Sunday, August 22, 2010
Video for a contest
This is a video from a contest we entered for Seoul Milk. Well, we're not sure yet if HS made the cut-off time (long story), but either way, it's way adorable, if you ask me. We cut it down a little for the contest, so this is it in its full-length "glory." The concept was him passing up his toys for the company's baby cheese instead. Let's just say that this was not the first cut!
Friday, August 20, 2010
9 Months
Nehemiah is 9 months (and then some) now. It's been very difficult to find the time and energy to update because of a very busy August schedule and other aspects of life, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been anything to update about!
Some highlights:
By 9 months, monkey boy...
-started taking a few steps on his own. The most he has taken to date is 5. He is getting more and more confident by the day.
-started saying "Eomma", "Appa" and "Up".
-figured out how to blow air.
-found that he loves to be chased.
-decided Pat the Bunny is his favorite book. (He knows how to do every page.)
-shown interest in vehicles. He has a wood block vehicle puzzle that he received while in America, and he just loves it. He loves it when I make the sounds, too. His apparent favorites are the train and ship. He has mixed feelings about the fire truck.
Since turning 9 months, he has...
-truly discovered his temper.
-shown that he definitely has preferences.
-shown more and more interest in books.
-gotten closer to clapping. He does it with toys (well, not clapping, but crashing them together), but for some reason, if he doesn't have toys in his hands, he can't figure it out. Since yesterday, actually, he has started putting his hands together and shaking them up and down. He'll have it in no time now!
There is more to add to that list, but that's all that comes to mind currently.
Trauma
His halmeoni (Korean for "grandmother") still scares him very much. He's okay (most of the time) if I am holding him, but otherwise, he just screams. She means well, of course, but I think her face just isn't the smiley type that he is used to. Her voice doesn't help either. After another visit with her, HS now clearly says, "I can't leave him with her. ::head shake::"
When we tried to eat dinner, we put him in his playpen. He always whines for a minute and then goes off to play. She wanted to pick him up, so we had to repeat the process of putting him back down several times. While we were eating, he played happily. "Let sleeping dogs lie," they say. She wanted to get his attention and make him smile or something, thus causing him to realize, "Oh, wait, I want them to hug me. ::fuss fuss fuss::"
She also wanted to let him have the freedom to go wherever he wanted in the house. Our house is not 100% babyproof. "Babies need to fall and bleed a little sometimes." . . .
Anxiety
I don't know if it's because of his halmeoni or what, but Nehemiah's separation anxiety doesn't seem to be getting any better for the time being. In fact, it might be getting a little worse in some ways. We read that it is better to say bye than to sneak away, so when I leave for class, HS always brings him to the door to say "Bye-bye." Sometimes he gets upset, sometimes he doesn't. The biggest effect it is having, though, is on his sleep. He sleeps fine when he finally goes down, but putting him down can take such a long time these days. He has recently changed his napping schedule, though, so that might also play into it. I just keep remembering the sage advice of other moms out there: This too shall pass...
Stroller
Since we don't have a car, the Capella stroller we won really wasn't all that convenient. It was very nice, but it just wasn't convenient to carry around. We decided to sell it and buy an umbrella stroller, and we both absolutely love the new one! We got a great deal on it, and it's pretty deluxe as far as umbrella strollers go. The handling is great, and it's so much easier to take along with us when we go out. We really tested it out yesterday with going to the baby fair, and it worked out so well. We still carry him a lot, but with him getting so big and with it being so hot, it's great to have a stroller we can get more use out of.
Otherwise, all is well. I feel like we never really had a baby, that he's always just been a little boy. That, of course, isn't true, but from very early on, he has shown us just how boyish he really is. I love it, though. Many parents get caught up on how short the newborn period is, and while it's true that it goes by so quickly (and may or may not get me choked up at times), I love looking forward to life with our little boy.
I will try to post some videos and pictures soon. I havn't even gotten many up on facebook recently. The big Mr. Cranky Pants is up now and is wondering why I haven't done "anything." Well, should I make a list of all that I've done in the past 3.5 hours while you slept? Oh, well.
God is so good! Thank You for blessing me so greatly when I am hardly worthy.
Some highlights:
By 9 months, monkey boy...
-started taking a few steps on his own. The most he has taken to date is 5. He is getting more and more confident by the day.
-started saying "Eomma", "Appa" and "Up".
-figured out how to blow air.
-found that he loves to be chased.
-decided Pat the Bunny is his favorite book. (He knows how to do every page.)
-shown interest in vehicles. He has a wood block vehicle puzzle that he received while in America, and he just loves it. He loves it when I make the sounds, too. His apparent favorites are the train and ship. He has mixed feelings about the fire truck.
Since turning 9 months, he has...
-truly discovered his temper.
-shown that he definitely has preferences.
-shown more and more interest in books.
-gotten closer to clapping. He does it with toys (well, not clapping, but crashing them together), but for some reason, if he doesn't have toys in his hands, he can't figure it out. Since yesterday, actually, he has started putting his hands together and shaking them up and down. He'll have it in no time now!
There is more to add to that list, but that's all that comes to mind currently.
