Cowboy Miles

Did we really go on vacation just last week? We've been so busy this week, it's all a blur. Miles really missed his playgroup buddies, so we were happy to see them twice this week. On Wednesday we even celebrated Ava's 2nd birthday with Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes and some jumping in the bouncy-house.

Last night I went to a potty training session given by The Potty M.D., Dr. Preston Smith (inventor of the Potty Monkey.) Miles has been doing pretty well peeing on the potty and has started to tell us when he needs to go, but I figured a little free advice couldn't hurt. The Doctor said when you are ready to do it you need to take them to the potty at regular intervals (1-2 hours) and make them stay on the potty for several minutes - not just a "pit stop." I knew about the frequency but hadn't thought about the odds of success by just having him relax and hang out for a while. (He should be willing to do that - goodness knows he's related to enough people who can hang in "the office" for a loooong time.) The other piece of wisdom I gleaned was that potty training is never really over until they're practically teenagers. You're supposed to stay on them, making sure they go regularly through the day, not lapsing back to holding it in because they'd rather keep playing. Keeping them good pee-ers and poopers through the day helps ward off bed wetting, constipation and other fun potty issues that can reemerge.

Anyway, didn't mean to go on for so long about that, but it's a big deal in the house right now. And apparently all I needed to do was attend the session because today.... DRUMROLL please..... Miles pooped on the potty. Yay!!! We had a big celebration for that one. Or two, as the case may be.


Some fun mommy stuff - I signed up for two new websites, Kaboodle and GoodReads, and {love} them both. Kaboodle compiles links to anything you want on the web, including pictures. It's great for keeping ideas for a project (or wish lists!) all in one place. GoodReads is a fun place to keep track of the books you've read and get ideas for new reads from friends. My book club has joined as well as some others, and we've already gotten a great list of books to read next. So if you join either of these, look me up and be my friend!

The beach bums

Ah, the beach. Sun, salt, sand, splashing in the waves. Miles did it all this year and loved it. Last time we were at the beach he was just starting to crawl, so he didn't get much sand time, and just a toe-dip in the waves. This year it was all we could do to manage the full-speed tear across the sand to splash through the surf. He went out to some bigger waves and only got knocked off his feet once, closer to shore. He went under (which cleared out his sinuses!) and was startled enough to not charge the waves the rest of that day. But the misstep was forgotten by the following day. Thankfully we could distract him easily with a shell hunt or digging in the sand.











Our friends Robb and Yen joined us for the first couple of nights. Miles entertained them with his silliness and choo-choo trains, and while they were there he discovered his new love for games. While we played Scrabble, Miles became the tile dealer; during Backgammon or Yahtzee he was the designated roller for all players. The tile dealing worked well and he showed off his counting skills, but the dice rolling was trickier... he wanted to grab them all back as soon as they hit the board. But Yahtzee turned into a great way to get him to clean his plate: "Take a bite, then you can roll again."







We all fell easily into the relaxed beach atmosphere. Miles still slept great at night and for naps, and we even kept up with the potty skills while there. (I think Robb was wowed every time Miles said "No pee-pee on floor!" or "Still DRY!") We ate out at some great places: The Eggs Up Grill had fantastic French Toast that Miles stole from me; Fish Camp served yummy she-crab soup on the back deck, right next to a playground; and of course we went back to Kudzu. This place freezes gourmet entrees so you can cook them at home - great when your little one won't do so well in the fine dining arena. We enjoyed the Cajun Snapper, Crab stuffed salmon and Chicken Saltimbocca. That plus some basic beach fish and chips and I think I hit my omega-3 quota for the week!

We ended up coming home a day early. Some storms were rolling through and we spent Thursday doing indoor stuff - library, shops, ice cream - but decided we might as well drive a day early rather than sit around for another rainy day. Since we came home early we got to celebrate Eileen's 1st birthday! Sadly I forgot my camera, but never fear, Erin took plenty. Just click on Eileen's blog link to see the fun! Miles helped open her presents and then pushed her around on her new Pooh car. What cutie-pies!



Now we're back to reality. Miles was so glad to see his buddies at school again. The night before as he went to bed he told daddy, "Miss Rory" - meaning I miss my pal Rory. Awwww! When I took him into school the kids were already outside and Rory came running over as soon as he saw Miles. Sweet kids.

quick update

I haven't gotten around to the vacation pictures just yet, but I did check a big To-Do off the list: update Shutterfly! My biggest hurdle with the iMac so far was figuring out the best (fastest) way to load pics online... I just figured it out this weekend. So Miles' page has been updated with June, July and August photos, including all the birthday fun! Enjoy!

Link to right (More Pictures of Miles) or click here.

Miles has been busy...

...collecting shells! Sorry we've been missing, we took a little vaca to Pawleys. Now we're back and once I sort through the photos, unpack, eat and sleep (maybe in that order!) I'll post some more.

Tooty McTootsalot

I always knew that little boys (and, let's be honest, grown men too) get a lot from bathroom humor. Toots, gas, farts, whatever you call it they love it. What I didn't know was how innate this enjoyment is. Seriously.

