I’m so behind on blog updates! Mio and Mirei both went in for their wellness exams last week for 3 years old and 3 months old, respectively. They both checked out as healthy and growing within the normal range, but I wanted to post up their growth stats before too much time passed!
Here are the latest measurements in Mio’s growth…
Mio weighed exactly 33 lbs, putting her in the 70th growth percentile based on weight-for-age.
For height, she measured 36.75 inches long, putting her at 23rd percentile for height-for-age. (I’ve been noticing that she’s definitely on the shorter side among her peers. Maybe she has her Mama’s height…)
Mio’s head size was just short of 20 inches at 19.75 inches, which is in the 87th growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
During Mio’s appointment, the nurse and doctor asked her a bunch of questions, pointing to things in the room and asking her to identify them (to check on her vocabulary), and asked her to perform some physical tasks such as balancing on one leg and jumping up and down. She was able to complete everything with flying colors!
I know I keep saying this, but Mio is so sweet and fun right now. She can entertain herself for long periods of time playing blocks and working on puzzles, shows such creativity in the things that she builds, and I find her singing to herself a lot lately, too. I’m in awe of all things she’s now able to do! She is also becoming much more interactive and playful with her peers and talks about her friends a lot.
Mio built an “Elephant!”
“Ice cream cone!”
Gal pals Mio & Aubrianna
A new video of her singing the Japanese tulip song:
Happy birthday to my sweet little girl! I can hardly believe that you are already two years old.
We have watched you grow and transform from a newborn, to a baby, to a toddler in what feels like a blink of an eye. I’m constantly telling Dan “This is my favorite age of hers†because in each of those moments, they’ve felt like just that. You are still so small, and yet you are bursting with so much personality, emotion, and life. You’re brave and fearless in exploring and discovering new things, and have such a sweet and tender heart towards those around you.
These past two years have been so precious and dear to our hearts, and we can’t wait for this next year, and all the years to follow. We’re so excited to watch how you’ll continue to grow and to discover the lovely girl — and eventually, woman — that you will become!
The happiest of birthdays to the sweet little girl who made me a mother, who brightens our days, who gives us a million reasons to smile and laugh. You are loved far more than you can possibly imagine.
I can’t wait to spend a lifetime of these priceless moments with you.
♥ Mama
The Rundown at Two Years Old…
Stats: We haven’t been to the doctor’s in a while, but I’m pretty sure certain you weigh around 29 or 30 lbs now, and I can barely pick you up for more than 2 minutes. I’ll update with more specific height and weight measurements in a couple weeks after we go in for your two year checkup at the pediatrician.
Things You’re Doing Now: You’re more independent than ever, and continue to imitate things that we do. You’re starting to show a very thoughtful and nurturing side to you: you pretend to change your stuffed animals’ diapers, prepare and feed them play food, and take them on strolls in your doll stroller. You’re learning your manners and you say “please” (although right now, it sounds more like “fwee”), and “arigato” (but it comes out more like, “a-to”). You’re definitely repeating a lot more of the words that you hear us saying, which makes us wonder if you’re on the brink of that verbal explosion that a lot of parents say comes a little after kids turn two. You’re starting to recognize certain letters of the alphabet and numbers by sight (particularly the letter “C” and number “2” are your favorites that you spot and point out most). Just today, we heard what sounded like you counting the first few numbers in Japanese as you went up each step on the stairs! At bedtime, you’ve gotten clever about picking out the longest books to ensure that you maximize your storytime before going to bed. You still want us to read you at least five books at night and sing to you before putting you to bed, but while you used to cry and protest for a couple minutes every night when going to bed, lately you’ve seem to come to peace with the routine and cheerfully say “bye bye” when it’s time for you to go to sleep. I saw some brief flashes of jealousy at a playgroup the other day when one of the moms asked me to hold and watch her newborn baby while she took her older child to the bathroom — you were playing across the room from me, but did a double take when you glanced over and saw the baby in my arms, and came running over whining and fake-crying “Mama!” It was quite a surprise to see! You’re eating more than ever these days, and it feels like you are eating/snacking on food of some sort every waking hour! You’re definitely the picture of health as usual, and while the rest of the family fell sick this past month, you were the only one who remained immune to the cold and flu. You’re starting to exhibit more playfulness and interest in other toddlers your age, especially at the Japanese playgroup we’ve recently started attending. While the frustrations and tantrums of the “terrible two”s are still there, you’ve also become sweeter and more affectionate in recent months — you’ve been showing such a wide variety of moods lately, and you keep us guessing and entertained every day.
