Lightning IS ready!

What is that you ask? Why, it's the first brilliant piece from an up-and-coming young artist, Miles! Notice how expressive and stormy the colors are? It was a rainy day when he created it. I've tried to color with him a few times, but he always preferred to taste the colors. But he has started preschool now, and when he saw his new friends coloring away, he went to it!

Ah yes, school days are here. He's started last Thursday and will go 2 days a week for about 6 hours. He waved bye-bye to me when I dropped him off the first day, and really wasn't ready to leave when I came back. And boy, did he talk my ear off that first afternoon! He had a lot to tell me about what they'd done that day. The first effect I've seen of school is that it upped his jabber-quantity. A lot. And even the jabber-quality has improved, as we've both noticed some words that sound more like the real thing and not just "ba" that has 12 different meanings depending on where we are.

And he's back to enjoying his books again! He lost interest for a while when he started walking - I mean, walking IS super awesome! - but now he will snuggle up and read with us or just look at books on his own. There are some new favorites in the bunch too, including any with "choo-choo" on them.


Reason #2783 we like having a kid: We can now justify our collection of great kids' movies. We finally saw Cars last night, and we, uh, Miles definitely needs to have that one!

Boo, everybody!

Miles was really glad he didn't sleep through Halloween this year (like he did for his 1st Halloween). Although he wasn't so sure about the whole costume thing while I dressed him. He gave me the "you're taking off my clothes to put other clothes on?!??!" wiggle the entire time. And forget about the mane, he was having none of that! Oh yeah, that IS the lion suit, not a turkey or potato as some of the neighbor kids thought. Once we got the dogs tucked away, Miles hosted an early evening costume party in the front yard. Every year the people across the street have a party for the kids to trick-or-treat together. So as they gathered, they detoured to our yard to play with Miles.

And he ate. it. up. LOVED it! And the girls did too. They walked around with him and copied the little tail wiggle. Dad brought out the video camera when he got home and they hammed it up. Looks like we'll have a great selection of babysitters here in a few years!!
A little later he was so excited to answer the door when they came by. He just stood there looking up at at least a dozen kids in the door. And ever time the doorbell rang, he'd scurry over to look at the kids standing at the door. We had our biggest year yet, it's a good thing I got an extra bag of treats at the last minute. Miles even did a little trick or treating... we rang the doorbell at a couple of neighbors' houses just to say hi. But we got back home in time for a Very Special Lady(bug) to stop by - his friend Kate! She looked adorable in her costume and was all grins playing with us.
I guess the only ones who didn't have fun last night were the pups. Halloween ranks right up there with New Years and the 4th of July for dog annoyance days!! Hopefully a little candy corn will get us back in their good graces.

Ten Big Ones

Wayne & I celebrated our 10th anniversary this week!! It's pretty cool that we've spent almost a third of our lives together now. Of course this is 10 years dating, our fifth wedding anniversary is in February. We can't pinpoint the exact day of our first date, so we just selected a random day in mid October and figured it was close enough. This picture was my sorority formal, the first picture of "young love".
So to celebrate, last night YaYa and B graciously took babysitting duty and Wayne and I headed out to Fleming's. Can we say yum? It was over the top indulgent and a perfect way to celebrate a decade. We expected it to be one of those Rat Pack places playing Frank & Dean, but it was a nice Dave & Jack serenading us through our wine.


YaYa & B aren't the only visitors young Miles has had lately. No, all three sets of grands have made stops in the 'ville recently! BeeBe & PopPop were here for a visit on their way east last week. And Mimi & Grandpa hijacked a bus to see Miles. They were on a tour and knew the bus would make its way through town, so we conspired to have the bus stop where we could "run into" them! I think the rest of their group was none the wiser - and enjoyed seeing our smiling little boy!

Giggle box

This morning Miles fed his puppies Cheerios ("oooss") and found it hysterical. He might be a bit loopy from less sleep, I think a new molar is why he's been waking from his naps earlier.

our little pun'kin

Yay, so glad fall is in full swing! We've stayed so busy lately - too busy to blog it seems, I apologize. I made some pumpkin bread to commemorate the season and Miles has really enjoyed it. Every meal it's crumbled all over the tray and his shirt and in his hair. Another sign of the season is the footie pajamas!! Miles takes off his socks during the night, and doesn't really stay under the blanket, so we've made the switch to the fleece footies. The first night we put them on he tugged on the toes and looked at us with a "what-are-you-doing-to-me?" look. But he's figured them out now.

