Mimi's New Doll

It's been only 3 weeks or so since Kuri joined our family.

The changes, as I suppose we expected, have been tremendous. Particularly for Mimi. Granted, Sumie and I are on completely different schedules now, and our routines are thrown completely out of whack, but we both knew this would happen. We saw it coming. Mimi, on the other hand, had only a vague impression that a baby was one the way. What this would really mean she couldn't begin to fathom. Thankfully, she's adapting to our addition remarkably well.

Over the weekend we had a visit from Great Grandma and Aunt Marilyn.

Kuri was passed around a lot.

Mimi didn't let all the attention Kuri was getting get to her. She jumped right in and shared in the visit.

She also bided her time. I think she's learning that even though Kuri is often the center of attention, he can't take that much of it. Before long, he needs to eat, sleep, or be changed. As such, Mimi's now beginning to wait for these "openings" and then pounce. Here she is with Great Grandma when Kuri finally went into nap mode.

Another change we've seen is that Mimi now really loves pretending to be a mom.  She always enjoyed this - dressing up her dolls and bringing them food from time to time - but now it's almost like a part-time occupation. Several times a day we'll find some kind of doll or stuffed animal tucked into bed, dressed in one of Kuri's outfits, or sitting in front of a plate of plastic food.

Nyan-nyan, Mimi's favorite stuffed animal, got the full treatment the other day.

Just as Mimi is now treating her favorite toys as real babies, she has also taken to treating her little brother as a favorite toy.  She likes to dress him up as an older man from time to time.

She really likes to cuddle with him - just like Mama does.

The cuddles generally turn to hugs...

 ...but that can only hold her interest for so long. Kuri is also a bit of a test lab for Mimi. As soon as we see her index finger come out, we know she's thinking, "Hmm. I wonder what he'll do if I do this?"

9 times out of 10, it's the same response.

Despite the poking and prodding, Kuri is definitely fascinated by Mimi. He'll look up at his Mama and me when we're holding him, but the person who really holds his attention, who really captivates him, is Mimi. Even at 3 weeks we can tell he adores her. As for standing up for himself, that will come in time. Right now, he simply doesn't have the backbone for it. Figuratively and literally.

In the quiet times, when Mama and Papa are cooking and reading and Kuri's feeding or sleeping, Mimi loses herself in coloring and drawing. We recently made an Ikea run and picked up some counter stools so Mimi could keep us company when we're in the kitchen.

And sometimes, with Kuri's sleep schedule, the "original three" still get together to celebrate some very special events. Mimi sang Happy Birthday to her Mama all by herself the other night. She also shared Mama's cake.

What has amazed us more than anything else over the past few weeks is how our family is now genuinely coming together. We were always close (never really thought we could be closer), but already I can't imagine life with less than this group of four. I hope the other three all feel the same way.