Beautiful Baby, part 1

Last weekend we celebrated Ivy's homecoming and first birthday with an open house for family, friends and neighbors. Ivy calmly handled being the center of attention and received everyone's love and good wishes with grace and good cheer. She wore her hanbok for part of the day, specifically for our toljabee ceremony. This is a traditional Korean first birthday ceremony in which a number of items are laid out on a table in front of a child and the first objects she chooses represent her future skills and talents. We adapted this ceremony and chose items from our home that represent our own lives. These are the items we presented to Ivy for her toljabee:

• Books (Global Babies and Sweater) and a pencil - successful scholarship
• Yarn spun by Ivy's mom - long life
• Money - wealth
• Ivy's great-grandpa's carpenter's ruler and knitting needles made by Ivy's grandpa - skilled with her hands
• Wooden spoon - enjoys cooking and welcoming friends to her table
• Paintbrush - artistic abilities
• Harmonica - musical talents

We placed Ivy on Kevin's lap for the ceremony and then the excitement began. After lightly touching many of the items, the first object she picked up (and put right in her mouth) was a knitting needle:

I was very pleased that she chose this needle that my dad made from lumber from a cedar tree that stood in my front yard for many years until a storm blew it down in the mid-1990s.

And then it was time to choose the 2nd and final item. To paraphrase our friend, Jeff (a wickedly talented photographer and, most importantly, HB's dad), I honestly resisted melding Ivy's mind and did not force her to choose a book for her 2nd item. We faced the table with renewed suspense:

But, what can I say? After lingering over Great-Grandpa Ottmar's ruler, our girl made her librarian-parents proud and grabbed one of her favorite books - Sweater by Kit Allen:

The ceremony was beautiful and touching and we thank Jeff for capturing so many memorable photos of the event. We also thank our other photographers, Eli and Steve for grabbing our personal cameras and documenting the special day. Ivy was surrounded by so much love that it's impossible to describe the entire day in one post, so please continue on to Part 2:

Beautiful Baby, part 2

Ivy's Wisconsin grandparents, Aunt Kersten, Uncle Jim and good friend cousins made the trip to Madison for Ivy's party. Everyone had a wonderful time and cousin Finnian showed us that, even though he had a fever, nothing would keep him from celebrating Ivy's homecoming:

Shortly after Ivy's toljabee we set her loose so she could play with her buddy, HB. They crawled toward each other and HB hugged her and gave her a big ol' kiss on the mouth:

Then HB promptly made a speedy get-away, leaving Ivy in his dust as she struggled to crawl after him in her cumbersome hanbok:

The party ended at the very late hour of 6 pm at which time we all crawled back to our house, where the girls put on comfy clothes and snuggled under the quilt that Grandma B. made for Ivy:

I think that we'll be ready for another celebration in May, when Grandma Pauline, Grandpa Frank and Auntie Christine visit us. Until then, we'll hold fond memories of last week's party deep in our hearts. Thanks to everyone for making our day a special one.