19 Months Old...

My not-quite-so-baby-anymore Baby has turned 19 months old. She is now closer to two than she is one. These days it seems that every time I blink another day goes by and my baby is growing more and more into this beautiful and independent girl who can do so much for herself and express herself. Just last night as we ate dinner, she was chattering away in her own language when suddenly, she began her chant of "hana, hana, hana" as she picked up the peas off her plate and put them in her other hand. I just watched her thinking, "how cute, she's counting her peas..." when she put all the peas back on her plate and started over. "Hana...dool.......set!" I sat there with my mouth open as the camera filmed on and she proceded to pop all the peas in her hand in her mouth. My "Baby" just counted to three! In Korean! Who knew all that talking to her and counting off for her stuck somewhere in her brain and suddenly it made its way out...

If anything I thought she might count in English because I tend to default to English on most things, but I do try and make an effort to talk to her in Korean as much as possible. I do want her to be able to speak Korean at least as well (if not better) than me. I had the benefit of learning from my parents and grandmother who were "professional" Korean speakers (I guess "native" would be the correct term) whereas I am merely a...1.5-generation speaker of Korean. Although I am comfortable communicating my needs and understanding mostly other's needs in Korean, I can't say I fully grasp the language like my parents or my grandmother. So, how will I be able to teach a language that I myself am still learning?

Well, here's how. Just using it. Non-stop. Clearly, her young mind is able to just pick up and utilize at the appropriate times what she hears...even if it is only every once in a while. It seems the most imortant thing is to never be silent around her...just keep up my chatter and listen to her responses, whether or not I understand her or she understands me. It's hilarious to me when I say something to her and she looks at me with a slightly cocked head and goes, "eh?" It means she didn't understand what I just said to her...so I repeat myself and she either acknowledges understanding or looks at me puzzled again. Adorable. I guess I do that as well when I don't understand her.

She's such a "mini-me"...maybe not in appearance, but definitely in action these days. She does everything I do and wants to do things herself as she watches me do things. For example, this morning, I was putting on my socks, so she goes to get her socks, sits down next to me, and proceeds struggling to put them on. I told her I'd put them on for her and she goes, "no, eee (me)." And continues to grunt and roll around as she tries to put her socks on. Then, she sits up, hands me the socks and says, "ock (sock) Umma (mom) ep (help)," with a frustrated look on her face. Poor thing. She also has been working hard at putting on her own pants. She can get her legs in OK, but frequently, she'll get both her legs in the same leg hole and she can't figure out what it doesn't seem right...but she knows it's not right. She'll take them back off and try putting them back on again. I got a video clip of that as well. She rolls all over the bed trying to put on her pants. Well, I just let her at it until she asks me for help because she'll get it eventually and she will be so proud of herself. She sure is persistent! I've been letting her practice with shorts because they're a bit easier than pants, but she is fairly successful with getting one leg all the way into the pant.

For the past week or so, Jeff has been in Okinawa conducting some training for his program. Since it has been just Tay and me, we have been staying busy by taking lots of walks and visiting some fields so we can chase around some birds, jog around a track, investigate some cones, and play with imaginary umbrellas and hats (leaves).

I also must mention that we spent Chuseok with our relatives; we went to our "keun-jip" for the breakfast ceremonial events and then we went to the gravesites of our great-grand parents and grandparents on the mountain for some more family time. Tay studied the adults and other children bowing very hard, and when we got to the mountain, she finaly gave it a go herself.

Her first attempt was a bust because she ended up on her belly, but her second and third attempts were much better and she had finally gotten the form...somewhat. :)

We also enjoyed spending some time with Malia, Jasimen, Aiden and Elijah at the Fall Festival after we watched the parade go by. Tay had fun picking up a lot of candy thrown by the parade marchers, but was really only interested in eating one of the Dum-Dums. We donated the rest to the other kids.

Tay also got to try her first chicken skewer, which she greatly enjoyed...it was almost as big as her, though, so I had to help her hold it. Then, she got it all over her shirt, so we had to change clothes after that. She also got some of Umma's chocolate ice cream...(she definitely knows that word: i-keam)! We decided to skip the fire works because we were both exhausted and needed to go to bed early, but as we laid down to sleep, we could hear the booming of the fireworks from our apartment. It didn't seem to phase Tay at all, though, because she drifted right off to sleep...zzz.

The next day, we ended up going to the 8am Mass and the 11:30 Mass to do some campaigning for the children's choir we're getting ready to start. After all that, Tay went down for a quick nap, and then we ventured out to the Children's Grand Park. My intent was to go see some animals, but we ended up not seeing any animals (except a few fish and some birds) because Tay was content running around the park. We did make a quick stop at the playground, but she wasn't too fond of all the sand getting in her shoes. Nor did she like being pushed around by the bigger kids on the playground equipment. (I wasn't too fond of that either and had to put an end to that nonsense - sometimes...::hmph::...the angry mom in me came out...only for a moment).

A nice old man came up and gave Tay a piece of candy, too, but it was this really strong ginseng candy, which she did not particularly care for, but she thanked him anyway...phew. :) On our way home, she was so exhausted she refused to walk and made me carry her the rest of the way...I WAS BEAT! Luckily, we made it back safely, washed up, and went to bed.

One more week to go before Tay and I head to the states where we'll finally meet up with Jeff again! Yay!!! Can't hardly wait...

Love,
Rosa