Tuesday was the last day of Mio’s first year at preschool. We’re so proud of her, and also thankful for all the wonderful teachers who have helped her grow & learn, to make her first year in school so enjoyable for her! Mio has really grown a lot at school — her communication has grown by leaps and bounds with so much new vocabulary, and she plays well with other kids thanks to the socialization she gets there. While we had wondered if we were sending her to school too early at two and a half back in September (she used to cry at drop-off every time for about a month), we feel that she thrived and that it was a good experience for her. She loves school now!
Most days, we parents aren’t even really allowed to peek into the classroom through the door because the kids will get distracted, but on the last day, we were allowed to come in about 15 minutes early to watch the kids in the classroom setting, and see some of the songs and dances they’ve learned, as well as say goodbye to the teachers for the summer.
Mio’s the youngest in the class, and she loves getting the extra attention from the teachers.
Some video I took of the class singing. Mio was kind of distracted by the presence of all the parents…
“School’s out! It’s party time!”
Enjoying the lollipop she got in her gift bucket from the teachers.
Congratulations on completing your first year of school, Mio!
Afterwards, a bunch of Mio’s classmates’ moms had planned to meet at the park for a picnic lunch and let the kids run around to celebrate, so we joined and Mio had a lot of fun playing in the park.
This girl will climb anything and everything.
Mio’s preschool sends home progress reports written by teachers twice a year. Because Mio can’t quite describe in detail how her days at school are or what she did there, I love reading these and hang on every word! It’s really nice to hear firsthand from the teachers how she’s thriving in school!
Mirei is 100 days old today! It seems fortuitous that her 100th day falls on the same day as Kodomo no Hi (Children’s Day) and Cinco de Mayo! 🙂 So much to celebrate and be thankful for. We love you baby girl!
For this special day, I dressed her up in this beautiful hybrid yukata/dress that our friend Noriko-san gave us. My mom kept gushing over how cute Mirei looked in it, saying that she looked like a little Japanese girl (well, she kind of is… haha*).
The cutest part of this outfit? The huge bow on the back!
To celebrate, my mom made a delicious sashimi and tempura dinner for the whole family! We didn’t have the traditional okuizome meal, but it was delicious and I ate a lot to ensure that Mirei could enjoy the meal, too! 😉
Mirei with us parents. Mio fell asleep before we could take a photo, so it ended up just being the three of us!
Happy 100th Day, Mirei! We can’t wait to see how you’ll continue to grow.
I’d been a little forgetful/lazy about having Mirei do tummy time compared to when Mio was a baby, but her neck has been pretty strong and stable even since birth! On Friday, I laid her on the floor with the intention of having her do some tummy time, and she surprised us by rolling over for the first time! She was on her back at first, then pretty quickly twisted her body so that she was on her side… and she stayed like that for 10-15 minutes — grunting, twisting, and kicking — until she eventually pushed herself over from her side to her tummy! I was taking a video of her just in case, but I was kind of stunned that she actually did it when she hadn’t really shown signs of trying to roll over until that day. It’s also really interesting that the age at which Mirei rolled over (3 months and 1 week, or 97 days old) is almost exactly the same as when Mio rolled over! (Mio rolled over at just over 3 months as well, at 102 days old)… as if to say, “Gotta keep up with big sister!” Well, Mirei, you successfully broke Mio’s record by a few days!
Here’s the video of the last few minutes of her trying to roll over and succeeding!
We’re so proud of you, sweetheart! ♥
I feel like compared to my experiences with Mio, the second time around, my baby’s growth seems so much faster. It can probably be attributed to the fact that I’m taking care of two kids at once and therefore am a lot busier and can’t really fully immerse myself in enjoying Mirei’s baby days. Milestones creep up faster, and while with Mio I would (sometimes impatiently) wait and look forward to them, with Mirei they sneak themselves in before I know it and I find myself thinking, “Wait, she’s already able to do that?” The pace at which Mirei is reaching milestones has thusfar been pretty similar to Mio, but it just feels so much faster! It’s of course a joy to see her growing well and able to do more, but it’s bittersweet because I feel like she’s growing up too fast and I haven’t been able to take pause and enjoy her babyhood as much as I did with my first child. It’s yet another reminder to really appreciate and savor every day I have with my little girls.
Happy third birthday, Mio! Three years ago today when I looked upon your face for the first time, I could hardly believe you were mine. Today as I watch you playing on the floor of your room, I find that I feel exactly the same way. The sense of wonder and disbelief that you came from us doesn’t goes away, and I have never gotten over how lucky we are to have you. At three years old, you still have one foot planted in toddlerhood with remnants of baby fat still visible on your face and frame, and yet you’re growing into a little girl with an exuberant and complex personality. Your quirkiness charms everyone you meet, from your preschool teachers to random ladies at the grocery store. You are an independent free spirit — a delightful paradox of dress-up and a dirt-smudged face; fairy wands and Legos. You light up our lives with your giggles and sweet hugs, which smooth my rough edges and restore my tired spirit at the end of the day.
