Lately, Mio will break out into dance upon hearing music, repeatedly chanting, “Shake booty, shake booty!” Never fails to make us laugh!
Mio
All posts about our firstborn, Mio Elise Allen.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day! For this sweetest day of the year, I couldn’t resist capturing some photos of our two girls’ first Valentine’s Day together. I’m giving you fair warning that I went a little shutter-happy at the sight of how adorable they looked! I have a feeling these will only be the first of many more sweet sister pictures to come! Hopefully they’ll sweeten your day as much as they did mine. ♥
Mirei: ::nervous gulp::
I was in for a treat this morning, too! I didn’t expect that I’d get any Valentine’s gifts because we’ve been snowed in since Wednesday night, but apparently Dan was well-prepared and got everything ready on Wednesday, before the snow started… I was impressed!
So much snow!
Uncle Ted and Auntie Elisa came over and Mio got to play with everyone outside in the snow!
My Sunshine on a Cloudy Day
Mio is turning into more and more of a silly goofball these days! She’s always been a little unintentionally quirky and funny (as is apparent in the many embarrassing photos I’ve posted of her that she’ll likely resent me for in ten years), but she’s been starting to develop her own sense of humor and tries to crack jokes recently. Her latest favorite thing to do is to pick up objects and then suddenly hide them behind her head or her back and say “___ is gone!” (or sometimes in Japanese, “___ doko?!” meaning “Where’s ___?!”) and play dumb, as if it’s disappeared and she had nothing to do with it… and then she’ll whip it back out in front of her after a while and say “It’s here!” It was funny at first in a “Aww it’s her first deliberate attempt at a joke” kind of way, but the “gone” disappearing act has quickly gotten old and lost its charm as she does it at least twenty times a day with various objects, and we’re far from thrilled when she chooses to do it with food since it inevitably gets in her hair or on her clothes when she tries to “hide” it. Still, it’s endearing to watch her personality emerge even more and see her attempts to make others smile and laugh. Below are some fun videos I’ve captured of her lately…
Boppy Lion: “I am Mio, hear me roar!” (Yes, that is my breastfeeding pillow…)
Family Members as Cookies: Mio has this adorable toy cookie set that our dear friend Megumi gifted her when we visited Los Angeles last spring. She loves it and plays with it often, and we always encourage her to “share” the cookies with everyone. In the past couple months, we noticed that she has decided on a specific cookie for each member of the family, including her grandparents and aunt and uncles, and the cookies she’s assigned them never changes. It seems Mio’s carefully selected a cookie for each family member based on her perception of them. It’s funny to see how she sees each of us in cookie form!
Peekaboo with Wipes: Ever since the arrival of baby Mirei, Mio’s suddenly taken an interest in pulling out wet wipes and playing with them. Her favorite thing to do is put them on her face, for some reason… maybe because her skin feels dry?
Several parts of the country are currently getting hit by a winter storm, and our area was definitely not immune! We got over a foot of snow last night, and woke up to our cars buried and much shoveling to be done. Dan is working from home today and needless to say, the girls and I will not be going out anywhere for a while… good thing I have my own little miss sunshine with us to brighten our days!
Valentine’s Party at Preschool
Valentine’s Day is this week, and Mio’s preschool class celebrated today by having a Valentine’s party and card exchange. All of the students’ mommies were invited to come to have snacks and treats with the kids, and it was a fun chance to see them in the classroom setting and look at what artwork they’ve been creating.
I remember my favorite part about celebrating Valentine’s Day at school was making mailboxes and exchanging Valentine’s cards with my friends and classmates! Seeing all the Valentine’s cards that Mio received from her preschool classmates brought back fond childhood memories. Some moms are really creative these days with their Valentine’s!
It was really sweet to get to celebrate Valentine’s Day with Mio this year, as she’s really starting to understand and appreciate seasonal celebrations these days. (She still hasn’t completely gotten over the excitement of Halloween and Christmas… lol.) I have a feeling that with Mio’s sweet tooth, Valentine’s is going to be right up there among her favorite holidays!