The Kimchi Kid lives up to his name!

Thomas and SeoYoung sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

These days I barely have time to sit down, let alone write a blog! The Kimchi Kid is a never-ending ball of energy, and even with reducing my work schedule I am hard-pressed to keep up with him. The best I am able to offer are brief snippets of our daily life and the occasional photo.
Thomas has developed several new and amusing habits/tricks recently.

1. Using a light stick, turkey baster or toy golf club he will repeatedly turn on and off any light switch in the house that he can reach. During this time he will repeatedly say "Wow!'.

2. When he gets tired, he will take either Daddy or myself by the hand, sometimes both of us, and say 'Night-night!" and walk us to the bedroom to go to sleep.

3. Anytime he wants something to eat, drink or play with, he will also take us by the hand, lead us to said object and point to it, saying "Kaka" for snack, "Mool" for drink and "Eego" for any other item.

4. He has discovered trains, and calls them "chee-chee" whenever he sees them. "Chee-chee bo-bo" is the sound Koreans say trains make.

5. When he has a wet or dirty diaper, he will bend over to look at it or point to it and say "Gi-gi" which means dirty. He will also make the sound "Sssshhhhhhhiiii" when he pees or daddy pees.

6. We've been trying to raise him so he isn't a cry-baby like a lot of children here seem to be. Anytime he falls down we tell him in English and Korean "You're ok!". This usually works well with him. He will get up and continue to play with few tears and an occasional hug. He has become quite the sturdy and strong little boy as a result.

7. He has mastered the art of standing on his ride-on truck to reach things he normally wouldn't be able to reach. Any time he gets quiet, I KNOW he is getting into trouble! I caught him in the kitchen trying to get snacks from the counter by the sink.

He is constantly surprising us with new vocabulary and abilities these days. We feel really blessed at how strong, active, healthy and intelligent he is becoming.

In other Kimchi Kid news, here are a few of the fun and funny things he has done in the past while!

* During lunch prep, the doumi placed a dish of kimchi on the table. Thomas has become taller, quicker and stronger so he took the bowl of kimchi off the table, ran into his playroom and started eating it before the doumi even noticed it was gone! This was plaid old kimchi, usually most people consider it spicy, but Thomas just munched it down!

*While playing with Daddy, Thomas managed to stick his finger up inside his nose high enough to cause a monster nosebleed! Then he ran away laughing, while Daddy and I laughed with disbelief.

* During bath prep time, I took of his diaper before going into the bedroom to get his towel. When I took it off he said "Ssshhhhiii". I just laughed and said "No, bath time." When I returned to the living room I realized he had said it because he had to pee! He had peed all over the living room floor and looked quite proud of himself!

* Thomas seems to love golf. On his first birthday he picked the golf ball off the tray of items at the party. He had never seen one before, so it really surprised us! Then while we were in Texas he was obsessed with Harabeogi's (Grandpa) golf clubs and golf balls. So once he came home to Korea he had no golf clubs or golf balls to play with. Instead, he took a spatula off of the kitchen counter and started hitting a basketball around the house with it. I ordered him a golf set shortly after I saw this! ^^
Basketball-spatula golf!

Well, the Kimchi Kid is ready for bed and tugging at my hands, so I guess I have to wrap this up! Hope everyone enjoyed this brief post! Cheers!

The Kimchi Kid and his new discoveries.

Thomas has been working hard this week. He's introduced a new word into his speaking vocabulary and has learned to respond to a new word when we say it.
His spoken vocabulary now includes "Kaja-let's go".
Ohma = Mommy
Appa = Daddy
Ahboba = this is used when the doumi wants to carry Thomas on her back
Mama = food or milk
Mool = water or drink as he uses it
Mong Mong = puppy in child-speak, and he is so in love with dogs!
Kaja = Let's go.

Since Thomas has always loved to go outside we would tell him "Bagata Kaja - Let's go out." when it was time to go. He responded to this buy going to the door, climbing into his stroller or getting his shoes. While that was exciting for us, it was even more exciting when he started saying "Kaja" back to us!


