Your First Halloween

Dear Isadora,

Your first Halloween was... well... uneventful.  It was a cold, rainy day.  We hardly had any trick-or-treaters come to our door because of the bad weather.  However, your daddy quite enjoyed the bad turnout.  He was never one for Halloween, even as a kid.  He once told me that he tried trick-or-treating once and didn't care for it.  Instead, he asked your grandma and grandpa to take him to the store to pick out his own bag of candy.  What a party pooper!

My favorite song to sing to daddy when he's being a party pooper

Mommy will not allow you to do such a thing!  We are going trick-or-treating, kid, whether you like it or not... Okay, if you don't like it, we won't go, but seriously!  What kid doesn't like trick-or-treating (besides daddy) and dressing up while scoring a mountain of candy?!  Did I mention that it's Mimi's favorite holiday, too?  It is!  Why else would she dress up like this every year to compete in her work's annual costume competition?  Because she's awesome!

Mimi doing her interpretation of Barbara Bush, Halloween 2008

So, for your first Halloween, you couldn't go without a costume.  Here is your first costume -- our lil' punkin head.




Maybe next year, you'll be ready for your first piece of Halloween candy.  Thanks for being so spooktacular!

Love,

Mommy

Look What You Can Do!

Dear Isadora,

You are almost four months old now.  Check out what you can do...

Reaching for your left sock...

Successfully removing and eating your left sock.

How nifty is that?!  You even like to keep both legs up in the air while holding onto your feet while babbling away to anyone who will listen.  (Mommy and daddy are very amused by this behavior.)

Momma learned another thing you can do, too...

Self-inflicted rash/hives from crying so hard when 

that darn bottle takes too long to get to your lips!

Not so nifty.  Although the rash/hive-looking splotches all over your face eventually fade before you finish your bottle, it freaks mommy out to see them in the first place.

Can't wait to see all the new tricks you have left up your sleeve, little one.

Love,

Mommy

Some of My Favorite New Things

Dear Isadora,

Just wanted to share with you my current list of favorite things to see regarding YOU...

Seeing you sleep next to daddy after a feeding while I get ready for work

Seeing you in a hat and polka dots -- no one works it like you

Seeing you seeing me when I take you to the babysitter in the morning

It's the small things that make mommy happy.  Thanks for opening my eyes to so many new things.

Love,

Mommy

A Season for Change

Dear Isadora,

Even though you're my summer baby, you're entering into one of my favorite seasons -- autumn.  With autumn comes cool breezes, mild temperatures, and brightly colored leaves.  This weekend, we went to the Farmer's Market with your Pop pop, Mimi, Aunt Barbara, and Cousin Lennox.  There, we got to see the beauty of autumn first hand.  Everywhere you looked you could see the evidence of autumn -- fresh apples, apple cider, and pumpkins upon pumpkins!

My Lil' Punkin Head

When you get older, I hope you enjoy autumn as much as I do.  I see lots of fun things to do in your future, missy.  Visits to the pumpkin patch, drinking warm apple cider, and jumping into leaves... Ah, it is a beautiful time of year.  A season of change.  Come to think of it, you are much like autumn because you have brought change into my life and made me a mommy.  Thank you eternally...

Love,

Mommy

Okuizome Celebration: You're 100 Days Old!

Dear Isadora,

On Oct. 8, 2011, we celebrated your 100 day birthday.  In Japan, it is known as a Weaning Ceremony or First Meal Ceremony.  From what I've read, it began because in ancient times, babies rarely made it to 100 days, so when they did, it was cause for much celebration.  To celebrate your okuizome, you were presented with your first real meal.  Of course, at three months, you couldn't really eat it, but the meal symbolized a blessing that you would never go hungry for the rest of your life.

Originally, when I asked your Mimi about okuizome, she said that in Okinawa, they just take pictures of babies on their 100 day birthday (see mommy's okuizome photo below).

 


But mommy wanted to do more for you.  For this special occasion, mommy did research about the ceremony and even ordered you a custom kimono for you to wear at the event.  When it came it in the mail, I was so pleased.  You looked perfect.

   


Your Mimi and Aunt Barbara did most of the cooking that day and prepared a delicious meal for you of fish, kinpira gobo, miso soup, sweet rice with azuki beans, a pickled plum, and a stone.  The fish, with its head and tail intact, symbolized that you would have a strong neck to hold up your head.  The kinpira gobo represented happiness or joy.  The miso soup and pickled plum symbolized that you would have a long life.  The sweet rice and azuki beans represented loyalty and diligence.  Finally, the stone symbolized that you would have strong teeth.




At an okuizome ceremony, a grandparent or elder, usually presents the baby with her first meal.  In your case, your Mimi presented the meal to you.  By presenting the food to you, she blessed you with the energy of a long, healthy life.




We hope you have a long, happy life filled with many blessings, sweet Izzy, for you've certainly blessed mommy and daddy just by being our daughter.



Love to you always,

Mommy

Your Talents This Month

Dear Isadora,

You are now three months old.  Within the last couple of weeks, you've been honing some new talents.

The first talent is what mommy and daddy like to refer to as "finger toes."  At first glance, you look like you have normal baby toes.  But upon closer inspection, if someone tries to touch the ball of your foot... BAM!  Like a venus fly trap, your toes come down to grab an unsuspecting finger.  It's really quite amazing. 




Your ability to grab things with your toes is almost monkey-like... And when I say monkey, I mean this kind of monkey:



The second talent you've been working on is hand munching.  About a week or so ago, you discovered you had hands.  At first, you were using them to grab toys or mommy's hair, and mommy and daddy were quite impressed.

But somewhere along the way, you decided your hands were also delicious (in an almost gluttonous kind of way).

Along with your new love for the taste of your hands, mommy and daddy have noticed that no matter how many times you make yourself choke by trying to eat your hands, you keep trying to stick your entire fist  into your mouth.  Daddy even watched you gag and spit up all the while keeping your entire hand in your mouth.  It hasn't clicked for you yet that when you start to choke, you should probably remove your hand.  Mommy's going to keep an eye on this development to make sure you don't grow up to be that weird kid everybody talks about...

Ah, forget it.  If you're weird, you're weird.  We've all got our weird thing.  (Just ask mommy about her double-jointed fingers or ask daddy how he sleeps with his legs bent straight up.)  Love you my little monchchichi.

Love,

Mommy