Music Request this afternoon...

The music came at the request of my oldest daughter, Katie. She really wanted it on. I ask her if she wanted this or other music like Sesame Street and she said with her emphasis added No I want to see the video that we got at Christmas. The kids got a children's video with dancing and singing on it from us.

The kids were dancing today to children's music DVD. They were having a grand ole time. At times all three of them were dancing to the music in their own way. Katie was trying to imitate the people and children dancing. At times, Ryan was either dancing or drumming to the music on the drum. Bella was busy trying to jump up, marching, and dancing around the room. By the time I got my camera, all they did was stop and smile or make funny faces at the camera. So I put the camera away out of reach of the little ones. They were giggling through the songs and singing along to the music.

During the DVD, they stopped dancing one by one and sat down next to each other. Ryan was in the middle while his sisters were on either side of him. They were all snuggling up underneath a blanket for my bedroom that I hadn't folded up yet. Ryan had made sure his sisters were tucked in.

They were singing once more to the music. Then the big conversations came up about music, who was going to play what musical instrument all located in their Bee Bop Band drum (Katie was playing two shakers, Ryan was busy conducting who was playing what instrument at what time, and Bella was busy shaking her head no to the instruments Ryan was giving to her to play) and more.

One of the songs was Happy Birthday, another was Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, another one was 10 Little Indians (okay not PC but it was on the DVD), and more.

Did I mention that Katie's requested video that we watched, the children music video, is a Korean children's video??

Music is universal. I listen to all sorts of music that I don't know most if not all of the words to. I listen to some German (I grew up in a church that was started by Germans so we sing alot of German Christmas hymns), a little more Spanish, Georgian Chant, Celtic, and Korean. And that's in addition to the English speaking groups/solo artists and genres that I listen to. I listen to 50s Rock and Roll music right up to today's stuff. I also listen to classical music and I love Mozart's music in particular. I feel wonderful when I'm listening to each of the different types of music since each puts me into good mood (whether it causes me to sing or hum along to it, dance to it, or just relax to it).

This children's music video was put on this afternoon because my daughter highly requested it. Maybe she needed to see and hear some kids' singing and was sick of Wiggles or Sesame Street songs. Maybe this type of music makes her feel all happy inside and that shows on the outside of her by her beaming face. Maybe she wanted to watch it and try singing to it since it's Korean. The title of this children's video is 동요나라 or Dance and Sing with Jumi and Dienna.

Seeing the kids dance and sing, play and have a discussion about the instruments and about the music was wonderful enough to me and I enjoyed listening to it and dancing to it with the kids too.

~Jen

Please view this video

I saw this on Margie's blog and finally had the chance to watch it. It made me think as well.



Let me know what you think.

~Jen

More preschooler questions for you to answer...

How does a river get made?
Why is the sky blue?
Why is that airplane chasing the other one? Mind you we told Ryan that the first airplane (the Cessna) was bringing the other airplane (the glider) up very high in the sky so that it can glide back down to the airport.
Did you know that milk comes from cows?
Why do birds fly?
Is it going to thunder again?
Is THAT a coccoon??
How do fish get made?

So I'm curious, how would you answer my two oldest children's questions?? Particular answer the one about how fish get made to satisfy a 4 year old little boy's and a near 3 year old little girl's curiosity.

~Jen

Memories of Camp Mu Ji Gae 2008

Jeff, Bella and myself along with my parents who brought Ryan and Katie attended our Korean cultural camp's family day on Sunday afternoon. We saw friends of ours there at camp. Some of them are local and one from far away that we met last year while we were in Boston at the KAAN Conference. Some of them were familiar faces we have seen since our first camp experience in 2004 when Jeff and I went to check it out.

We met up with Katie's mentor, Kathleen, her mother and my friend Maggie, Mike and his daughter Gillian.

It was so good to meet you again Chris, author of A Euro-American on a Korean Tour at a Thai Restaurant in China, at Camp Mu Ji Gae. I'm glad that you finally got to meet my kids in person. As you can tell, they keep me on my toes!!

We watched the Korean drummers and the women from SIWA at Sookmyung Women's University (also in Korean at Info about SIWA in Korean and Info about SIWA in English) do their mask dance.

~~~~~~~~~~~SIDE NOTE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These women paid their own way to the US to help out our camp. And we are appreciative of them doing so!!!


~~~~~~~~~END OF SIDE NOTE~~~~~~~~~~~

The drummers then had asked if any of the campers wanted to join them dancing around they could. So Ryan and I went up and danced along with some of the other campers. We also went in under the arms of the drummers, parents, grandparents and other campers similar to what we do with the Mu Ji Gae train. Then after dancing with Ryan, I took Bella up as well and danced with her. She enjoyed it as well. Katie was watching us from the rest of the crowd. She opted not to join in the dancing and Mu Ji Gae train and we respected her wishes.

