Thursday, May 24. My father, Sun-duk, and I went to Zellers and bought an electric breast pump, two pacifiers, two large milk bottles, and a large can of Similac (baby formula). The breast pump works very well (the ones in Korea did not, and expressing milk by hand is a very long and painful process). Now Jean-Noël will have mother’s milk almost ‘round the clock, either from Sun-duk’s breast or a bottle.

Friday, May 25. Josée loaned us her green plastic baby tub and Fisher-Price baby monitor (the walkie-talkie things that let parents listen to a baby while in another part of the house). Sun-duk was so enamoured of the monitor that she wants to buy some for Hye-young and Sun-hwa; but they’re pretty expensive (to buy and to send), and Korean apartments are so small that they’re not of any real use over there, anyway.

My mom and dad fixed up a half-broken stroller (of the slight, $15 variety – not a big expensive one), and we took our first Canadian nuclear family walk around Rosedale! Sun-duk admired the houses and lawns. She had lived in an older part of Chicago that wasn’t quite as open and “countrified” as Eastern Ontario, so it was more or less a revelation to her. She had seen everything once before, in 1999, but that was in winter. The neighbourhood looked much different then, cloaked in snow and ice. With the present lush greenery, Sun-duk had the impression of walking through suburban paradise, and can’t wait until we get our own house. She’s already making her architectural and landscaping preferences known!

Later in the afternoon, we hopped over to a British woman’s home just a few blocks away and bought her playpen. It’s a little small, but it’s sturdy (metal, not plastic) and will not tip over, even when Jean-Noël is older.

Saturday, May 26. My mother, Sun-duk, and I went to several garage sales in Cornwall and Long Sault. Sun-duk knew of this North-American tradition, and loves it – it makes so much more sense to pay cheaply for slightly used items than to play keeping-up-with-the-Jones, nouveau-riche Korean style.

The first place we visited didn’t have much. Sun-duk wanted to buy a boxful of wine and alcohol glasses; I thought that kind of purchase could wait until we actually had our own apartment of house! I bought some Canadian history books (very scholarly!) and a cheesy, kitschy pseudo-novel from 1960 starring Annette Funicello!!

Sun-duk found a corduroy jacket and white angora sweater at the next house – $1,50 for both of them! What a bargain! The house, moreover, was the Swiss-style one she had admired yesterday during our walk across Rosedale.

The third place turned out to be our El Dorado. A young woman with a three-year-old son was selling all of her boy’s toys and clothes, and we really cleaned up. We bought a play gym, a passel of toys (plush and plastic), lots of summer and fall clothes, and two child carriers – one for normal outings, another for hiking. We paid fifty dollars for the lot, which probably cost upwards of $300 originally.

We went to a few other sales in Long Sault, but found nothing interesting. When we got back home, we unloaded our booty and patted ourselves on the back for a job well done. What a haul! And a colourful one, at that. We filled up the playpen with toys, and then placed Jena-Noël under his gym. He liked it right away, and before long started batting Big Bird and Cookie Monster about.

Monday, May 28. We went to our federal MP’s office to pick up Sun-duk’s immigration application form. Bad news, though. (See below.) We also went to the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital so I could get my OHIP card renewed (this is Ontario’s universal health card, which offers all of the province’s citizens free medical care). The officials told me I would have to make an appointment with them through the Ministry for Health and Long-Term Care, and gave me their toll-free number. All roads lead to Toronto, it seems.

My father, Sun-duk, and I spent an hour at Wal-Mart shopping for the baby - and Joon-ho, as well. I also took out a hundred dollars at the ATM and discovered that Soros had paid me my last installment. My chequing account now has quite a nice round sum in it, and I’ve yet to deposit the US$600 left over from the local salary I received in Mongolia.

Sun-duk is still trying to lose the fifteen or so pounds left over from the pregnancy. As soon as the weather comes back to normal, we’ll be able to go out walking much more often and indulge in some sporting activities. We both need to get back into shape!

CITIZENSHIP PROCEDURE FOR CANADIAN CHILDREN BORN OUTSIDE CANADA:

1. Jean-Noël automatically became a Canadian citizen at birth by virtue of having a parent with Canadian citizenship.

However, to get a citizenship certificate made – and it is essential to have one in order to apply for all sorts of goodies back home in Canada -, you must fill out a form that includes two official passport pictures. This means that the photographs must:

a) have been taken within the last twelve months;

b) measure between 25mm and 35mm from chin to crown (maximum 35mm x 53mm finished size);

c) have a plain white background;

d) have a plain white signature strip (no more than 10mm and no less than 6mm deep) at the bottom;

e) be produced on single weight matte paper;

f) have, on the back, the name of the photographer or the studio, the studio address, and the date the photos were taken.

Most importantly for children born in non-English- or non-French-speaking countries, sponsors must supply a translation and an affidavit from the person who completed the translation. Affidavits from family members are not acceptable.

So if you’re reading this in Korea, you should bring your child’s birth certificate to a fluently bilingual or trilingual Korean and have him/her sign an official affidavit. I think this is actually easier to do in Korea than finding a studio that can take the kind of passport pictures the Canadian government is asking for!! The only place we’ve ever found is located on the ground floor of the Kolon Building in Chongno, Seoul – home, of course, of the Canadian embassy. That’s where I had my passport photos taken to renew my passport back in ’99.

JEAN-NOËL: Lessee now, how’s he changed the last week? Well, he’s gotten a lot better at sucking his thumb. He was still poking himself in the eye a few days ago, but he’s got it pretty down pat, now. He sticks his thumb into his mouth and holds the other four fingers over his face, then makes loud sucking noises. He only does this when he’s somewhat cranky and we’re not fast enough with the pacifier. (By the way, thumb- and pacifier-sucking is NOT bad for a child’s mouth or dentition until his permanent teeth start coming in at the age of five or six – by which time, peer pressure at school will have cured him of this potentially bad habit.)

His coordination and motor skills are coming along fine. He will purposely hit (though he’s more likely to miss) the toys he’s aiming for in the play gym. It’s really cute to see him develop; every day seems to bring something new – something that is slowly becoming “personality”.

His appetite has increased significantly since last week. He’ll often drink 100mL of milk instead of 60mL. Another growth spurt? In any case, he’s upped his “poo quotient” to one dump a day, and his Huggies just can’t handle the extra “tonnage”. We’ll have to move him up to the 6-to-8 kilo group!

He burbles and smiles more and more. He’s really taking a shine to “conversing” with us, letting out dulcet-toned Agueu’s and giving us that big silly toothless grin of his all at once!

June 4

Jean-Noël was sick for the first time in his young life, this weekend. A cold, with sniffling, fever, and plenty of discomfort and crying. It all began on Friday, June 1st, we think...