You have my heart, now and forever.
♥ Mama
The Rundown at Three Years Old…
Stats: I’ll updated more accurate measurements once we go to your doctor’s checkup, but according to your growth chart, you are now exactly 3 feet tall (36 inches). You weigh around 34 lbs — definitely too heavy for Mama to hold for over two minutes!
Things You’re Doing Now: We are definitely seeing your transition from toddler to kid lately — your vocabulary and communications have grown by leaps and bounds in the past couple months, and you’re now talking in full sentences. While we had initially worried about a delay in speech, you’ve clearly hit the “verbal explosion” stage we’ve been long anticipating, and you are speaking a lot in both English and Japanese, and know how to use them separately according to who you’re talking to without jumbling the two languages up. Your brain is such a sponge right now, and you’re constantly full of “What’s that?” and “Who’s that?” questions and pick up and learn those answers and new words immediately upon hearing them only once. It’s really amazing to see how much you’re picking up but that also means we have to really watch what we say in front of you. You sometimes say random funny things, like “Oh, man…”, “Come on guys! It’s time to move!”, and “CATCH HIM!!!” — undoubtedly language you’ve picked up from preschool! The other day, while we were shopping at the mall, you went up to a mannequin and touched its dress, scrunched your face up into a big smile and effusively gushed, “SO CUTE!” … which Dan laughingly pointed out were gestures and words that you had picked up from me and were imitating. It was pretty funny, and maybe you really are turning into a little mini-me! You’re also able to recognize the letters of your name now and can point out when you “read” your name somewhere, and like to arrange your alphabet magnets to spell out “MIO” too. You love books more than ever, and are especially interested in Japanese folk tales. Your current favorite movie is “Monsters Inc” (“Finding Nemo” is still a close second!), and your favorite characters are Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Anpanman, Doraemon, Hello Kitty, and Super Why. Dan and I noticed that since a few months ago, you’ve mellowed out of your “terrible two”-dom and gotten much easier to reason with. Of course, you still have your occasional meltdown when you are overtired, but you listen to what we say and follow rules without getting upset or throwing tantrums — we agree that we couldn’t have asked for a sweeter child! We’re relieved to announce that after months of failed attempts and accidents, you are almost fully potty trained. As of a couple weeks ago, we can take you on outings and to preschool in underwear without accidents, and you only wear a diaper at night when you go to sleep. You’ve even started telling us when you have to go recently, instead of us having to just periodically sit you on the potty. You’ve permanently moved to your big girl bed and are getting better at using normal cups without spilling. You are also playing a lot more autonomously and quietly work on building with your blocks and putting together puzzles when I have to take care of your baby sister. While you are not quite the doting big sister yet and most of the time you choose to ignore Mirei, it seems like you’re starting to come around and warm up to her a little bit more, offering toys to her, planting the occasional kiss on her, and saying “Mee-dey-chan kawaii~” (or “Mirei’s cute” — you can’t quite say “Mirei” and pronounce it with a “d” sound instead of an “r” sound). You also help Mama and Daddy by bringing over diapers, wipes, bottles, and burp cloths when we need some help. We’re so proud of you for all the ways you are growing up and being able to do things more independently. It’s been a wonderful three years, and we look forward to many more fun-filled years ahead!
Mio had been sleeping in her “big girl bed” for naps for the past few months, but she always wants to sleep in her crib at night. (These days, she doesn’t even nap most days unless we’re in the car, so her toddler bed had been untouched for weeks.) Dan and I haven’t really been pushing her to move to the big girl bed, but since we do want to eventually move Mirei from her bassinet to the crib at around 3 months old, we have been encouraging Mio to say goodbye to the crib on her own instead of us having to evict her later on.
I recently fell in love with this balloon-themed bedding set from The Land of Nod’s spring collection, and ordered it for Mio as part early birthday present, part incentive to sleep in her toddler bed. It was during their bedding sale and I got to use a Crate&Barrel gift card I’d been sitting on for years, but it was still a bit of a splurge… so I really hoped it would work. My prayers were answered, and she LOVED it!
Crawling into her new balloon quilt. She was so excited!
She of course wanted to bring Nemo into bed with her.
Bedtime stories in Mio’s bed. Mio has been really into Japanese folk tales lately (special thanks to Jackie for the book!), and here she’s pointing at which one she wants me to read. Her current favorites are Momotaro and Issun-bÅshi.
Daddy usually handles bedtime stories and putting Mio to bed, but Mio likes to have Mama read to her once in a while, too.
Mio has been sleeping in her big girl bed since last week and she’s actually eager to crawl into it every night! She excitedly says “Balloon bed! Big girl bed!” It’s another bittersweet part of our little girl growing up, but I’m so glad that we could make the transition smooth and fun for her. 🙂