Ryan mentioned afterwards that he was upset with us. When I asked him why he told me that he "wanted to bring our Korean drums next year". So next year, if he is still interested, we'll be bringing those drums with us to camp. But that will be his choice.

Monday night, my mom and I attended our camp's guest speaker (Chris Winston) and her discussion about how we build a relationship to the Korean community, why is it important, all about race (does it matter, our perspective on diversity versus our children's perspective, etc), and more. I'm so glad that I attended this event even though I heard some of this at the KAAN conference last year. I still learned some information from this event.

Adoption is a lifelong learning experience...you can't possibly know everything that there is to know to help your child at each stage of their development (infancy, toddler, elementary school, pre-teen, teenager, and adult adoptees) when you bring your child home. Hence my reason why I'm attending these events when I can. Jeff mentioned on Sunday that it would be like going to a KAAN session and in a way it was.

In attendence were Korean adult adoptees to talk about their experiences and without them sharing their personal experiences it wouldn't be the same. I am forever thankful to them for their willingness to talk to us, the adoptive parents, especially face to face to tell us what their experiences were when they were growing up and are now as an adult. Other people in attendence were adoptive parents like myself with young kids, adoptive parents with teenagers, and adoptive parents with adult adoptees. Also in attendence were representatives from a Korean language school in this area. I chatted with them after the talk and gained some valuable information just in case my kids are interested in learning when they turn 5 years old. I learned that they also have a parents' class as well.

Tuesday afternoon we went back for the kids' sessions. My parents came to help us out and to videotape and take pictures. Katie graduated into the older kids class (Curiosity for ages 3 to 5 year olds) so she joined her big brother for the class. Jeff took them into their class while I helped out a friend of ours, Angie, and watched Bella in the younger kids class for under 3 year olds called Rising Stars.

We started off with group pictures and went into the gym for music time, free play, story time, more free play and then snack time.

I sang London Bridges in Korean and taught the parents as well as the kids. In their goody bags they got some arts and crafts stuff to do made by Angie and Jennifer, flashcards that I made up for the campers and particularly their parents to learn some basic words/phrases and included a link to a website that has all of the words/phrases and their correct pronunciation for the parents to listen to, a Korean flag sticker, and more. After that we had freeplay and then gathered back together to do one of the 3 crafts in their goody bag. After that we listened to the book Bibimbop read by Jennifer and 2 other books. After some freeplay, the group had mandu, orange wedges, and popsicles for snack. Bella and I shared our Korean rice cookies that we picked up at the local Korean market with the other campers. I was complimented on the flashcards by several of the mothers and a few of the fathers as well and that they would definitely be using these to learn a bit of Korean themselves.

We had 2 big folding tables set up for resources for the parents to take and one big folding table for books for them to look at. It contained a packet of 5 pages of websites for parents to check out, catalogs from various adoption related businesses, a map of Korea for them to look at, and more. We had Korean children's music playing for all to hear.

In Curiosity, they had paper folding, a song and dance with the girls from Sookmyung Women's University SIWA group, snack and more.

After that camp was done for us for this year. The kids are already talking about next year's camp. We are looking forward to family day events and the kids individual classes for as long as they want to participate in it. I need to make a mental note to ask the kids if they want to bring Korean drums with them to next year's family day since Ryan wanted to play his drum along with the Korean drummers on Sunday.

Katie said the sweetest thing last night to me as I was tucking her into bed that I'll close this post with:

Thank you Mommy for bringing me to camp.

My response to her is the following: Thank you Katie for bringing me to camp.

Katie's simple sweet sentence is why we will expose my children to things Korean for as long as they show interest. Her simple sweet sentence is why we will bring our kids to their Korean cultural camp for as long as they show interest.

~Jen

Our Adventures for the week

Katie conversation with Monday night's dinner was funny. Here's how it went:

Katie: What are you putting on your taco, Daddy?
Daddy: (as he is holding a bottle of habanero sauce) Spicy sauce. Why you want some sweetie?
Katie: Yes
Daddy: Are you sure it's really spicy?
Katie: (said very strong and with punctuation at each word)Yes I am
Daddy: I put a little bit here on your plate so that you can try it.
Me: Here's some more milk sweetie just in case the sauce is too spicy for you, okay?
Katie: Okay
Katie: (tries the sauce without the taco) this is good Daddy...Can I have some more to dip my taco in like you?
Daddy: (looking stunned at me and then back at Katie) You want more?
Katie: Yes
Daddy: (gives her a little more) Okay
Katie: I LIKE the spicy sauce Daddy!!
Ryan: I don't want any spicy stuff
Me: Okay Ryan, you don't have to have any

We heard more thunder this week and Ryan wasn't too happy about it. Neither was our dog for that matter who hid behind our couch. Ryan and Katie made their own lunches on Wednesday (crackers with hummus). Katie licked more stuff off her spoon than put onto her cracker.