Trauma
His halmeoni (Korean for "grandmother") still scares him very much. He's okay (most of the time) if I am holding him, but otherwise, he just screams. She means well, of course, but I think her face just isn't the smiley type that he is used to. Her voice doesn't help either. After another visit with her, HS now clearly says, "I can't leave him with her. ::head shake::"
When we tried to eat dinner, we put him in his playpen. He always whines for a minute and then goes off to play. She wanted to pick him up, so we had to repeat the process of putting him back down several times. While we were eating, he played happily. "Let sleeping dogs lie," they say. She wanted to get his attention and make him smile or something, thus causing him to realize, "Oh, wait, I want them to hug me. ::fuss fuss fuss::"
She also wanted to let him have the freedom to go wherever he wanted in the house. Our house is not 100% babyproof. "Babies need to fall and bleed a little sometimes." . . .
Anxiety
I don't know if it's because of his halmeoni or what, but Nehemiah's separation anxiety doesn't seem to be getting any better for the time being. In fact, it might be getting a little worse in some ways. We read that it is better to say bye than to sneak away, so when I leave for class, HS always brings him to the door to say "Bye-bye." Sometimes he gets upset, sometimes he doesn't. The biggest effect it is having, though, is on his sleep. He sleeps fine when he finally goes down, but putting him down can take such a long time these days. He has recently changed his napping schedule, though, so that might also play into it. I just keep remembering the sage advice of other moms out there: This too shall pass...
Stroller
Since we don't have a car, the Capella stroller we won really wasn't all that convenient. It was very nice, but it just wasn't convenient to carry around. We decided to sell it and buy an umbrella stroller, and we both absolutely love the new one! We got a great deal on it, and it's pretty deluxe as far as umbrella strollers go. The handling is great, and it's so much easier to take along with us when we go out. We really tested it out yesterday with going to the baby fair, and it worked out so well. We still carry him a lot, but with him getting so big and with it being so hot, it's great to have a stroller we can get more use out of.
Otherwise, all is well. I feel like we never really had a baby, that he's always just been a little boy. That, of course, isn't true, but from very early on, he has shown us just how boyish he really is. I love it, though. Many parents get caught up on how short the newborn period is, and while it's true that it goes by so quickly (and may or may not get me choked up at times), I love looking forward to life with our little boy.
I will try to post some videos and pictures soon. I havn't even gotten many up on facebook recently. The big Mr. Cranky Pants is up now and is wondering why I haven't done "anything." Well, should I make a list of all that I've done in the past 3.5 hours while you slept? Oh, well.
God is so good! Thank You for blessing me so greatly when I am hardly worthy.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Practice Makes Perfect
Ever since Nehemiah started to say "Appa", we've been working to try to get him to say "Eomma" (sounds like "Ummah"--the Korean word for mom) as well. As mentioned before, he's said it, but not very consciously.
Today, he was determined to get it down. He practiced all day long, watching our mouths to try to copy the sound. For the greater part of the day, he would be able to manage only "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm", sometimes opening up the sound to make "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmma". Be the end, however, he had it down and didn't want to mix himself up by throwing an "Appa" in there anywhere. He just wanted to keep saying "Eommmmmmma" tonight, so I did not object, of course.
There were a few times he got in an "Appamma" to get us both in there. ^.~
Needless to say, I am very thrilled at this new development. I love that boy's determination!
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In other news, after several days of no-shows when she said she was going to come, my mother-in-law stopped by for a visit today. Nehemiah is still not particularly fond of her. He loves the older ladies at church, but for some reason, he just doesn't want to be around her. He sometimes smiles and likes to talk to her, but most of the time, she just scares him. She was talking to our nephew explaining how to do something, and with one swift arm movement and relatively loud noise, she had him terrified and in tears. I feel bad that he's like that with her, but I think I understand where he's coming from. She's great and means well, but she might be just too tough for him.
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I've increased how much food he gets per meal. It's sometimes a challenge to get him to eat when there is no fruit mixed in, but we get through it. We started fish, and my goodness, I don't think I'll be preparing fish for a long while after what I went through today. I thought it would be easier and faster than chicken and beef, but I was very sorely mistaken. I put it through the mixer, only to end up finding that contrary to what I had been told, there were indeed bones in there. I spent so much time basically looking for needles in the haystack. Oh, it was just not fun. I also didn't get my nap in today (I need one on Tuesdays), so I was just ready to throw the whole batch out.
Anyway, the increase is for two reasons: 1) He definitely shows he can handle it, and; 2) he's growing length-wise faster than width-wise. This may not be a problem, but he hasn't gained a whole ton of weight while gaining height. The weight he has gained is more due to getting taller and not due to getting more chub. I am not concerned at all, but I just figure he can handle more of mommy's love-filled creations. ♥
When we moved to our apartment in April, he was just barely able to touch the ground in his activity center, the Around-We-Go. He could walk in it, but just on his tiptoes. Three months later, we found ourselves adjusting the straps underneath because he was just too tall for how it was. I knew he had definitely gone through a growth spurt. (If the measurements are accurate, he's just over 77cm, which is about 30.5in.) Silly boy.
Anyway, I am beyond exhausted from a long day and should get all the rest I can.
Sending lots of love and prayers to everyone. God is so incredibly good.
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