In recent months, Mio’s really taken an interest in building blocks and puzzles. With her blocks, she usually likes to just stack them as high as she can and proudly proclaims, “tower!” when she’s done, before knocking it over and saying, “tower fall down!” She loves playing blocks with Daddy because he helps her build more complex structures — today, Mio called me over to proudly show me their “robot” creation.
Mio’s “robot” made with a little help from Daddy.
Quite the little builder!
This photo cracks me up. It’s as if she’s saying, “My creation! It’s aliiive!!!”
Here’s a video of a separate occasion of Mio and Daddy building with her magnetic Tegu blocks:
Here are a couple videos I took recently of Mirei on the cradle swing. She seems to like the swing and bouncer and they seem to help lull her to sleep at times.
Below is a video of Mio on the same swing (a gift from Dan’s parents when Mio was born) when she was 5 weeks old. Notice the similar grumpy/sleepy expressions… haha*
Mio in her cradle swing at 5 weeks from Misono on Vimeo.
Below are some more photos of Mirei from the past few days…
Mio is turning into more and more of a silly goofball these days! She’s always been a little unintentionally quirky and funny (as is apparent in the many embarrassing photos I’ve posted of her that she’ll likely resent me for in ten years), but she’s been starting to develop her own sense of humor and tries to crack jokes recently. Her latest favorite thing to do is to pick up objects and then suddenly hide them behind her head or her back and say “___ is gone!” (or sometimes in Japanese, “___ doko?!” meaning “Where’s ___?!”) and play dumb, as if it’s disappeared and she had nothing to do with it… and then she’ll whip it back out in front of her after a while and say “It’s here!” It was funny at first in a “Aww it’s her first deliberate attempt at a joke” kind of way, but the “gone” disappearing act has quickly gotten old and lost its charm as she does it at least twenty times a day with various objects, and we’re far from thrilled when she chooses to do it with food since it inevitably gets in her hair or on her clothes when she tries to “hide” it. Still, it’s endearing to watch her personality emerge even more and see her attempts to make others smile and laugh. Below are some fun videos I’ve captured of her lately…
Boppy Lion: “I am Mio, hear me roar!” (Yes, that is my breastfeeding pillow…)
Family Members as Cookies: Mio has this adorable toy cookie set that our dear friend Megumi gifted her when we visited Los Angeles last spring. She loves it and plays with it often, and we always encourage her to “share” the cookies with everyone. In the past couple months, we noticed that she has decided on a specific cookie for each member of the family, including her grandparents and aunt and uncles, and the cookies she’s assigned them never changes. It seems Mio’s carefully selected a cookie for each family member based on her perception of them. It’s funny to see how she sees each of us in cookie form!
Peekaboo with Wipes: Ever since the arrival of baby Mirei, Mio’s suddenly taken an interest in pulling out wet wipes and playing with them. Her favorite thing to do is put them on her face, for some reason… maybe because her skin feels dry?
Several parts of the country are currently getting hit by a winter storm, and our area was definitely not immune! We got over a foot of snow last night, and woke up to our cars buried and much shoveling to be done. Dan is working from home today and needless to say, the girls and I will not be going out anywhere for a while… good thing I have my own little miss sunshine with us to brighten our days!
Mirei is 13 days old today, and she had her 2 week doctor’s visit yesterday. The doctor said she’s perfectly healthy! As is the case with most newborns, she lost some weight in the first few days after birth (she was 7 lbs 6.5 oz when we took her to the doctor Wednesday of last week), but she’s gained it back and is now heavier than her birth weight. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz at yesterday’s appointment, putting her in the 61st growth percentile based on weight-for-age.
She measured 22 inches long, putting her off the charts for height-for-age (though I’m feeling dubious as to how accurate the nurse’s measurements were, especially with how much Mirei was moving during the measurement).
Mirei’s head size was 14 inches (up a half inch since birth), which is in the 70th growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
The doctor said she’s “perfect” in terms of health and growth. I’m so glad that Mirei is off to a great start — she didn’t even have any issues with jaundice! (What a relief!) She nurses a lot without any problems, and sleeps surprisingly well for a newborn, too. The first couple nights home from the hospital were a little rough because she’d be wide awake from 1am to 4 or 5am straight, but we were able to successfully shift her more awake time by keeping her stimulated and awake in the evenings, before we go to bed. She now only wakes to nurse a couple times in the middle of the night and promptly goes back to sleep afterwards, making sleep a whole lot better for Mama and Daddy! 🙂
Here are some photos of Mirei in these first two weeks at home…
Mirei’s first sponge bath at home, when she was 3 days old.
3 day old Mirei in her bassinet
Mirei being held by her auntie Miwa, as Mio looks up at the camera.
A very much posed picture of Mio and Mirei together… Mio looks like she doesn’t know what to do with crying Mirei.
5 days old. She always looks so alarmed when awake!
My girls taking a nap together. Much sweeter than my forcibly posed photo above. Candid, natural shots are best!
6 day old Mirei hanging out next to Daddy. She loves being cuddled and just feeling us nearby. It calms her immediately.
Wittle feet!
Mio peeking on her baby sister napping… 🙂
Sleeping angel… 9 days old.
Lovin’ on mama. Love these late night cuddles. ♥
Love that little fist… too cute! (Newborns sure do sleep a lot, as I’ve been rediscovering…)