The girls and I did each others hair with the girls barrettes on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. It was too funny to see how many barrettes Katie would put into my hair and into her younger sister's hair. I wish that somebody was videotaping us!!! Oh what a sight we were. Poor Ryan didn't understand what the fuss was all about for us girls. He just wanted to play with his trucks that Papa had lent him who knows how long ago.

Wednesday night's dinner was Bibimbop since we had finished up having tacos. Well it's a version of Bibimbop anyway that I can get the kids to eat. The tacos as always are a hit but a mess as well. I had to sneak in some veggies on to the soft tortilla before giving it to the kids. So what veggie did I add?? Grated carrot right on top of the meat.

Unfortunately I can't quite sneak in a veggie into the Bibimbop since you see everything in the bowl. So we have some picky eaters right now here in our home. Bella is the opposite she loves eating the bibimbop. The rice goes everywhere...on the tray, on the floor, on the seat of her highchair, all over her bib, in her hair because she runs her hands through it, and some pieces of rice manage to find their way into her mouth and stomach. Somehow she manages to keep the rest of the food in the bowl or on the tray or in her mouth.

We played with the trucks and cars, the girls played with their dolls in their doll podaegi carriers, the two oldest kids helped vacuum the rug (however the vacuum cleaner wasn't turned on when the kids were "helping me"), pretended to drive to friends and family members' homes, pretending that we were ballerinas and cooks, carpenters who build things like homes and more.

We looked at bugs in the backyard and told them not to come inside the home. Why you might ask? Ryan will tell you that they live outside not inside our home...they have their own home.

We looked at books and had Daddy read our favorite book right now...Disney book on Opposites. Bella looks at a book with me every night or builds something with the legos to show me.

The two oldest are inquistive and ask alot of questions. Here are some examples of this past week's questions:

Why does the wind blow?
How do they make a house?
How do they make watermelon?
What bug is this?
Why is puppy barking?
Why don't we get mail? (they get all of our junk mail to look at)
Why can't Daddy stay home all of the time too?
Can Daddy come home now?
Can I go to the stores tonight? (mind you we have nothing to get at the stores so the answer is no with today's gas prices)
Why can't I watch Thomas all the time?

Bella's words have been coming fast. She can now say 'hug' with her little arms raised up and with loving eyes that makes your heart just melt, 'dog', 'puppy', 'home', 'daddy', 'momma', 'omma' which she picked up from Ryan and Katie, 'appa' meaning apple most days, 'mine', 'got', 'sky', 'nana' for banana, 'talk' when she wants to "talk" on the phone, and 'aggie' for Maggie. She tries to say barrette as well when she wants a barrette in her hair. She can sign water and melon if I make the fist. She has been trying to sign I love you as well but only manages to get her index finger out and she and I sign I love you together which makes her just light up a room with the smile of hers.

Bella is walking as fast as she can in the home now. And boy she is ever fast. I have to beat her to the baby gate when the kids leave it open to go potty. Otherwise she is trying to climb up the stairs which she can do all by herself with us following her.

Ryan is working on how high he can count. He's made it up to nearly 50 (with a tiny bit of help) before stopping to eat but this week he only did up to 36 because dinner was on the table and he "had to eat it now"...besides "there is always time to count later on".

Ryan and Katie went to spend 2 nights over at my parents house (thank you mom and dad!!!!!) this past weekend. Bella stayed home with us.

Just a small glimpse into the life here in our busy home!!!

~Jen

Getting the mail is a family outing...and a learning experience

Hi,

Picture this: one home full of 3 kids who love it the mail carrier comes by in the truck to deliver the mail to our rural route home. Add in one sheltie who loves to get the mail as well. Mix in some barking and some "I wanna go get it...I wanna go get it" and what do you have???


One Mommy who walks down the driveway holding her oldest daughter's hand, her son is holding the daughter's other hand. In her free arm she is holding her youngest daughter. The entire crew walks to the end of the driveway, and the Mommy takes it to be a teaching moment. She teaches her children that they need to stop and look both ways before crossing the street. Her son looks both ways as well as her oldest daughter and they respond back "no cars coming Mommy".

