Aug 26 2006
Mia’s 2nd Birthday Party
Back now, sort of. We celebrated Mia’s second birthday this week and I wanted to get some pics online so you all can see what she looks like at 2 and what a little star she’s growing into.
This year the 20th arrived on a Sunday, and we invited Mark and Nanae over again this year to share in the festivities. Mia sensed something was up early on, and spent much of the afternoon whirling around our cramped Hiratsuka apartment like some crazed micro-dervish.
Rie dressed Mia in a yellow Vietnamese aozai for the occasion, which at two now fits her probably the best it ever will.
With the guests running behind schedule and Mia getting increasingly hungry, we decided to feed her a bit of pasta early. Penne pasta with cream sauce is one of her favorite dishes, and she punctuated the meal with regular sudden outbursts of victorious laughter, often also waving about a sinlgle pasta roll she had speared with her small fork and then plunging it into her mouth with a satisifed look and lots of exaggerated chewing.
We worked on the getting the food togther while she macked her pasta, assembling a hearty array of finger foods and other dishes to be enjoyed later with some select Spanish wine.
And what party menu would be complete without miniature whole crabs? Ours were deep fried to a crispy goodness that made them extremey hard to resist!
Top it off with a little bruchetta and you’re ready to go!
Mia’s hands-down favorite present this year was a small electric keyboard based on the Anpanman character, a cartoon figure with a ridiculously simple face and genki theme song. Nanae is showing her the basics here, in the past few Mia has more or less mastered all aspects of this complex little toy, or at least the ones necessary to make it play the same jingle over and over again, non-stop thoughout the day.
From Mark and Nanae she received a great, erasable picture book and some cool threads. Here she is enjoying the former.
Finally it was time for cake and candles, a birthday test she passed with flying colors (with a little help from her friends, that is…).
All in all it was great birthday party and Mia had a grand time. She’s been on the keyboard non-stop this whole week, and I’ve got a new song that fills my head during most waking hours. Yay!
Hope you’re all well. More later…
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