Our weekly playgroup ventured out to the zoo this Wednesday. We'd forgotten that the schools were on break this week, so the kids area was too rambunctious for the little ones. But a lot more animals were out - lions, snow leopards, white tigers - and they even had a close encounter with a hungry camel. I think he smelled the Cheerios in the diaper bag.

Just 3 of the 5 in our group made it, one was out of town and Lindsey is having chemo. Some of you may know this already but one of the little girls in our group was diagnosed with a hepatoblastoma - a tumor in her liver. They hope that with a few sessions of chemo it will shrink and they can remove it. But while she's in treatment she can't risk being around germy kids. Please keep her in your prayers!

quick one before the weekend

Just wanted to pass on that I've updated Miles's photo album... the link to the right (more photos of Miles) or here's the link for updated photos.

If you look through October you'll see a few costume dress rehersals. None went all that well. Despite the face in the photo, the lion is most likely the one. Those other full body suits were so hot!!

Have a great weekend!!

date night!!

What fantastic weather we're having!! This is why I love fall. Miles has really enjoyed our outside time, especially heading down to the school playground for some slide time. He's made friends with a couple other regulars, and their dogs too. He also discovered the fun of picking up handfuls of mulch/dirt and piling them on the steps. I think he only tried to eat it 5 times.



We had a big first for the family this weekend also... the first non-family babysitter!!! We wanted to go out for Kurt's birthday dinner so I finally called the girl down the street. Another mom had given me her name and we'd met her on our walks a few times. So she came over and we proceeded to tell her how to put him to bed no less than 4 times. And went over the all important How To Work The TV a couple of times too, although she said she did her English homework.

When we got home she said they played for a while. Then well before when we said he'd go to bed he started putting his head down on the floor. She put him in his crib and he waved bye-bye to her. Little guy was ready for bed!! So she had it pretty easy, but he liked her - the next day we'd say "did you have fun with Ali?" and he replied "Ah!" (yes? Ali? I don't know, but it was happy.) I'm sure we'll be calling her again.

Scary spice

Last year Miles graciously posed in the cutest costume I could get my hands on. When I saw it I had to order it, knowing how much his daddy loves him some hot sauce. Of course on the actual Halloween night he was sound asleep through all of the foot traffic. We kept an eye on the street so the puppies wouldn't raise a ruckus with every ding-dong and trick or treat.

And the week after, I was so smart and found the most adorable cow costume on clearance for him to wear this year. It's a size 1-2 year, so surely it would be perfect for a 14 month old? Ha! Not this 14 month old. Thankfully I tried it on him... well tried to try it on him. The legs barely covered his knees and when I went to zip it up he started fussing. It was a bit short in the rise too!

So I'm back to square one. There are so many cute things out there, but none of them grab me like the red hot chili pepper did. This is cute and so is this (he does love bananas), but is it the one? Maybe we'll dress the entire family up in these. I know, I know, he's only one, but this year he may get to help answer the door! I think he'll get a kick out of that. So what are your suggestions?

three things

In the interest of keeping this short and sweet, here are 3 things that Miles is doing now...
1. The path of "destruction". Not just dumping things out anymore, he leaves a trail of goodies wherever he goes. Here he discovered some of the baby toys I was packing away and decided he wasn't done playing with them yet!
2. He's sleeping so great, a full 12 hours at night and 2 good naps still. When he's ready to sleep he lets us know. This weekend I went in because he was making noise during one of his naps and he waved "bye bye" to me. He wanted to sleep some more! And any time he's going to sleep he stands there waving to us as we leave the room.
3. When he wakes up, he'll just hang out and play. The fun game this week is dropping everything out of the crib. All the little animals (yes those are the Higglytown Heroes on the floor), his blanket and even both socks ("ock" in Miles-speak). When it gets cold, we'll have to put him in the footie pjs so his feet don't freeze!!

