We knew Mia was a water baby from her love of the bathtub and joy at splashing all those those within a 500 foot radius. It has been abnormally chilly in HK but luckily our indoor pool is heated, so we thought we'd give baby Mia her first experience in the pool. Mom outfitted her with the latest swim fashion from the Wanchai street market and a Zoggs trainer seat (Aussie style) and we all had a blast.

"Some people think I like an adrenaline rush. Don't know where they got that idea."

Baby Mia is becoming quite familiar with the Chek Lap Kok Airport (aka the new Hong Kong International Airport). While she may not have contributed to the "extreme engineering" that garnered it awards as one of the top 10 construction marvels of the 20th century, she can probably tell you all of the passenger facilities available in the various arrival halls, and exactly how many LED dots appear on the digital map inside of the Airport Express train.

As the family makes its way out here to meet her, she plays a great host to be there to greet them when they arrive. We are ecstatic to have these moments on video.

Mia turns 7 months old today, so we've added a few more pics to her slideshow of this last month's photos...

Mia continues to be a great eater, liking everything she can get in her mouth (food or otherwise). She continues to enjoy discovering things that make those tastebuds fire, especially new foods firing those tastebuds she didn't even know she had. Mommy has read that it is not until around 8 months of age when baby might start to assert herself and refuse to eat by closing her mouth when we try to feed her, even though she won't be able to feed herself yet. So in preparation of her first acts of defiance we've been testing out a few games during mealtime.

Daddy came home this week to find our family had grown even more. Apparently Mia had passed by a pet shop and really enjoyed watching the fish, so naturally Mommy had to buy her a new tank and stock it with some fresh water fish. Now I must admit I have always been keen to eventually have a nice aquarium, but I was planning for that to occur once we had a housekeeper or I had someone else on the payroll to handle the cleaning and upkeep. Mom says I should be thankful the added responsibility was just a fish and not a new dog. I'm just thankful she's staying away form the Gucci and Prada shops thus far.



P.S. To reduce the loading times this front page will only display the most recent posts. All previous posts can be accessed in the archives by selecting the link for the corresponding month displayed on the right panel.

I know, I know- a few of you were thinking from the previous post- wow, 107 wpm definitely still leaves some room for improvement (and the arguable case for an editor after reviewing the output). So, she's back at it again in this video. And yes, you can see the "tough love" and dedication in this one- as she falls from exhaustion, with a little help back to work, she picks right back up where she left off. ;)

Mia hacked out her first email at the begining of this week. (Perhaps something about me telling her she needs to start paying rent soon.)

Dear Grand Uncle Bob,

+{ =s’}\

dzsxeszx;[=e8\
321[]arp/5q0
4*lrrp/ 54
rl698*/,l.l*kjl63

//jh90?

Love,
Mia

His response...

Dear Mia;

Thanks for the correspondence;

Uurehslseifiefhlesiw
Wegojweg;wejg;owejg;woejgew
Nwegewng;ewlkng;weg
Mgwe;ogwejgw;eojgo;ew


Wwwrewrgregdngbbfre

Love,
Grand Uncle Bob

Baby Yanyan has already been compiling quite a stash of jewelry. (I think her loot has already grown bigger than mine.) But the other day she received her first personalized piece: her name on a grain of rice. The English name was not an issue- but the Italian shop workers were a little hesitant to try the Chinese characters on the reverse side. Thankfully they gave in with a little bit of the old reverse psychology. ("Yeah I thought all along it would be pretty tough for you to do... I figured you couldn't write Chinese characters that well...")

Well it's been a little over a week since Abuelita (Martha), Uncle George, and Aunt Henaris left Hong Kong. So "mom" (still feels a bit strange to type that) finally had her first full week of experience without family or dad around in the daytime. Mia felt the place was a little too quiet without them, so they did a couple luncheons, playground visits, and generally spent quite a bit of time outside. We've also been going through photos of their trip pointing everyone out to her- here's a few of the highlights we haven't posted yet.

Mia had her first playdate today. (Okay it wasn't officially her first, I know she had a few while with her foster family, but it was the first since we've had her home.) Milo was a very gracious host, sharing his playmat, rattle, and even his parent's bed when it was time for a nap.

Well since the last post so adequately displayed signs of her future singing talents, we thought we'd point out a few of Mia's dance moves as well. (You just don't make it as a singer these days without a few dance moves up your sleeve). I think she probably ought to take out a patent or an insurance policy on that reverse-foot-hold-leg-extension- kick thing she's got going on.

We love doing this with her. In fact, if she is getting agitated and about to break into a full-on cry I often try this technique. It seems to annoy and humor her at the same time, but often manages to stop the onslaught of the temper tantrum.

When we adopted our first puppy, Caro would proceed to play with her in an excitable voice and get her so pumped up and overstimulated that she didn't even know what to do with herself (okay maybe I was involved a bit as well). Before going to sleep Coco would tear around the house in full sprint barking like a banshee just to wear off some energy so she could calm herself down. To date Coco is still one of the most adorable, most lovable, and definitely most energetic (dare I say hyperactive) dogs I know. ;)

Now we have a second chance to rectify any of those parenting habits from the first time around by maintaining a warm, calming environment for baby Mia at home. Let's see how Caro is doing...



P.S. I'm testing a different video streaming service. This one should have slightly better resolution, has an option to go full screen, and will let me add some high-def videos once I get the right software to convert from my Sony camcorder.

This vid is a bit longer, but Mia had her best stretch yet of sitting up by herself today. Of course she was distracted from this feat by the finger food (aka biter biscuits) she was trying to fit into her mouth all at once. Very ladylike! She's handled rice crackers before, but this was much more messy and much more fun... at least until she had thoroughly worked up an appetite and it started slipping out of her hand. I guess that's about when [3:20] the foot started looking mighty tasty. ;)

We recently met up with Mia's foster mom, who was kind enough to give us a CD with a few of her baby pics taken the 5 months before we knew her.

Mia got two shots today at the doctor's office. Her face got blood red after a split second delay on the reaction... it was not a Kodak moment (although we think she can look kind of cute when she's upset; I guess only the face a parent could love!). She was not a happy camper, but actually only cried for about 30 seconds until we successfully distracted her attention to something else. Thankfully the doctor was wise enough to get the assitstance of a nurse so they could do both jabs in one go and get it over with faster- one in each leg at the same time.

Mommy and Daddy felt very bad for her afterwards so we took her to the store to buy her a baby bouncer. She loves the bouncer and can easily spend 30 minutes jumping around without any frustrations (which is much longer than her attention span with other toys). Unfortunately she got a little camera shy just as we started filming, but here's the first step towards Olympics 2020. ;)

Today we close out the first 4 weeks since our initial visit with baby Mia. So I'm going to do a copy/paste job from an email sent yesterday with a reflective update:

Mom feels her arm and lower back muscles are a bit more toned, and I’m getting used to walking around town like a pack mule with Mom's big purse, baby’s big bag, and a tiny little wallet for Dad! But really she’s been a charm. In general she’s sleeping through the night, but the last few nights she’s had a bit of a cold and was a little restless so I’m quickly learning the key: “Daddy is only as happy as Mommy and Baby!”

:)