Mio is exactly two and a half years old today! Every day, she grows more and more independent and adventurous. I find myself pausing once in a while to take mental snapshots of her, trying to indelibly burn these moments into my memory forever so that I can look back on them always. It’s been a while since I wrote an update on Mio, so I thought this was an appropriate time to document the things she’s been doing lately.

The Rundown at Two-and-a-Half Years Old…

Stats: I used to be so good about jotting down your exact weight, height, even head size… Now visits to the pediatrician are few and far between so my recordings aren’t as precise, and most days I’m too busy chasing you around to be able to pause and get any sort of accurate measurements. You’re definitely over 30 lbs now, and it’s been impossible to hold you for more than a couple minutes these days, especially due to my growing belly.

Things You’re Doing Now: You are growing into quite the little lady these days! Your vocabulary has really started to take off in the last couple months, and while you rarely speak full sentences, you’re definitely starting to string multiple words together to express yourself. The words you’ve learned to say are a pretty evenly balanced mix of English and Japanese words, and you can recognize and verbally identify a lot of things by both languages now. Some of the more random and interesting words/phrases that you’ve picked up and obsessively say these days are “kyuu-kyuu-sha” (Japanese for “ambulance”), “dinosaur”, and “How ya doin'” (said eerily similar to how Joey from “Friends” does…). Lately, you’ve been pretty interested in vehicles (firetrucks, ambulances) and dinosaurs, and it’s kind of refreshing to see that you’re still immune to gender stereotypes and haven’t become as interested in the whole princess business yet. We’ve found that you can recognize and identify a good 3/4 of the alphabet, and I can’t help but smile when I hear you trying to count with your own jumbled array of numbers. We’re thrilled to see that you’re already developing good manners, and that you usually remember to say “thank you” (which in truth sounds more like “ank you”) to people when they give you something or do something for you, without us having to remind you. You’re a people magnet when we’re out shopping or at grocery stores, as you’re always greeting people with a “hi!” and readily respond with a beaming smile and “ank you” to all their compliments. You seem to be doing pretty well with your first month of preschool, despite some instances of crying at drop-off and being a little overtired at pickup time. You like to hug my pregnant tummy and give it kisses, saying “Hi baby” and seem to be slowly opening up to the idea of your soon-to-be baby sister… though of course, we won’t know for sure how you’ll react until she’s actually born! You’re more active than ever and are always climbing onto high places and jumping, and frequently running into things, too, resulting in the occasional bruising — but you’re quite the tough cookie and rarely cry when you tumble or fall. Though there are some occasional tantrums and meltdowns characteristic of this age, you’re overall pretty cheery and happy most of the time, which makes things so much easier for us! You’re more affectionate than ever these days and are constantly peppering Daddy’s cheek with kisses and enthusiastically nuzzle your face against mine. We feel so incredibly lucky to call you our daughter, and count our lucky stars every night for how sweet, healthy, and bright you are.