Mio has a Japanese music book that we’ve let her listen to since she was a newborn — it has pages with lyrics and illustrations to some Japanese children’s songs, and there are buttons that you can press to hear the music play as you look at the pages. (Her favorite song Usagi no Dansu which she used to dance to is in it, too!)
Lately, she’s able to press the buttons herself to play the music, and she starts to clap as the music starts. It tickles me how she only claps the first few moments, and then goes onto press the button again (or another button) before the song even finishes.
Oh Mio, you are more fun to watch than ever! 🙂 Mommy and Daddy can’t get enough of you! ♥
I’m finally caught up on uploading photos from the past month, and I had to post some adorable photos from some playdates that Mio had with her baby girlfriends, both here in California as well as during our visit to Virginia! Scroll down for some cuteness overload….
Here is Mio at her friend Sofia’s! Sofia is four months older than Mio, and such a sweet and bubbly talker! She’s Mio’s only girl friend in the area, and so we love hanging out together. This was from our playdate right before we left for Virginia in December. Thank you Sonya for all the great photos!
Looking into the drum: "What's in there?"
Mio loves hanging out with Sof!
Looking out the window together... so sweet!
Sofia giving Mio a hug!
More hugging! This is pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen.
While we were in Virginia, Mio met baby Clara for the first time. Clara’s Mommy and I went to high school together, and we happen to have the same exact birthday! (We were both Christmas babies!) Clara is exactly four months younger than Mio, but she is the same height!
I love this picture of Becca and Clara
Me trying to keep Mio under control...
Clara has the most beautiful blue eyes!
Thanks for having us over!
Mio also got to play with Anna for a second time — they had met when they were only 8 and 11 weeks old back when we visited in June. It was so fun catching up with Pat and Theo, and seeing how much each other’s babies had grown. I hope that Mio and Anna can be close friends as they grow up, since they’re so close in age! 🙂
Mio and Anna... only three weeks apart! They're so cute together.
Mio got to play in Anna's Jumperoo while Anna was asleep.
Letting out a yawn.
"I put my hands up in the air sometimes..."
Mio cruising around, peeking over at Pat and Anna.
Both Mio and Anna love Winnie the Pooh.
Pat holding Mio.
Pat and I with our baby girls!
Sweet little Anna. She's going to be a beauty!
Isn't Pat the most beautiful mother ever? She looks great!
Mio had a lot of fun hanging out with Anna! Can't wait until the next time we can hang out!
We had a couple other playdates scheduled while we were in Virginia, but I forgot to take pictures when we went to visit my friend Erri’s kids, and then Mio got sick right before we were supposed to hang out with a bunch of our friends over in Maryland, so we couldn’t make it. I love that Mio has so many friends around the same age back on the East Coast… we miss it already!
I can’t believe that Mio is now 40 weeks old! That means that she’s now been in this world for just as long as she was in gestation. Amazing how time flies, and how much babies grow from such tiny helpless blobs to crawling, cruising, munching, babbling mini-humans in just over nine months. Human life is truly a wonder.
40 weeks outside the womb.
Looking less and less baby-like.
The shirt matches the tail ruffles on her skirt.
Thanks to Mama's friends having impeccable taste, Mio has the cutest outfits!
Mio with Mama, back in California.
Mio on her tippy toes, trying to see out the window.
Pointing at her reflection.
Mio tries to clap these days, except she does it with her hands in fists (instead of open palms).
Mio somehow climbed into her toy box.
Standing up in the toy box.
Blurry but cute...
Trying to touch the DVD player.
Mio also has a strange fascination with her Crocs. She's always trying to eat them!
We’re looking forward to seeing all the ways will Mio will continue to grow and surprise us in the coming year! 😀
My father took this photo of Mio with my mother while we were visiting Virginia for the holidays. It tickles me because they both look so happy, and you can kind of see a resemblance in their expressions. åŒã˜è¡¨æƒ…ã‚’ã—ã¦ã‚‹ï¼ï¼ˆç¬‘）
Mio seems to still remember my parents and siblings, as she gets a huge smile on her face whenever we’ve talked to them via FaceTime (video chat) in the days since we came back to California.
Conversely, we had wondered if Mio would have forgotten her loving Grandma (Dan’s mother) that takes care of her three days a week here in California, after being away from her for almost two weeks while we were in Virginia. But as soon as Grandma stepped through the door on Tuesday morning, Mio smiled and crawled over to her. You never know how much babies remember and recognize people… perhaps much more than we give them credit for! 🙂
I’m a bit behind in posting, but Mio turned nine months old on the 2nd! We just got back home to California, and all three of us have got the sniffles. Hope our little family can be back to our healthy selves soon! Mio was pretty cranky for this month’s photos, as you will see below…
(I’ll be taking photos of Mio sitting in my white desk chair and wearing her monthly onesie every month until she’s one year old.)
Stats: You weigh roughly 20lbs 13oz today, although we swear you were a little heavier a couple weeks ago. Catching a cold two times in one month has caused you to lose a little weight, or at least caused your weight gain to taper off a little. Your tummy which used to protrude significantly is not quite as prominent, and you seem to have gotten noticeably thinner all around (but those cheeks are still there!). Your four top teeth have completely grown in, and you’re now sprouting a third tooth on the bottom row, to the left of your existing two bottom teeth. We’ve noticed that your hair is slowly starting to grow a little longer, especially on the sides, and has gotten a darker in color.
Things You’re Doing Now: You are so mobile and fast now! It’s hard to keep up with you, because you crawl so fast everywhere (I forgot to mention in your eight month update, but you graduated from a commando crawl to a true crawl some time ago). Your preferred method of transportation, however, is cruising — you love to stand up and move around with the support of tables, sofas, chairs, anything you can find to hang onto. You’ve learned how to break your falls by bending your knees and falling onto your butt rather than flat on your face, and you’ve gotten really good at turning and sitting up from a crawling position. Lately, you start crying if you see me leaving the room, even if it’s only for a second — the first signs of separation anxiety. While nursing, you’ll often to press your thumb against my thumb, and it’s as if you are challenging me to a thumb war! You also have learned to throw your arms up in the air in a “banzai” pose, bring your hands together in a pseudo-clap (not quite a clap because you hit your fists together instead of your palms), and shake your head from side to side. Every week, you learn to do something new — we are so proud of how much you’ve learned to do, and are looking forward to all the new things you’ll master in the coming month!
