Mia's first July 4 party

We went to a party tonight. Mike and his best friend Dave and the second generation

At the pool

We lost power due to a storm last night. We went to my in-laws. Mia had a blast in the pool.

Still Hating

Mike dropped Mia off at daycare this morning. It's her fifth day. Mike called and said she cried in the car as soon as he pulled into the parking lot. He held her for ten minutes and the poor thing howled the entire time. My heart is broken as I hear this. It's so tough for her. I hope she has a better day.

Carousel

We went to Chemijontry park this morning. Mia had her first carousel experience. We did it four times and she still didn't want to leave the horses.

Splash

Mia's first swimming lesson today. Getting dressed.

Mia enjoyed water very much. She was probably the biggest baby in class but she had the most fun. With dunking in water exercise, she behaved superbly. She was not too surprised when Mike submerged her in water since she's been practicing this in our bath tub since she was tiny. The class will go all the way to August 11. We will be training in grandma's pool intermittenly. Hopefully by the end of this summer. She will learn how to swim.

Cry Baby

I got out of the car at the daycare parking lot and heard this howling for mama. For a moment I could not tell who it was and was wondering "would that be Mia?" As I walked towards the gate, I saw this little girl dressed in flowery shirt pouring her tears out at the gate. An unfamiliar teacher was asking "is this mama?" Yes she is mine. I grabbed her really quick and put my face against her wet cheeks. Aparently she's been crying at the gate at everyone coming to get their baby, asking for mama. She did not eat lunch today. She was very clingy to her lammi, two dolls from class and her sippy cup. Pinky said she held on to the lammi all day and was crying a lot more after Mike's visit at noon. At that moment I decided we would not visit during the day any more.

For me, it was not as hard as yesterday but it is still very difficult for my poor baby. It will be a long road to normality.

1st Day at Daycare

Mia started her 1st day at daycare today. This moring, Mike and I both drove to send her off. The past two weeks, we took her in twice to get familiar with the environment and the teachers. She seemed ok then so we were curious to see how she would fare today.

I was giving Ms. Mimi Mia's items to keep when Mike called out to the boy next to Mia. I caught Mia hitting the shelf against the wall and falling on the ground. It turned out the little boy Brandon, shoved Mia and she fell even though she was happily minding her own business. Mike went over immediately and scolde the boy. Mia cried with much surprise and dismay. Mike picked her up. Both Ms. Mimi and Ms. Ismahan scolded the boy. Ms. Mimi said she was so sorry. Mia was shrieking since we all started paying attention to her. When I picked her up from Mike, my heart was aching. What a rude welcome!

When we were talking to the teacher, I started tearing up. I feel terribly uncomfortable leaving her here and I was so worried. The teachers assured me that Mia would be in good hands but I still had such a heavy heart.

When she wasn't looking we quickly left the room. I looked at her through the little window on the door and headed out with tears streaking down my face. I drove to work distracted. All morning I was heart broken. I called the daycare around 10:30. The teacher said she had a little cereal and half an orange. She then cried and everytime anybody came into the room, she called for mama. Ms. Pinky held her for an hour then she got better. My heart sank and I cried. I spoke with my coworkers who are moms that have gone through this. They comforted me with understanding words and suggested that I should arrange to pick her up early everyday this week. I cried a dozen or so times today including tearing up in my boss' office. I could not help it as soon as I thought about the crying little one, probably thinking we have abandoned her.

Mike stopped by at 1 and reported back to say Mia was sleeping in the stroller in the hall way since she would not sleep in her cot. I called the daycare again. Ms. Mimi said she did not want lunch and would not sleep. They took her out on the stroller and she just got sleepy. I teared up again after the call. I have become one of those moms that I couldn't believe I'd become. I feel so guilty even though I really don't have any choice.

I hurried home after my three o'clock meeting. I actually rescheduled two more meetings after so I could pick Mia up quickly. I sped like a demon. As soon as I drove into the parking lot, my heart was beaming with the thought that I'd liberate my baby. When I opened the door, I saw her sitting at the corner, all alone, eyes red and swollen, with her lammy in one hand and her seahorse in the other hand. There was also a toy puppy tugged under her leg. She saw me, pauzed for a second, then it registered. Her little face twisted and she broke out crying and reached up towards me. I ran to her, gave her a big hug and planted a thousand kisses on her cheeks. She smelled of soiled diaper and I just wanted to cry.

It was a terrible day for both of us. She got home, ate noodles, sweet potatoes, grapes and yogurt. She played with most of her toys. I think tomorrow will be even harder since she now knows what is ahead of her. I plan to leave work early again to pick her up. Oh how I hate this!

Splash

Mia is ready for swimming lessons. We signed her up for end of July class. Since she was a tiny baby, we have let her swim in the master bathroom tub. She is a water baby and has always enjoyed 'wawa'.

Our neighbor got some outdoor water slide and turned it yesterday in the yard between our two houses. When I got home from a seven hour round trip to Lynchburg, I saw Mia playing in the yard, hair drizzled in water and dress wet. She was having a blast.

Our in-laws has a pool, today is Father's Day so we went over to celebrate. Mia had her first dip in the pool, only hands and feet though. She did her best splashing the water. In two weeks, I think the pool will be warm enough for her to do her first big girl swim. We bought her the diapers used for swimming today in preparation for her upcoming adventures.

Zoo

Went to the petting zoo next door today. Mia freaked out over the ostrich, the turtle, the alligator and the screaming goats. She even did not like the peacock opening its tail. As soon as the white peacock shake his tail, Mia shook and grabbed onto me. She only appreciated the Vietnamese pot belly pig and said yum yum yum as the pig ate.