Reading one of his favorite Pororo books.
He still hasn't spoken any English words, but he does respond to us when we speak them. The newest word that has a strong reaction is "Check - Book" We use the Korean(Check) and English (Book) together whenever we say it. As part of his night time routine, we always would read a book with him and tell him we were going to.
Now, if we ask him to get a Check or Book, he will go into the playroom and look for a book which he will then bring back to us. Usually he will also then climb into our laps in preparation for story time. This makes me so happy, as I love reading and have actively tried to instill a love of books in Thomas. Since he was born and even before I have read to him and surrounded him with books to read and play with. While we have had a few incidents with destroyed pop-up books(he is too curious at times!), overall the books have fared well.
When he was younger he had a love for paper, eating paper that is! So my books were often tasty fodder for a teething toddler. He also delighted in the sound and sensation of shredding pages from magazines. This has thankfully passed and now instead he loves to sit and leaf through a novel of mine if he can reach it.
The other day Doumi showed me a book I am reading now, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and told me how Thomas brought this book to her to read but she does not have the skills to read so much English! She tries hard to read him the small baby books in English and said she was grateful to have a job that she enjoys so much and where she can learn new things at 61 years old. But a full on novel was just too much of a challenge. I thought this was too funny and I was so proud of Thomas. He knows there is more to the book than pictures and he wanted to experience what I do.



Dinner was curried lentils and vegetables mixed with rice. Sticky enough he could scoop it and feed himself.


So proud of his new spoon skills.


Another new development is his desire to feed himself. He has been eating finger foods for a awhile but recently he has started trying to use his spoon to eat. At first, he would turn it upside down on the trip to his mouth but now he has mastered the spoon to a the degree that he can convey the food to his mouth without turning the spoon upside down. It helps that he likes to eat sticky rice and it sticks rather nicely to the spoon. He is very Korean in his food tastes, in the food department we have discovered he loves anything spicy or spiced. Curry or kimchi, he loves it all.
I contemplated buying him a toddler spoon and fork set, which are shorter utensils than normal, but he eats fine with the free pink spoons from Baskin Robbins. Saves me money and they are easy to replace if he tosses or loses them! As part of the self-feeding we are now working on scooping the food out of his bowl with his spoon. So far I scoop it and give him the spoon as he will often try to pick up the food with one hand and place it on the spoon in his other hand. It also looks like he is becoming right handed, but he can switch it up at
times.


Doumi put his blocks in this jar. He really, REALLY wanted them out.
He followed me around begging for it to be opened as I took pictures!
He has also figured out that packages can be opened and often they contain tasty treats like crackers or dried fruit. He will bring us any package, bag, jar or bottle he can carry in the hope that we will open it and share its contents with him!


Showing off his basketball skills for Doumi and Mommy.

As for his basketball skills, they are getting stronger by the day. He is very eager to have people come in the playroom so he can dunk a ball or toy through the basketball net. He was so excited when Daddy came home last night, he ran into the playroom and got a ball so he could show him what he could do! Daddy was of course thoroughly impressed and a rousing game of "throw anything through the basket" ensued!
Thomas has continued to a show a strong interest in animals, too strong at times perhaps! He was walking in the front of our building with our Doumi a few days ago and a rat ran in front of them. Now it ran away quickly and hid in some flower beds, but Thomas saw it, tracked it and pointed it out to Doumi with great interest. She of course was horrified by the dirty, dirty rat but Thomas was thrilled and tried to follow it around the garden. He also likes to follow dogs, dirty pigeons and birds around. When we visited Steph and her son Will last week, Thomas got to interact with her lovely cats. He was so excited by them, it makes me think he needs a pet. But our Doumi has said it is a pet or her, as she is not an animal person. Right now, we need her more than a pet!
We're so happy that he seems to becoming such a well-rounded little boy and glad we can share him and his experiences with you! Thanks for reading!

Future Sports Star!

Tonight Thomas decided to show Daddy just how athletic he can be! He has a small basketball hoop in his playroom and so far he hasn't seemed to understand its use. Until tonight. He tried to dunk the ball when Daddy got home! It was pretty adorable and he couldn't quite reach so we put some cushions down so he could reach better. I don't know who was more thrilled, Daddy or Thomas! Hope you enjoy the video!



