Mason Shoma

I’m making a lot of progress during tummy time. I’m pretty stable and can hold my head up for nearly the entire tummy time session. I’m starting to explore how to use my limbs in tummy time and it looks like I’m ready for crawling. I still haven’t mastered it yet, but I’m always looking forward to the next step.

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I think my sea otter friend is my favorite friend on my playmat right now. He lights up and plays music for me, and he is very lickable. Yes, that’s right, “lickable”. That’s not a typo for “likeable”. He can be licked and is very good at being licked.

Unfortunately, I don’t treat him very well. Beside me licking him all the time, I also slap him around a lot. I’m not trying to hurt him. We’re just playing. Don’t feel too sorry for him. He hits me back a lot. When I give him a big smack he sways away and then back with quite some force, often hitting me in the head. I cry out when that happens, but I get little sympathy from Mommy or Daddy who saw me hit him. That’s why they keep urging me to be gentle with him. Instead I just maneuver my head out of his reach. Haha, take that my sea otter friend.

I just love being carried! Of course, I enjoy my playmat, am comfortable in my carseat and stroller, tolerate my crib, and am okay wherever I’m plopped down, but nothing beats being carried by Mommy or Daddy! It’s the best! You should try it sometime. I guarantee you’ll love it.

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I claim this seat in the name of Mason Shoma! It shall now and forever be my seat!

Well, unless Daddy is sitting here, then I’ll just sit in his lap.

Mommy and I had a nice chat today. I especially enjoyed it because she was tickling me at the same time, which made me laugh. But I was still able to listen to her and respond properly. I love this kind of interaction! I feel comfortable and can be interactive at the same time.

Just popping in to say, “Hi there!”

I’ve been working towards being able to roll over from my back to my tummy. I still haven’t got the knack for it. Oddly, the closest I get is when I’m getting my diaper change. Recently, I arch my back and twist. It almost looks as if I can turn over, but my head is looking up and back behind me, preventing me from rolling over. I can’t say what I’m trying to achieve by arching or what I’m looking at. It’s just something I do now.

I may be a big baby, but I have relatively small batteries. I seem to run out of juice quickly when I’m active. Tummy time and interactive play drain my batteries very quickly. The result is groggy and lethargic movement with very tired grunting. But you can tell that I’m growing up because I don’t get too fussy too often anymore. I just slow down and take things easy until I recharge, either through feeding or sleep.

Mommy’s cousin kindly and generously gave us some of her daughter’s baby goods. We used the baby bath a lot during my first couple of months and we are using the high-low chair more and more. We tried to use the mobile that she gave us early on, but I didn’t take to it. We tried to use it quite early, so my vision was not that good at the time. But my vision is much better now and I am more aware of things around me. I’m especially drawn to lights and movement. So we gave the mobile another try. And guess what. I loved it! I was mesmerized by it! I like watching the Disney characters float on by and I quite enjoy the gentle music. I have a feeling that we’ll be using it strategically from time to time.

We tried it out not really expecting much of it, so we just plopped it down next to my playmat. But, as you can see, things got cluttered and busy. So we moved the playmat aside and just let me focus on the hypnotizing march of colorful characters.

Unfortunately, even though it has a strap, we can’t attach it to my crib. My crib doesn’t have rails, it is a mesh playpen style. So we’re going to have to get creative if we are going to use it for bedtime.

We went for our usual morning walk to the park, and I fell asleep on the way there. But I woke up when we got there and was well rested and bright eyed.

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The moment we got home I had to shed a layer of clothes. It is so hot and humid that even with the air conditioning on at home, it takes a while for me to cool down.

I’ve been surprising Mommy and Daddy with my laughing. They know a few things that always makes me laugh, but every so often a new laughter trigger accidentally appears. They may do something randomly and then all of a sudden I’m laughing. They quickly pounce on the opportunity and make me roll with laughter.

This morning I was just relaxing on Daddy’s lap and he was talking to me and making faces. Then he leaned back and when he looked back at me I burst out in laughter. Why? I have no idea. But it was very funny to me!

Time is still beyond my understanding. I don’t know what time of the day it is, I just know that it gets dark at night and light during the day. So with know understanding of time, it is hard for me to grasp “bedtime”. As part of my routine I botcha (take a bath), get a baby massage with baby lotion, read a book if I’m in a good mood, and then nurse before bedtime. But sometimes, even with the lights turned off and no distracting sounds in the house, I’m just not sleepy. What can you do when a cutie pie is smiling and happy and wants to play?

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My playmat is really cool! It is quite versatile and I can use it a lot of different ways.

First of all, it is a mat for me to lie on. It is quite comfy, but I’m starting to think it is a bit small for me nowadays. I tend to kick my way off the mat and onto the hardwood floor.

But for the most part, the mat is big enough. I spend a lot of my time on it and make a lot of my developmental progress on it. I think I’ll figure out how to roll over onto my tummy right here on this mat. I’m nearly there. I can get a lot of twisting and turning done, but I’m not quite rolling over yet.

I get a lot of support while I’m on my mat. Mommy and Daddy are always encouraging me and cheering me on.

My playmat is a good place to discover new things and stimulate my senses. I found my teething leaf on the mat and gave it a good gnawing. The structure of the playmat give me good leverage and stability as I teeth. Look at me go. I’m like a panda bear chewing on bamboo.

I think I’m getting the hang of this teething ring. I still need someone to help me get a good grip on it, but once I have a hold of it I know exactly where it goes. It is quite soothing, but you should see the drool that comes out of me. Time to start wearing bibs, I think.

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Today we had the traditional meal for kuizome. As I mentioned before, is a food related ritual on a baby’s 100th day. Mommy placed a special order for the ceremonial food just for me! Well, it was for me, but since I couldn’t actually eat anything, it was for Mommy and Daddy too. (They seemed really excited to eat such good food!)

We went through the ritual where Daddy pretended to feed me the rice, soup, and tai (sea bream) in a certain order for a certain number of times. This is so that I never have a hungry day in my life. Then he tapped the rock with the chopsticks and then tapped them to my “teeth” (gums). This is so that I have strong and healthy teeth.

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It was an interesting ceremony and I’m glad that Mommy went through all the trouble of preparing the food, but it was also a little mean. Look at all this delicious food laid out in front of me, for me, that I can’t eat. It looked sooo good, but I couldn’t eat any of it. I have to say, it is a bit of a tease to show babies foods they can’t touch for several months. I really wanted to eat all of it!

I’m still having a lot of fun on my play mat, looking up at my mirror, playing with my animal friends, and enjoying interacting with Mommy and Daddy. This is how I spend most of my day, often with a lot of smiles.

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Tummy time is coming along well. There are less smiles, but quite a bit of progress. Not everything is fun and games for little babies like me.

We went for a walk again and visited the park again this morning. Or so I’ve been told. I drifted off to dreamland again. I enjoy looking at things when on our strolls, but until I can get out of my stroller and run around, I don’t think the park is going to be a lot a fun for me. It is nice and relaxing, but not fun yet.

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Mommy and Daddy decided to get me a teething ring. I’ve been chewing on my hand and fingers for a while now, but it suddenly escalated to a whole new level of fist chewing. So they thought it might be time for a teething ring.

I love it! I chew on it a bit, but like it more as a toy at this point because it is easy to hold onto. It’s still the first day. I think I’ll end up getting the hang of it.

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