Samuel Craig's Life Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:59:00 +0000

This is a message sent using Ping.fm (http://www.ping.fm). I'm hoping that it only ends up in my blogs and not across my social network :)

Sammys first fight and bubble jump slide

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:46:00 +0000

YouTube - Sammys first fight and bubble jump slide

Yep, the boy had his first playground brawl. Don't know who got the worse of this. I kept the video going because I didn't think it was a big deal, but sent Moon in to get him anyway when it continued.

It happens toward the end of the video.

The other little shit was messing with everyone. You can even see him starting with some bigger kids at the top of the slide. I'm guessing the boy has some troubles. He even attacked some parent sitting on the bubble with her baby.

He went after Sammy a couple other times too. Finally, (probably should have done it sooner) took Sammy out of there.

I've come to the conclusion that I must teach Sammy how to fight dirty. At the very least, I'll teach him the Karate Kid kick that was so successful for Daniel-san.

Going to the Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:12:00 +0000

Daddy hasn't posted for a while, but he's working on one that covers the last few months (yeah, I know, pathetic). In the meantime, he thought that I would be good to get a recent adventure up for all to see.

We went to the Seoul Grand Park Zoo on Sunday. It was a great trip. I was in a stroller and daddy pushed me around ALLLLLL day. He's feet hurt quite a bit by the end of the day, but the smile on my face was worth it :)

The subway exits right into the park, so It's not a bad trip from home (about 45 minutes on the #4). Mommy was worried that it was too far for us to go in the late morning on Sunday, but she didn't realize that it is only 4 stops past Sadang. Of course, in Seoul 45 minutes is a very, very short trip. We go farther than that for dinner on many nights :)

The entrance is lined with food stands. You could get something here, but you aren't going to get ripped off inside the park, so rather than carting food along with you just order it there. There is a KFC at the entrance and they sell picnic packs, maybe that would be worth it if you're not in the mood for other Korean staples (they have a good variety in the park)

As you can tell from the map, it's a pretty big place. The most difficult thing, though is to walk from the entrance to the zoo. It's takes about 20 minutes, so wear your walking shoes. You can take the "Sky Lift" if you are so inclined, but not easy to do with a stroller in tow. It took about 5 hours to do the tour we did and we didn't even get to see everything. Probably a good idea to break it up into multiple trips. I'd also recommend hitting the northern sites first, since they are often the more exciting for kids: big cats, bears, elephants, etc.

This cool tiger statue is at the entrance of the zoo. It is huge and really sets the mood for the day. The Grand Park Zoo is truly grand. In fact, it's one of the best that I've been to and I've been to quite a few at this point (given that I'm only 2). They spent a lot of time on the design. It's not cliche (at least too much so) like so many other attractions in Korea. It's subtle and somewhat natural.

As you can see from the sign, there are a lot of options (not all represented here). I was impressed with the variety and the quality of environments. While some were a little too much concrete, the majority seemed very well done. I'd seen reviews from 10 years ago saying it was a depressing place, but my experience was much different. It was a great family environment for the humans and seemed like a good environment for the animals as well.

I woke up just as we arrived at the first animal display. These strange pink birds are called flamingos. They look good, but not as good as me with fantastic bed-head. I was amazed with these strange birds and I didn't want to move on, but daddy convinced me to do so.

The next group of animals were really strange. They looked a little like horses, but they had these long necks. They are called giraffes. I wanted to climb over the fence and get a closer look, but daddy said that they would eat me, so I stayed back. I don't think they really would, but you never know. The world is strange.

These are called rhinos. Rhinos have a big horn on their nose. This is a funny picture. It looks like one rhino has two heads :) Alas, that is only an illusion, but I would love to see a real two-headed rhino. That would be cool. These guys were interesting enough. However, by this time I was looking for something a little more. I get bored easily and with so many people around and so many animals, I wasn't paying much attention any more.

And THIS was just what I needed. This was the coolest slide I've even seen. It is an elephant head and I got to slide down the trunk. I wanted daddy to go with me, but he was afraid he'd get stuck, so I went alone. I liked it so much I went again and again, until daddy pulled me away. He thought I was going to break my head on the climbing wall there. I feel backwards a few times, just missing rocks and other nasty things. I wasn't worried. I just think he's over-protective.

Next, we went to the bird sanctuary. They were feeding the pelicans and cranes. They gobbled up the fish and I couldn't get enough of that. I nearly got pushed in thanks to the pushing crowds, so we didn't stick around long. That's the first time that I've ever seen those big birds eat though. Very interesting. I wonder if I could fit in the pelicans' mouths?

I got to feed the deer again. I did this once before at the Seoul Forest, but this time I got to get closer to the deer. I was so scared, but excited at the same time. We ran out of food fast, so I try to feed them dry leaves. Surprisingly, they didn't like dry leaves. I'll have to remember that. They did like carrots and this dry cereal-like stuff. They licked my hands and daddy (the germaphobe) freaked out and wash and sanitized my hands a few times. I think he's a little nuts sometimes.

