This Christmas, as we suspected, was the first one that Mia really got into the present unwrapping. We told her she could finally open presents today and she was eager to get started. She opened the first one and thought she would play with it for a while, but we mistakenly encouraged her to set it aside and open a second present right away. This was all she needed to hear! She hit her groove and started opening as fast as possible. As soon as one was unwrapped, she would call out, "Let's find another present!" At this rate, her pile was decimated in no time and she tried to start in on Daddy's gifts. At first we explained that those weren't hers and that it was Daddy's turn to open a few. As you may imagine, this was not met with anything less than a full blown tantrum. In the spirit of preserving Christmas, we just rolled with it and let her open our gifts as well. Being the pro that she is, this took no time at all!

Then this afternoon we hosted Christmas dinner for a few friends of ours. I think we'll be eating leftovers for a month! The picture above is our Christmas salad. It was quite tasty, but more importantly, the photo was the first one taken with my brand new Christmas camera! Now I just have to learn how to use it, but stay tuned for more photos in the coming days and weeks!

It was a pretty big day for Mia and she really wore herself out. While we were doing dishes after everyone left, we looked down and saw this:

Posted by Kimberly at 06:29 PM | Comments (0)

Five Golden Rings

December 22, 2007

She's topped herself this time... I had to pull this video out separately!

Posted by Kimberly at 04:24 PM | Comments (2)

Jingle Bells All Day Long

Mia is having a blast learning all of the new Christmas songs this season. She doesn't always remember the words, but when she stumbles she'll be sure to make some of her own up! Her repertoire includes Jingle Bells All Day Long, Up on the Housetop, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Oh Christmas Tree (Where are your Branches), The Twelve Days of Christmas, and more. Here's a preview, but keep checking Vimeo for new Christmas songs in the next couple days.

Posted by Kimberly at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

I'm a Little Teapot

December 19, 2007

Posted by Kimberly at 02:11 PM | Comments (0)

Where is Thumbkin?

December 16, 2007

I'm sure you all know the beginning of this song. However, few of you are probably familiar with Mia's ending! She has a tendency to make up words to songs these days and those words are not always intelligible. These are the words I could make out:

Oh I can not find you... Are you friends?... Help... I need you Moshi (Moshi the car helps us find things...Hamagawa (the hotel we stayed in when we first moved here)... I can not find and see you...

Posted by Kimberly at 07:52 AM | Comments (0)

Circo Luci

December 15, 2007

We just got back from a holiday circus and light show and I have to say I was fairly impressed! The creator of Circo Luci was a Cirque du Soleil performer, so there are definitely some similarities between the two. Music, lasers, acrobatics, juggling, tightrope walking, and clowns were the highlight of the show. Even Mia was entertained through the whole hour and a half. She would cheer and clap and giggle at all the appropropriate places.

About halfway through, she tried to steal the show though. There was a brief lull in the music and the lasers projected star-like shapes on the ceiling. In this dead silence Mia, at the top of her lungs, started singing, "TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR..." I think the whole theater heard her and certainly the people sitting near us snickered a bit! Luckily she's cute enough that she (and we) were quickly forgiven!

Posted by Kimberly at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

Dr. Mia

December 10, 2007

Don't worry, we've got the medical care covered in this household!

Posted by Kimberly at 02:51 PM | Comments (1)

Will wonders never cease?

December 09, 2007

I'm going to assume that most of you are aware of Mia's sleeping habits up to this point. For those of you not in the know... let me summarize. She doesn't like to sleep. She never liked to sleep in her own bed, never wanted to go to bed on her own, never slept more than a few hours at a time unless someone was right next to her... you get the gist.

Well when we moved here we decided to try to push the sleep in your own bed idea. After months of working on this it seemed we were down to a routine of sitting by her bed while she fell asleep, then hoping she slept as long as possible since her awakening would mean someone, most likely me, would have to go sit in her room until she was asleep again. If you caught her early when she first awoke, then it wasn't usually too long until she was back to sleep. If you let her get all worked up or worse, sent Daddy in instead (*gasp*, the horrors!) then it could take a while to get back into the sleepy state.

A few weeks ago I started moving farther and farther from her bed while I waited for her to fall asleep. She protested at first, but came to accept this new plan. I was basically sitting in her doorway at night when we left on our trip the other week. I had no idea what we might be in for when we returned, but assumed it would be some sort of setback and we'd surely be back to more frequent nightwaking, and longer waits for her to fall asleep. Night one of our return: Something came over me and a CRAZY thought went through my head. Instead of stopping in her doorway to sit while she went to sleep, why don't I take another step and wait in the hall. I figured, what do I have to lose? This night is likely going to be a bust anyway. I stepped out into the hall and held my breath. Waited for the scream... Nothing. Nothing? Ok what if I take a few more steps to the top of the stairs? Surely she'll be mad about that. She always hears me get to the steps and wakes and screams even when I think she's already sound asleep. Um, still nothing? Not a peep? Next step... down, down, down. I just knew that when I got to the bottom she'd wake and I'd have to go back up and calm her down. But no, I made it all the way back downstairs, back to the living room, and sat down with this dazed look on my face. It was all quite confusing. To top that off, she didn't wake up until the next morning. What?

I assumed this was some kind of fluke. And couldn't possibly be replicated. But at bedtime, we went upstairs and tried the same thing. And got the SAME RESULTS! 32 second bedtime routine followed by a full night's sleep? There are no words to describe my surprise and confusion!

I hadn't mentioned this yet because I didn't want to jinx it, and honestly didn't really think it would become a new habit. But it's been over two full weeks of this now so I'm ready to call it a victory and make this official announcement! My child finally sleeps! Hooray!

Posted by Kimberly at 02:12 PM | Comments (2)

Budding artist

December 03, 2007