Some Korean friends of ours hosted a one-year birthday party for Ellie recently; luckily for us, not only did they open up their house to us but also their camera. Which means lots of good pictures for the blog! This party was particularly important to JooYeon since the 1st birthday is a huge deal in Korean tradition.
Ellie had recently caught a cold (or allergies or something) and so we had two "snot-raggers" rushing in after each picture to wipe her nose. I don't think Ellie minded the extra attention too much...
She even sent a shout out to Che Guevara halfway through the shoot.
Of course, we had to capture the full range of emotions. Poor Ellie :(
It was a whole-day affair with afternoon drinks, snacks, and a huge dinner.
I'm not really sure where all the outfits came from, but I'm pretty sure Ellie wore at least five that day.
Towards the end, we held the traditional highlight of the Korean 1-yr birthday party (돌잔치). Another one of JooYeon's friends had created a series of small clay figures that represented different possible careers (diplomat, doctor, scholar, mechanic, businessperson, etc.). The idea is that you put the child on the table with all the objects and the first one that he or she picks up signifies their future career. Ellie started to go for the gavel (a judge) but then switched at the last minute and grabbed the toothbrush (a dentist).
She was happy at first until we told her how much dental school cost. That shocked her.
In her usual adaptive way though, she compensated by picking up the pen in her other hand, meaning that she will also be a scholar (which will hopefully get her a full-ride through dental school).
We ended the evening with some kiss pictures since that seems to be Ellie's new favorite hobby.
Of course, even Ellie has her limits when it comes to kissing!
