More from Grandma's Visit

Ben was delighted to have company in the backseat!

Downtown Pohang. The writing on the road says, "One way."

Benjamin lapping up all the love he can get!

Riding in the shopping cart up the escalator at Costco - our big "trip" while Grandma was here! Don't laugh, it was very exciting for us!

Ben wearing his new shirt from Grandma with the appropriate words, "I'm a sticky little critter!"

Since Grandma left Ben has already developed some new skills. He can now pull himself up and unlatch the child safety lock on our cupboard under the sink. (Not exactly the most childproof latch.) He can also pull himself up and get water from our water cooler. Colin was washing dishes yesterday when we suddenly heard the sound of flowing water - not coming from the sink! Ben was happily standing at the cooler while water steadily poured out!

Visa

Thursday we had our interview appointment at the American Embassy in Seoul. Our "appointment" was at 8:30 and I thought that meant our appointment, but no (Colin was right) everybody had an "appointment" at 8:30! We were let into a room with a bunch of other people where we had to take a number. Nobody could get a number at first though because the machine was broken! Finally someone fixed it and the line started moving. We were number seven so we didn't have long to wait. We gave a lady all our documents and discovered that they had changed the specs for pictures. Not to worry, they had a picture booth in the waiting area. The lady who interviewed me was very nice and the interview was brief. Of course it probably helped that the lady was due in August and Ben was flirting shamelessly!

We left with a sigh of relief, only to realize I had written our old address as the delivery address for the visa. Colin was unable to get back in as he no longer had an appointment...

The American Embassy is heavily guarded by Korean soldiers, a wire fence surrounds it, and we had to show our passports, appointment sheet and go through a metal detector to get in.) On the other hand, Colin's mom and I waltzed right in to the Canadian Embassy without anyone checking anything. No guards, no wire fences, no checks... even the doors were wide open!

We took the train back to Pohang formulating a plan on how to make sure the visa got to us safely. As it happened, we missed a call from the delivery company as we were sitting at our favorite coffee shop. I called the number back and the owner of the coffee shop talked to the delivery man for us. We were surprised to find out he was just down the road so she and I ran out to meet him. A few minutes later the visa was in our hands!
Here's Benjamin, Mr. Lee and his wife. Ben often sees more of them than us while we're at Id. Once I went to the coffee shop alone and was greeted with, "Where's Benjamin? Next time bring Benjamin!"

Red Mango

During Grandma's visit we spent a lot of time lying low around the house, venturing out for food and shopping. The weather alternated between pouring rain and energy-sapping humidity. On one trip downtown we were deposited by the taxi short of our destination because construction workers were demonstrating. We started out feeling enthusiastic but by the time we made it to the exchange bank to get money we had wilted. Instead of shopping we decided on iced coffee and pineapple yogurt from the Red Mango. Ben was delighted with this turn of events because at the table next to us sat a mother and two little girls. Benjamin hasn't had many opportunities to be around other children and up till now hasn't been interested in them. At first he just sat and smiled as the mother encouraged her youngest daughter to touch Ben's hand and chuck him under the chin. Then the little girls stood up on the seat and started bouncing. By this time Benjamin was thoroughly enraptured. He studied every move they made and became enboldened enough to stand up and try jumping himself. Without the Jolly Jumper, though, he couldn't seem to figure out how to get his chubby legs off the ground. The girls thought bouncing on the seats was great fun and the more the girls laughed the giddier Ben got!

Grandma's Here!

Actually, she's been here for almost a week now. Benjamin loves the shape sorter toy she brought and when she woofs like Midnight! I think he loves having Grandma, Dad and Mom all around to amuse him. Of course, it takes all three of us to keep him out of trouble! He's been soaking up the kisses and hugs from Grandma and holding out his arms to her.
It was Grandma's turn to occupy Ben while Colin and I made dinner. (Yes, that is a broccoli box!) Sorry the picture is blurry, but check out Ben's newest skill: clapping. He has also learned to wave and practices it every chance he can get.

More (and clearer) pictures to come soon.

Outing

Recently Benjamin and I went on an outing with two friends: Timmy and Munju. We ate lunch at a great Korean restaurant and walked around taking pictures. Munju brought along her dog which delighted Ben to no end. He kept waving his arms and legs and shrieking with excitement. Usually when we're out we hear people comment on how cute Benjamin is, how pretty he is... With Munju and her dog instead of "What a cute baby!" we heard, "That dog is wearing shoes!"
The restaurant keeps a peacock, a peahen and a rabbit outside in a cage. Benjamin was very interested in the animals and so was Ye-gang (Mun-ju's dog). Somehow the rabbit worked up enough courage to come over and touch its nose to Ye-gang's nose, but then it got spooked and tore around the cage, startling the peacock which let out a honk I never dreamed could come from a bird. The flurry of noise and activity set off Ben and resulted in this picture... poor little guy! We took pictures at a random person's house because it was so pretty! Timmy has a great eye (and a great camera) and took most of these pictures.

The building in the background is an educational repository for a nearby Buddhist temple.

Curls

As Benjamin's hair has gotten longer and more abundant, it has also become curly! It's hard to see from the front because his hair is shorter there, but if he has a bath or it's humid he has little curls all over his head.

