Dan was spinning Mio round and round in various ways, and was having a hard time keeping up with her… but in the end, found the best solution to tire her out without getting exhausted himself!
video
Tech-Savvy Tot
With two tablets in the household (Dan’s ASUS Transformer Prime and my iPad), Mio knows tablet technology all too well. Combine that with seeing us using our smartphones, she’s gotten to be such a pro at knowing how touch-screens work. She’s even sat at my desktop computer and tried to swipe the screen on several occasions!
Here’s a video of Mio learning about animals through a couple Japanese children’s apps on my iPad. She’s a pro at switching between apps and touching things on the screen.
It’s a very different age that children are growing up in these days! There’s so much technology surrounding them everywhere. We still want Mio to appreciate books and tactile toys rather than get addicted to the screen and all things digital, so we try to limit the time she spends playing on the tablet and watching things on the screen. (I usually try to wrench her away and distance her from the screen to save her eyesight….)
On a somewhat related note, I found this video from last December, when we celebrated Christmas with Dan’s family in California, before leaving for Virginia. We surprised Dan with the ASUS tablet that he’d been wishfully admiring — I rallied both sides of the family to chip in to get it for him for his birthday! I love how stunned he is by the gift, and was glad that we could get it on video. 🙂
Not sure what to get for his birthday this year, though. I kind of dug myself a hole by raising the bar too high – now almost every gift I give him will pale in comparison…
Kisses on the Playground
Today, we went to nearby Borge Street Park for a couple hours as a little family outing and to give Mio some time to play on the playground to her heart’s content. As usual, as soon as she saw the playground when she got out of the car, she squealed in delight and ran towards it!
I mentioned before that Mio is getting more affectionate these days, and we caught one of such sweet moments on video! Here she is, giving a kiss to Daddy and then blowing Mama a kiss.
Prettying Up
Mio has always been very observant, and in recent months, she likes to imitate what she sees people around her doing. One of my favorites is how she sees me spreading toner and moisturizer on my face every night, and pretends to slap and rub some on her own cheeks with the biggest smile on her face. She loves doing this so much that every time she goes to the sink and gets some water on her hands, she does the same thing. It’s really funny and cute to watch.
This morning, Mio was watching my mother applying makeup with much curiosity, and wanted to try it herself, too. My mother handed her a near-empty powder compact, and Mio went to town with it! It reminded me of how I’d always sneak into my mother’s makeup as a little girl and try on her lipstick and blush, very eager to grow up and feel like a lady!
Here’s a video of Mio “prettying up” in my parents’ room.
I’d thought that Mio was going to grow up to be a tomboy, but lately she seems to be very interested in girly activities like skincare/makeup, trying on different shoes, hats, and accessories (she loves to raid my necklaces, bracelets, and sunglasses… and my sister’s, too), and twirling around while dancing. I’d thought that this stage would come much later (maybe around 3 years old or so at the earliest), so it kind of took me by surprise! I think, though, she’s just interested in trying everything grownups are doing in general, rather than the “girly girl” aspect of it.
My sweet little girl… don’t grow up too fast on me! 😉
On the go!
Our place is a total mess right now with all the packing we’re doing in preparation for our move in two weeks! Mio can definitely sense the big changes and seems to have an inkling that we’re about to go somewhere new — she’s been piling stuffed animals onto her ride-on toy car and pushing them from room to room, as if to tell us, “We’re already ready to go!”
She likes to say “boo-bboo” (Japanese equivalent of “beep beep”) as she wheels her entourage around. 😛