This was a silly bear. He stuck his tongue out at me. I really liked the bears. They had a few different kinds and they really played to the crowd. Unfortunately, this is because people were throwing junk food at them. I was a little upset, but I couldn't do much about it. Daddy is a little bit of a wuss and didn't do anything either. I guess it's tough to stop large numbers of people from doing something they don't think is wrong.

Mommy and Daddy keep telling me I'm a monkey, so I really identified with this statue. These are my people. It was not nearly as cool as the real ones though. They had the monkeys and crocodiles/alligators in the same building. I really liked the crocodiles. It is featured in my favorite Korean song, so I am fascinated with them. Daddy had to drag me away from the railing. I only wanted to swim with the crocs, but he didn't think it was a good idea.

Daddy bought me a tiger mask to remember the day. He taught me to growl like a tiger and I really liked doing that the rest of the day. I even scared some younger kids on the subway back home. It's a guilty pleasure to scare people :)

I'll probably forget about this trip soon, if I haven't already, but daddy promised that we'd go again. Maybe next time, we'll have time for the Children's Zoo either there or at Children's Grand Park. It would be fun to touch more of the animals. Daddy is already stocking up on santizers.

Summer 2008 Chicago Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:55:00 +0000

I haven't done a substantial update for a while. I thought it might be time.

We came to Chicago (Northbrook) on June 15.

We arrived just in time for Father's Day. We really surprised Grandpa, who I now refer to as "papa" by the way.

I've been touring popular parks in the area with my daddy

Not to mention a visit to Glencoe Beach, not too far from Grandma and Grandpa's house. I nearly buried myself trying to dig my way back to Korea.

I've taken the train a couple times. Though I take the subway nearly every day in Seoul, it's not the same. I love the train here. It's so big and loud. It's both scaring and exciting. There's so much to see out the window too.

I'm preparing for my Aunt Marcey's wedding. I read the ring bearer's book that they game me until I passed out...

...and I tried on the tux I'm going to wear, though I didn't make it easy on daddy because that wouldn't be fun. I have to admit, I clean up well :)

Daddy's been treating me to a lot of ice cream much to mommy's chagrin. I better enjoy it now, before she joins us on the 7th.

I really loved going to Lincoln Park Zoo with daddy and Anika. We had a great time running around and seeing all of the neat animals. However, my favorite thing was riding a small train that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the zoo. None-the-less, it was wonderful. Did I mention, I love trains. Here's a picture of us at the zoo.

Last but not least, we have gone to Meadow Hill pool 2 times! It was awesome! I mostly played in the kiddie pool, but I really loved jumping into the big pool. My daddy was really surprised when I begged to jump in again and again. Unfortunately, daddy couldn't get pictures of this since he needed to make sure that I didn't drown.

More to come later. These activities are all from my first couple weeks. I still have the 4th of July and a big wedding to look forward to. Yeah!

Updated Photos and Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Hi all.

I've been pretty good over the last couple months about updating my Flickr site as well as my YouTube site. Check these out for some great Sammy (and family) stuff.

A trip to the outlet mall

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:04:00 +0000

30-second Day Out with the Family

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:42:00 +0000

Sammy's 2nd Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:36:00 +0000

Welcome back to one of the most neglected blogs on the Web. However, I was motivated by Sammy's 2nd birthday to post something.

Cliche as it is, time really does fly. It's amazing that our little boy is now 2. He surprises us every day with his grow, both physical and cognitive. We never know when a new word will pop out of his mouth (or which language it will be) or where we'll find him next (he's mastering the move and climb maneuver).

This year we celebrated Sammy's birthday at a "Play Room". It's a relatively small business that has indoor playground equipment and toys. Great for infants to toddlers.

We invited Moon's SIWA (Seoul International Women's Association) playgroup members. Most have kids that are a little too young to fully enjoy playrooms, but we have a wonderful time anyway.

We then went to the Olympic Park (yes, from the 1988 Olympics), which is across the street from the playroom. It was a glorious day (note me in a t-shirt) for a walk.

On Sunday, the Kims came over for tacos and a make-shift cake.

Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:09:00 +0000

I just organized a bunch of videos on my YouTube account. Most of them are of Sammy. See them all at http://youtube.com/bigdaddyseoul

These aren't in chronological order, but they are searchable. Try searching for "cooking" "cleaning" and "eating".

Our Wish Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:57:00 +0000

It's that time of year again, and, as usual, I'm behind schedule. I should have gotten these out sooner.

Here are the wish lists for Dan, Moon, and Sammy. These are links to pages that have links to things that we want. There is also a link to our Amazon.com wish lists on these pages. No need to get things at Amazon, but it is a convenient place to mark things that we need/want.

