Monday, 3/31

Ah, Monday. :) We've been waiting for this - so it figures that we were all awake at 4:30 today. (Yes, we're very tired now, and it's only 7:30 in the evening.) So what would any good parent do? Why yes, ply their child with Korean Frosted flakes.
Because there's nothing better than a child who's tired because he woke up too early, and has had plenty of sugar! Really, Andrew was fine. Wonderful kid today, in situations that must have been tiring. Here we are, ready to go!

We expected to meet with Dr. Kim (the younger) at 11:00, and then meet our new son at 1:30. Turns out that we had a far longer day at the agency. We were early, due to misjudging the traffic between our hotel and the agency. Our taxi driver was also a bit of a maniac... Anyway, we got there and hung out for a while, then met with the folks that did Alex's passport/emigration paperwork. Hung out for a bit more, and then went upstairs for our meeting with Dr. Kim. That was interesting - bit of a crash course in Korean social culture. Most we knew from reading, some was new to us. At that meeting, we found out that we were invited to lunch at the agency. That was a nice surprise, considering that we didn't think that would happen. Lunch was right after our meeting, and was delicious. I'd be hard pressed to name everything, but the white kimchee was outstanding. Andrew liked that it wasn't spicy - we're working him up to the more potent stuff. ;) At lunch, we found out that we had a 1:00 meeting with Dr. Kim (the elder). This would be the 93 year old founder of the agency. An amazing man. It wasn't a long meeting, but he presented us with one of his books, and signed it. He also gave Andrew a fan, after writing the hangul word for happiness on it. (Everyone seemed so pleased to see Andrew - they truly adore the children they place for adoption, and appreciate getting the opportunity to see them grow.) Not long after that meeting, it was time to meet Alex!

Here's the little guy:
Yup. He's crawling. And pulling up. And he climbs. (That's different - Andrew wasn't a climber...) He's pretty zippy, actually. He's quite taken with Andrew, and followed him around (as Andrew played with every single toy in the room). We need to work with Andrew a bit, reminding him not to snatch toys away just before Alex picks them up, but it went well this afternoon. Alex is a tiny little thing - so don't be surprised if you see him in person. I think he's in 6 month sizes - but I'm guessing he's just barely in them. It doesn't seem to be stopping him though - it seems we'll have another little boy on the go. Heaven help us when they go different directions at the same time...

I'll leave you with our first picture as a family of four:

As we were getting ready to leave the agency, I was delivering a gift to the supervisor of child care, and we got a very happy surprise - Andrew's foster mother was coming in to meet us! It's a good thing we don't make it anywhere fast anymore, because we'd have missed her. It was wonderful to meet her, and she was delighted to see Andrew. I gather we had a miscommunication somewhere, because she wasn't expecting to see Andrew - just us. So it was nice surprises all around. She brought a ton of stuff to give Andrew, so I think we wound up leaving with more than we brought, even after we'd delivered all the gifts we'd brought for the Eastern staff. Ah well.

We'll get more time with Alex on Wednesday, and then go to the agency early on Thursday to pick him up before we head home. :) I'll probably update again on Wednesday morning (Korea) - or Tuesday evening for the folks following along at home.