Happy 1st Birthday Sungjae! :)

By the grace of God, our little Sungjae turned 1 on May 18th! We celebrated his birthday a bit early as we had a special guest visiting at the time and invited the Murrays and the Ogawas to join us on this very happy occasion. The special guest and I cooked up a storm with lots of side dishes including 3 different types of kimchi (배추김치, 오이김치, 무말랭이), sweet potato noodles with veg & meat aka japchae (잡채), stir fried kimchi & pork, traditional Korean birthday seaweed soup (미역국), and a few other side dishes including Korean seaweed (김). Our special guest brought many of the ingredients from Korea. :) During the meal, we spoke a mixture of Korean, Japanese, and English. One of the challenges when we have guests is that we eat on two low long tables on the floor of the tatami room so we're always trying to keep Sungjae away so it's always a bit stressful and crazy. This day was no exception! Thankfully, Uncle Scott eats fast... :)

One of my brothers sent the hanbok that my maternal grandmother made for him that he wore when he turned one for Sungjae to wear - except he only sent part of it... And four pairs of hanbok socks... @@ But he sent the important parts of the hanbok, so to most people, Sungjae's hanbok probably looks OK. :) He went from wearing comfy short sleeves & overalls to a multi-layered puffy garment, thick-ish socks, and a hat which he looked so cute in but unfortunately didn't want to keep on for very long. ;)

We didn't do the full Korean-style dohl-jab-ee (돌잡이) with the rice cake, etc food displayed in front and all of the traditional items, but we had some things for him to grab and "predict" his future with. The Murray twins and our special guest helped with the table set-up and we had rice, a nice fountain pen (instead of a calligraphy/paint brush), a children's Bible, a mouse, money, crayons, and a ball for Sungjae to grab. The Ogawas guessed he would go for the Bible and Peter thought he would go for the ball. When I put Sungjae down, I think he went for the fountain pen first, then the crayons, then the money. So according to what he grabbed, he's going to be a scholastic artist with much wealth. =D

A few things about Sungjae...
* He has a very tender heart so loves big hugs, cuddles, and kisses and is very sad when he gets into trouble.
* He "speaks" Korean and baby sign but understands English too.
* He has a sweet tooth - just like his daddy! - and loves his desserts.
* He's already a picky eater. He has to be in the mood for fruit (and unfortunately, usually he isn't anymore) and prefers meat to veg. Juhee didn't start being picky till sometime after she turned two and could eat everything, so trying to cater to his even more limited food options is stressing this mommy out just a little bit... ^^;
* He transitioned from crawling to almost exclusively walking at 11 months.
* Hopefully, he'll soon learn that crawling over big sister to get to the door after he wakes up while she's still sleeping is not a good idea!
* When he went for his 1 yr check-up, he was above average for height and weight. I think he'd be around average in the US though.
* He's starting to get into things like airplanes, cars, trucks and makes "vroom" noises when playing with them. :)
* When music's playing he used to bend his knees up and down when dancing, but now he sways gently from left to right - so cute!
* For a one-year-old, he's pretty good at throwing (and sometimes catching too).
* He hasn't had / doesn't have much stranger anxiety - praise God! - and will play well almost anywhere and everywhere as long as he has something to keep him preoccupied with.
* He has the cutest, biggest smile and is usually a happy, pleasant, and very loving baby. :)

We love you so much little Sungjae! May God bless you and keep you for all of your days. May you grow to know and love Him and may you never depart from His ways. And may God grant me, abba ("daddy" in Korean), and nuna ("big sis" in Korean) much wisdom so that we know what is best to feed you physically, emotionally, and spiritually so that you may grow to be a healthy and strong son of God. In Jesus' name, Amen! :)