Homecoming

A fall homecoming weekend, what could sound better? Lots of friends in town (check); football (um, sort of check); crisp, cool sweater weather... FALSE! Thankfully we were spared the flooding from the torrential downpour that swept the area, but our plans for the day were shot.

But before all that started, Miles had a reunion of sorts. His friend Davey turns 3 this year and we celebrated with him. Davey's party last year was Miles's very first playdate!













The party was very different this year. Last year, Miles & Aiden spent much of the party asleep in their carseats. This year, it was constant motion, walking, crawling, falling, exploring, playing with toys, eating cake, checking out everything everywhere. Jen's mom has a variety of roosters in her kitchen and Miles found a really cool one with a metal tail that he could make music with.

The downpour started Saturday and though we were optimistic early, my plans to make it to the game officially went down the drain when Wayne went out to get us some lunch. Both ways out to the main drag were flooding pretty deep at that point and there wasn't much sign of it letting up. (Sorry Ashley... glad you and the Auburn fan had a good time anyway!)

Thankfully, Brandi, Dave, Maddie and Brennan came by early (you know us parents, up early on Saturday!) so Miles got to play with some "big kids" for a while. They taught him how to build a fort and enjoyed playing with his "baby" toys. Brandi said that was because their own "baby" toys were being phased out.



Now the week has started beautifully! Our neighbor said her rain gauge read 7.5", so I think we made up for the drought this summer. Didn't help my summer "garden" but should hlp me get a good start for fall/spring! I have a garage full of mums, pansies and spring bulbs so need to take advantage of the sunshine and soft earth and get them planted.

Last but not least a few Happy Birthdays to Stephanie monday and also to Grandpa Don today!

a weekend in pictures

Grandmommy Alice turned 90 on Friday, so Miles and I crossed the state to celebrate. He didn't join us at dinner, but spent the day Saturday entertaining his nonagenarian nana. Here are two of her grandkids (me & my brother) toasting her longevity.
While entertaining Alice, Miles also played with BeeBe & PopPop. PopPop had a really cool car to ride around the yard.
Later that night Miles entertained lots of family from my mom's side. Aunt Connie had come in from Texas, so of course there was a party! Miles got to see his other nonagenarian grandma (yes he has two at 90! will he live to 110?), 3 great aunts, 1 great uncle, Mimi & Grandpa, uncle Kiley & Megan and cousin Hunter. Whew! He knew he was the center of attention and stayed up an hour past bedtime to cheer for the Vols against Florida.
Alas, uncle Kiley was the only college football fan of the family proudly wearing his colors on Sunday.
We made the drive over all in one day, which was long but not so bad. On the way back, however it was better to stop and have playtime with his cousins for a couple of nights. Last time we were there he wasn't quite walking yet, so it was a real treat to see them interact. Kate still tried to make Miles her baby-doll and buckle him into her carseat. But eventually they worked out a division of chores. Miles happily took over vacuuming!!
Our visit was lots of fun. Kate and Evan successfully exhausted Miles so he zoned out or slept the entire drive back. And he took 2 long naps today. Yay!

ready for fall

It's still officially a week away, but today was a promising preview of the fantastic fall to come. I didn't plan Miles's outfit well and he ended up sporting a gator all day, grrrr. I didn't even notice until I saw a lunch special of "gator wraps" posted on the sidewalk. We had lunch at Tomato Head with our friend Elise, and afterward Miles wandered Market Square, chasing pigeons and gazing longingly at the fountains squirting up from the sidewalk. Sadly, right after I snapped this shot in front of Bliss, he took a header on the sidewalk. Thankfully it was just a little scrape, no blood, no purple protrusion. But it ended the lunch date pretty fast (sorry, Elise!!).

Tomorrow he and I are off to Memphis (while the rest of the state convenes here!) for my grandmother's 90th birthday dinner. This is Miles's 2nd great-grandma to achieve such a milestone this year and he's happy to celebrate. Happy Birthday Grandmommy Alice!

the hurricane

Miles is a goofball. For real. He's silly and giggly and walks around with a can of peaches. Or sometimes tuna, just depends which one is eye level. Yesterday he started rockin' out to The Scorpions while we were eating lunch. And for your most updated Miles to English translation entry:
BAH = pacifier, banana, berries, bed, milk, Barbara Ann, outside
FFFff = puffs, phones, fan
Ah = vacuum, hat
And by the way, if you could super-zoom on this pic you would see not one tooth coming in up top but THREE, yes three at one time. Awesome!

