One Year Old...

So, Ri's one year birthday has come and gone in the blink of an eye, and she's almost 13 months old already. Slacker Mommy has failed to keep a record yet again. ::sigh::

There just aren't enough hours in a day...

Just a quick recap:

Umma arrived in Korea on the 16th, we prepped for the party on the 17th, and then on the morning of the 18th, I found out that there was some major bicycle race along the primary road that leads to Hello Kitty Town! ACK! So there I was contacting everyone who had comfirmed they were coming to let them know to come a bit later, find an alternate route, or take public transportation. All drama aside, the party was fun and interesting and entertaining for all. The traditional set-up was beautiful and worth every penny. Loved having the party at Hello Kitty Town because the kids could just go play and the adults could actually have some conversation and enjoy the food.

At the Dol-jahb-ee, she took her time looking and deciding on what to grab, unlike Tay who grabbed the money right away, and then casually picked up the "writing brush," which is supposed to be indicative of a future scholar on our hands...we'll see about that. :)

Thanks so much to all those who came and joined us in the celebrations!

As for her development and growth, she is now an avid walker as of about two or three weeks ago. She had been crusing for a while and just standing on her own for months now, but never really took more than three or four steps at a time and then preferred to crawl the rest of the way. Now, she prefers to walk EVERYWHERE and gets quite upset when you pick her up to get someplace faster...::sigh::  She also prefers to play on her feet, so even if all the rest of us are sitting down, she'll remain standing, or squat so she can play with whatever is on the floor rather than just sitting down.

She has begun identifying things with words and definitely understands way more than she says. The words she does say and know what they mean now are umma, appa, unna (unni - big sister), ata (tita - "aunt" for Beth), bah (ball), tka (cup...not sure why, but that's what she calls it and that's actually what Tay called it, too, but she put a p at the beginning - ptka), ah-ter (water), boo (book), eh-wo (hello), eh-tuh (thank you) and a handful of other words I can't think of at the moment. She's hilarious because she'll just chatter on in all sorts of nonsense and look at you like you're supposed to understand. And then if you look at her puzzled, she'll just go on about her business muttering to herself as if she's complaining that you're not understanding her.

She is also quite funny when it comes to getting dressed or putting on shoes. Whenever we get ready to go out and we get by the door to put on shoes, I'll set her on the floor and the first thing she'll do is lift up her foot and go "eh?" like she's expecting me to put on her shoes. As for putting on her pants, I'll have her lying down and say "Toes!" and she'll lift up both her feet and shoot them into the pants! It works half the time and the other half she has entirely missed the pant leg and I have to fight her into the pants! This results in an array of giggles and squirminess, but ultimately a dressed one-year-old, so all is well that ends well. :) When putting on the shirt, she will sit up and after getting her head in the shirt, she'll tuck her arm behind her with a little smirk on her face. When I give her the "look," she'll delay for just a bit more and then she'll put her arm through the sleeve I'm holding out for her. Then, she'll do the exact same thing with the other arm...this time with some giggling and a bit more resistence. Such excitement with wee-ones!

In other sweetness, she kisses when she WANTS to now...not only when she's asked. She'll just be playing and happy and suddenly she'll toddle over and plant a sweet one right on your face...even with the sound effect of mmmmmah! She even "tries" puckering, although it's just a cute little smirk that she gets. After she kisses you, she'll usually stand there and clap for herself with an embarrassed look on her face. Silly girl. Her favorite person to kiss is her big sister...go figure. She'll even hug nice and tight, but usually it's combined with a kiss where she'll wrap her little arms around your head and then kiss you as she squeezes...LOVE!

Another game she loves to play is rolling this giant fluffy soccer ball we have back and forth. Granted, she hasn't quite figured out how to get it further than a foot or so, but when she does, she is just SO excited and proud of herself. She also enjoys climbing. EVERYTHING. I find it quite amusing when she is trying to climb something taller than she can reach, so she takes a dvd case, puts it on the floor, stands on top of it and tries to climb up. Like that whole half an inch is going to give her any sort of boost. At least she's figured out that if she can climb on top of something else to get on top of something higher...that's cognitive development. :)

Whenever she sees Tay writing or drawing on something, Ri must also get in on the action so she will "joosayyo" her way to getting a piece of paper and a crayon and proceed scribbling (and tasting) happily, all the while looking at what her Unni is doing. She wants to do everything her big sister can do...must be a rough life not being able to do everything that the bigger kid does. She's pretty aggressive, though, so give her another year or two and I think she'll be running with the big girls in no time.  ::sad::

On the "tantrum" front, Ri has a whole different technique to being "upset" than Tay did at this stage. When she gets mad or doesn't get something her way, she will plop herself down and dive into a belly flop on the floor, but being extra careful so as not to hit her face or head on the floor, and then she'll ever-so-gently set her face on the floor. Then she will proceed with the whining. Looking up from time-to-time to see if I'm looking at her and paying attention. Quite amusing. If she's on a softer surface, though, like a bed or a mat, she'll throw herself down a "little" harder, but then she'll find that amusing so she'll frequently forget what she was getting mad about and start giggling. Silly girl.

It's pretty scary how quickly she is growing up...I LOVE this age, though...so adorable and so fun(ny). I look forward to seeing her learn new things every day. Such a funny funny girl.

Love you, Shinah Riley Ryals.