We saw a baby deer born only two hours before our arrival and a calf that was so fluffy, it was cuter than any cartoon character. Mia was not so impressed. She was distracted by a balloon in the little girl's hand next to us. When she gets bigger, she may like the experience more.

Mia at a birthday party

Mia was at a birthday party this weekend. She was horrified by the Mini mouse.

Flying

This picture was actually taken on April 31 when we flew to China. When we took off, we gave Mia a bottle so she would not feel the pressure that much during takeoff. 

Mia was a champ and was not affected during takeoff and landing at all. She slept most of the time during the flight.She recovered from jetleg in four days. I expect her to be a good traveler just like her  mama some time soon.

Mia

This picture was taken when Mia was in China. We did a prefessional photo shoot for her and made a big album. She looked more mature in these pictures than her actual age of 15 months. I am glad we were able to retain these images forever since she would only be 15 months once and now she already looks different. She is growing so fast.

Daddy Went Home

Mike took off today for the State. Mia and I still have 12 days to spend in China. I gave her a bath myself today. Usually this is Mike's job. Afterwards, she called "baba" (daddy in Chinese) twice when I was feeding her and looked for Mike on the bed next to us. She is missing her daddy.
 
Time flies. Soon we will go back home. Mia has been enjoying her time with her extended family here. She plays with her cousin everyday. Yoyo, my six year old niece adores Mia and has been acting like a really good sister.
 
I have been stuffing my face as usual only this time with really authentic Chinese food. I have gained five pounds in two weeks.

Heat

The weather is extremely abnormal for May. Today it was over 33 degrees celcius which is well over 90 degrees F. I forgot how hot Wuhan was. We turned the AC on and stayed in one room for a good part of the day. Mia has developed a heat rash and she even had little bumps on her cheeks. I feel terrible for her. All day now she walks and explores and would not stop so she sweats a lot
 
This coming weekend Mike and I are going to Shanghai for a couple days. My family will babysit Mia.

Jetlag

Mia was such a good sport on the 14 hour flight. She hardly fussed. We were at the bulkhead so there was extra leg room and she was able to play on the floor most of the time. On the transfer flight, the fatigue did her in. We were delayed and she cried for a long time right after taking off.

It's been four days. The first night was awful. She was screaming and wouldn't calm down. The second night she woke up twice and refused to go back to sleep.the third and fourth nights, she woke up only once and the spacing between the next nap got narrower.

Today we had a banquet with family and friends. Mia has been trying all sorts of food and learning to appreciate the Chinese way of life.

Packing to Go

Still packing. Mia will have her first international trip tomorrow. 14 hour flight to China. We don't know what's going to happen on the flight yet. I am packing everything I can think of. Lots of change of clothes, formula, mac & cheese, cookies, fruits... Hopefully she will be a good sport.

I can't wait to see my family.

Cherry Blossom Parade

Today we went to down town for the Centennial Cherry Blossom Parade. Even though I have lived here for over ten years, I have never been to a Blossom Parade myself. It started at 10 and we got there around 11 and we did not go to where the crowd was but stayed at the 19th st., where the end of the parade was. The good thing was every emsemble had to pass us so we did not miss anything but had lot of room around us.

Mia was pretty engaged. It was a beautiful day. We stayed at the parade for more than an hour then headed for the Mall. We passed a pool where Mia saw a bunch of ducks and ducklings. She was so excited she kept saying "yaya, yaya" which was Chinese for ducks. They filled out the entire reflecting pool in front of Lincoln Memorial for re-construction/cleanup so it was not that pretty. Otherwise the picture would come out better.

Our last stop was the WWII memorial. By then she was hot and tired and probably hungry too even though she was still a good trooper. She also got a little too much sun. I applied sun screen twice but I missed her neck. When we got home, she went to bed around 3:30 for almost two hours.She was beat.

Travel Shots

We got her to see the pediatrician two days back since she's been coughing a lot. The doctor said she was having allergy so we gave her some Claritin starting on Monday.

She also go three shots. Two are routine for 15 month checkup (Chicken Pox, MMR (measels, mumps and Rubela). The other one is H1A since the doctor is concerned about Hib-A being common in China and we will be there for five weeks.She now recognized the doctor's place and started screaming before anything was even done to her. I felt so bad. Good thing she did not get a fever this time. Knock on wood!

Her Vocabularies

Mia's vocabularies:

Mama
Dada
Wawa - water
Gaga - cookie
Yaya - Chinese for duck
Fafa - Chinese for flower
No!
nini - for milk
jiajia - grandma
Go
Uh - oh (her favorite right now. She says it when she drops stuff.)

It really helps now that she knows "no". I don't have to stuff her face as often any more since the intention is clear.

Easter Bunny Hop

 We celebrated Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's house today. Mia dressed in a white dress Julee gave her at her birth. I almost forgot she had a dress like this and it could not be more perfect for Easter. She's now walking and attempting to run, even though she looks like a drunk most of the time. Today she exhausted all of us. Now I know what "bundle of energy" means. She kept wanting to go out to the lawn. She held her Easter egg bucket and walked, tumbled, got up, walked and tumbled, rolled over, on and on. She could never get bored of it.

 First round... this egg basket is from last year. Grandma brought this when Mia could hardly move her neck. We propped her up last year to take a picture. See what she can do now! Time flies!

Many hours later... still going strong