Weaning Ceremony

　　My wife flew into Tokyo this morning leaving me at home. If I can, I'd like to follow her, but I wasn't able to make my work schedule adjustments. Our first granddaughter was born in March, and she turned 100 days. There's a tradition to hold a weaning ceremony called "Okuizome" in Japanese at about 100 days after her birth. It celebrates the end of feeding milk and the start of eating the same food as adults, though actually milk feeding continues along with mushy pulpy food.
　　Sea bream, prawns, rice boiled with red beans, ,,,those are foods which are believed to be auspicious. They are laid out just before the baby, and each of them are touched to her lips. It's just a ritual, but our granddaughter is stepping one after another on the way of growth. This is our sheer joy.

(Vocabulary)
wean〈赤ん坊・動物の子〉 を離乳させる
wean sb off/from sth ＜人＞に＜…＞を徐々にやめさせる
She wanted to wean him off junk food. 彼女は彼がジャンクフードを食べるのを徐々にやめさせたかった．
be weaned on sth 幼いころから＜…＞に慣れ親しむ
the generation that was weaned on TV 幼いころからテレビに慣れ親しんだ世代
mushy どろどろした, (粥(かゆ)のように) 柔らかい
pulpy 〈食べ物などが〉 軟らかな, どろどろの