First Full Day

Arch is being a super star and very brave. You may want to sit down because he slept for 13 hours! straight. So I got plenty of sleep as well. Tonight he fell asleep a little earlier which I was hoping for since we have to get up and get going to the airport early but hopefully he won't wake up too early. We were playing and I knew he was tired so I sat on the couch and put him in my lap and he just closed his eyes and fell asleep. Moved him to the bed no problem. Figured no sense in trying to make some sort of sleep schedule until he's home! We stayed at the hotel today and enjoyed playing, visiting the hotel playroom and trying swimming for the first time. Archer was noticeably more calm today so not sure if he was just revved up from the excitement of yesterday or what. He has a lot of different interests and will spend time doing a lot of activities. He is really determined and has rarely been frustrated. Just keeps trying. He still hasn't cried except for when he ended up under water but even then he was easy to comfort and ready to get right back in. The communication is cracking me up. He just chatters away in Korean and I answer in English and we both laugh and have no idea what our conversation is about yet we don't seem to have trouble figuring things out. He is learning English really fast. He has said hi, bye bye, good boy, potty, mommy, pizza, sheep, cow, and more that i'm not remembering right now. He'll repeat a lot of things but he's using some of them appropriately also. Like potty! That's right he was potty trained in the last month! They told me what he says to request the bathroom and I was thinking well there is just no way I'm going to understand that so I showed him the bathroom right away and told him "potty" and he's been good to go. I even put him in a  diaper last night and he went all 13 hours without going! He's a very friendly guy and saying hello in Korean to all of the hotel workers and giving them a wave. He really just likes to do whatever we are doing and copies everything and if there is something he wants he figures out how to get it! Mom and Erica are now Korean casino members so they are kinda a big deal. They also went out today to a palace tour in the rain and now they are out grabbing dinner. I think Arch has maybe given a great first impression and they are really enjoying him. He had a lot of fun splashing them in the pool and spent some time drawing with grandma (or halmeoni as he calls her) and laughing at eemo (auntie) erica's singing. Not sure if he is just going to be super chill this whole trip or what?! There have been a few times where he's been a little quiet that I wondered if he was feeling sad but has been mostly fine. We facetimed with Steve and Simon this morning which was fun. Right away he started waving and saying "Hello brother!" and "Hello Daddy!" in Korean. When we were in the play area there were painted clouds and airplanes on the ceiling that he saw and right away started pointing to them and chatting away and running back and forth to me patting me and pointing and then pointing and hugging me. At first I was thinking oh whatever he's just excited about the plane but then I finally was like okay no way he is totally telling me about how we are going on the plane I'm positive of it. He is totally fine with me hugging and kissing him and sometimes while we're playing physical games he might give me a squeeze but otherwise is not going out of his way to hug me or anything and this seemed really distinctly to be about the plane. I think his foster mom really prepped him for our trip. When she was saying goodbye she did talk for sometime and it made me wonder if she was again going through the plane ride and all of that with him. I have to finish packing and making sure I have all of which papers I need where and when, etc. I'm so excited to get home to Steve and Simon and feel like our family is together and complete.