Dan - http://del.icio.us/danielcraig/christmas2007%2Bdanielcraig

Moon - http://del.icio.us/danielcraig/christmas2007%2Bmoonyoung

Christmas-themed sweaters (size small)
Christmas earrings
Archivers Gift Card - Archivers is a scrapbooking store.
REI Gift Card

Sammy - http://del.icio.us/danielcraig/christmas2007%2Bsamuelcraig

I don't know what it's called, but there is a marker set that only writes on special paper (Mindy told me about it). That sounds really good considering the pen marks all over the house :)
Car seat
Sand toys (for beach and playground)
He loves big cars, trucks, construction stuff, etc.
Clothes for fall/winter (3t--next year--Moon shops well in advance)

Let me know if you have any questions: dan@danielcraig.com

Odds and Ends

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:14:00 +0000

There always seems to be items that I miss out on and don't mention, so let's add some of there here.

Pretending

In July, Sammy started pretending. He has been putting the phone (and other items) up to his ear for a long time. This, I consider to be more imitation than pretending. Not surprisingly, though, it was also with the phone that he started pretending. He picks up the phone and begins "talking" with a rhythm and tone surprisingly similar to the one that Moon uses on the phone (Korean version--he never hears me on the phone).

He also started cooking. We got him a small cooking set with an oven/range, some pots & pans, and some wooden food. Right away, he started using the items like we do when cooking. He pretended to eat the food, complete with chomping sounds. He even started to make slurping sounds with the utensils and sharing them with us.

These are a couple examples from many that are popping up every day.

Kissing

July 22 marked the beginning of the end. Sammy has begun kissing the girls....at least they are girl dolls. He hasn't continued on with this one, but we're still working on it :) Mommy gets them more often than Daddy.

Using the Toilet

In September, Moon set up a kiddie toilet for Sammy. I made a little fun of her for putting that out for a 16-month-old.

Sammy on Kiddie Toilet

However, a couple days later (9/11/2007) I was getting Sammy ready for a bath. He was in the bathroom, naked, and he decided to sit on the potty with his reading materials (imitating Daddy, I suppose). I thought that it was a cute picture, so I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture.

Little did I know, that I had a picture of him using the toilet for the first time. He left a little puddle in it! I'm telling you. This kid is a genius...at least when it comes to bodily functions.

A Day at the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 18:52:00 +0000

Note from Sammy’s Mom:

Before summer was gone, we decided to go to the beach.

When I was a kid, my parents took me to the east coast every summer vacation. I still remember these vacations vividly. As I watched Sammy play in the sand and the water, I recalled these past outings with my family.

To get the most out of this trip, we needed to rent a car. It’s not cheap in Korea, but it is cheaper than owning a car. A car for two days was around $100 with 40% off, and the gas was $75 to fill up this car (over $6.50/gallon in Korea). I don’t know how people can afford to have a car in Korea.

Anyway, we went to west coast on Saturday morning (around 7:00 AM to beat traffic). There is a big difference between west and east coasts. West coast beaches are very shallow, whereas east coast beaches are very deep with steep drop-offs right off the beach. It took us around 3 hours to get Anmyon Island because of bad traffic (regular traffic in Seoul). Before noon, we got Ggotgi Beach.

Right away I could see how much Sammy loves the water. He didn’t look back us. He just ran into water. Dan had to tackle him and get him into his bathing suit.

It was hot day, but the water wasn’t cold enough to cool us down. We spent around 4 hours at the beach, and then we decided to move out of the sun.

We went to Duksan Water Park. This is a spa/water park. The focus is on the natural spring water, but the slides and lazy river give something for the kids to do. It took us a hour from beach. It was very fun and a nice place to go for hot summer.

We finally got home a little after 1:00 AM. It was a long day, but we all had a great time.

May to July 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:47:00 +0000

Now that Sammy has passed that year mark I think that I'm going to do more irregular postings here. Sometimes more than a month, sometimes less. Of course, as you can tell from the title, this time it's certainly less :)

This isn't because there are fewer milestones, it's because Daddy can seem to get regular postings up because he's just so darn lazy.

Let's take a look at the last few months as we moved from spring to summer and from 18 month to 24 month clothing.

May

This is a video of Moon reading to Sammy. I love these cute videos.

Children's Day is celebrated in Korea. We decided to go to a city festival to celebrate.

Here's Sammy at a temple during the Lantern Festival. This festival celebrates Buddha's birthday.

June

This should make Grandpa so proud. Sammy just loves playing with his calculator.

Sammy loved walking around the Free Market in Hongdae

July

Enjoying a night out with the family at a Sam Gae Tang place (kind of chicken soup). Sammy really loved the chickens. Little did he know where they would soon end up....

Chicago Trip - June/July

Where do we start? I'll just let the pictures do most of the talking.

Sammy loves pools and this huge one at Meadowhill was his favorite.

Doesn't he look happy posing with Daddy.

We had fun at the zoo, though it was about 100 F in the shade.

Sammy was testing out this one before we got on the real one headed to Quincy.

Sammy approved of Mindy's new house.

Here's the family posing in front of the riverboat in Hannibal.

The circus in Quincy was fun for all.

Sammy dancing at the Village Green (really short clip)

4th of July

Mommy doesn't play nice. STOP SPLASHING ME!

Grandpa and Sammy in matching shirts

Sammy has a little quality time with Grandma in the garden.

That's it for this installment. Hopefully, I'll be back soon to update you on more recent events.