Today we went for haircut #2. Miles played it like a cool kid the whole time. I mean, he is a pro now. We sat him up on the booster and he slung his arm across the back of the chair like he was driving a big ol' Caddy and left it there. "hey baby, wanna ride?" Then he got all James Dean-cool on her and just stared off into the mirror. Maybe he liked her leopard print smock. She was a tad more hip than the last stylist we saw.

After, while I'd liked to have strolled up the sidewalk for a nice cold 'rita we headed the other direction for some family fun at BN. I grabbed a book thinking I could do a little pipe-dreaming but should have known better. He was for a short time completely entranced by the Thomas the Train table and the two cuties with curly brown hair. But he soon realized he was in his own practically private section of the book store and it was filled with things for him!! He discovered the Boynton section and pulled it all to the floor. Then he saw all the stuffed animals but thankfully passed on by. I finally steered him to the storytime area with the platform and a mini Hundred Acre Wood tableau where we wore out the rest of the day until dinner.

big boy

Here's the latest page I did for his baby book. Wow, what a year! 

let's go go GO!

After writing about such a fun event as a birthday, the everyday stuff seems too ordinary to blog. How can Miles just being his goofy, cute self compare with cupcake smashed up his nose? It may be mundane but such is life. Wait, who am I kidding?

Mundane? HA! Farthest thing from it!

If I felt lazy and didn't walk all summer in the heat, Miles is helping me make up those missed steps now. He is all over the place. Here and there, here and there. I can follow his little path of disaster from the toy baskets to the book shelf to the cabinet of canned food.

I can also audibly follow him: the tinkle of piano keys, the rat-a-tat of the drum, and various toys vocalizing "hi I'm farmer Tad," "Lightning is ready", "purple cow," and a cacophony of barnyard noises. Thankfully the house is childproofed enough so everything is his or I don't care if he messes with it. He's usually in the food cabinet, pulling out his snack-size peaches and mandarin oranges. He carried around some oranges for about 30 minutes yesterday.


I know that two occurrences don't make a trend, but I suspect that the morning nap is starting to go away. While he's still ready to crash at 8:30am after breakfast and some wandering, that nap has only lasted an hour the past few days. Barely enough time for me to eat, shower, dress and e-mail! (and do laundry and dishes and pick-up and sweep...) Today since he was up we went to the park behind dad's office. It used to be run down about 10 years ago, but they've cleaned it up and there are great bike paths and tennis courts. [The one bad area is the stream running beside it with a prominent "Avoid Physical Contact" posted. Too many SSOs, I guess.] The play area is really cool. There are two big jungle gym things that look like a pirate ship and a castle. So we did some swinging and some sliding and some general walking around. Then off to a messy lunch with dad at Moe's! Yum!

you say it's your birthday?

Ah, the big event has come and gone. The first birthday party was a smashing success and I think mommy and daddy have finally recovered. Miles ate up the attention of six doting grandparents while trying to play with his cousins, whatever they were doing. Evan had several jam sessions on the drums, and Miles was his cymbal-taping sidekick. Kate was the go-go dancer! And not wanting to leave Kate out, Miles was very content to play dolls, pushing her baby stroller all over the house. Of course he did prefer to tip it over and spin the wheels a little too.


Presents? What presents? Although there was a den full of exciting boxes and tissue paper, Miles preferred to toddle around the house and play with other things. So mommy got the very willing cousins to help open all his fun gifts. He got lots of great books, clothes and some trains and cars to keep him going. After some yummy burgers and hot dogs, the birthday cupcake appeared! This time he knew exactly what to do (not that he hesitated much on the 1st one!) and he tore right in.

Since I waited a few days, I can include his 1 year check-up stats: he's 30 3/4" tall and he was just shy of 24 pounds. But now he's eaten lunch :)

Celebrate good times

Just a question... if a picture tells a thousand words, how many words do 1000 pictures tell? Because that's about how many were taken this weekend!! Once I weed through them all I'll share some more of the best. 

Let them eat [cup]cake!

This was the official birthday cupcake. More to come from the party tomorrow! Have a great weekend.