And so time moves ever on . . . I remember my own childhood vividly, and yet now I am watching my son live his childhood. I can’t believe he is becoming such a little boy—my adorable baby, but really no longer a baby. Gabriel is one year old today, Wednesday, June 4^th!

What is it like being a one year old?

He says his favorite words—cheese, ball, baby, mama, dada, kiss, and tries to imitate many others. He follows directions very well—turn the page, comb your hair, stand up, give that to mama/dada, brush your teeth, and seems to have a great vocabulary as far as understanding what we are saying. He nods his head “yes” or “no” to our questions and sometimes even says “no, no, no” if he doesn’t like something. I haven’t heard “yes, yes, yes” yet!

He has eight teeth with more on the way. His favorite foods are macaroni & cheese, cheddar cheese, plain yoghurt, grapes, oranges, bananas, tomatos, and sauteed zucchini. His favorite toys are the wooden kitchen spoons, his books, ball, blocks, and his drum/maracas set. However, he still is much more interested in people than in toys—and he is as smiling and friendly as they come. He waves hello and goodbye, and will use his wave and his smile to try to attract people to talk to him. He’s tall and lean for his age, but still has that chubby baby face. He crawls, walks better every day, climbs the couch (or dresser!), and loves pushing his stroller around. His favorite games are tossing his ball, This Little Piggy, I’m Gonna Get You, a Korean clapping game, and blowing “raspberries” on mom, dad, the floor and just about anywhere. He loves singing, clapping, dancing, and music of all kinds. Generally he’s a pretty happy guy, unless he’s got a good reason not to be (teething, not enough sleep, etc.). But he does require a high level of energetic input from mom and dad to stay happy . . .

We feel so blessed and proud and happy to have the privilege of parenting this joyful, challenging, bright little boy. It is a challenge . . . yet a great, great joy. God has blessed us in so many ways, and He speaks to us through our little son.

Happy First Birthday, Gabriel!  Here’s looking back, the first days and then month by month . . .

We're back up and running! We've finally--thankfully--restored and recovered our computer and photos/videos/date since we had a minor "crash" a month ago. What a relief and an answer to prayer that we didn't lose everything. Well, we now have TWO external hard drives and everything is double backed up. That's what we get for owning a laptop.

Anyway, here's us on Craig's birthday. And, we've posted some more photos and videos. Mostly, just the most recent ones since I haven't even looked at our March photos yet. Oh, and above are the cherry blossoms in bloom in the heart of Seoul. Spring is here and we're loving it!

So, we don't have any new photos or videos . . . we suffered a computer glitch and are now having to run a backup program to restore our photos and videos and it is taking FOREVER. At least we are getting most of them back. We had made some disc backups months ago, but it would have been a devastating thing to lose even six months of photos . . .

Gabriel is getting so big . . . he's almost a little boy. Starting at about five months old he had some serious separation anxiety from mama. He couldn't even be left alone with his father without sobbing. Thankfully, though, that didn't last long--we did our best to build his trust and help him feel secure, and now he's exherting his independence in a big way. I (Carin) can leave him with his dad and go off alone for a couple hours and he is just fine. That is a welcome relief. The funny thing is, now he expresses his sadness when other people leave. Last week for the first time he cried when saying "bye-bye" as the door closed on Craig leaving for work. Too cute. He's done it a few times now and he loves his papa very much; he is elated when Craig comes home to the point of laughing and jumping up and down.

About once or twice a week he and I also get together with Lisa (my friend) and Evan (11 months old) for a play-date. Today, for the first time, as we said "bye-bye" at the door to Evan, once the door closed, again, his lips turned down, he started sniffling and crying. Again, so cute I think. And I think it shows a healthy attachment to those he loves and his mental recognition that he will miss them. His tears only last a few minutes and then he's done. It is fun to watch him playing so well with Evan these days. He loves it. And it brings a little bit of sanity and retreat to their mothers since they entertain each other so well.

We have found a wonderful church very near our house. The nice thing is that there are a lot of international families there (typically int'l churches here are mostly singles), and they have a fantastic kid/nursery program. We haven't worked up yet to leaving Gabriel alone in the nursery (he's just not ready yet), but the interraction with kids is great for him and one day we'll get to where he's happy and familiar with the people there and knows we'll be back for him. It's just a great option to have it there. I never knew how thankful I would be for those volunteer nursery workers. Everyone has a different opinion, but I find it interesting that some people think that it's "strange" that a little baby should be attached to his parents and that he may cry when you leave him in a room full of strangers. "What's wrong?" they ask. Or "Oh, that's too bad--he's not very secure yet?" Actually, I think, he's very secure . . . securely recognizing that his parents are where his safety is! I know I can sometimes be uncomfortable in a room full of strangers . . . why should I expect a little nine month old to be independent, uncaring of his surroundings enough that he can be left alone with strangers and not feel some sadness? Soon enough he will be pushing me away and saying "I do myself" and then I'll wistfully remember the days when he wouldn't let me leave his side. So, for now, we'll enjoy those moments when he so adoringly says, "Hey, I need you."

