Mio was in such a good mood this afternoon, so I had to capture some of her adorable smiles on camera. Keep it up, Mio — Mommy likes happy Mio better than furrowed-brow-Mio! ã‚„ã£ã±ã‚Šé›£ã—ã„顔より笑顔ãŒã„ã„ãï¼
This one is from yesterday, but I’m throwing it in because it’s just so darn cute. ã ã‚“ã ん女ã®åらã—ããªã£ã¦ããŸã♪
It looks like we have a fast learner on our hands! Just yesterday, Mio rolled over for the very first time from her back, and now she’s rolling over everywhere, even in her sleep! (Literally.) Early this morning after feeding her, I put her in bed with me as I sometimes do so we could sleep in together after Dan left for work. I awoke an hour later to her grunts to find that she had rolled over to her tummy beside me.
We’re going to have to watch out for this one….
Mio surprised me today by rolling over from her back to her front for the first time! We hadn’t anticipated her to hit this developmental milestone for at least a couple more months, so it was quite a pleasant surprise. I had her lying on her back for a while on her playgym, watching her out of the corner of my eye while I was making lunch for myself in the kitchen. I saw her slowly turn herself and roll over — it took fifteen minutes, but she did it! Thinking it may have been a one-time fluke, I put her on her back again. When I looked over five minutes later, she was once again on her tummy!
Thinking that if she’d done it two times, she’d do it a third, I decided to try to catch it on video. Here is her attempt to roll over.
(Please excuse her poorly color-coordinated outfit. I just pulled out whatever clothes I found this morning to dress her, not knowing that she’d have such a camera-worthy moment today! Shame on Mommy for letting Mio commit a fashion faux pas in her moment of glory!)
All the effort to roll over must be exhausting — Mio fell asleep midway, while still on her side!
After her little nap, she woke up and did it again successfully this time! The proof is in the video:
Since then, she’s been rolling over several times, and she’s been getting faster and better at it each time. She must have done it a dozen times today! It’s her new favorite thing to do, apparently. 😛
We are so proud of Mio and how much she’s becoming able to accomplish!
I’ll end this post with a bonus video of Mio smiling and cooing. 🙂
Yesterday on Sunday, July 10th, Mio turned 100 days old! A baby’s 100th day is a milestone in several Asian cultures, and traditionally in Japan it’s celebrated with a ceremony called okuizome.
Excerpted from Wikipedia:
When a baby is 100 days old, Japanese families celebrate a weaning ceremony called ‘‘okuizome,’’ or first food. This ceremony traditionally involves a large shared meal prepared by the mother-in-law. The menu varies by region. Traditionally, a small pebble is placed on each plate and the adults symbolically bite down on it. This ritual is meant to wish the baby a life of abundant food without hunger as well as good strong teeth. While a father or grandfather may pretend to feed the baby solid food during these festivities, the baby is usually still drinking exclusive milk.
We did not have a formal okuizome ceremony, but Mio got to spend the day enjoying lots of time with loved ones! In the morning, we went over to Berkeley to have brunch with my dear friend Julianne, who happened to be in town! The last time we saw Juli, I was still pregnant, so this was her first time meeting baby Mio.
Later in the day, Mio’s grandparents (Dan’s parents) came over to have a celebratory lunch with Mio. Dan’s mother made and brought over some delicious sushi rolls! Mio couldn’t have any, of course, but we very much enjoyed the food on her behalf! 😉
Mio started to fall asleep, so we put her in her bouncer and she immediately woke up and started to cry when she realized she was no longer in anyone’s arms….
We feel so blessed and lucky that Mio is so healthy and she’s already given us so much joy in the past 100 days. In some cultures, the 100th Day is also celebrated as the one year mark since the baby came to exist in the womb. Sure enough, it was around this time last year that Mio started to develop within me — it’s amazing to see that only a year later, we have such a big, healthy 3-month old in our arms! I used to feel like the nine months of pregnancy was unbearably long (especially while I was experiencing it), but if you look at it from that perspective, it’s pretty incredible that a fully functional human can be created from nothing in a mere nine months! Life is truly a miracle.
Mio has already changed our lives forever in this short period of time, and we cannot wait to see how she continues to blossom and bring more joy to us as well as those around her.
“My heart is yours.
My spirit sings with love.
For you. My child.
You’ve grown yourself,
inside me.
Foot under my rib.
One became two.
At last you are here.
Sleeping on my chest.
Clutching my tangled hair in your hand.
Your dark eyes calm as a lake.
Your breathing making me safe.
You who gave birth to this mother.
A life. My child.
We gave birth to each other.
I kiss your face.
A million times a day.
I sit still and listen.
To the whisper of your wisdom.
To life, right now.
This is love, my love.”
— ULRICA
Yesterday, I took Mio to Annandale to meet my friend Erri and her two adorable children, Audrey and Brennan. Audrey is almost four, and Brennan is almost eight months old — about five months older than Mio! It was their first playdate together and Mio had a great time, as you can see from her smiles here…
Later in the evening, we went to Sushi Yoshi in Vienna to have dinner with my girlfriends from high school. It was so much fun catching up with everyone and introducing them to Mio. Thank you Debbie for organizing the dinner!