Sammy's First Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:29:00 +0000

We can't believe that it's been a year already, but I guess we should be too surprised. Just stop to think about what has occurred in our lives since April 5, 2006: Sammy was born; we were then subjected to 3 months of non-stop crying (no joke) and therefore 3 months of absolutely no sleep; then we quit our jobs, sold just about everything we owned and moved to Korea; we have visited Chicago, Spent a weekend in North Korea, and another on a Korean island called Jeju; we have celebrated numerous special occasions with family and friends; we have explored our new environments; and we have learned a lot about each other, especially Sammy's burgeoning personality.

Now, at the 1 year mark, it's time to reflect on that time and look forward to further milestones is Sammy's development as well as our coming adventures as a family.

This milestone was celebrated physically with our family here in Korea with a very special birthday party and, of course, in spirit by those of you living away from us.

Why is 1 the Magic Number?

The first birthday is a very special occasion for Koreans. It's place in Korean custom likely centers on the depressing reality that babies often didn't make it past the first year. Being a year old, very practically indicated a marked improvement in their chance for survival.

I've been told that the modern traditions were forged in royal homes more than those of common Koreans. However, over time, these traditions made their way into more and more Korean homes. I am going to describe these traditions to you, but you must understand that I am working off of a limited knowledgebase that is both rife with holes and potentially dead wrong :)

Common Traditions for the First Birthday

Of course I'm no expert in this area. I've only been to one other first birthday party, but I've informally interviewed about 30 students on the topic.

Just like weddings across America, no two first birthday parties are exactly the same. However, I can talk about commonalities.

It's traditional for participants (primarily child, mother, and father) to dress in hanbok (traditional Korean dress). Sammy and Moon look lovely in theirs....I look out of place.

First birthday parties are commonly held (for those who can afford it) at restaurants, hotels, and conference centers. The variety is great, ranging from mom & pop restaurants to 5 star bank breakers. The food ranges from traditional to contemporary (read Korean to "Western"). The entertainment ranges from self-run to professionally organized affairs complete with party planners, D.J.s, clowns, and whatever cheesy addition that the cute, coupled social climbers can conjure up.

Ok, so that's the variety. Here is at least one tradition that is relatively standard. The child is put behind a table holding a collection of duk (types of rice cake), fruit, and other delights (many of which are plastic these days).

Then a set of items are placed in front of him or her to choose. The choice of object is supposed to indicate your future career choice or simply fortune.

Silk Thread - There is a bundle of silk thread. This symbolizes a long life (long thread = long life).
Money - There is money (usually a bill). This obviously symbolizes wealth. This is the one that most participants at the party will try to get the child to choose. I can't blame them. While many choices promise a career (that will earn money), money IS money.
Rice - There is a bowl of rice. This symbolizes a person who will be well-fed. In the context of a people that have struggled to simply survive for so many years (not a representation of the current context) this is represents comfort and well-being.
Jujube - There is a bowl of jujubes. This is not as common as the others given my interviews, however, nobody was surprised, so it can't be uncommon. This symbolizes royalty or in our current times political life. At least this is what my father-in-law says, but nobody else that I asked had any clue.
Book (and/or Pen) - There is a book or pen in most setups. We had a book, but I wish that they had used a pen, Sammy would have liked that more. This symbolizes an academic life, or the life of a scholar (I was hoping he wouldn't choose this).
Microphone - There was a Microphone. Now I moved from 'is' to 'was' because I'm no longer referring to normal items. These are some of the new, modern choices that are often up to the parents and, in our case, up to the folks we paid to set this thing up. The microphone symbolizes entertainment or the life of an entertainer.
Computer Mouse - There was a computer mouse. Believe it or not, I didn't want him to choose this one either. This symbolizes a career in IT, or some people generalize it to mean a career in engineering or the sciences.

There are many other items that can be put on the table including stethoscope (medicine) or other engineering or science-specific items. We were hoping to just get traditional items, but nobody could really tell me what was traditional. Everyone I talked to said to add a computer mouse. So, an item that's been around for a few decades is traditional in a history that spans over 5000 years!? I run into this mindset quite often, which, while understandable, frustrates the researcher in me.

What Did We Do?

We went about half way down the middle here. We went to a nice restaurant nearby our apartment. Jahamun (http://www.jahamun.com) serves traditional Korean food, provided us with a private room, and arranged to bring in all of the table items. The menu consisted of a number of courses (I think it was around 9) that were a sampling of traditional Korea staples with a twist of the modern. They did a good job on the food, which is all important in my book.

We got a photographer to take an official birthday portrait of Sammy, but didn't keep him around for the whole party. My camera and video camera did the trick, though it's becoming clear that my Nikon is just terrible at indoor shots.

Sammy's Turn

Now it's Sammy's turn to choose his future. One sounds a little young, but it can't be any less accurate than current standardized testing in our schools :)

We sat Sammy in front of the items above. He was a little distracted by all the people cheering him on (and trying to get him to choose the money). Then he sank his hand into the bowl of jujubes. This didn't satisfy the crowd, so they determined that it was a do-over. So, they repositioned everything and shook the money in front of him...he choose the jujubes again! This is obviously a mistake, so the bowl of jujubes is removed. Finally, he chooses the money and everyone cheers. Don't worry, I have the jujubes on video, no getting around that.