Maybe babies are a good reminder to us in that way--that we as adults are sometimes too detached and too hesitant to say when we love and need each other.

 SNOW!!!!

We've had a few snows so far this year, but none of them have stuck around long enough to get decent pictures. I was hoping for one last good snow before Spring arrived and we got it last night! Gabriel could finally have his very first snow adventure.

Gabriel is coming up on his 9 month mark (March 4) and is doing great. Teeth #5 and 6 are breaking through as I type, he is "scooch" crawling (on elbows and butt half in the air), and he stood up on his very own a couple days ago. (We were shocked as out of the blue he just stood up without holding onto anything; he promptly repeated it as we clapped and cheered.) He doesn't crawl a lot--he's not much of a mover, but he does love to stand and walk if you hold his hands. He waves 'hi' and 'bye' and gives kisses upon request, and he also is a great dancer. He loves rhythm and music, but he'll even dance if you recite poetry and he catches the rhythm. His baby-babble changes every day, and he currently says "hey", "kih" (for kiss), and "mamama".

One battle is keeping him occupied--it seems like he tires of his toys so quickly and gets bored. I've engineered some home-made toys for him and used all kinds of things from the kitchen to entertain him. Here, however, are the Top Ten Baby-Rated Toys (compiled by Gabriel; not approved by the AAP.)

1. Mom's cell phone

2. Any remote control

3. Pink Baskin-Robbins ice cream spoon (regular, not sample size)

4. Mom's wallet or change purse

5. The tube of diaper cream

6. Dad's slippers (especially to chew on, gross)

7. Any piece of paper

8. Wooden Spoons

9. Dad's flash drive (cord attached)

10. Any tag, zipper, or button that is attached to a toy, thing or person

I finally figured out how to better upload a bunch of our videos, so we have quite a few new ones as well as two new photo albums. Enjoy!

For those of you who have been asking . . .

On the Job (from Craig)

--My days have some hard classes and some fun ones. The ages range from kindergarten to junior high and in size from one student to nine. Interestingly enough, the kindergarten class is the easiest and the most enjoyable for me. It’s a new school so there is a bit more prep than what there should be, but I’m learning a lot and it’s been a breath of fresh air for me to be challenged in a different way.

--My boss is great. She is the only woman owner (of an English school) that anyone in the area knows about. She just took the staff out to a sea food buffet that was better than anything I’ve ever been to in the states, and she seems to genuinely take good care of her staff.

--Schedule is great. I work 1:30-8:30. Carin and Gabriel and I have more time together, and its less hours than my former job at the bike shop. My current class schedule may be changing soon due to a curriculum change, but the work hours will be the same.

--Except for a guy who does weekend camps, I’m surrounded by female teachers (totally opposite from the bike shop!). So, by default I got to play a starring role as Santa at the student Christmas party. Maybe not a convincing Santa—I need a bigger belly—but it was fun.

On the Job (from Carin)

--Well, my days are for now kept very busy with child-rearing 101. Cooking baby food, doctors visits, grocery shopping, laundry, baby play and education, and, thank goodness, the occasional nap I take with him. Anyone with good ideas for interactive play with babies? Please post a comment!

When Craig comes home by 8:45 in the evenings, we have time to eat a late dinner, play with Gabriel before he sleeps, and then maybe play a board game or occasionally watch an hour of television before we’re off to bed. Gabriel rarely fusses about going to bed and he always wakes up very happy. Our mornings are fairly relaxed as we get up late and just do stuff around the house. As Gabriel gains more independence, I hope to also have more regular time for reading, writing, and other projects during the day; right now that's pretty random. Ha! Maybe "regular time" is complete history now that I'm a mother! By the way, we've posted more Gabriel photos and pictures . . . and we'd love to hear from you!

In local news, just this weekend there was a very sad event in Seoul . . .

S. Korean landmark collapses in fire

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/10/skorea.landmark.ap/index.html

Our visit there in the fall: (Strange now to think this was our last view of it as it was.)