On Tuesday, Mio had a playdate with my friend Erri’s kids Audrey and Brennan. She had so much fun playing with older kids, and they took such good care of her while Erri and I caught up! I’ll let the cute photos speak for themselves…
4 year old Audrey and 18 month old Brennan
13 month old Mio
Berry Cute indeed!
The diaper butt looks oh-so-cute in baby jeggings.
I remember when Audrey was just younger than Mio at my wedding. How time flies!
After enjoying a delicious yakisoba lunch that Erri cooked, we headed over to the nearby park to play. It was so humid that day!
Audrey took such good care of Mio! ã„ã„ãŠå§‰ã¡ã‚ƒã‚“ã ã〜。
Brennan walking around on the playground.
The kids got pretty sweaty from playing in the playground, so we threw them all in the bathtub together. It was pretty stinkin’ adorable…
Three's company... such a cute moment!!! 三人ã§ãŠé¢¨å‘‚タイム♪
Audrey holding Mio close... heartmelt!
Audrey washed Mio's hair for her and rinsed her off! She's used to being a good big sister to Brennan, so she was really great with Mio. 見ã¦ã¦å¾®ç¬‘ã¾ã—ã‹ã£ãŸã€‚（＾＾）
Out of the bath, Mio and Brennan both took naps while us Mommies chatted, but they eventually woke up for some more playtime…
I'm pretty sure I squealed when I took this picture. é ã¨é ã‚’ãã£ã¤ã‘ã¦éŠã‚“ã§ã‚‹äºŒäººã€ã‹ã‚ã„ã™ãŽã‚‹ï¼
We ended up staying there for over seven hours! Thank you Erri for lunch and dinner, and for having us over for such a fun (and adorable) playdate! :DÂ It’s incredible to think that Erri and I met when we were only five years old, around Audrey’s current age. We’ve known each other for 24 years, and it’s really amazing to see how far we’ve both come! I would have never imagined us both being Mamas and having playdates together for our children. I’m so thankful for her years (now decades!) of continued friendship, and look forward to many more memories together. ♥
We don’t have stairs at our home back in California, but the rooms we’re staying in at my parents’ house is on the second floor. Since the first day we got to Virginia, Mio has been a pro at climbing the stairs, despite not having had any stairs to practice on in the past. I guess all the table-climbing made her a natural at tackling stairs… Of course, I always hover from behind to spot her and make sure she doesn’t tumble down. Here’s a video I took! (In retrospect, it probably would have been better to have it taken from the front, so you could see her face, but instead you get plenty of baby butt footage. Oh well… next time!)
On Monday, my sister, father and I took Mio to a local pet store where they have puppies that you can play with in the store. Mio is really interested in dogs and other animals lately, so we thought she would have a lot of fun with them!
My favorites were the Shiba Inu puppies. There were three of them at the pet store!
Mio looks on while behing held by Auntie Miwa.
A Corgi puppy
Mio staring at the puppies
Walking around the pet store with Auntie Miwa and Ojiichan
We chose a shiba inu puppy to play with, and got a playroom with him in! He was so adorable…
Mio trying to touch the puppy.
Shibas can be extremely hyper and overactive, though, and this puppy definitely had a lot of energy! It kept trying to jump on us and kept biting on the ends of our clothes and pulling… it was intense.
Auntie Miwa trying to shield Mio from the puppy.
The puppy trying to jump on Mio
So playtime only lasted about ten minutes, but it was fun! We spent some time looking around the rest of the pet store together…
Looking at the mice.
Colorful fish in the tanks.
There was a frozen yogurt place nearby, so we went to Sweetberry for an afternoon snack!
Getting some tart froyo for Mio
Mio trying frozen yogurt for the first time.
She liked it! It was great because it wasn't very sweet.
Looking at me for more.
Licking her lips... yummy!
I just noticed that day that Mio is starting to grown in four more teeth (her first molars) in addition to the eight teeth she’s already had for months. She’s had the central and lateral incisors for a while now, but she’s just starting to grow one molar on each side, on both the top and bottom (so one in each quadrant of the mouth). I’d heard that the first molars start to grow in at around 13 to 19 months, so she is right on schedule!
Showing her teeth!
Monday was a bit cooler and cloudier compared to Sunday’s pool weather, so we couldn’t break out the baby pool again, but Mio still had fun romping around the backyard.
