Some pictures from last Wednesday, when my sister Miwa and I took Mio to nearby Nottoway Park for some playground fun…
The playground never gets old for kids… every time is a new adventure! 😀
Nottoway Park
Virginia
Fun with the Baby Pool
As it is with a lot of grandparents, my mom has a tendency to want to pamper her grandchild, and she always insists on buying babygear and toys for Mio that she can use while in Virginia, even though we’re rarely here for over two weeks at a time. (We already have a separate car seat, high chair, and travel crib that will always be waiting for us in Virginia… I do admit that it makes our life a whole lot easier!) She went out for a shopping run yesterday morning and came back with a baby pool! Because it was very sunny and the perfect weather for some splashing around, we took it out to the backyard for Mio to play in it. This was Mio’s first experience with any sort of pool, as where we live in Northern California rarely gets hot enough to be pool weather, so it was pretty exciting!
Here’s a video I took of the pooltime fun!
Hopefully we’ll get several more uses of the baby pool during our stay here in Virginia! Mio has always loved the water (she relishes bathtime), so I can see this pool becoming very addictive for her. 😛
I remember spending many of my summer days as a young child playing in a kiddie pool of our own in the same backyard with my siblings, and I can’t help but smile as I think back on all the fun we had. One of the best parts of becoming a parent is how we are given the opportunity to be a kid again — to relive the best of our childhood memories all over again, except this time with a deeper understanding of just how precious those moments are. I hope that someday, Mio will look back on all those happy moments we’ll share with the same fondness and smile.
It’s good to be back…
Mio and I arrived at my parents’ home in Virginia late Saturday night. My dear friend Hanna is getting married in two weeks, and we’re in town to attend the wedding as well as to spend a couple weeks with my family and friends here beforehand. Dan stayed behind because he has to work, but he’ll be joining us for the weekend of the wedding! Mio and I survived the cross-country flight, despite her staying awake the entire time. We had to walk up and down the aisle a few times and she was definitely restless and squirmed a lot, but she was in good spirits for most of the flight, charming the other passengers and the flight attendants with her scrunchy-faced smiles and friendly behavior. (Mio kept grabbing onto the seat in front of us and peeking her head around the side to smile at the lady sitting in it… thankfully, the woman was a very understanding mother of three, and seemed tickled by her silly antics.) It was only during the last half hour of the flight when we began our descent that things really went downhill — Mio refused to drink from her sippy cup and hence started screaming and crying because her ears wouldn’t pop. I was mortified and extremely stressed out, but she kept pushing away everything I offered her to drink and eat. Thankfully, everyone around me was very understanding and sympathetic, and — probably picking up on my stress — helped me gather all my belongings and even offered to hold Mio when it came time to offboard the plane. I’m just glad that it’s over, and that I’ll have Dan to help me on the returning flight back to California.
Mio has been soaking up the love back here in Virginia. She’s loving all the attention from my parents and my siblings, and is smiling more than usual! She loves all the rooms she can explore (as my parents’ house offers much more space to roam than our little home back in California), and of course the luxury of a big backyard!
My mom pulled out a toy that my siblings and I often played with as kids for Mio to tinker with. I can’t believe she’d kept it all these years, and it was really nostalgic to see it again! I love that as parents, we oftentimes relive our childhood through our children and that we can share and pass on our most cherished memories and experiences…
Here are some fun photos of playtime in the backyard…
Mio is a bit of a speed demon lately… her walking is turning into a run, as she can jet across the room in only a couple seconds, especially when she is excited!
Birthday Gifts from Virginia
Mio got a package from her grandparents in Virginia! An early birthday present with a card from the whole family on Mama’s side!
Thank you, everyone! I can’t believe Mio will be one year old in less than two weeks!
Mio Party Rocking
An oldie but goodie… a video of Mio “dancing” — or flailing her arms and bobbing her head — to LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem with her Auntie Miwa and Uncle Ted, during Christmastime when we were visiting Virginia. (You can hear my mom’s worried shrieks in the background…)
Mio has actually loved Party Rock Anthem since her Auntie Miwa kept playing it for her when she was 3 months old when we visited in June. When she hears the song, she’ll stop what she’s doing and start bobbing her head to it and clapping!