Mom and Dad had dinner with friends while Mia got to play with one of her best buddies, Alex. Mom cooked a few curries, raita, mango chutney with pappadoms and a great cheesecake. The kids got a bit "jumpy" towards the end of the evening.

Just a little morning fun during breakfast...

As we previously mentioned, Mia got a purple tricycle from Abuelita as an early Christmas present this year. She's just about off to the races now. (Thank goodness because bending down to push her was about to make our backs give out.)

One piece of Chinese culture we always enjoy viewing are the Floating Colors parades (飘色) with the children dressed in costume floating magically through the air.

It is a big honor to be selected as a performer and Mia has been practicing her stuff just in case.


She loves an audience!

We weren't really late, but Mia felt it was necessary to sprint all over the train station just in case.

Milk Biscuit One Moon More

In case you haven't guessed what these five words have in common... they can all be shortened to a semi-intelligible syllable and spoken by our 1-year-old. Just listen hard! ;)

Continuing with yesterday's theme, here's Mia practicing her speech (in Spanish this time).

I'm about 6 weeks late in posting this one, but I want to get a few vids online of Mia 's first couple words to share.

Mia is one and a quarter today. She is climbing on everything, and now loves to hang onto any object above her head with her feet off the ground. When hanging she can almost pull herself up into a full chin-up. She loves the pool and no longer minds getting dunked under water. She still eats anything we put in front of her, and can recognize tons of objects in her books by either their English or Spanish names.

Here's a few videos to add to yesterday's pics.

This first vid first shows her establishing her sea legs. Mommy and Daddy had some questionable parenting; we got more than a few stares letting her run all over the top deck of a moving boat. But she has a good sense of "off-balance", loves to run like a drunken sailor, and never complains when falling.




This next video is more fun with dry ice.

One fun aspect of parenting is watching how Mia's laugh changes and develops as she grows. Thankfully she does plenty of laughing so it's easy to see.

Mia's favorite pastime is still reading. She especially loves books with various buttons that mkae sounds or play a tune. Recently she tries to cahllenge herself by setting off as many as possible at the same time to create a cacophony of sounds the likes of which could only appeal to a one-year old.

Here is Daddy reading Mia a book on America's favorite pastime. This shot is about the 10th time Daddy has read about Elmo going to the ballpark today, and to keep his own sanity he starts making up odd voices which Mia finds very amusing.

Wrapping up another month- tomorrow it's on to 14. Dad is getting noticeably nervous at how fast Mia is growing up. How can we just keep her at this age for a few years!?

Here's a few more shots added onto our "Texas set" and a little video from abuelita's backyard...

Mommy and Mia took Dad on a little adventure today. Disneyland Hong Kong is a much smaller version than either park in the U.S., but enough for a solid day. Note for future- Mia is not too fond of the hidden jaguar in Tarzan's Treehouse (especially when it roars and puffs air in your face). For better or for worse, Mia has now been fully immersed in the modern world- sites, sounds, and sensory overload. She even squeaked in her first 3-D movie just before closing. But her favorite ride by far... It's a Small World (after all).

Why do you have that nervous look on your face Mom?

More sweetness...

Filed under the "how many words can you make out of one syllable" category...

Mia's vocabulary is rapidly improving. She actually understands quite a few words now (can point to her shoes, bouncy ball, Mom's eyes, nose, and mouth), just has a bit of trouble repeating them.

Truth is, her Spanish is now more intelligible than mine.

We still don't know what it was or what was in it, but it was given to us by the Chinese lady who works at the flower shop and it tasted pretty good. And made a pretty good mess as well.

Wow, this is officially my first post! I thought Mother’s Day would be appropriate and a good intro to blogging more regularly. Although, I am charged with content generation, it has mostly been thousands of snapshots and videos I take of Mia. You won’t be surprised to see posts in Spanish. And if my brain allows after spending a day with unstoppable Mia, you might even see some Chinese. It has been just over five months since we met Mia. Time has gone so quickly, Mia has grown so much, and I am so in love with her, that I am already dreading when I can’t pick her up to dance, play with her during bathtime, and make her belly-laugh when I tickle her. I know Mia will bring me joy in so many other ways as she grows, but these first months have been some of the happiest of my life. Mia is such a sweet baby with basically no fear. Keeping up with her is hard work (physically and mentally), but I do have just a bit of a motherly instinct… and the school of my mom and Brian’s mom, who are two of the most devoted women I know. My desire is to teach Mia to be just as sweet and confident a young woman as she is a baby.

I am thrilled to be raising Mia in Hong Kong. HK is not a lonely place ; ) and we like to be on the go. We are typically climbing equipment at playgrounds around our residential complex or out and about in the heart of the city. We have had a handful of family visits (in fact, Mia's abuelita just left this morning), during which Mia has played tour guide and made sure the main attractions were covered. We have a wonderful group of friends and colleagues- many without children – but all have been great at doing baby-friendly activities so I can keep tabs with them and they can get a cuddle from Mia. We are also meeting great families who have adopted children from Asia. HK is a great place. We are so happy to be here. And I am so thankful to the HK adoption program for their efficiency, hard-work, and for a perfect match.