However, it turns out that we did this at the wrong time. The official choosing was to be done as part of a program that restaurant does. On the second run Sammy chose the computer mouse. I'm still sticking with the jujubes. I'm a little uncomfortable with a politician in our midst, but I also don't want him stuck in a programmer's cubicle like calf waiting to be veal parmesan.

Gifts

Money is a common gift these days, but the traditional first birthday gift is gold. This is primarily given as gold rings, but also as gold bracelets. Sammy looked like a blinged out playa' and hated every moment of wearing them (see end of video).

The Video

Much of what I've described here is in the video. It goes a little slow, but you'll get the idea.

Here is the video (right-click on the link and choose "save file as" to save to your computer. Much easier on my server and best for slower connections)

Click Here to Load

Sammy Walking Video

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 15:27:00 +0000

Here is our little drunk taking some of his first steps. I thought that a soundtrack was required :)

Right-click HERE to download the video

Month 10 Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 12:26:00 +0000

There's a little something each month to post about and this month is no exception.

Solnal (Lunar New Year)

Solnal is the Lunar New Year. It's a big holidy here in Korea. There are a number of traditions that include rituals to honor ancestors (such as offerings at graves and home) as well time for family to get together.

Above is the table setup as an offering to ancestors. In particular, this one was for Grandpa Kim's mother and father (in background picture). Some ritual bowing and offerings of soju are included here.

The girls, Soyun and Jiyun, dressed in hanbok for part of the day. Don't they just look like dolls? They enjoyed posing for pictures.

Dan and Moon bowing for Grandma and Grandpa Kim. This is part of the tradition for the holiday. The kids all bowed and Soyun and Jiyun also bowed for Moon and Dan.

Jeju (or Cheju)

Jeju (also written as Cheju in some places) is an island to the south of Korea. It is about a 45-minute plane ride and has a very different landscape and climate. This is a volcanic island with a sub-tropical environment. The palm trees, volcanoes, and favorite destination for Korean honeymooners has earned it the name of Korea's Hawaii here in Korea. I'd say that's a huge misnomer, but it is still a nice locale and a quick vacation spot.

Sammy is getting pretty used to flying by now. He settles in with a pillow behind his back and today's newspaper.

Dan and Sammy in front of the plentiful palms on the island

Dan and Sammy on the coast. They are standing on lava flows that had hit the water and cooled in these really amazing hexegonal patterns.

Moon and Sammy hiking on Mt. Halla. This is the largest volcano (the main one, I guess) on the island. We didn't get up to the top today due to ice on the trail. As we got up higher, there was more and more snow. Of course, I have to admit that carrying Sammy the 6 hours that it would have taken to get to the top was not what I really wanted to do that day (both mom and dad had colds).

Sammy and Moon stop by an orange grove (after buying a couple boxes to send home). Both Sammy and Moon were fascinated by the oranges.

Later, Sammy was able to get closer to some oranges at the Orange Museum. He loved to get his hand on this one. He tried to eat a couple others.

Sammy, Moon, and Dan are posing on the coast. The rocks and shore are really amazing. The wind nearly took us in on this day.

Dan, Sammy, and Moon posing in front of a waterfall. This was a little disappointing due to the lack of water this time of year. I have a feeling that it would be a lot better after the thaw of the snowcap.

Milestones and Cute Stuff

Sammy is walking. He took his first steps at the beginning of the month. By the end of the month he was walking across the apartment. Corners are still a bit of a problem though.

Sammy goes to a babies class once a week. This was one of the first classes featuring bubbles during this activity. He simply loved them and spent the whole time chasing them down.

What's he saying?

I think that future posts are going to have to have a new section on what Sammy's saying. So far this hasn't been too much, but he's getting started.

This month is............

Gal, gal, gal (the 'a' is pronounced like the 'o' in "cot" or "bot")

We have no clue what this means and it doesn't seem to be directed at any one thing.

He's continuing to say things that sound like mama and papa (in Korean), but I still haven't heard that utterance that tells me that he is making a linkage between the person and the word.

Month 9 Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 10:46:00 +0000

January saw a lull in Sammy's life since Daddy was back at work and the weather kept everyone inside.

After returning from Chicago, we were all dead tired. Moon and Sammy settled slowly back into their schedules. Dan went right back to work a couple days after getting home. Full scale jetlag and lack of preparation at work kept him pretty busy, but not completely out of commission.

New Year's Eve

We went to our friend's place for New Year's and have a big family New Years. Sammy loved having the other kids around. He's not used to having other little people around. Of course, this also means that he doesn't have the finer social skills yet. Below he is getting a little impatient waiting for Clementine's bottle

He baby, sip, sip, pass...sip, sip, pass! Stop Bogarting that bottle!

The Flight Home

The flight home was no better than the flight to Chicago. I'm just happen that mini-Hefner picked up some flight attendants along the way.

