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.

I had an artist through http://www.artpoli.com create a portrait of Sammy.  Artpoli is a site that helps promote Korean artists.  The company is trying to go beyond the Korean audience now and reach out to English-speakers.  What you get is a digital picture of your work, at this point, you can't order the original through the site due to problems with shipping.

This seems like a good time for a general update on Sammy.  He's doing wonderfully.  He's about 43in (109cm) and 43lbs (19.6kg).  He's growing at a rate of about an inch every 4 months, but he's only gained a few pounds this year.

He's fully bilingual at this point.  His English vocabulary seems to be lacking a little, he's better at expressing himself in Korean.  This disparity grows in the time between visits to the States.  I fear that he is learning academic language at his daycare, but he's lacking that in English.  That's going to be a gap as long as we are here.

He continues to love music.  This kid could memorize War and Peace if it were put to song.  He loves any movie with singing and, surprising, he asks me all the time to watch Mama Mia! again.  Yes, my son is an avid ABBA fan at 4 years old.  In addition to that, he's started his first piano (keyboarding) class.  These are group lessons that focus mostly on singing at this point, with a particular focus on finding the different notes.  They also do actual keyboard work as well.  He loves it.  At least at this point, I don't see me having to drag him to any classes.  It's important that these classes are very social and fun.  I like that this is his introduction to music instruction.

He's been able to pick the English letters of his name out when inputing them for high scores on the Wii, but I've never seen him write his name.  However, the other day he wrote is name in Korean (first name) for the first time.  I was a proud papa :-) and he was so proud of himself when he saw my reaction.  I was a little concerned for a while when he was having difficulty with character recognition, but that seems to mostly be in the past with both Korean and English.  He can recognize the characters, though he does have problems with different font sets.  I can't blame him, so do I.

I think Sammy is ready for the arrival of his baby sister.  He has fun feeling her kick.  He likes to put his ear to Moon's belly.  Not sure what he hears, or if it's just a good way to feel the baby move.  However, he is going to hate some of the changes, including not sleeping with his mommy. We have been trying to boot him from the bed for a long time now.  Even if he goes to sleep in his bed, he usually makes it to our rooms sometime during the evening.  That's going to have to change when Sarah comes.  He's going to get less alone time with his mommy as well, which will be tough.  They spend a lot of time together.

This month he's starting to ramp up for Christmas.  He's making a list and starting to talk more about Santa :-)  It should be a good season.

That's all for now.

My little boy is going up.  It's time for a new passport as his will expire at the end of the year.  I made an appointment with the Embassy and started collecting the required documents.  In addition to his birth certificate and other docs, they require 2 pictures a year from the time his picture was taken for the first passport.  I thought those would be good here.