Entourage

Nope, I don't mean the TV show. We took Brennan to yet another kids cafe. This was the same one that we went to on her birthday. However, now that she is walking, it was a completely different experience. She wanted to go everywhere! Wherever the big kids were, she wanted to be there too. Also, wherever we went, Brennan had an entourage of about 10 kids follow us around. This included a set of twins that were former students of James's. James was able to get some video of some of the kids playing with Brennan on the trampoline. Brennan seemed to have forgotten she had parents!

Here's the video:

Brennan and Ezra's First Reunion of 2012

Finally, after two months of anticipation, we were able to get Brennan and her buddy, Ezra Dixon, back together for a play date last Thursday. Brennan had such an awesome time that she didn't want to leave! She didn't even slow down to eat lunch. When we first got there, Brennan was fascinated by a small step up into the living area and spent about 5 minutes testing out: step up, step down, step up, step down.... It was so cute. At one point, Ezra's mommy, Abby, and I were in the kitchen when we heard a dull thud. We turned around to see Ezra laid flat out on the floor with Brennan on top of him! We have no idea what lead up to that, but we figure that either A) Brennan was trying to hug Ezra and lost her balance; or, B) Brennan was trying to touch Ezra and lost her balance. Brennan was totally fine and completely unfazed by the incident, but Ezra was a little upset. It took Abby a while to soothe Ezra and Brennan was trying to talk to him the whole time. I guess she was saying something like, "Hey man, it's cool. No worries. I'm OK. You're OK. Let's play more!" As soon as we got in the car, Brennan passed out. It was an amazingly fun day for both of us. Check it out!

Brennan and Ezra. January 26, 2012.

Handsome boy.

Step up, step down....

Strutting her stuff.

Playing with Ezra.

Silly boy.

Checking out Ezra's book stash while he looks on.

Look at this one!

Little B at 14 Months Old

On January 25, Brennan turned 14 months old. The weather was still wicked cold and there was some snow on the ground. We didn't do anything special, but I just had to document the day for my girl.

Dalki Land

So, we finally managed to get out of the house - all of us. The weather was really no warmer, but we all had cabin fever something awful. Day before yesterday, we went to Times Square. No, not the one in New York. There is a Times Square shopping complex in Seoul. It has several levels and boasts many high end labels, restaurants, a movie theater, a hotel, a convention center, and a huge kids cafe. The kids cafe is themed around a popular Korean animated character named Dalki (딸기) and her friends. Literally translated, it means 'strawberry'. The character has a huge strawberry as a head. Sounds kind of weird, I know. :-)

Brennan was still quite little compared to most of the kids there, but she found one or two things that she could do quite happily. She took James's hand and madly walked everywhere she could at a breakneck speed! Forgive the quality of the photos! We only had James's phone and, like I said, B was ALL over the place!

Here are some photos:

A brief pause in the activity.

Walking up and down some padded steps over and over. These were right by a 'flying fox' which Brennan thought was hilarious.

Brennan and Daddy on an inflatable, bouncy hill thing. Brennan really enjoyed sliding on it!

Brennan and Mommy in the ball pit. B wanted to eat every ball she touched!  We had lots of fun playing with the other little kids.

As we were about to leave, Dalki herself showed up. Brennan was totally cool and just wanted to touch that big head!

We took some video as well to show what Brennan got up to...

Brennan was so exhausted when we left the cafe that she fell asleep on James's shoulder on the way out of the mall. Too sweet for words. She woke up when we got her home, but went down for the night about two hours later (8pm). Munchkin slept almost 12 hours straight! Holy cow!

Our Little Foodie and Other Stuff

Brennan has gotten exposed to several new foods this month. A few of which are what we consider normal food (spaghetti, sticky rice) and others (jajangmyeon) may be slightly exotic. I do tend to document a lot of Brennan's eating habits, but she has such a great personality and loves food so much that it would be a shame not to. 

First time eating spaghetti. I think she likes it!

Happy girl with rice stuck everywhere!

I was lucky enough that James caught the next bit on video...

Brennan is so mobile now that we often just spend time playing and snuggling with her. More than ever, we realize that she is growing up so quickly and that these times will start coming less and less. So, we take extremely random and for no particular occasion photos. 

All of these are from the last few weeks.

January 14, 2012. 

January 16, 2012.

January 16, 2012.

January 16, 2012.

Move over, J Lo! It's B-Hud! January 18, 2012.

Notice the little fingerprints on my glasses. January 22, 2012.

Having a good time touching Mom's glasses. January 22, 2012.

Proof Brennan actually has hair. January 22, 2012.

January 22, 2012.

Brennan's self portrait. January 22, 2012.

She started hunching up her shoulders like this on this day. So funny! January 22, 2012.

Walkin' Out Of Nowhere...