Moved

We moved down the hall to a new apartment last Tuesday, so no more leaky ceiling! Colin's school arranged for people to come and move our belongings so we just had to do the packing and unpacking. They were unbelievably efficient! At one point they had to take off our door to get the wardrobe out and it took all of 15 seconds. (This is somewhat scary because the screws are on the outside. We've heard that a popular method of robbery is simply to remove the door, take any valuables and screw the door back on.) Benjamin had a couple of frustrating days as he tried to get his hands on everything we were packing. We'd put something in a box and he'd crawl over and start dragging it out! If he wasn't upset because I was taking some dangerous item away from him, then he was upset by the sound of packing tape being unrolled! Poor guy- there was just no winning. The layout of this apartment is the same as our old one but we decided to do some rearranging. The smallest room has become, quite literally, a bedroom. We fit the mattresses on the floor, and the bookcase by one wall. There wasn't room for anything else - not even enough room to close the door! But, Benjamin can crawl around to his heart's content and if he goes off the edge of the mattress he won't have far to fall!

And They're Off!

On Sunday I ran in Pohang's annual "marathon." The longest distance is actually 20 km, so basically a half marathon. Two of our friends, Tim and John, ran that and lived to tell the story. Grace and I ran in the 10km race. My goal was to finish without walking and I did that - not including a few steps at a rest stop to gulp some water - so I'm pretty proud. (I think it's actually the farthest I've ever run.) And only three days later I'm almost able to walk normally again! My official time was 1:07:26. Grace finished in less than 54 minutes and then came back and ran with me to the finish line.

I wasn't the only one going places. On Tuesday we suddenly heard a thump from the bedroom and ran in to find Benjamin lying on his back on the floor crying. He had woken up from his nap, crawled across both beds (we have 2 singles pushed together) and fallen off. He had a mark on his forehead where he hit the ground but seemed otherwise unscathed. Yes, he is officially on the loose!

The Little Pianist

8 month Escapades

I finally managed to put together some video clips of what Benjamin is doing these days. For some reason the program kept crashing just before my final edit, so I never did get it quite the way I wanted it. Also, now that I've finished it, he began to really crawl yesterday. Guess I'll have to post another one soon!

Playing it Cool

Here are the guys hanging out at the church picnic. Ben borrowed his sunglasses from Grace so he could be just like Dad.

More teeth!

We've been waiting and waiting for Benjamin to cut his top teeth because he has been waking around 5 times a night. Last weekend we were relieved to finally see the tips of his top two front teeth. He slept well for a couple of nights and then went back to his pattern of waking up every hour. Today as he was laughing with his mouth wide open I found out why - he has another tooth! This one is to the right of his top two teeth. So, now he has three on the top and only two on the bottom! And he's found a new hobby...grinding his teeth together. I don't know how to stop him except by giving him something to eat. I hope he doesn't start to connect the two or everytime he's hungry he'll start grinding his teeth! If you look closely you can see his top two teeth in the above picture. And here are two more pictures just because he's so cute.

Fun in the Tub

These days Benjamin has a blast in the bath with his three nesting plastic penguins with holes in the top and bottom for pouring and sprinkling. Though he doesn't actually pour or sprinkle with them, (he mostly tries to eat them) they serve as a good distraction while I try to find his neck to dislodge the various foods that have found their way into his many creases. And if the penguins have floated out of reach, the shampoo bottle does just as well.

Get Your Motor Running...

Crawling is too slow. Benjamin is ready for his learner's permit - if he could just reach the clutch!

Pre-crawling Calisthenics

Benjamin is becoming increasingly mobile. A few weeks ago he discovered how to scoot backwards when laying on his tummy. Now he is practicing getting his knees underneath him. He tries to move into a crawling position from sitting, but one leg always gets stuck. In order to pull it under him he has to rock back and forth. The problem with this is that he gets so much momentum he usually ends up flat on his stomach! If he is on the bed he can then pull his knees up, but the living room floor is much too slippery. He has two choices : scoot backwards, or frantically wave his arms and legs like a turtle on a rock until we come and rescue him. Benjamin is so intent on mastering crawling that he even practices pulling his knees up in his sleep. I went in to check on him the other day and caught him in this position with his little bum in the air!

New Cousin!

Introducing Benjamin's new cousin Ryan Gordon! With only 7 months between them, I'm sure Ryan and Ben will find all sorts of ways to get into trouble together as they get older.

Wiloughby Wallaby Woo

Wiloughby wallaby woo, an elephant sat on you! Willaby wallaby wen, an elephant sat on Ben!

Ah, Raffi... I don't recall owning any of his records and yet I seem to know all his songs. We may have to download some. We wouldn't want Ben to grow up having never heard Baby Beluga or Six Little Ducks!

It's a Boy!

My brother and sister-in-law have added an 8 pound 1 ounce baby boy to their family of three girls! Mother and baby (who shall remain nameless) are doing well. No pictures yet, and there will eventually be a name... but it is still to be decided.

Mmmm, books!

Benjamin used to sit quietly and look at the pictures when someone was reading a book to him. These days he gets so excited he bounces up and down and then grabs the book and eats it! It doesn't matter how big the book is, or how determined the reader is to keep it away from him. If he doesn't succeed in pulling the book to his mouth he throws his whole body toward the book with his mouth open wide...

Yellow Dust Photo

I took the first photo on April 8th at 12:17pm when there was a lot of yellow dust in the air. (It's the view from our apartment balcony.) I took the second photo today at 11:02 am -just a regular day. Check out the difference! Neither picture has been retouched or edited in any way.