Rhianna is now a 3-month-ager

Rhianna is now 3 months old, and doing fine.

This week was another busy one, as Shinako's parents came by for a visit to see Rhianna. I've included a picture.

Rhianna (along her parents) also visited her first Japanese Summer Festival. The Oedo Matsuri(festival) takes place every year near here, by the Sumida River, and we visited on Saturday night. There is singing, dancing, food booths--Ive included a short video or two. The video might make us look a little thinner than usual because it's shot in wide-screen format--sorry!

Im also including a video of Rhianna doing her best to raise her head and keep it raised. She gets a little frustrated and cries near the end, but she's doing her best! Shortly she'll be rolling over and then crawling.

We've found out that my parents are coming for a visit in September, and we're all really looking forward to it!!

More soon.

Melting in Tokyo with Ms. Popularity

It's a typical hot Tokyo summer--but it's really not the heat, it's the humidity. I sometimes wonder which feels hotter, Phoenix (where I spent some time for graduate school) or summer in Tokyo. I was never in Phoenix in the very hottest time of the year, but I did experience some pretty hot times there. I still dont ever remember getting drenched in sweat like I do when I go outside here. But I suppose that also comes from someone from Colorado, where humidity is a word usually only used when talking about a place where it's not the heat, but the humidity...

In any case, we've had a good few weeks here. Rhianna is a very popular girl. EVERYONE stops and stares at her and comments on how cute she is when we walk down the street. And so I've recently been calling her Ms. Popularity. We'll have to make sure it doesnt get to her head (it kind of does get to our heads).

Miss Popularity has recently been able to hold up her head on her own from a prone position. That's a pretty big milestone. She doesnt even cry from frustration when trying anymore. She's even able to sit up when propped up on the couch, and seems to like it. She also can pretty much go to sleep on her own, and goes back to sleep even when she does wake up. She usually sleeps for about 8 hours a day.

She has also been trying to expand her vocal range, and she makes some pretty funny noises.

Im including some new pictures.

More soon.

August 5th in Tokyo

We spent a nice day with Rhianna yesterday while celebrating my birthday. We actually went out to eat for both lunch (in a kind of food-court) and dinner (in an actual restaurant!), and she was a very good and patient girl for us. She really liked being outside, and she was a very popular attraction among all who passed by. It may have been partly because of the pink ballerina tutu she was wearing yesterday (not my idea, but i have to admit it was pretty cute).

Im including a bunch of new pictures and videos from the past week. You can see that she was very helpful in assisting my studying. She also had a bubble bath this week, and as you can see (in comparison with a picture I posted several months ago), she has really gotten used to taking her bath and quite enjoys it. She is, after all, over two months old, and a big girl now.

















Videos







More soon!