Mia, your timing to take your first steps was impeccable! Thank you for my first Mother’s Day present. You are an amazing little girl. I love you dearly.

Today was a big day for Mia. To start it off, she finally got her playroom back. (It had been converted into a guest bedroom while all of our company had been here over the last 2 months.) And after a brief session in the playroom, Mom and Dad decided it would be best to go ahead and make the move into her own bedroom. So the crib was deconstructed, hauled into the bedroom, and reassembled (it didn't fit through the doorways without this.) Mia was quite intrigued by all of this, as were the fish.

The two of them seem to be enjoying each other's company. We peeked into her room during her first nap time and saw her standing up in the edge of the crib speaking to the fish.

Below is a short vid with Mia displaying all of her excitement by making raspberry sounds and spitting all over the floor... one of her newer tricks that will hopefully be very short-lived.

Video is password protected. Please use to access.

In general she's an extremely happy baby, but every now and then Mia has been known to get in one her moods where she is just a bit whiny. The other day was a prime example. All around kranky, and almost inconsoleable. Almost. She has an uncanny knack for putting on a show whenever a camera is around. So we tend to use it as a diversionary tactic. Here's her Mom doing a rendition of a dying duck or aardvark or something of that sort. Whatever it was, Mia quickly shaped up once the camera was rolling and found it quite entertaining. Although I must admit, if you listen closely, that laugh at the end there sounds just a bit forced. I think we're on to you Mia!


(In case your curious, as soon as the cameras stopped rolling, it was back to crying.)

After everyone has had their dinner, Caro likes to create a calming environment for Mia before bedtime. Her Mom had just arrived in town, so everyone was perhaps a bit more hyper than usual but nothing too far out of the ordinary.

Mia's parents love to try the occasional new restaurant. As such, we've been focusing on some of these finer socially accepted best practices... no launching food on other guests, avoid smacking your hand on the table when calling for service, ensuring you have the spoon right-side-up before placing in your mouth, etc.

Mia's relatives (Dad's side of the fam) were in Hong Kong to visit for the past week and a bit, so Mia got to practice some more of her tour guide skills. She showed them around the beaches, the markets, at least 50% of the malls in Hong Kong, and several nice restaurants. Actually the majority of our immediate family has previously been to all the must-see tourist sites, so this trip was a lot of relaxin' and playing with the baby.

Hot off the trail of her highjump regimen, we've been squeezing in Mia's training minutes here and there on a few other key events.

After her previous conquests in typing, Mia has been focused on her reading skills. She subscribes to that old "a picture's worth a thousand words" theorem. Besides, the text gets rather dull after Mommy and Daddy have read it ten thousand times. So just a brief flip through the illustrations ought to do it.

A bright sunny holiday morning meant one thing... time to play.

Fortunately Mia loves to eat just about anything (maybe her Chinese heritage showing a bit?). One of her favorites is just good old plain unsweetened yogurt- the kind that really makes your lips pucker up and smack. Here's our little sour tart munching on her suan nai (that's yogurt in Mandarin).

There's been a lot of construction going on outside our flat. Mom's getting tired of the constant jackhammers (audible even up on the 56th floor). So Mia figured she'd lend a helping hand and bring them some of her new blocks on her trolley to help speed things up a bit. It took several days and several outfit changes, but she finally got them there. Probably more on time and under budget than their public works project ever will be.

Footage from last night's main event.

Another cold front came through, so we had to bust out the heater again and huddle up to stay warm (they just don't insulate here like in the US). It was a wet dreary day, but we managed to get out of the house for a few hours to meet up with some friends and their 10-month old over lunch. And luckily the sun decided to break through for just an hour or so, which made for a nice photo op.

Mia was thrilled by trying to grab the ice cold glass of lemonade from Caro- even though the lemons proved to be quite tart for her taste when she finally did get one! She was in a very relaxed mood, and just smiled while Caro sang a few tunes to her in Mandarin.

With all the recent headlines regarding product safety, Mia came to the office and decided to help us out a bit with some of our testing. So here we are with the stability test.

Mia's been crawling now for about 3 weeks and keeps getting faster and faster at moving around the apartment (funny I seem to slow down with each year). She can push open doors if they aren't fully latched, and for all intents and purposes, she has free reign over any part of the flat she wants.

Now I know a lot of you have your own interpretations on these childhood developmental phases, but after reviewing her earlier videos we're pretty sure we've exactly defined the various stages in learning to crawl and captured it all on video for your perusal here.

So starting with our first day out with Mia...

No idea why this made her laugh- we were just talking about her favorite fruits and for some reason she found some of them quite amusing. Or maybe Dad just has a funny looking face. Of course at the first sound of her giggle it meant Dad had to repeat it over and over again for the next hour until she was ready to move onto something else and he decided he had talked enough about raspberries for the next three years. ;)

A quick vid with some of the entertainment during Chinese New Year.

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 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.

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 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. ;)

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. ;)

So you see, you hit this thingamajig here and then that thingamabob lights up there and then you hit there and that light pops up here and...

She was clearly telling us "Pacifier or hand...your choice Mom". Here is our first day out on the town with baby Yán-yán.