They looked after him for a couple hours (I kid you not). They couldn't get enough of him. We didn't get any sleep during this time, but I did watch a movie :)

With this flight Sammy now has 3 international flights under his belt and has been to 3 countries on 2 continents. Not bad for 9 months, huh?

Grandpa Kim's Birthday

We celebrated Grandpa Kim's birthday with the rest of the family. As usual Sammy loved getting together with his cousins, but I think that he that he enjoyed singing Happy Birthday most of all.

Seoul Children's Museum

Moon took Sammy and Soyun to the Seoul Children's Museum. I haven't been there, but it looks more like a playroom to me. Regardless, Sammy seemed to have enjoyed it.

There were plenty of things to open, close, move around and so on. Just give him any room with a bunch of cabinets and drawers and he's in heaven.

Hiking Dobongsan

We all went hiking in the mountains just north of us. It's a short, 30-minute bus trip to Dobongsan (Dobong Mountain) from our apartment.

It was a little chilly and we couldn't make it to the top due to ice on the trail towards the top. We decided to stop and take a few pictures instead. We'll have to head back in spring.

Checking out Samcheonggak

As you'll hear more about it in the coming months, but this is our first time checking out locations for Sammy's first birthday. For those of you not from Korea, the first birthday here is a big affair. I've even been to parties at hotels that were on par with receptions in the states. These parties last a couple hours and include some traditional activities and dinner (or lunch).

The first place that we checked out is called Samcheonggak. This is a somewhat famous place that I will liken to a type of meeting center. There is one main building and then a bunch of smaller periphery buildings. Each of these can be a venue for things such as meetings, parties, and weddings. The food served is very traditional and very, very expensive. This is why we decided not to do it. I'm all for being traditional, but $75 a person? Forget it!

It was a very nice location, though. We wandered around for a while and took in the ambience as well as lunch (not very good in my mind, especially for the cost).

Miscellaneous Cute Pictures and Milestones

Throughout the month there are numerous pictures that we take and they have little rhyme or reason, but they are never meaningless. Here are a few.

Sammy starts to brush his teeth. At this point, it's little more than chewing on the toothbrush, but at least he's getting used to it.

How could I not include a picture like this. This is the happiest baby ever.

Mommy spent a lot of time cleaning and folding her cloths. Sammy decided that things were just too orderly. He likes a little disorder in life. Therefore, the un-organizing was begun. This all took about 2 minutes. He's a quick little tornado.

Our screams of displeasure scared Sammy a little when he figured out how to open the baby wipes and pull them out one by one.

Ok, so Sammy's not using a spoon himself yet, but this is a good start. He's taken a liking to the large, wooden, serving spoon.

We keep a careful eye out and try to hide the toilet paper after each use, but sometimes he gets lucky. Today he had a couple minutes alone with a full roll of t.p. and he took advantage of it.

A sign of things to come? You bet. Sammy is standing by himself and nearly ready to take a step. Of course, we're going to have to talk about tying his shoelaces! He took his first step this month.

That's another exciting installment of Sammy's life

No pictures for these

Sammy gets a 3rd and 4th tooth this month.
Sammy puts the telephone to his ear. Obviously, he has seen Mommy on the phone a lot with Grandma.
Moon says that he said "엄아", which is Mom in Korean. I still don't believe her. We all know that he's going to say dada first.

Month 8 Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:26:00 +0000

This month was full of fun, fun, fun. Well, as least there was some in-between all of the travel.

Sammy got to go to his first Sushi bar for Daddy's birthday. Uncle Deasik, Daddy, and Mommy stuffed themselves at the bar while Sammy busied himself in a highchair.

Sammy started opening doors and drawers this month. He showed a great deal of interest before but just couldn't get them both open and get into them before. This all changed. He finally got into the bottle drawer and decided to feast on nipples.

Ho Ho Ho Chicago

Of course, the big trip of the month was a visit to Chicago and a date with Santa Claus.

Sammy got an early Christmas gift in Tokyo. We thought that a toy airplane would be a good diversion on the next leg of the trip (13+ hours!).

We finally arrived in Chicago a little worse for the wear, but Sammy was great (again) on this trip. He's really been good on these trips. However, he does keep up both moving all the time and on a 17 hour trip, that gets tough. I don't think that he slept for more than 3 hours and those were 30-40 minute segments.

Family Christmas

After a couple days to work on our jet lag and get caught up it was already Christmas day.

Sammy got the full treatment. Mindy and Anika woke everyone up with their horrible sleigh bells. We all got in our PJs, had some coffee, and hit the livingroom.

Sammy was in awe. Of course, he wasn't interested in all of the presents, but rather all of the boxes, wrapping paper, and ribbons. He was in 7th heaven.

We finished the day off with a big meal and Sammy couldn't even make it to bed.

Dickinson Christmas

We had a fun trip to Carthage for the Dickinson family Christmas. Going to the farm is always fun and Sammy loved it. Not because he was able to enjoy the great outdoors, go 4-wheeling, or fishing. It was because of all the attention that he got from his aunts and cousins.