They proceed to cross the street to grab the mail. The kids are kept far away from the road on the neighbor's lawn while the Mommy grabs the mail. She quickly grabs her oldest daughter's hand and checks to see if her son has the other hand which he does. They look both ways again before crossing the street back to their home.

Once they get beyond the first set of lilac bushes, the Mommy lets go of her daughter's hand and says to her two oldest "okay you can run back to our home" to which the kids break out into a full tilt run laughing.

Where is the Sheltie you might ask? In the home looking upset since Mommy doesn't have enough hands to walk the dog across the street as well.

After looking at the mail and handing out 3 pieces of it to her kids (who all want a piece to look at for awhile before they toss it aside), she announces that "it's resting time" and all 3 proceed up the stairs to go rest. The Mommy kisses each one of them with an unique kiss. One child requires a kiss on the forehead and both of the cheeks. Another child requires and kiss on the cheeks. The third child requires a kiss on your hand and for you to place your hand (the delivery tool) to her forehead, both of her cheeks, her chin and her mouth.

After giving each their blankies, she tells her oldest two to play quietly and allow their younger sister to nap. "Play quietly" means that the two oldest go into the big brother's room and play with Thomas the train, matchbox cars, legos, and look at books all the while giggling can be heard throughout the home.

After she walks downstairs, she thinks about an earlier conversation she had today with a good friend of hers and then about her own online diary that the world sees.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Here's what I was reminded of today:

(1) Sometimes you need to just let go of things in your life.

(2) You all haven't seen all of me or my children. But at the same time, you didn't ask either.

While my kids do see Korean videos or listen to Korean music, they also watch Wiggles, Thomas the Tank Engine, Sesame Street, Care Bear movies, Cars, Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, and Super Why (not all in one day I might add just for those of you who are concerned about them watching too much TV). They also listen to Kindermusik music, Raffi, Wiggles (yes we have both DVDs and CDs), Thomas (yes we have both of this one as well), Disney children's music and more. My kids decide what they watch or listen to off of that list and within reason (we don't watch a movie right before bedtime for example). I give them a choice and 99% of the time their Korean videos and Korean music aren't on that list. It used to be nearly daily but not so much anymore.

We have tea time where Katie will pass out tea cups to everybody and give you a plate as well with cookies that she made for you. I build train tracks for Ryan to play his Thomas the Trains on. You haven't seen Ryan play with his tool bench when Alpha Pig is banging on his on Super Why. You haven't seen Bella knocked down a tower of blocks only to hear her giggle like she is a mad scientist at work. Nor have you experience playing "base-aball" here in our home.

Definition of Base-aball: You take a ball...doesn't matter what size ball you find. It could be the dog's ball that she can pick up in her own mouth or it can be one that you pick up at the local grocery store for your kids to kick around that has Care Bears or Thomas on it. You sit on the floor and roll the ball to anybody else nearby who could possibly roll (or kick) the ball back to the sender. Eventually everybody on the floor is involved with base-aball including our dog, Maggie.

As you see, I'm not all about crying in front of my children (which by the way I don't do). I'm not forcing my children to watch Korean videos or listen to Korean children's music...that is their choice entirely. They are into other things like Thomas or Cars for Ryan, like Care Bears for Katie, like Hello Kitty for Bella, as well as Elmo and Sesame Street. They like to ride on their trikes and cozy coupes. They like the most recent $10 purchase by their Mommy of their slide for the backyard.

They like watching the two bunnies in our yard and other bugs and birds and learning where they live and what they eat.

I'm so sorry to those of you who thought that I am only about shoving Korea down my children's throats (and yours). I'm so sorry to those of you who thought that my kids weren't involved with other things that they enjoy doing...the typical toddler and preschool things. I'm so sorry to those of you who think that I'm crying all the time--be it in front of my kids or out of their sight...since I am not. I'm so sorry to any adoptee out there reading this blog and thinking that I'm claiming your loss as my own...I am not.

I'm so sorry that I haven't been a good in giving you all an idea of what happens in our happy home.







I'm so sorry that I haven't painted for you the complete picture of our family life and I will change that. And now as my kids are done "resting" upstairs, I will get off of my soapbox and go back to my playing with them.

Bye for awhile.

Are God's Angels Done Yet??

God's Angels have been moving around furniture on and off today. Or maybe they have been bowling up there. We can't really tell which it is. The angels have been crying happy tears to help things grow down here in our neck of the woods. We have beautiful strawberry plants coming up, scallions that are going to seed, Roses of Sharon bushes that are doing quite nicely and more.

~Ryan, Katie and Bella