For several months I have tried to avoid admitting this, but Miles loves to toot. A lot. He gets a huge kick out of tooting on the lucky applier of Buttpaste during diaper changes. Tonight he did the Farty-Pants dance (sans pants) as we were getting ready for bed. He was cracking up the entire time. Sigh. Maybe a girl would be a nice change of pace?

Speaking of the newest Erwin, heard the little heartbeat at my 16 week appointment today. Going strong! I'm feeling good now, not as tired as the 1st trimester. But it is still more, um, challenging with a 2 year old to chase around. Still don't know the gender but we will have our ultrasound on October 9 - and we will try to see what it is!! Place your pink or blue bets now!

A date with a cheerleader

Miles' "Go Big Orange" dreams came true this weekend when Eileen came over for some pre-game fun in her cheerleading dress. He was on his best behavior, sharing everything with her and even showing her some new tricks. She sat on his "Lightning McQueen" racer for a while, pushing the "Oh Yeah!" button over and over like Miles used to do.

To make her more at ease, he slowed his usual nonstop blur of activity to a literal crawl... he dropped to all four and led the way to the rest of the toys in his room! I do have to thank Eileen for one "gift" - she got Miles to eat a veggie finally (besides sweet potatoes)! He's a devout fruititarian. Though he won't let so much as a pea slip in those lips, he was intrigued by baby food and let me dish up some green veggies. And he's had more today! Wonder how long this will last?

We had a busy week last week, but I'm trying hard to remember what all happened! Miles had his 2 year old check-up on Wednesday and did great. They had to prick his finger for an iron test and he just watched, mesmerized. He weighed in at 32 lbs and 36" - a whole yard! - it appears he will be tall like his daddy. Maybe some more of those veggies will keep that going? He's also been back in the swing of potty training. He gets a star on the calendar every time he goes, so we're racking 'em up. Still hasn't told us before, but we can go a whole morning with a dry pull-up if I stay with him. He loves his pull-ups - Beebe found some that have a guy with a lawnmower on the front. How cool is that?

We made a couple of "gro-cey store" trips this week, trying out recipes and getting ready for our supper swap. I've learned the trick to getting a cooperative companion for grocery shopping: 1. don't use the words "grocery store." We can "go buy some bananas" but heaven forbid we "go to the grocery store." 2. Promise he can drive the car-cart. While it is monstrously huge, it keeps him happy and gets some laughs. Thankfully I'm getting better at driving and we usually go in off-peak hours. And the biggie 3. Promise we'll see an excavator. There's enough construction going on that I can find one anywhere, but I hit the jackpot on Friday... a huge office complex site. We sat and watched the excavator dump rocks onto this gravel crusher conveyor (??) for a few minutes. Then as we rounded the job site we saw 4 (!) excavators working together to speed-load dump trucks. WOW.

big boy fun

Ahh, life with a two-year-old.... it hasn't been as terrible as rumored, although we have had some moments. Miles is fully, totally and completely entranced by all things transportation. He got a bunch of Thomas the Train stuff for his birthday and ~loves~ it... I hear "play choo-choos, mommy" all day long. But he's also a fan of the big diggers and dump trucks. We took one to the playground on Friday and got dirty in the gravel. It was a relatively cooler day finally, so the first playground excursion in a while. We also play trucks in the sandbox on the patio - good practice for our beach trip not too long from now.

Miles tried his hardest to cheer the Vols to victory, but no luck. We went back to the place where we filmed his last cheer session, and as soon as he walked in he started yelling "GO BIG ORANGE!" Too cute. We even cheered as he went to sleep, but oh well. Maybe we'll have better luck this week.

We're also all trying very hard at some exciting big boy things - the big boy bed and potty training! Both are going very well. Miles naps in the big boy bed and does fine most days. He has a bed buddy - the big white bear his G-G Mama gave him. It's bigger than Miles, but they share well. We're waiting a few more weeks until we try an overnight in the bed. We've also all been working on potty training. Miles has a few "indicators" that let us know he needs to go, but he hasn't yet told us he has to go. Every time he goes he gets to put a star on the calendar and gets a sticker for his shirt. That's been a good enough incentive so far, so we'll avoid the candy treats for now. I guess the next step is figuring out the Pull-Ups process and working over to that. Oh, and a poop on the potty would be nice too, but we can be patient.

I've got a new venture too... a supper swap! I'm in a weekly moms & tots group through our church. We started out meeting weekly, but all decided we needed more interaction, so now we play Monday and Wednesday mornings. One mom suggested that we try a supper swap among our group, so we get going next week. Basically there are 5 moms and we'll each cook a double recipe of something every week. That should give us 4 8x8 pans of whatever the item is. Then we'll keep 1 and bring the other 3 servings to swap on Mondays. Right now our aim is 2 weeks of the month, we'll see how it goes. We're posting our recipes on a blog, Mom's Supper Swap. One good outcome so far is I've come up with lots of things to try making in between. Tonight I'm making Tuscan Chicken Stew from Notably Nashville, the Jr. League cookbook. It's funny though, most of the recipes I've marked to try are desserts.... hmmmm.....