I’m a bit behind on updates, but Mio turned 22 months old February 2. Here’s the latest on her growth and development!
The Rundown at Twenty-Two Months…
Stats: I’m not sure how tall you are right now because we haven’t had a chance to measure you in a while, but in terms of weight, you now weigh 28 lbs according to the scale at home. You are already getting too heavy for me to carry, and I have to put you down after a couple minutes.
Things You’re Doing Now: You are starting to take an interest in colors, and like to point out things that are red and blue, saying “aka” and “ao” (the Japanese words for the colors, respectively) — though sometimes you get the two mixed up. You’ve always been really into animals, but in the past month or so, you’ve really taken a liking to sea creatures, and like to say “fish” (but with a swishing tone when you say it) and have recently learned “turtle,” too! You have been picking up on certain songs, frequently singing Justin Bieber, as well as singing parts of your favorite Japanese kids’ songs (“Ai Ai,” “Chou-chou”, and “Zou-san”). You’ve started learning some manners too and say “Douzo” when you hand things to people… though sometimes you get confused and say it when you are receiving things, too. You love to take care of others, and I see you frequently trying to feed and dress your stuffed animals, hand toys to other kids, and push doll strollers around. It shows that you have a very nurturing and sweet nature, which is a joy to watch. You’ve also started taking pairs of stuffed animals in either hand, bringing them closer while you make a smacking noise with your lips, followed by “daiii” (for “daisuki”), showing that they are kissing! I have no idea where you learned this from, but it makes us laugh every time! You have been doing a lot of quirky things that I want to capture on camera and remember forever because they are just so silly. You got your first hair trim the other day at the hair salon, where they just cut your bangs, leaving your curls in the back intact. You didn’t even flinch and just stared into the mirror while in my lap, as they snipped away. You broke out into a beaming smile when you saw the results! You are more active than ever and constantly climbing onto furniture and up to high places. The other day you climbed up and stood balancing on top of your tricycle seat, and then triumphantly clapped and shouted to show us your feat! You are becoming more and more independent, and we can definitely see the beginning of the “terrible twos” with some of the tantrums and frustrated whines you’ve been exhibiting when you don’t quite get your way or have trouble communicating what you want. You’re still our sweet little girl though, and while we say this at every stage of your growth, we think you are as cute as ever and can’t wait to see how you will continue to blossom! 🙂
Mio’s new fringe. We only cut her bangs.
An example of some quirky, interesting behavior from Mio: wearing a box on the head and trying on auntie’s boots…
As a child, I remember getting my height recorded every year on a growth chart, and I always thought that it would be a fun tradition to continue with my future kids, too!
I searched high and low for the perfect growth chart, but being very picky when it comes to these types of things, it took me a long time to find one I liked. Most of the commercial ones I found either looked too cluttered or baby-ish (I wanted the growth chart to be something we could keep hanging until Mio stops growing, so 15-20 years from now), and the ones I actually liked were pretty expensive and I wasn’t about to shell out $80+ on a growth chart. I wanted something made of a sturdy canvas, so that it would be durable but could be rolled up for compact storage if/when we move someday. I turned my sights to Etsy, and while I couldn’t really find the perfect growth chart, I found one that was simple, cute, easy on the eyes, and affordable. If I had a sewing machine and was better with that kind of thing, I would have wanted to make one myself, but I just don’t have the time between chasing a toddler around and all the freelance projects I’ve got going on right now. (I’m actually pretty busy with a lot of work coming in these days, which is very exciting!)
