All I did was say no

To be fair, he is a little sensitive as he's cutting tooth #3 right now. I guess it feels good to gnaw on the cabinet knob. But it's the stereo cabinet and, well, I had to say no!

Hair today...

I promise he's not naked here. Although it does cut down on laundry to feed him in the diaper! No, he's just learning how to give a smack HIGH FIVE!! Dada taught him over red beans and sweet potatoes and now he's quite proficient. The only bad thing was that he wouldn't high five me at first. But he's gotten over that. I think I'll work on blowing a kiss next!

I'd hoped to wait until he turned one to have the first haircut. I just wanted to let those cute curls go! Alas, it was constantly in his eyes and I didn't want the back to reach mullet or even Ryder Robinson lengths. I know we were a long way from that, but all the same....

We went to our local walk-in salon du strip mall and June did the honors. He did great! He was a little shy at first, but he sat on the booster and admired himself in the mirror. I think the dogs on the cape helped too. So he had one eye on June ("what are you doing up there?") and the other eye on me ("seriously, put the camera down") the whole time. We reserved the clippers for a later visit, so the scissors snipped away. He finally cracked his smile as we were paying and then started pulling on the back ("there used to be more here?"). Here's the before and after:

Mission control, we have a birthday party

When you ask a typical four-year-old about space, they may tell you about Buzz Lightyear and "To Infinity and Beyond!" When you ask our nephew, Evan, he can tell you that there are 8 US shuttles and that one was named by Trekkies. And that's only the beginning. So it was truly fitting that he had a space themed party for his 4th birthday this weekend. Miles, mama, dada and the two pups took a road trip to celebrate the big day. While Miles has attended one other birthday party, this was the first that he really got to enjoy. (update 7/25: boy did I have mommy brain... he's been to another 4th and a 90th birthday party too!!)


In keeping with the space theme, we dined on rocket shaped sandwiches and a too-pretty-to-eat shuttle cake. In case of rain there were space themed crafts, but luckily the rain passed and the kids got to enjoy Papa's farm. Not too space themed, but the kids had a blast in the creek and on the swingset.


Miles's favorite space activity was the Moon Walk!! He loved sitting on the humps and being bounced by mama and dada. And watching Evan and Kate tumble around cracked him up! He just crawled over the humps, face-planted as he went and giggled like crazy. He was sad when the party was over and shed a few crocodile tears to prove it.


Oh, I almost forgot his biggest achievement of the weekend... when we arrived at Yaya and B's house, he immediately started climbing their stairs. He's not been around stairs, but he had no fear and was actually quite agile. A few rounds of that and he slept in both days. But we still need to practice the descent.

Skilz Pt. 2

The kid does amaze. His official first unassisted standing was a couple of weeks ago, brief moment that it was. But over the last weeks he's become much more confident and lets go often, though he can't keep the stand for a very long time yet. But yesterday he held it long enough for me to get the proof. Look closely and you'll see... no hands!! I was out of town for four nights this weekend and YaYa stayed to help daddy with Miles. She said she thought he almost took a step, but I'm glad he held off for me. Maybe "Skilz Pt. 3" is right around the corner.


Miles and I both completed our library's summer reading challenge. He had to read 20 books and I had to read 4. I received a nifty coffee mug and he received an IOU for a book bag and this great tattoo. (yes, it is temporary) You can see in this picture he's reading his favorite book du jour "Goodnight Gorilla." He also got a coupon book, but I think mommy will be the one to enjoy the free Marble Slab cone.

skilz

It's amazing watching a child develop. Day by day you witness him learning how to do more stuff and see him understand the world around him. I know it sounds like I'm going to twist this into some funny story, but no, I just realized what a feat learning to squat is. Miles has been pulling up for about a month now and he is a pro at the bam! fall-down-on-your-bottom method of sitting. But squatting is a delicate balance of getting halfway down and not fulling hitting ground, and then returning to stand. And he's mastered it and knows it. He's pretty proud and so am I. 

the omnivore

Miles has never really turned down food. He gagged a bit at his first bite of pureed chicken, but really, who wouldn't? He for sure has some favorites now. The top ones he shovels in are black beans, puffs, and now lunchmeat. This weekend he had some ham for lunch and turkey at dinner. He is quite a fan, although I must say I have Hannibal Lecter flashbacks during some of the more exuberant mealtimes. (Chelsea and Apollo appreciate his expanded diet as well)

Speaking of mealtimes, we had a great achievement in dad-parenting this weekend. Our friends Amy & Jason stayed with us this weekend and while Amy & I attended a baby shower, Wayne and Jason took Miles out to lunch. ALONE. No mommy assistance whatsoever, well except that I prepared his bag of necessities. His placemat, bib, spoon, cup of water & container of Cheerios all neatly packed in a bright shiny red gift bag.

So Miles is approaching the big "1" in a little over a month. I've been looking around, trying to decide what a good 1st birthday present is. I'm thinking this from mommy and daddy, but I've been looking on Amazon's new toy store for other ideas. There are some interesting things out there for kids, like this and this, but Leatherface? I kid you not, he is in the Birth-24 months category under action figures. Yikes!!

In light of the extensive child-proofing around the house, I read this timely post on another blog. It featured this disturbing blast from the television past. I had no idea that the stickers are still available, and they even now sell a version of the ubiquitous rubber wristband. We'll just lock everything up high for now!!

Boom Boom Boom

Happy Fourth of July!! Another big first holiday for Mr. Miles. Alas, the only big booming noises he'll hear tonight will be the thunder that is forecasted. Hopefully the neighborhood firecrackers won't get the doggies started and wake him up.
The day started like any other, with daddy heading to the office and us meeting him for lunch. But for some reason Miles has not wanted to nap the past few afternoons.

He'll hang out in his crib for about 30 minutes, but then he's done. This is in contrast to the usual hour and a half at least. Thank goodness he's still sleeping in the morning.And he's still making it to his 7pm bedtime, well almost. Last night he fell asleep on daddy while finishing his bottle. This evening, however, he was happy to stay up. We went to visit his girl Karley for playing and some dinner. He's always soooo happy to see her. And having a completely new selection of toys isn't bad either. Tonight he got a kick playing in her armchair.

And he really laughed when she sat on him, instead of beside him for a mommy requested photo-op. We all enjoyed some yummy KFC and sides and finally the kiddos were completely worn out. What fun!!

Speaking of chicken and on a completely random note, I tried a really great chicken recipe last week, Balsamic Poached Chicken. I need to work on the timing of everything but it turned out so well that there were no leftovers, despite my making enough for two nights!!!

I'm walkin', yes indeed

Okay, how cool is this? Miles loves to play with the diaper boxes because they have cute babies on them. And he hides in them too. But here's his new trick!! (Click on the play triangle above, it should load and play in ths screen.)

The Captain and the First Mate

Miles had a fun visit with Bebe and PopPop this weekend. Bebe completed her radiation therapy for breast cancer last week and was ready for some fun with the grandbaby. Miles didn't dissapoint! He'd changed a lot since the last time they were here - he wasn't even crawling then. Now he's managed to stand alone for several seconds and can walk while pushing something. Pretty cool. So we all enjoyed a day of play and, of course, some photos were taken. Here's Miles with his PopPop, all geared up for the first sail. Too bad we're 500 miles from the ocean!! With their matching boat shoes, they are set for the deck. He will definitely need a bigger size by the time we get to the boat, though.