Just as we did with her older sister, we wanted to observe the Japanese first birthday tradition of erabitori at Mirei’s first birthday party. (We opted not to do the issho mochi tradition this time with Mirei, because it was a little heartbreaking when we observed it with Mio.) For those who aren’t familiar with erabitori, here’s a brief explanation.
ERABITORI (é¸ã³å–ã‚Š)
The literal translation for erabitori (é¸ã³å–ã‚Š) is “to pick and keep an item.” The following objects were set before Mirei. It is said that the first object that the baby selects will show her calling, or a tendency towards a specific career field.
WRITING BRUSH: Artist / Writer CALCULATOR: Merchant / Good with business BELL: Music / Performing Arts SCISSORS: Skillful hands / Fashion or Crafting STETHOSCOPE: Doctor or Nurse (Medicine) CHOPSTICKS: Chef / Culinary Arts, Never go hungry DICTIONARY: Scholar / Academic Excellence BALL: Athlete / Career in Sports
So what did Mirei choose? Watch the videos and see the photos below!
Explaining erabitori and the items
Mio kind of caused a scene with a potty emergency while I was explaining the items… ::sigh::
…back to the main attraction! Here is Mirei choosing her item(s).
Go Mirei, go!
Walking towards the items…
What will she choose?
Surveying her choices…
Touching the calculator at first…
…but then picking up the bell.
She was really into the bell!
A family picture after Mirei’s erabitori. Still holding that bell! 😛
It was fun to get a peek at Mirei’s possible future calling! Will she excel in business and/or mathematics? Or pursue a career in music and the performing arts? We’ll have to see! She might just be very busy, trying out various fields throughout her life!
Stay tuned for Part III, in which Mirei gets to enjoy her first birthday smashcake!
Happy first birthday! I woke up this morning to you smiling up at me and I held you close, thinking of all the ways you’ve brought so much joy into our lives in the past year. We have watched you grow for the last twelve months, and we couldn’t be more proud to call your ours. How quickly you have gone from a tiny bundle of helpless newborn to a toddler who scurries around the house, sneakily grabs things from tabletops, and eagerly imitates our every gesture and sound. You are a sweet, bright little girl with an infectious smile, wide eyes that seem to take in everything (and not miss anything!), and a stubborn streak a mile long. You have such boundless energy and curiosity, and seem fearless in wanting to touch and grab anything and everything you can.
While pregnant with you, I had spent so many nights dreaming of you, wondering what you would look like, worrying about whether you would be healthy and happy… if you would be as perfect as I had imagined time and time again. I was afraid about whether I had enough room left in my heart to love another baby after investing so much love and care into our first. All of those worries and fears melted away on a Saturday morning exactly a year ago when they placed you in my arms and I knew that everything was just as it was meant to be.
Your first few months seemed a blur of constant breastfeeding and pumping, trying to balance caring for both you and your sister, sleeping (or attempting to sleep), and just making sure we were all surviving. This first year with you has flown by seemingly faster than our first year with Mio, but there are definite milestones that stick out, that I know I’ll always remember — your first smiles, your first time rolling over, your first time eating solids, your first attempts at crawling, and your first steps… and of course, memories of firsts as a family of four — our first summer with you, first family trip, first Halloween, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, and first New Years with you — all made so much more special because you were now a part of it. You’ve enriched our lives so much more by becoming part of our family, and it really so much more complete.
My love for you is immeasurable. Every time I see you and every time I hear your voice, I fall more in love with you and driven to be a better, stronger, and kinder mother. I feel so grateful to be able to love you and your sister in this life. Just knowing you, my life is complete. Thank you for being ours, and for reminding me every day of the extreme blessings I’ve been showered with. For drawing me even closer to the other people I love. For showing me that this is how life is meant to be lived — full of color, emotion, challenges, and messes. I will always love you and be here to support you and listen. That when you are 5 or 16 or 50, you will know that my arms will always be ready to embrace you and that you are loved as you are -– nothing more or less.
We can’t wait for the gift of this next year with you, to see where the road to two will take us next.