In the evening, Auntie Miwa wanted Mio to try on the new Harajuku Mini clothes and sunglasses we’d bought for her when we went shopping earlier in the day, so we had some dress-up time. Check this fashionista out! 😛
She looks so hip! I love the polka dot sunglasses.
As it is with a lot of grandparents, my mom has a tendency to want to pamper her grandchild, and she always insists on buying babygear and toys for Mio that she can use while in Virginia, even though we’re rarely here for over two weeks at a time. (We already have a separate car seat, high chair, and travel crib that will always be waiting for us in Virginia… I do admit that it makes our life a whole lot easier!) She went out for a shopping run yesterday morning and came back with a baby pool! Because it was very sunny and the perfect weather for some splashing around, we took it out to the backyard for Mio to play in it. This was Mio’s first experience with any sort of pool, as where we live in Northern California rarely gets hot enough to be pool weather, so it was pretty exciting!
No diving in the baby pool! You don't say...
Mio testing the water. (My mom bought her some pool/bath toys, too!)
Mio was at first a little stunned...
Obaachan blowing bubbles for Mio
Mio eventually squatted down to sit in the pool.
Pooltime in the backyard
It was the perfect weather for some fun in the sun!
Three generations of Yokoyama ladies!
Having a blast.
I kept putting hats on her, but Mio pulled all of them off and into the water... 🙁
Mio had so much fun, we had a hard time getting her out of the pool!
Here’s a video I took of the pooltime fun!
Hopefully we’ll get several more uses of the baby pool during our stay here in Virginia! Mio has always loved the water (she relishes bathtime), so I can see this pool becoming very addictive for her. 😛
I remember spending many of my summer days as a young child playing in a kiddie pool of our own in the same backyard with my siblings, and I can’t help but smile as I think back on all the fun we had. One of the best parts of becoming a parent is how we are given the opportunity to be a kid again — to relive the best of our childhood memories all over again, except this time with a deeper understanding of just how precious those moments are. I hope that someday, Mio will look back on all those happy moments we’ll share with the same fondness and smile.
Mio and I arrived at my parents’ home in Virginia late Saturday night. My dear friend Hanna is getting married in two weeks, and we’re in town to attend the wedding as well as to spend a couple weeks with my family and friends here beforehand. Dan stayed behind because he has to work, but he’ll be joining us for the weekend of the wedding! Mio and I survived the cross-country flight, despite her staying awake the entire time. We had to walk up and down the aisle a few times and she was definitely restless and squirmed a lot, but she was in good spirits for most of the flight, charming the other passengers and the flight attendants with her scrunchy-faced smiles and friendly behavior. (Mio kept grabbing onto the seat in front of us and peeking her head around the side to smile at the lady sitting in it… thankfully, the woman was a very understanding mother of three, and seemed tickled by her silly antics.) It was only during the last half hour of the flight when we began our descent that things really went downhill — Mio refused to drink from her sippy cup and hence started screaming and crying because her ears wouldn’t pop. I was mortified and extremely stressed out, but she kept pushing away everything I offered her to drink and eat. Thankfully, everyone around me was very understanding and sympathetic, and — probably picking up on my stress — helped me gather all my belongings and even offered to hold Mio when it came time to offboard the plane. I’m just glad that it’s over, and that I’ll have Dan to help me on the returning flight back to California.
Mio has been soaking up the love back here in Virginia. She’s loving all the attention from my parents and my siblings, and is smiling more than usual! She loves all the rooms she can explore (as my parents’ house offers much more space to roam than our little home back in California), and of course the luxury of a big backyard!
My mom pulled out a toy that my siblings and I often played with as kids for Mio to tinker with. I can’t believe she’d kept it all these years, and it was really nostalgic to see it again! I love that as parents, we oftentimes relive our childhood through our children and that we can share and pass on our most cherished memories and experiences…
Mio loves the "vintage" toy that her Mama used to play with.
Fisher Price toy fron the 80s
It's still in good shape after being banged around by four kids!
Here are some fun photos of playtime in the backyard…
Auntie Miwa playing with Mio while Obaachan looks on.
Auntie Miwa is so good with Mio!
Feeling the breeze
Mio can almost get lost in the backyard...
I missed all this greenery!
Mio is a bit of a speed demon lately… her walking is turning into a run, as she can jet across the room in only a couple seconds, especially when she is excited!
Almost a blur as she explores the house.
Mio was not happy with our attempt to get her to wear cherry blossom antennae.