So this handmade growth chart arrived a while ago and I’ve been nagging Dan to nail it up on the wall… and we finally got it up yesterday! It was a bit of a challenge to accurately measure and mark the growth chart with a squirming toddler, but we had fun with it! 😀
She never misses an opportunity to look fab in the spotlight.
"Okay, Mio... you're adorable and all, but it's time to get serious and measure you."
Trying to get her to stand tall against the wall.
Standing still, while Mama gets the measurement.
Marking her height.
She is approximately 2 feet 5 inches.
Mio just turned 14 months old on Saturday, so I wanted to also write an update and all the awesome things she’s doing these days.
The Rundown at Fourteen Months…
Stats: You now weigh approximately 23 lbs, and according to our measuring skills (which may not be very accurate), you are around 29 inches tall! In the past month, you’ve gotten four of your molars in, resulting in a total of 12 teeth!
Things You’re Doing Now: You’re very vocal these days and we find you “talking” a lot — having conversations with yourself while playing, to us, to random strangers walking by… we wish we could understand what you’re saying, but it’s just really sweet to hear your voice! In the past couple weeks, you have been saying “uh oh” whenever you’re doing something that you know is wrong (climbing things, knocking books out of the bookshelf, opening things you’re not supposed to open, going places you’re not supposed to go, etc.). It’s hard to get mad at you when you say your “uh oh”s because it’s so darn cute, but we wish you wouldn’t do those things if you know you’re going to get in trouble for them! haha* You’re mastering the signs for a lot of animals these days, such as “dog,” “bear,” and “monkey.” You’ve also picked up on how to sign “baby,” “yummy,” and “shoes.” You completely weaned yourself from nursing while we were in Virginia and are drinking a lot of milk these days. You want to eat everything we eat, and you surprised me last month when you bit into the corncob I was eating — surprisingly, you ate most of it without leaving many kernels behind! You’re starting to get a little picky with your vegetables sometimes, but you always have a healthy appetite and eat almost everything we give you. You’re starting to be able to run now, and it’s hard to keep up with you when you move so fast! Lately, you are really interested in books — it used to be so hard to hold your attention for more than ten seconds while reading to you, but now you are fascinated by them and like to turn the pages, and sign certain animals as you see them in the book. You especially like the interactive books that feature audio sounds, flaps, or pop-ups and I often find you sitting on the floor, “reading” books books to yourself. We’re so thankful that you are growing into such a sweet, bright, and active little girl!
Today was Mio’s 10-month doctor’s visit — it was a regular checkup, with no vaccinations. As usual, her pediatrician was very impressed with how healthy and physically advanced Mio was in her development. Here are her latest stats!
We were surprised to see that Mio weighed 20 lbs 10 oz, because it’s slightly less than how much she weighed when we took her into the doctor when she was sick a few weeks ago. She’s in the 64th growth percentile based on weight-for-age, continuing to be very healthy!
Mio measured 28.5 inches long, in the 59th growth percentile based on length-for-age.
Her head circumference was 17.99 inches (45.7 cm) around, which is in the 82nd growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
Another memorable thing that happened today was that Mio signed her first word — “milk”! We’ve been teaching her baby sign language with a few basic ASL words, as we had heard from other parents that it becomes an effective tool for pre-verbal infants to communicate with gestures when they are ready to communicate but unable to verbally speak words yet. We’d been introducing her to a few signing words for a couple months (such as “more,” “milk,” “Mama,” “Dada,” “yummy,” and “bath”), and today was the first day she signed a word to us! She has been signing it a lot today, and I managed to capture it on video this afternoon:
Some more fun photos from today… Mio is getting better at walking every day, and is now waddling everywhere!
"I'm a superstar!" Walking everywere at only 10 months old.
