Cherry Blossom Fail

Call me silly, but I always have to post pictures of flowers and nature in the springtime. Last April I posted pictures of trees blossoming near our home in Minnesota. It was truly a glorious event, because Minnesota winters are long, cold and depressing. Every year I feel like the winter just might last a full 365 days.

The winter of 2009-2010 here in Seoul was quite bitter. It snowed at least four times. Not Minnesota-style knee-deep snow, but we actually had to *gasp* cancel classes because of snow one day in January.

That said, I feel like the winter here lasted longer than it should have - or at least longer than I was expecting. So maybe you can imagine my elation when the Golden Bells started blooming last weekend:

Believe it or not, but I used to hate these flowers. They were just too bright for me - not dainty enough.

Now I welcome them with all my heart.

There were plenty of Golden Bells decorating the National Assembly Building. They make a lovely fountain of gold against drab white concrete.



There was plenty of lovely green foliage, as well.



While in the area, we visited a park on a hill that was full of all kinds of strange, bizarre, and inappropriate sculptures. We also saw at least three kindergarten classes walking around the park and/or picnicing there, also. Probably the least strange sculpture was this one, which I happened to really like:

I have no idea what the significance of this statue is, but I thought it was lovely.

There was plenty of running around, waving hello to anyone who was not made of metal or stone, and chasing magpies to be had. TheFry has been up to his same old tricks, but with some new habits, as well.

He has started covering his face while laughing, which is pretty common here. Most of my students laugh this way.

However, there were no cherry trees in bloom as far as we saw along the road where the cherry blossom festival will be held this week. It's been just a little too cold the last few weeks probably. However, there were a few shrubs here or there who offered a little bit of hope.

We're going back on Saturday night after I get off of work. We'll probably take some snacks with us and mingle among the throngs of people who will likewise be enjoying the graceful loveliness of these flowers as well.

Happy Cherry Blossom Viewing Season, everyone!

What Kind of Person Will You Be, Little Fry?

What kind of person will TheFry be?

He refuses to hold hands while walking. He heeds the directions of his parents about 50% of the time. Recently, he has begun a pattern of refusing to be fed - he must do it himself.

Last night, however, PapaFish witnessed the most telling actions of who our little man is growing up to be.

While strolling at the park, TheFry tripped over a crack in the ground, falling to his hands and knees. He got up, unfazed. He circled back to where he had been standing before. Very precisely, he walked over to the crack to step over it successfully.

It's one of those powerful moments I wish I would've caught on camera. Our little guy is very determined in everything he does. His will is strong. His sense of adventure knows no bounds. I hope he can keep these very good qualities into adulthood. I feel it is my responsibility as a parent to give him the kind of environment where he can be free to do so.

I'm so proud of my little Fry!

Tidbits

1. PapaFish recently became a volunteer online teacher three nights a week. One of the benefits of this volunteer opportunity is that it will give PapaFish a taste of the main industry for foreigners here in Korea: teaching. The greatest benefit, however, is that students of less-than-wealthy parents will be able to practice English regularly throughout the week, hopefully narrowing the income gap between Koreans who can speak English well and those who can't.

2. TheFry has been walking for one whole month now! ...Or, at least I think it's been a whole month. He pretty much was running from the start. One day he was still clinging to the walls, and the next evening I caught him scurrying past me from the corner of my eye. Now it's just a game of chase until he decides to start listening to and cooperating with MamaFish and PapaFish. He refuses to hold hands, and it can be very difficult to guide him in the right direction sometimes. Needless to say, we still often use the Pognae baby carrier most of the time when we go out.

3. The new semester at my work has begun, as of March 2. It's been a crazy whirlwind of teachers getting hired and quitting, and me not knowing how many classes I'm really going to have to teach each week. I have a stack of about 75 or so essays on my desk that need grading by next week. Not sure when I'm going to find time to do it all!

4. My dad is in town! Yay!!! AND HE'S GOING TO TAKE US OUT TO TACO BELL ON SUNDAY HOLY COW I'M SO EXCITED!!!

5. Here's hoping the springtime warms up sometime soon.

6. I can't really fathom making a blog post without pictures, but this is the best I've got:

If that doesn't say "I'm a boy," I don't know what does.

P.S. - I have no idea why he's not wearing a shirt.

Developmental Review

Some new developments have been unfolding in the Fish Bowl, especially now that TheFry is finally over all the miniscule illnesses he’s been struggling with since Thanksgiving:

1. TheFry has started taking steps. He will only take one or two at a time, and then drop to his knees. Then he will either start crawling like a madman to his intended destination, walk on his knees for a little bit before crawling, or collapse altogether into a desperate temper tantrum. Usually it’s the first or second option, though.

2. TheFry recognizes himself in the mirror. When I showed him his reflection, I said: “Who is that? It’s Dexter!” He responded by saying “Deh-ter.” I said, “Yes, that’s Dexter!” He responded again by saying “Deh-ter.” The other day I showed him his reflection in a little toy mirror we have and he said “Deh-ter” immediately. He only appears to be interested in this activity about half the time, but I think he’s catching on!

3. TheFry continues to love to read. Now he really wants to help turn the pages. His current favorite book is 곰돌아, 어디가니? (Little Bear, Where Are You Going?"). I am not very good at reading it but about 60% of the time he waits patiently for me to stumble through the words. It’s really helping my Korean reading skills improve a lot!

4. TheFry began to “play pretend” about two weeks ago. This really moved me, watching him imagine scenarios. His favorite game by far is feeding. He still will not feed himself at the table – he thinks it is a game and he will just end up scraping all the food on the floor – but he will feed himself (and others!) imaginary food. If I give him a cup and plastic fork he can play pretend for hours. The other day I woke up in the morning to him dipping a fork in an empty cup and then “feeding” himself.

Another play-pretend game he plays is crochet! If he has a crochet hook he will look for yarn and he will try and stick the hook in the yarn. He’s watched me so many times, I guess, it’s one of the things he knows about best!

5. He has started really getting interested in sorting objects. He will pull all the plastic bowling pins out of his toy box, for example, and line them up. Or he might spend quite a bit of time figuring out how to stack a set of plastic nesting barrels he has.

One particularly new development in this area is that he has become interested in building towers rather than just knocking them down. About 80% of the time he is building he will hand the blocks to me or PapaFish and then we will build the tower. However, on my dinner break this evening I was handing the blocks to him and he was trying to stack them up in a tower by himself! I am really excited about this one.

The down side of these developmental heights we’ve been climbing are the temper tantrums that have come with them. He just really screams and throws little fits sometimes. Also, he’s learned how to wiggle out of his seatbelt in his highchair and stand up in it, which makes me pretty nervous. I can’t take my eyes off of him for a second!

And now, the Stages of Tantrums:

Oh, Hi!

You have the camera!

Give me the camera!

Why won’t you give me the camera?!

Alas, cruel world, how will I survive?! My life is MISERABLE!

Does no one understand my pain?!

Fine, I give up—but I’m not looking at that camera EVER AGAIN.