He is more beautiful in person!

The first meeting is finished and we are both feeling much calmer now! We found the agency and our case worker without a problem - one worry out of the way. Our son did not scream when he saw us - another worry out of the way. We were able to communicate with the foster mom through the help of our case worker - still another worry out of the way. And we found out enough about him that we are confident that we have some tricks up our sleeves for the plane ride home - yes, that was a worry too!

Now onto the good stuff: Nicholas is so very handsome with a wild head of hair that is soft to the touch. He is very inquisitive and wanted to play with my pen and notebook. I sat him on my lap and he turned the pages for awhile - something I thought would make his two librarian grandmothers quite proud! The foster mom said he really likes jewelry, so I won him over with my necklace. Kevin on the other hand didn't have any jewelry on, but Nicholas was very intrigued by him. He grabbed his finger right away and stared at him. He also liked watching him eat (the foster mom served us strawberries and dook - rice cakes with honey and sesame seeds inside). Again when we were saying goodbye, Nicholas just looked at Kevin, like he was saying "You look a little strange, but I think I'm going to like you."

The foster mom said his favorite toy was the caterpillar rattle we sent him. She said she tried to play the lullaby CD, but it kept him awake because he liked listening to it, so she uses it during play time. We learned that he likes to pull his foster sister's hair and that he "helps" during homework time by crawling over and tearing up the papers! He is army crawling now and loves to jump when he is being held upright. His foster mother said she has strong arms now because of him!

He is up to 9.7 kg (21 lb) now, but he is smaller than I was imagining from the pictures. That made me happy to see that he still looks like a baby and realize we have lots of growing up to do together!

We get to pick him up from the agency at 2pm on Monday and then our life as a family truly begins. We are excited for that moment and also looking forward to seeing more of Korea between now and then so we can tell Nicholas all about his birthcountry as he grows up.