On Christmas morning, we gathered with our family to open gifts together with family, but Dan wanted to do something a little special for Mio since this is the first year she really understands the idea of Santa Claus and how he comes to deliver presents to each house. He found out about an app called SantApp, which uses the light and sound features on your phone to create the illusion that Santa Claus is right in your living room delivering presents. He set it up and woke Mio up early Christmas morning. We thought that it’d be hard to wake her up (because it usually is), but as soon as Dan said, “Mio, I think I hear Santa. He’s here!” she jumped out of bed and ran down to the foot of the stairs, from which Dan told her to wait and listen. It was really dark, so I mostly caught just the audio in the video below, but you can hear and see what went on below:
Afterwards, we let her open just one present before the rest of the family gathered later that morning to open gifts. It was her much-anticipated pink octopus that she’s been asking for from “Santa” (actually thoughtfully sent by Uncle Ted and Auntie Jackie) — you can see her happy (and a little bit sleepy) reaction in the following video:
We’re so happy that we could share with Mio some of the magic of Christmas, and bring Santa Claus to our home! We then went back to bed and slept in a little more, before Ted & Elisa came over and it was time for us to exchange gifts…
The gifts under the Christmas tree
This was Mirei’s first Christmas!
Ted & Elisa brought their dog Asher over! It was his first Christmas, too!
Mirei was happiest about the puffs she got from Grandma and Grandpa!
Mio hugging the Zoku Character Kit for our Zoku popsicles that we love to make!
Mio with her Christmas haul. I think she got the most presents out of anyone!
Dan handled cooking most of Christmas dinner, and it was delicious!
Christmas honey ham. So good!
Green beans with mushroom and bacon, made by me. I usually dislike green beans, but ever since my friend Mimi awakened me to this recipe, I can’t get enough of them!
Fresh salad prepared by my mom
Crisp potato roast! This was also delicious, and we made two pans of it!
Dan carving the ham
The family gathered for Christmas dinner
Christmas Day also happens to be my birthday, and this year I turned 32! Growing up, I used to be saddened by the fact that I often couldn’t spend my birthday with friends, or that a lot of them would be out of town when I had a birthday party close to Christmas, but recently I’ve grown to appreciate the fact that I’ve never had to go to school nor work on my birthday, and that my family is usually gathered anyway for Christmas, so I can always spend it with them. In a way, it’s the perfect day to celebrate a birthday!
Celebrating with a birthday cake after dinner
Blowing out the candles… Mio is very serious about helping me out here.
A happy Mio! She loves birthdays.
My first birthday with this sweet chubster! She has made this past year all the sweeter.
Mirei also turned 11 months old on Christmas Day! Her birthday is exactly a month after mine.
Love Mio’s ecstatic expression here!
We hope everyone’s Christmas was just as warm and sweet! There’s so little left of 2014, and we wish everyone the best as we close this year and ring in the new one!
Dan’s birthday was on the 13th, and he turned 32 years old! At his request, we just had a quiet celebration at home (you can’t really go wild for your birthday with two little ones at home anyway!) with Thai takeout and BonChon chicken, and his favorite cheesecake for dessert.
Mio’s excited, as if it were her own birthday!
Turning out the lights for the birthday song
The girls’ expressions are so funny here.
Blowing out the candles.
Elisa and Ted came over too, and we enjoyed board games and a scary movie together afterwards!
The next day, we went out to enjoy all-you-can-eat crabs as an extended birthday celebration for Dan. My sister and dad came along, since they also love crabs!
Ready to dig in! Between Dan and I, my sister and dad, we killed about three of these trays.
“Mi” Club (Mirei not pictured)
Happy birthday to a husband and father who fills our lives with immeasurable joy. We love you Dan! ♥
Mirei’s friend Lily turns one on Christmas Day, but her parents celebrated her birthday early this month with a Frozen-themed first birthday party in Alexandria. I’ve known Lily’s mom since we were kids ourselves as we went to Japanese Saturday school together growing up, and we reconnected this year after finding out that we have baby girls born only a month apart (to the day!). We were so happy to get to be a part of Lily’s very special birthday celebration!
Dan & Mirei at Lily’s Frozen-themed birthday party. So appropriate for the season!
The birthday girl! Loved her outfit!
She’s such a sweetheart.
The kids got to romp around in the soft playroom for an hour.
Mio, being the wild and active girl that she is, thoroughly enjoyed the playroom.
Mirei joining in the fun
Lily and her mama Moe-chan
Mirei & Lily together
Mio being interesting…
M&M in the ball pit together
Mirei being rocked by Daddy
Video clips that Dan captured of the kids playing in the playroom. They had a blast!
Afterwards, we went back to the party room to have some birthday cake!
Look at this gorgeous birthday cake!
Frozen-themed treats!
Cupcakes looked amazing, too!
Lily smashing her birthday cupcake.
…and of course, Mio was happy to enjoy one, too!
Happy early birthday, Lily! Thank you for inviting us and letting us be a part of all the birthday fun. ♥ Let’s play again soon!
