Birthdays and Memories

It's official, Maika is one year old. It is amazing that a year has gone by already, but we imagine that most new parents say that. We celebrated her first birthday with a Japanese fruit dessert for Maika, a citrus birthday cake for us and bagels. Yoko made them all, and they were great. We had a little party before Erik had to go to work. It was a simple event, but a memorable one at the same time.
Walking with a walker (see video below) and standing unsupported are Maika’s most recent developments. She has also learned how to lower herself off the bed in a very controlled manner. Once she starts walking we are really going to have to be on top of her movements. Right now she gets around really well on her hands and knees, and that keeps us busy. Thankfully, the space she has to move around in is not all that big, but every day she tests the barriers we have set up to keep her out of the kitchen and the bedrooms. She is one chatty little girl and now has 5 discernible words in her vocabulary: mama, papa, baba (Japanese for grandma), bye bye and amen (she says it with us when we pray). She also likes to give “high 5s”. She holds up her hand with a grin on her face and waits for us to give her a “high 5”. It has been a great joy to watch her develop.
Erik also had a birthday 9 days before Maika. Yoko and Maika treated him well and made sure he wasn't forgotten.
The birthday party: citrus birthday cake (Maika needed some help blowing out the candles), opening presents, eating homemade bagels, Yoko's beautiful and tasty bagels, the birthday headband that Maika would wear for a maximum of 1 second. The testing of the barrier. As you can see we are into "use what you can to keep her out" barriers. We have since added something to beep her from getting on it. Super active B.O.B. wears out eventually and Mommy takes advantage and gets a little rest, too.

Learning to be Flexible

With hot and humid being the norm, we are finding that Maika has no problem sweating. The heat and humidity doesn't seem to bother her much during the day, but it does seem to affect her sleeping. This doesn't come as a surprise as we struggle with it too. Sometimes there is a nice breeze at night, but we often have to use a fan to move the air.
We are learning that even the best laid plans are of no certainty. Erik got a day off so we could go hiking, and the day before we were to go, Maika came down with her first fever. It wasn't all that high, but it was enough of a concern that we canceled our outing. The fever subsided, but it turned into a cough and runny nose. It lasted about a week, and she was back to her normal self.
Father's Day was nice for Erik. In the morning before church, Maika and Yoko gave Erik two shirts and a pair of exercise shorts. After church, we went to our favorite bakery where we had a tasty lunch. In the evening we were joined by Yoko's brother and kids and we all went out for pizza.
Yoko had a birthday recently. We celebrated her with presents, ice cream at Baskin Robbins and tasty coffee latter in the week at our favorite coffee shop. Good coffee and dark chocolate keep Yoko happy.
Maika sporting her nursing student outfit on a recent outing with Mommy.Give me a high 5!
Am I ready for the beach or what?This past week Yoko organized a 1st birthday event for the kids in her "mommies group". This group is composed of 7 women who gave birth within 2 months of each other and at the same birthing clinic. There was good food, ice cream cake, sharing time, a gift exchange and a foot/hand print activity. Here is Maika's masterpiece. The origami shoes were made by Erik's students at the airline college.Everything is not always giggles and cute faces.