For weeks, James and I talked about getting a new stroller that was a little easier to maneuver around the subway. I finally found a brand new, still in the box, Britax stroller being sold by a military mommy. It was just about $75, which fell right into our price range. We arranged to go pick it up at the front gate of the main off-post military housing compound on December 31. Once again, it was bitterly cold, so we were all a little grumpy. We tried putting Brennan in it on the way home, but she wasn't having any of that. Brennan is really against trying new things unless she thinks it is her idea first. So, James had to carry her. When we got back to Cheolsan, we went to the supermarket before heading home.

I know this may seem quite trivial, but it really is the precursor to what happened next...

When we got home, James started putting away the groceries and I was puttering around the kitchen area (which is blocked off for Brennan's safety). I happened to look over at Brennan and saw that she was standing there watching us. All of a sudden, you could tell she made a conscious decision and just took off.... WALKING across the room and back, bent down, picked up a toy, and started to play with it. James had his back turned, so I hissed at him to look. Brennan totally didn't think that we saw what she was doing. We think that's why she did it then. :-) I am so proud of my little monkey.

I didn't get any photos of the first time, but we managed to get a small amount of video for the second time (isn't that always the case?!?!). Hopefully, I will get it up here soon. 

It's been a few weeks now since she started walking independently and she has almost begun running! I did catch some photos of her the other day (1/14) just walking around.

Here they are:

So Much For Resolutions...

How is it possible that the holidays are over and it has now been more than a month since my last post??? Wow, how slack is that??? Good thing that I have been keeping some sort of memo (thanks, cell phone) on what I needed to update. So, if you have been kind enough to forgive me (even when it isn't the holidays anymore!), I hope you pull up a chair for a spell. This may take a while.

Let's see...

On December 23rd, James was asked to play Santa for the kindergarten kids at SLP for the third (or maybe the fourth???) time. Having had no other occasion to show off her lovely ensemble bought for her by her Giggie (my mom), Brennan and I decided to go watch Daddy be Santa. It was interesting to say the least. Let us not forget that Brennan met Santa the weekend before and found out that he was Korean. Now, here at SLP, there's this other guy that looks like Santa, but sounds like Daddy??? You could literally see the 'WTH?' expression on her face. It was hilarious and quite upsetting to Brennan. It took her a while to realize that it was just Daddy under that awful beard. We all know Brennan loves her Daddy. ;-) Other than that, Brennan had a great time showing off her ever-improving walking skills to just about every staff member. That's my girl, the diplomat. Doesn't leave anyone out! 

Here are some photos:

Brennan and Daddy before Santa showed up.

Brennan showing off walking skills to the front desk teacher and a kindergarten assistant.

Walking with Patrick Teacher.

Walking with Rachel Teacher.

Brennan and Daddy Santa.

Everything's fine now. Daddy ditched the beard and suit.

To celebrate the holidays, James and I made loads of Christmas cookies, fudge and whiskey balls. They were so awesome that second batches had to be made!

Right before Christmas, we got our first sticking snow. It wasn't a lot, but enough to make it slippery for a few days. We took Brennan out in it and a flake landed on her lip. She promptly tried to blow it away! So funny.

Christmas was very laid back in our house. We all slept in and didn't even open presents until almost lunch time. It was fantastic. We were all relaxed and didn't feel any pressure to do anything except eat and enjoy each other's company. Brennan got so many presents that it took us forever to open them all. She kept getting distracted by each present and had to inspect every little thing. 

Before.

Walking to the tree to open presents!

Brennan and her stocking (Thanks, Tia Elly!).

Ripping into the presents.

Great new interactive word book.

Light up Skechers.

After.

Enjoying her first taste of turkey!

Between Christmas and New Year's, the weather turned bitterly cold. Highs were in the 20s (much like this week so far), but it was sunny and clear with some wind. Anyway, due to the cold, James and I got in the mood for some hot food. I like soups when it is really cold, so we headed down the road into Cheolsan to a Korean restaurant. I ordered su-jea-bi, which is a hot, dumpling type soup. Delicious! Brennan had total ants in her pants that day. She wanted my food and James's food and just about anything that was on the table! Brennan ate some of my meal and liked it a lot. The lady that works there and who is half in love with Brennan served her some rice wrapped in dried seaweed (a type of gimbap). Brennan was unimpressed. LOL I totally wish I had a photo of that!

On December 30, I was hanging laundry on the line in the bedroom when Brennan took 7 unassisted steps from the bedroom door to the bed. I was so shocked that I started to cry. I guess looking at it now, it shouldn't have surprised me. Here's why: for the previous 3 days straight, Brennan made James 'walk' her around the apartment all day each day. 

Walking practice with Daddy on our street. December 23, 2011.

Each night, they were both exhausted. Brennan had the best three nights' sleep of her life. She was out for at least 12 hours solid each night. *I miss that.*

Since this is getting so long, I'll stop this post here and write a new one for what happened next. ;-)