uploading three cute videos we took last night so you can see our little cutie pie in full force:-)  I hope it works and you can see them!

 

 

 

In our arms!

I know many of you are anxiously awaiting an update and pics!  All I can say is WOAH, it's been an active few hours.  The van ride from the agency to our hotel started off great since I had his favorite snack (Gerber puffs) and we were making silly faces in the phone camera and laughing as you can see below.  But then there was traffic because it was rush hour and after 10 minutes the novelty of us wore off and he was wondering where the heck his omma was (foster mom).  So, then the crying and screaming continued until we got to the hotel.  If there wasn't traffic and it didn't take so much longer to get there we probably would have arrived without tears...but what can you do?  We survived.  

 

 

 

Then he calmed down once we got to the hotel room because he wanted to explore the place and the toys.  Things were looking up again.  He occasionally asked for omma but all in all we got lots of laughs and smiles during playtime.  But let me tell you, this kid does not stop moving, I mean like never ever.  I really hope it was due to the new surroundings or we are in big trouble- not even a TV show in Korean or an ipad will make this boy stop for more than 15 seconds.  He was having the most fun pretending to cook in the microwave (it's his height).  He touched and pulled everything in the hotel that wasn't nailed down, haha.  We couldn't take our eyes off of him for a second.  What a smarty pants he is though!  He already repeated the words "ball" and "belly button" our first hour in the room! 

 

 

Unfortunately our biggest issue was Grant's behavior towards Auden.  Auden was being such a good boy and big brother and trying to show him stuff and play with him but Grant is not used to sharing and playing with young kids.  Auden is very sensitive and we had to keep explaining that we need to keep Grant happy right now and then we will have to keep working on being nice and sharing.  The language barrier doesn't help either (we were trying to use our list of Korean toddler words, ha).  Our hearts were hurting for Auden because he was trying so hard to play with him.  We know all this takes time and they did have a good few moments together.  

 

 You can see Grant definitely is smitten with his Daddy already.  But thankfully he is not being mean towards me, he is laughing at me when I'm silly and letting me give him food, change his diaper, dances with me (he is quite the dancer!), etc. 

Bedtime!  After Auden watched a show Grant wanted nothing to do with story time unfortunately.  I hope he can sit still for longer than 15 seconds tomorrow:-) 

Our happy boy got sad again for bedtime and wanted his omma, which was to be expected.  Crying and screaming for 10 minutes before we gave him his bedtime bottle that he still takes at night and I laid with him until he fell asleep sucking on just air at that point.  My heart was aching for him.  I can't even imagine what is going through his head right now.  It felt so good to just hold him finally as he laid there asleep in my arms.  Finally, my baby in my arms!  Unfortunately we need to figure out what to do with this bottle that he falls asleep with after he brushes his teeth because he already had two fillings because of it.  But we will deal with that in time.  Right now it was just important that we kept his routine. 

 

 

What a little angel.  Please keep the prayers coming.  We hope every day it gets a little easier between him and Auden. 

 



 

Custody tomorrow!!!!!!!!!

We just got a phone call from our social worker at 8:00pm in our hotel room!  They got the official preliminary approval from the Court this afternoon and we are set to take custody of Grant at 4:30pm tomorrow!  He will finally be in our arms forever in less than 24 hours...it's hard to believe.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he will be spending his last night with his foster family tonight and saying goodbye to them tomorrow and not really understanding why.  Please pray for as smooth a transition as possible given the circumstances into our family.  

It's finally happening!!!!!  Our family of three is becoming four!  

Fish Market and Han River playground

Today was our first really poor weather day since we have been here for two weeks.  Meaning the sun didn't come out at all and it wasn't 80 degrees, ha.  We made the best of it and went to check out the fish market that is quite the spectacle (we were there during quiet lunchtime) and found a nice playground along the Han River on our way back to the subway station.  We ended the day with our usual hour of pool time before we make dinner in our little "apartment."  We are definitely settled in to our little home away from home:-). 

Who needs an aquirium with a fish market like this?!

Zipline!

Swinging with Mommy.  Then Auden testing out his picture taking skills below!  

Children's Grand Park

Today we went to Children's Grand Park.  We heard great things about it but we didn't know what to expect.  It has fountains, playgrounds, zoo, botanical gardens and amusement rides.  Most of the stuff is free except for the amusement rides and the animal show.  When we first entered the park we were greeted by fountains that were choreographed to the music soundtrack that was playing, it was really neat. 

 

Then we decided to buy tickets for this animal show but since it was all in Korean we had absolutely no idea what to expect besides it having animals and being a Peter Pan theme.  All I can say is that it was hilarious!  Since we couldn't understand the actors we had no clue what animal or thing was going to happen next.  There were seals with horse hats on, cats, pigs, monkeys dressed like humans walking on two feet, lots of birds flying around and at one point even guinea pigs.  Definitely an experience Cody and I will never forget (and Auden liked it too). 

 

  

 

 

 

Then it was time to go see the zoo portion of the park.  First of all, I can't believe it was free.  Second of all, it was a combination of being really awesome and really sad because they obviously don't have the regulation U.S. zoos have and we could see the animals SOOO close up because they really did not have much space at all for them.  Only the "ferocious" animals had the plexiglass, all the rest just had little fences and people were encouraged to feed them, they had machines  you could get animal food out of even!   I don't think it's wise for a toddler to be giving food to a deer, donkey, etc. but that is what was going on, it was crazy.  My camera does not have a good zoom lens, these are really how close the animals were to us, it was unreal. 

 

 

It was feeding times for the bears!  They were all standing on two feet trying to catch the apples the guy up above was throwing down.  What a sight!  Almost looks like humans in costumes.

 

We didn't even go to the amusement rides or botanical gardens portion of the park Becuase we wanted to save some stuff when we go back with Grant.

  

                                                 

 

Auden had a great day and I think we made the most of what should be our last weekend as a family of three!