Life at Home

We arrived Monday afternoon to LAX, I almost kissed the ground of good ole US of A, but decided against it since our airport is embarrassingly unattractive and extremely unhygienic compared to other international airports-why is that?  The day prior to our departure our sweet boy and I were alone packing our bags in preparation for our trip.  He asked me which children's home he was going to in America.  I asked him again what he meant because I was confused by his question; I realized he thought he was going to another orphanage.  I told him that he was going to our home with his mom, dad and sisters.  I reiterated this two times and when it registered he hugged my neck and wouldn't let go.  My heart felt so pricked by his question, his little five year old mind couldn't possibly make sense of what a family was-he never experienced it.  The flight went extremely smooth, though he never played video games-boy genetics I assume- as he was able to turn on his monitor screen and figure out what/where to go without the ability to read or know the alphabet.  After his meal, which he throughly enjoyed, I told him it was time to sleep and he did without fussing (ahhh wish I could bottle this).  He woke up with the smell of breakfast, while he was kicking his feet with delight at the sight of food, he ate everything.

Shall I splurge and buy him a new helmet?

We went through immigration and the surly officer wanted to interview Braeden alone.  Jeff gave me that pleading look not to make waves as he saw the determined maternal lioness surfacing.  I politely mentioned that our son was monolingual and passively-aggressively asked if he spoke Korean.  The officer stated that the interview would be facilitated in English.  You are probably wondering what I was thinking--bureaucracy amongst other rated R thoughts.  We did get through the process without having Braeden deported or me arrested.  We left the airport and went to Irvine where we had Subway for lunch as the very thought of Korean food makes us a little sick.  We watched in disbelief Braeden inhaling the 6" lunch meat sandwich filled with lettuce and tomatoes-it was impressive but yet worrisome of how his little body would digest the massive amount of food he was intaking.  Finally, we made it home and to our delightful surprise our friends and neighbors had adorned the house inside and out with signs of welcome and decorative balloons.  The fridge was filled with Korean food for Braeden; in our garage there was a new bike for him.  Words cannot describe the love we felt.  Thank you friends!

Neighbors came one by one with gifts and while using their feet as stoppers to our door they poked their heads to see the celebrity:)  So in the end I did not get to cocoon him as he wanted to find out who each person was and wanted to get to know their children.  He loves children as evidenced by his approach to a crying child at Old Navy (all the clothes I bought him from Nordies doesn't fit as he is a size 3) he went to the little child and gently handed him a ball.  Braeden is a soft spoken boy who appears to observe and process; he shows affection and openly receives affection.  He shares that he loves America because of the toys he plays with and the trains that he has.  He said in the orphanage they shared one Thomas the train.  He also said that he loves his mom, dad and sisters.  All this to say that the transition is going remarkably well.  However,  I would not be truthful if I didn't include that it still feels that I am his caregiver and I hope that the authentic feeling of parenthood will come-I have these irrational fear that it won't which keeps me up at night.  Britney says it wisely that it feels like we are babysitting him and Jeff says confidently that time will equal intimacy.   He is so lovable!