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We are trying to encourage Mia to crawl. Part of how we’re doing this is by placing the desired item just outside her reach. In this case, we’re using my iPhone to play Maroon 5’s “Sunday Morning.” Over and over again, Mia kept trying to push herself off the far wall, inching oh-so-close to the iPhone. Unfortunately, she grew tired and didn’t reach her goal. She’ll continue to try until she reaches it. And then we’ll be in serious trouble.

Mia and Her TiVo Remote

Mia discovered our DIRECTV remote while sitting on our bed. She would stare at the remote, running her fingers through the numbers and other buttons, but not press any of them. Then, of course, she would try to stick the remote in her mouth, because that’s what babies do. It’s always difficult to pry the remote from her hands once she has a hold of it,

While doing some cleaning around the house, Farrah found a remote I bought for our TiVo unit - a unit we no longer use. Wow, this would be perfect for Mia! This could be her remote, and we can have our remote back. If she has the TiVo remote by itself, she’ll play with it without end. But if you put both remotes in front of her, she’ll opt for the working DIRECTV remote. My guess is she knows that one works, it does things, whereas the TiVo remote is only there to distract her. Smart girl.

This photo was taken on the morning of March 16, 2011.

It’s amazing how babies can be occupied by their own reflections. Farrah placed Mia in front of the hallway mirror. Mia was able to occupy herself for a good ten minutes. She laughed, clapped her hands, and leaned forward to touch her reflection. his photo was taken on March 5, 2011, using the Canon S95.

Yesterday, Mia turned eight months old! Wow, it’s amazing how time moves so quickly. She’s not crawling yet, but she successfully flopped onto her belly from this sitting position.

We think she’s starting to teethe. There appears to be a little something in her front lower jaw. She seems OK with what is going on, only becoming fussy every once in a while. Also, she’s been amazing in sleeping through the night. This makes mommy and daddy very happy in the morning.

Happy eight months Mia!

This photo was taken on the morning of March 2, 2011.

Wow, Mia has already caught The Batman bug. Fighting crime at such a young age. For now, she’ll do as daddy does and be part of The Batman Family. I see her more in the role of The Huntress - Batman’s daughter in older comic books - rather than Batgirl. But she always has a choice. I have a feeling when she grows up she’ll be more of a Wonder Woman fan, like her cousin Kayla was when she was growing up. Did you hear they’re bringing back Wonder Woman to television? If that turns out to be a hit, I can see Mia in front of the TV watching the show.

This photo of Mia and mommy is from a previous set of pictures. Unfortunately, we’ve been under the weather, off-and-on the last couple of weeks. Taking any good pictures has been difficult. Hopefully, we’ll have some opportunity this week to take some newer photos.

This photo was originally taken on January 23, 2011.

Mia is still learning to crawl. She’s comfortable being on her belly on the floor. She can pivot left or right and can move ever so slowly backward. But she hasn’t grasped the skill of forward movement yet.  When that time comes, I’m sure she’ll be taking off, crawling to every conceivable corner of the house.

We have wanted to take Mia to the Monterey Bay Aquarium but hadn’t found a good weekend to do it. Fortunately, we had the last weekend of January free of any commitments. We were also very fortunate to obtain two guest passes from my sister’s co-worker who has an aquarium membership.

Asking for directions.

Since it was Mia’s first time there we tried to visit all the exhibits that she might find of interest. The first exhibit we saw was the seahorses. I’m not sure if Mia could actually make out the seahorses with her own eyes, but there were large monitors that gave a close-up view of how they looked. I’m sure she could make them out from those images.

Looking glass.

We later went into the interactive area. Farrah placed Mia on what seemed like a water bed-type pad. She really enjoys it swaying back and forth.

Bounce house like.

After our trip, we headed north to Santa Cruz to have dinner with the Trabers. Luckily, the weather on the way up to Monterey was cooperative. The drive to Santa Cruz was met with light drizzle. Luckily, there were no incidents to speak of. We spent an hour or so at the house, then headed to Riva’s for a nice seafood dinner.

All in all a good day.

Mia and the Jellyfish.

These photos were taken on January 29, 2011.

It’s a question I believe each dad asks themselves, “When do I introduce Star Wars into my kid’s life?"

Well, it all starts with a t-shirt. Farrah bought this shirt at the Gap for 58 cents! Such a bargain. In this photo, with Mia’s face, all scrunched up, it looks as if she’s tired of having her photo taken.

Now, as far as the films go, I’m talking about the original Star Wars trilogy, not the last three highly disappointing films. And in any event, you’d introduce the original trilogy first. You would not want to spoil the huge revelation in Empire Strikes Back, would you?

I’ve heard that a good age to start might be three years old. At the least, you can lay down the groundwork through storytelling. My friend BossaNova said he started telling his daughter the story of Luke, Leia, and Han around that age as well. Who knows, Mia may be able to retell the story similar to this little girl.

This photo was taken on January 20, 2011.

Mia is as playful as ever. Each day, Farrah tries to think of a way to tame all that hair. It’s difficult, but it needs to be done. Otherwise, it can look a bit scary. I’ve included two photos in this post so you can get a complete picture. I look at this series of photos and I can’t help but think, wow, future sushi chef.

Looking like a sushi chef.

“Can I have an order of the sake? My wife would like a California Roll as well.”

These photos were taken on January 23, 2011.

Mia is all dressed up and ready to go out for a morning stroll. It was slightly cold and overcast outside on the morning of this photo, so Farrah had her all bundled up. Granted it’s not snowy weather here in sunny California. But anything below 55℉ makes you reach for a sweater.

This was Mia’s first experience with gloves as well. She was very fascinated by how they felt on her hands and how it felt interacting with other objects. She also started rubbing them together quickly, as if making sure her hands were still underneath the gloves.

This photo was taken on January 17, 2011, using the Canon s95.

Mia came home from daycare with pigtails!  Well, in the photo you can see only one, but she does have another small pigtail on the other side of her head.  She has an amazing amount of hair, but it’s in that in-between length where something proper to do is difficult.

This photo was taken on January 11, 2011, using the Canon s95 in low light mode.

Christmas Eve was at the house as usual.  But in the early afternoon, we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa’s house to see them, take a few photos, and drop off presents.  I’m working on processing the photos to post to the photos site.

This specific photo was taken on December 24, 2010, in San Jose.

A Christmas card type photo, don’t you think?

Ah, Christmastime.  It’s a time of joy and wonder and sharing good times with family and friends. And you know what? It’s Mia’s first Christmas!

She had a great Christmas Eve. During the day we were able to see Grandma and Grandpa. At night, she stayed up as long as she could, entertaining everyone with her cuteness and antics. Unfortunately, her eyes grew heavy just a little after 8pm. She finally fell asleep.

What do we have planned for Christmas day? More fun at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, than who knows what.   Merry Christmas to everyone!

This photo was taken on November 26, 2010. The photo is part of a session where we tried to capture images to be used for our Christmas cards. You can find the rest of the photos here. If you need the password to the photo gallery, don’t hesitate to email me at feedback [at] janella [dot] com.