Mio got to attend a friend’s birthday party for the first time this Saturday when her friend Jinwoo turned one year old! We had a great time celebrating Jinwoo’s first birthday with his family and friends.
Taking a look at all the adorable photos from Jinwoo's first year.
The birthday boy with his grandma.
Mio with her signature pouty face, about to cry. (I think she was alarmed by all the people.)
Getting lots of love from Grandma and the other ladies at the party.
Daddy taking good care of Mio.
Jinwoo is twice Mio's current age!
As part of the Korean tradition of doljanchi celebrating the birthday of a one year old, Jinwoo dressed up in Korean attire and chose an object that would foretell his future.
Objects for Jinwoo to choose from, which will foretell his destiny.
Jinwoo looking oh-so-handsome in his Korean traditional attire.
Kayo explaining the doljanchi tradition.
Jinwoo walking over to choose his object.
See what he picked in the video below!
He chose a calculator! Meaning he will be a mathematician or scientist!
The Japanese have a similar tradition... I wonder what Mio would pick?
Jinwoo's cousin Emme... the most adorable three-year-old!
Mio and I while playing Bingo.
The birthday cake!
Jinwoo with his new Cookie Moster doll, one of his birthday gifts!
Jinwoo likes to clap these days... it's the cutest thing ever!
The older kids attempting to bring down the pinata.
Mio was too young for the pinata, so she stayed indoors sitting pretty.
Daddy's Girl.
John and Megumi are expecting a baby girl around Christmas time! Can't wait for their little one to arrive!
Snapping a quick family photo.(We don't have very many of the three of us, since one of us is usually behind the lens.)
Mio was pooped after all the partying. She passed out just before we left the birthday party.
Special thanks to Jinwoo and his family for having us over for his first birthday party! We had a wonderful time, and we can’t wait to see all the wonderful ways in which Jinwoo will continue to grow. 🙂
This week, Mio has started to be able to sit up on her own unsupported for longer periods of time! After a while, she’ll sometimes lean forward or to either side, but for the most part, she’s learned how to balance her upper body while sitting. We’re so proud of you, sweetheart!
She won’t stay sitting for long, though! She eventually plants her hands against the floor and moves into commando crawl mode to move around everywhere!
My best friend Debbie was in town for Columbus Day weekend, and we spent Saturday with her and her boyfriend Jerry. We started the day off with a delicious roasted potato pizza for lunch at Cheeseboard in Berkeley, and then drove up to Napa Valley for some wine tasting! It was the first time in Napa for Debbie and I, and of course for Mio as well! Debbie has been my best friend of fourteen years, and some of my fondest memories of high school and college are those that I spent with her! I miss her so much now that we live on opposite coasts, so I’m really grateful for the time that we get to spend with each other! 🙂
Here are some photos from our day in Napa…
Debbie and Mio meet for the second time! (This was after our Cheeseboard lunch in Berkeley.)
We went to Mumm Napa, which is a winery known for great sparkling wines! (Perfect for dessert wine lovers like us!)
Arriving at Mumm Napa.
Mio waiting patiently in her stroller with Sophie.
Mio is 27 weeks old as of Saturday, and her growth and development is making our heads spin these days. She’s able to do so much now! We introduced her to the sippy cup a couple weeks ago, around the same time we started her on solids, and she has now mastered holding and drinking from it!
Before, she used to make a face every time she’d take a sip and discover it was water and not breast milk, but it seems like she’s finally gotten used to it. Look how relaxed she looks while drinking! 😛
Mio has also started to “commando crawl,” also known as “army crawl” — it’s not quite a true crawl, but she’s been moving around using her arms and dragging her feet behind her. We definitely need to get a foam playmat for her and babyproof the place now that she’s on the move!
While rice cereal is often the first food of choice when starting babies on solids here in America, it is 10å€ç²¥ (rice porridge) in Japan. It’s a very liquidy congee, and while rice is normally cooked with water at a roughly 1:1.2 ratio, you use a 1:10 ratio at first for your baby, incorporating water at 10 times the amount of rice you are using, to get a very loose consistency. As the baby gets older and more used to solids, you can start lessening the ratio, to make it 1:7, 1:5, 1:4, 1:3 — and the porridge is called 7å€ç²¥, 5å€ç²¥, 4å€ç²¥, 軟飯, respectively, according to whatever the ratio is. It makes sense that rice porridge is a common first food for Japanese babies, since rice is such a staple in the Japanese diet. I grew up eating rice every day, and I’m sure it will become a big part of Mio’s diet as she grows up, too. So this past weekend, we introduced her to her first taste of rice, making 10å€ç²¥.
I started out by washing a half cup of Japanese rice and putting it in a pot, and then added 5 cups of filtered water. I brought the pot to a boil, and then reduced the temperature and simmered it for 30 minutes, covered. Afterwards, I turned off the heat but kept the lid on for 10 minutes, to let the rice continue to cook with the residual heat inside the pot. What resulted was a very mushy rice, but the kernels of rice were still somewhat retained, forming little clumps within the porridge. Traditionally, one usually has to grate the mixture through a very fine metal mesh strainer by pressing it through with the back of a spoon (or using a mortar and pestle to grind it up by hand), to obtain the desired fine consistency, but it seems like an awful lot of work, so I decided to try blending it in the Babycook to see if I could get a more consistent liquid that way.
Sure enough, after pulsating the mixture a couple times, all the clumps were gone and what was left was a very fine, loose rice porridge! Perfect!!!
After reserving a portion to feed Mio, I poured the rest out into daily portions to freeze for future feedings. Easy! 🙂
Mio liked her first taste of rice — she heartily gobbled it all up! (So far, she has liked every food we have introduced to her.)
So for all the Asian mamas out there who want to feed their babies rice porridge, I definitely recommend the Babycook! It makes the process super easy and relatively mess-free!
