Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Sammy's Life


March 2011

These days it seems I have a lot of pictures and  video of Sammy and less of Sarah.  Part of that is because we are spending more time together as Moon has to spend time with Sarah.  Thus, Moon has Sarah pictures that I have to try to get my hands on.

 

I finally showed Sammy the Sound of Music, which he loved.  The kid loves songs and he picked up on Do Re Mi pretty quickly.  The next 2 videos are him sing that.

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He's really a good brother.  Sammy helps out with Sarah a lot.  Of course, his biggest help is just ignoring her sometimes :-)  This is Sammy holding Sarah on the couch.

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GQ Sammy showing off his impressive tie collection. For a couple days, Sammy kept bugging me about wearing his ties.  I finally got him in a shirt with a collar so he could go to town. He models are regular tie and a bowtie.  I'm guessing that he started to be interested in these because Daddy has been wearing a lot of suits these days.  It is an unnatural change in dress for daddy which is likely whay he took notice.

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Mountain Sammy discovers the glories of tree climbing.  We have continued to go hiking together.  This hike took us on the mountain behind my school.  It is wonderful to know that just beyond my office is this area.  We hiked all the way to my office then watch some cartoons and got ice cream :-)

During the hike Sammy found a good climbing tree.  This is a real change for him.  He was scared to death of climbing trees last year and now he's climbing everything.  Fun to watch, but quite scary too.

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St. Patrick's Day event in Insa dong brought big crowds of beer guzzling young folks and a certain family of four.  We listened to a pretty good band and performances.  Sammy learned about Hurl (spelled right?) an Irish sport that he treated more like a combo between baseball and golf.

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Sammy, Sarah, and Moon at a normal, average dinner.

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February 2011 (part 2)

I reached my upload limit on the previous post. These are the left over videos that didn't fit in that one.  One more hiking video and two videos from Sammy's keyboard class.

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February 2011

February started off with Sollal.  This a time to honor ancestors through ceremonies of offering, which Sammy participated in for the first time this year by pouring soju (Korean liquor) for the offering.  He also dressed up in his hanbok (traditional outfit) and, of course, ate and played with family.

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Sammy and I went to a play called "Guess how much I love you" with his friend and the friend's dad.  It was a good play and good company.  It's always nice to find someone who not only has kids the same age, but speaks English as well :-)

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You have probably seen many hiking pictures already.  Sammy and I hit the mountain a couple times in February, though it was quite cold.  He has gotten much better at it.  We even made it for the first peak near our home.  It took a little pulling from Dad, but we finally made it.  It was really windy at the top, though, so he wouldn't pose for a picture.  He just croutched at my feet.  I'm glad to be able to do more active things with him.

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One of many pictures of Sammy and Sarah on the couch together.

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Sammy loves going to the English library near our home.  Lots of books there to check out. 

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Grandma and Grandpa Kim let him practice drawing some Chinese characters.  He did a pretty good job of it too!

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Dad made a chocolate fondue for dessert one night.  It was a big hit.

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All that work it tiring.

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Tragedy in Japan and explaining that to a 4 year-old

Of course, he's nearly 5, but I'll keep him 4 for as long as I can :-)

I've already discussed here how I started the cycle of life talk with Sammy a couple months ago.  It wasn't the most fun, but I think that it was a good intro to the topic.  I nearly reached that level of discomfort again today.

The news and talk amongst people has been a constant stream the last two days about the awful events in Japan.  They are experiencing tragedy upon tragedy with the earthquakes, tsunamis, and now the resulting issues with their nuclear plants.  The images have touch be greatly, but I hadn't exposed Sammy to them.  The news was on at his Grandparent's apartment today, as was the talk.  Naturally, he started asking what an earthquake was.

Moon turns and says, "Dan, that's you." I was happy to explain earthquakes.  This is a great teachable moment, right?  So I go through how the earth is round and there are pieces that move very slowly.  He seemed to get that these pieces rub against each other and sometime go over/under one another.  Then I explained how this causes a big wave (like the ones he was seeing on TV) and that these waves create a lot of damage.  I also said that it can hurt many people.

He asked if the earthquake would come here. I said it was very unlikely.  He asked if the water would come here. I said no (we are about 50 miles inland).  Then he asked if any kids died. Yep, this is the part that I wasn't so thrilled talking about.  I said, yes.  Then he asked if any mommies and daddies died. I said yes.  I thought for a couple seconds, watched the water breach the land again on the news, and then moved on.  He was amazed that the cars (and planes, especially the planes) were carried away by the water.  And that was it.  Nothing more for now.

I really hope that allowing him to see that footage or talking to him about it doesn't land him on the theapists couch in the future.  I feel that countering questions with thoughful, complete-ish answers is the best way to guide a child's learning and curiousity.  However, I struggle with how much to explain and when to do so.  I support time will tell.

My funny valentine

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rullerusk/3598317117/

 

So, it has begun. Sammy comes home today and asks Moon, "are you going to go on date?" 

Moon: "Yes, I'll go on a date with daddy" (actually, I wish that were true. No dates since well before Sarah's arrival :-(

Sammy: "I don't want to go on a date."

Moon: "OK.....DAN!!!"

Dan: (after being filled in and told Sammy is shy) "Don't worry, buddy.  It's ok.  Everyone is a little shy.  Girls make boys shy and boys make girls shy....[skip the rest of the 5 minute lecture]

Sammy: [nothing]

Dan: "Ok, great.  Let's pick this up again in a few years. Good talking to you, son."

Seollal, Bukhansan, and other

Seollal (Lunar New Year) was on February 2 this year.  As always, we celebrated with a lot of family, food, and ....other stuff.

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Sammy having fun with his fire truck that he got for his birthday last year and rarely comes out unless we ask him to clean up :-)

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Sammy and Dan went to the play, Guess how much I love you, based on the book.  It was a lot of fun and I was surprised that they could draw out that short book for an hour +, but they did.  The show was in English, which is a bit unusual for the Daehakro theater district.  Much of the content got the audience involved and moving, which was just perfect.

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And a day at the local English library.

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Sammy and I have been going hiking at Bukhan mountain a lot lately.  He seems to be growing fond of it.  We nearly made it up to the peak closest to our house today.  It's a little scary at some points.  There was a nice sheer drop off today of around 50-100 feet that freaked me out a little.  Especially, when he suggested that we play tag around it.

Otherwise, it's a pretty easy climb.  I'm guessing we'll make that peak before the end of the year.

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We stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Kim's place last week.  Grandpa Kim is working on his Chinese caligraphy. He let Sammy play and he did pretty well for his first time copying characters.

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I just thought this was a fun picture of Sammy and Sarah watching TV on the couch.

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Cycle of Life Talk

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I had a cycle of life talk with Sammy on a hike in the mountain near our home today. It started with a talk about how trees turn into dirt when they die. I thought it might have been a good time to generalize that and talk about how all things eventually turn to dirt. I included people in this at the end and he immediately got this dark look on his face and asked if I (daddy) was going to die. I knew that I needed to tread lightly here. I told him that everything that lives eventually dies like the trees. He was gliding and dwelling in it for another 15 minutes or so. Then we stopped for a break and he asked if I was going to die this year. I decided not to go in the direction of maybe. Probably wouldn't have gone over too well. I just told him it would be a long time. The same question arose with grandpa and I answered the same.

All in all a little uncomfortable for both of us but probably a good lesson to start before we have ti deal with it at a funeral or with a pet.

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