Month 7 Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 16:14:00 +0000

While every month is eventful, Month 7 seems less so in retrospect. Of course, that's what happens when you try to make up for 3 months of slacking off.

Above is our little monkey chomping on a banana. He really does like them a lot, but we usually try to peel them first. He's not picky though.

Meeting John & Barbara

Mommy and Daddy's friends from Puerto Rico came to visit in November. Sammy got to meet John and Barbara for the first time. The adults got to have quite a few adventures and Sammy got to have a few adventures of his own in the two weeks they were here.

Sammy got to meet his babysitter for the first time. We call her Emo (sounds a lot like Emil, doesn't it). That just means "Aunt" in Korean and there's not really a better term for it, though I think that sounds nice. I don't even know her actually name, though Moon's got it on record :) Sammy seems to get along well with her and if all goes well we'll keep her on for a couple days a week to give Moon some down time.

He joined everyone at Namsan Tower to check out the view of Seoul.

Sammy took his first tour of a Korean traditional folk village, which he's really enjoy in a few years.

Here is a tight rope walker who was quite entertaining. Pictures don't do him justice as he does quite a bit of acrobatics. This includes him bouncing on his groin about 10 times a minute. It's simply painful to watch!

First Thanksgiving

Sammy celebrated his first American Thanksgiving with Mommy, Daddy, and some of Daddy's office friends.

He wasn't quite ready to chomp down this big hunk of turkey, but I still liked to tempt him with it.

Milestones

No good pictures of this, but Sammy hit a few milestones this month.

1. On November 29, he got up on his own and stood in the middle of the room. This is the first time that he didn't need any support from us or an object. It won't be long now before he's taking those steps.

2. On the 30th he clapped. We'll see if this is just an aberration or if this is his new trick.

3. I don't know if this is good or bad, but he is learning how to use the TV remote control. On December 4 (a day before turning 8 months) he decided to see how loud the TV would go. Surprised both mommy and Sammy just a little.

Some Miscellaneous Video

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:27:00 +0000

I did a quick edit of some video that we've taken of Sammy for that last couple months (somewhere around 6 to nearly 8 months). I thought that I'd put it up. This is as close as I get to doing any real editing work these days. None-the-less, it's some fun video with a bunch of firsts. It's a pretty big file (about 45MB), so for some of you with slower connections it will take a while to load.

If you can't get the video above to work (Firefox would be one such barrier), just click on this link to download (right-click and "save as...") or left click to view in your default .WMV viewer (likely MS Media Player). You also might want to download it because there are some rather boring parts and for some reason the online version isn't allowing me to skip forward.

6-8 month video

Month 6 Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:40:00 +0000

I've been having so much fun lately that I haven't had time to post any updates. When Sammy hear about this he began beating me with a Tupperware lid and yelling, "pppplattt maaaa aahhh daaa." Well, he didn't have to say that twice (though he did). I got right to work with the update.

Gratuitous Cute Picture

Speed Crawling

In the last posting, I described Sammy's crawling more like a slither. He'd slide around on his belly. He got quite good at it, but he wasn't getting anywhere quickly. Therefore, it didn't take him long to figure out that crawling on his knees would be faster.

After getting up on his knees he spent a couple days testing the waters. After that he was off. Now he's a speed demon. He's just a blur in the corner of my eye. I never have to look far. He's always at the front door undoing shoelaces and chewing on shoes. We all have our vices, but I think that we are going to have to cure him of this one.

Chusok (Korean Thanksgiving)

Chusok is the Korean Thanksgiving. It's even more about family than the American version. While food and drink also play a role in the celebration, the main focus of the holiday is to honor the family's (patriarchal) ancestors. This is done by visiting their graves (for some families this could be quite a few) with food and drink offerings, while giving ceremonial bows for each of the deceased.

For more information on Chusok, see http://www.pbs.org/hiddenkorea/chusok.htm

Sammy enjoyed it greatly. Lots of family, food, and stuff to break. He's no longer a passive passenger in your arms. He reaches for anything that makes noise or shines. His favorites seem to be anything that the people around him are or have actually used. Anything breakable, especially plates, cups, and glasses.

The Kim's ancestral graves (Mr. Kim's mother and father) are at a location near the family's farm. I didn't take any pictures of the ceremony, but here is a nice picture of Sammy's cousins and him next to a stream in the area. We stopped here for a while, across the street from Moon's cousin's house. I think that Sammy in his overalls with no shirt is perfect for the day and the location.

Chonggyechon (river running through/under Seoul)

Chonggyechon is a river that runs through Seoul. The funny thing is that it's been covered up for years. Seoul was built over it throughout the years. Witnessing the effect of having a riverwalk in cities like San Antonio, Seoul managers decided that having this running through the downtown was more important than the 8-lane road that was running over it. Therefore a few years ago, they tore it all up and really did a great job designing it and the area around it.

We went there to see a tile that Jiyun (Sammy's cousin) had made with her school that was on display on the walk (along with a LOT of others). This was a really impressive wall of tiles. The students all did a really great job and Jiyun was so proud of hers. This is a great project for the school kids.

