Rice:0; Pears:1

From 2011-3-9

From 2011-3-9

This weekend, in addition to worry about the safety of our friends, the Nakazawas(we just found out that they were ok after the initial Earth quake, thankfully!), and bouts with various new illnesses striking Mommy and Penny (Mommy's tired and hurty, Penny has a fever), Penny has met her first milestone as a real human....she has started to eat actual food! Sophie and Daddy went to the Toys R' Us and bought Penny a well-deserved high chair now that Mommy thinks having a "space saver" chair is stupid when you never take the space saver one off the chair it is on-top of. So, now Penny has a brand, spanking new and very girly high chair. Daddy and Sophie also purchased some starter grains and some starter fruit and vegetable kits. At first, we tried to feed Penny rice mixed with formula. She was not a fan. However, since Mommy remembered that Sophie's first successful food (due to the same issue) was rice and pear nectar, Mommy opened up a jar of pears for Penny to try. This was far more successful and Penny has now enjoyed it around dinner time for two days in a row. If Mommy has time tomorrow, she will try to buy Penny some pear juice or nectar to mix in with some rice cereal after a few more days of just eating pears. It will likely depend on how well Penny is feeling.

Sophie turns 4!!!

From 2011-3-9

This week, we celebrated Sophie's 4th birthday this week!  It was a great day.  She woke up, went to school, had a lovely celebration at school, went out for donuts with just Mommy right after school, came home, had ice cream cake with Mommy and Daddy and got a "Tangled" birthday present, involving a device that makes patterns on the ceiling with lights.  Sophie was very excited the whole day and has spent the last four days talking about her next birthday and asking whether or not she was still four years-old today.

From 2011-3-9

From 2011-3-9

From 2011-3-9

Also, over the past week, the Miranda clan went down to NY to visit the Stewart and Kellman clan and to meet the family's newest addition, Joshua Kellman.  Sophie and Naomi had a lovely, two-day long playdate, Mommy got to hold Joshua a lot, and Penny enjoyed rolling around and learning how to blow the cutest raspberries, courtesy of Gramps.  Penny has also become a champion at standing, able to stand for minutes at a time with just balance support from an adult.  She is also excellent at sitting up with minimal support.  She seems to be prepping her body for crawling, she rolls onto her tummy and kicks out her legs, but has yet been able to get up on her knees.  I predict army crawling in her future.

In these coming weeks, we look forward to Penny starting to eat solids, a visit from the Pittsburgh Miranda clan, Sophie's 4th birthday party at Plaster Fun Time, a visit from Grams and Gramps, and hopefully more developmental milestones from Penny.

This week also marks a time of sadness for the world as a horrible earthquake shook the east coast of Japan on March 11, 2011.  It shifted the entire country by 8 feet and caused an enormous tidal wave that destroyed much of the country.  We currently wait to hear from friends abroad and to see what future news the mass media brings to us.  Good luck to all our Japanese friends.