Today our doumi came back from her weeks vacation. We were all so happy to see her! It meant I had to work a full day again, but Thomas was much more comfortable being at home with her rather than in the Kindergarten with our director.
Doumi brought him a pair of black Mickey Mouse Crocs. Lucky guy, she treats him like her own grandson! She was so happy to see him and he seemed happy to have her back. Sleeping on her back in the traditional Korean style is one of his favorite places to nap. She even asked if he missed it, since that is one of the Korean words he says. Tom and I don't carry him like that so he probably did miss it!
I took Thomas out for an almost 2 hour walk to HomePlus(supermarket) tonight. It is kind of like a big Walmart with a bakery, produce, meat and dairy section in it as well as the packaged and canned foods. It is owned mostly by Tesco which is a big supermarket chain in the UK. I love it because they have started bringing in more Tesco branded products which are basically imported foods at a lower price. Today I found boxed mixes for Yorkshire Puddings(OMG!), Victoria Sponge cake and Pizza Crust! Just add 1 egg and water! I also found creamed corn which I hadn't had in years! I was so excited! Hahaha...simple things amuse me, especially when it comes to cooking and ingredients that I haven't seen for so long! The best part was each mix cost under 2,000won(Less than $2) each!
Thomas walked the whole way home from the store, which meant a 10min straight walk became a 30min meandering stroll under the leafy trees that shade the sidewalk. It was dark by this time, but Korea is a fan of neon lights and light pollution is an ever-present issue here. He really enjoyed his walk, but he was constantly seeking out the mong-mongs(puppies) by calling them. When I said they were all gone in Korean or English, he would do the baby sign for all gone. It was really too cute!
Once we got home we still had an hour until Daddy arrived so we played a spirited game of Hide-and-Seek. Mommy is too good though, and he started crying when he couldn't find me! He usually loves it when we hide and jump out and scare him, but when he couldn't find me he became so upset. I kept calling him until he found me and he just climber into my arms for a big hug and laid his head on my shoulder. That made me feel awful so we cuddled on the couch and read one of his favorite stories until Daddy came home.
I know that our daily life may not be that interesting to everyone, but every moment with Thomas is special to me and Tom.

The Kimchi Kid and his never-ending energy!

Ever since Thomas was born, he has had endless energy and determination to sit up, crawl, stand up, walk and finally run, as soon as he could! Thomas began walking right around 9months and hasn't looked back since!
At 13 months he is a strong and steady walker who rarely seems to get tired. In fact, he often prefers to run if he can! As a result he gets VERY cranky if he doesn't get outside for a good walk AT LEAST once a day! This boy LOVES to go outside and walk around. We try to take him out to the local park behind our building, weather permitting, as much as possible. They have lots of paths to walk and some big open fields to run and kick a ball on. If the weather is unpleasant, we take him to HomePlus, the local Supermarket we favor. He is always so happy if we ask him if he wants to go outside! He will climb into his stroller for the walk to the park and put his foot out for us to put his shoes on.
The park has been great for him so far this Summer because he has also been able to indulge in his love of mong-mong's(puppies). He loves to chase after them, pointing with his thumb, and shouting "Mong-mong, mong-mong!". The Koreans LOVE this! Mostly they already rave about how cute he is, how he looks like a doll, etc. But once they see him chasing dogs and shouting in Korean, they whip out their phones or cameras and start snapping pictures!
A lot of other Foreign mothers here have mentioned that this annoys them, but I don't mind. I know that for the most part they are completely innocent and basically treating my son like a celebrity! Now if only I could get him some modelling or commercial gigs!! Then he really WOULD be a celebrity! All hail the awesome power of the incredibly cute and charming Kimchi Kid - Thomas!!
Daddy likes to take Thomas to a local children's cafe when I work Thursday evenings and Thomas gets to run around and play with other children in a safe, clean environment for 2 hours solid! There are slides, ride on toys, balls, balloon rooms, ball pits, trampolines, climbing centers, books, blocks and more! Daddy gets to sit and relax with a free Caramel Macchiato(his drink of choice these days) and Thomas gets to burn off some of his energy! Usually this is the one place that manages to use up that never-ending energy so Daddy is VERY fond of taking Thomas there when he has to watch him for a few hours. Not to mention the helpful staff who ADORE our son and are more than happy to play with him for the whole 2 hours!
When we chose our new apartment 1 month ago, I decided Thomas needed his own play room and I worked hard to set it up. He seems to really enjoy it and I know I can let him play safely in it while I work, cook or clean. Since he is Mr. Never-ending Energy some nights he can be playing in there until 12 or later! Tiring on us, but he does sleep solid through the nights now.
As it stands now we are really trying to channel this energy into a positive outlet like sports. He has already shown some natural talent and interest in kicking balls around on a field. Well, not kicking so much as dribbling the ball down the field. He is quite skillful with the soccer ball! Daddy has promised him he will buy him any sports related equipment he wants and so far he has a basketball hoop and basketball, 2 soccer ball and 1 football. I on the other hand have promised him I will buy him and book he likes, and despite being so energetic, he definitely does like to sit down and quietly read himself a book at least once a day.
So what does his future hold? Athletic scholar? I hope so!