After finally seeing the tile (we walked what seemed like 3 or so miles), we decided it was time for some food. While I don't have any interesting pictures of this, but there is a great video. Sammy is playing with his aunt and cousins. They are opening and closing the lid on a metal picture and he is just dying of laugher. You'll have to check this one out.

Click to view the video (QuickTime 26MB)

Get Up, Get Up, Everybody Please Get Up

It was only a matter of time. He started getting a little bored of stuff that he could reach from a sitting position. It all started in the bathtub. I suppose that the water made it a little easier for him to get up. All of the neat bottles of shampoo, soap, and razors drove him to grunt and strain his way to his feet. Of course the tub has some drawbacks. One such drawback is that it's slippery. He crashed only moments after making it up there. Moon didn't help, but she was there to catch

Click here for video (QuickTime 13MB)

Getting up in the water was one thing, but doing it on dry land was another story. We followed him around for a while knowing that it wouldn't be too long. His chance took the form of a pile of boxes by the front door.

I saw him grabbing the flaps on the highest box. He looked like he wanted to see what was in there. I ran and grabbed the camera just in time to see him get up for the first time. Of course, I was too busy taking pictures to save him from the subsequent fall. But I'm sure his diminished mental capacity was worth the shot.

Cheerios, Yum!

I suppose that it is a rite of passage. We thought that it was finally time for him to try some Cheerios. We went to Costco and got a box so big that he could fit into it. It seemed like overkill at the time. Little did I know how much he would like it. Let's just call it Child Cheery Crack. He could be crying for hours, but a cup full of Cheerios would take his mind off it.

I'm not a big fan of using this crack on him, but it's really the only processed food that he gets and the only 'easy' think that we can get him to eat. Given this, I'm more than happy to empty this box and go for another.

Final Cute Picture

Month 5 Update

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 16:57:00 +0000

Well, it's not really the whole month, because I did post on his first solid food. A lot more has happened since then.

Crawling

It started off slow, but he's been picking up the pace. It started with moving a couple feet here and there. Now he's pulling disappearing acts daily. He's still crawling more like a turtle (lots of belly on the floor), but he's slowly starting to come to his knees more and more.

Eating

What started out with rice mush, it now quite a variety of food. The packaged baby food here is terribly expensive. Gerber bottles are somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 a bottle. He costs more to feed than me. Therefore, Moon is making most of his food. He's eating a lot of rice, pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini, and even a little meat and some baby crackers. He'll take whatever we've got. He's a machine. A sign of things to come :) He's also falling in love with his new sippy cup. He's not great at it yet, but he'll

Laughing and "Talking"

He's gone from a chuckle here and there, to all out bouts of laughter. He finds Moon hilarious. I'm not surprised...I always have :)

He's making a lot more sounds now. He's beginning to work his lips and voicing. He sounds like he's gearing up for P's and B's. Of course the side effect is just a whole lot of sputtering spit.

North Korea

Sammy is probably one of the youngest tourists to hit North Korea in history. I'm not going to detail the trip too much here, but needless to say, it was interesting.

We went with a tour through the DMZ to the southeast coast of the country. There is a famous mountain called Kumgangsan, which has been host to tourists for the last 5 or so years. I think that it is part of an engagement policy this is obviously not working so well.

Sammy gets a lot of attention here, much to the chagrin of his mom and dad. It's not just ooh's and aah's; it's also touching, grabbing, holding, and so forth. Anyone who knows how anal (no pun intended, though welcomed) I am about germs could probably guess that this freaks me out. I'm really convinced that 90% of the population doesn't wash their hands after going to the bathroom and they're going to touch MY Sammy! Hell no! It's made us a couple of enemies in the neighborhood. They, like you now, think we're crazy.

That was a long lead in to, if you think the South Koreans go crazy over Sammy, you gotta see the North Koreans. They didn't know what to make of Sammy. This half-alien baby was just too much for some. He just left them with mouths gaping. Others swarmed. We couldn't go in the shops without haven't at least 5-10 employees crowd around. It was absolutely surreal.

Of course he doesn't help matters any. He can go from crying and fussing to flirting with a pretty admirer at a moments notice. He's such a terrible flirt. He's part of the problem. Damn cute kid :)

The whole trip he traveled in style. He sat and slept in a backpack all the way to the top of the mountains. I don't know if he really did like it that much, but we did get some great pictures (to be posted soon).

Check out this Quicktime Movie of Moon, Sammy, and the Mountain

I'm sure that I'm missing something, but I can't think about it now. A couple things have happened in the first week of his 6th month that are interesting as well, so I'll have to get that up soon.

First Visit to Northbrook

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 08:12:00 +0000

This should have been posted a long time ago, but I never had time to get it from my camera to the computer.

This is video of our first trip to Northbrook (4/22/2006) after Sammy was born and, thus, the first time that Mom, Dad, and Marcey had met him (Mindy, Molly, and Anika came down to Indy a couple weeks before that).