it's the big....

O-N-E


Yes, today is the day, one year old!!
We woke him up singing happy birthday and played the Beatles and Stevie Wonder versions. I'm not sure how much he liked that, he was a little crabby :). So he's back down napping and I'm making some cupcakes. The real party will be this weekend when all the grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles are here. [Well, almost all the uncles (eh hem)]. But since today is THE day, we have to have a cupcake and maybe a present or two. We'll see.

Bebe & PopPop came in town yesterday and we hit the zoo for the late afternoon. He does love the kids area!! We got up close and personal with some goats, sheep, pigs and chickens. Even saw a beaver swimming around by its dam. We caught some elephants, zebra, kudu and meerkats before it was time to turn around. It was kind of hot and pushing dinner-time!

Let the festivities begin!

Knoxville, TN (AP)
Miles Grand-Marshaled the First Annual Miles E. Birthdayfest 5K Classic and it was quite a success. Even his honor the Mayor participated in the festivities. The event kicks off a weeklong celebration of the first anniversary of the birth of Miles and the bestowing of parenthood upon Wayne & Nicole.


Okay, so it was actually the neighborhood 5K. The 2nd mile winds past our house, so at about 8:07 am the police car with light flashing rolled by, followed by the leader who had a 4 house length lead on the next few speedsters. Miles got lots of waves and even cheered for the runners, especially the lady pushing the baby-jogger. I had thought about entering but it's just been so hot!! Maybe the Komen 5K in October will be a better, cooler race!

'cause it's Friday.... you ain't got no job

Well, maybe you do have a job, but I know you'll take some time to enjoy these videos!! I guess I was making up for slackin' all week.

Skilz Pt. 3

As promised... today he officially took off. The first steps were a couple of weeks ago but now he knows he can make it so he's off. Pretty funny here what entices him to walk: antibac wipes? Ha!

A conversation with Miles

This used to Miles's favorite sound effect, but it's been supplanted by "ding ding" - and that's not a train. I'll try to capture that one later, but here's a little menenummenenum. Sorry about the cinematography. Oh, and at the end you can hear our discussion of cup vs bottle. Very highbrow stuff. (run time 1:13)

I'm a big kid now!

Now that it's almost next weekend, it seems the right time to finally share some pictures of last weekend. :)

I mean, where has this week gone?

Better yet, where has my baby gone? We are already T-minus one week from the big 1st birthday. Let's see, he's now facing forward in his carseat - had to, his legs were too long and were jammed in the other way. Here he is on his first ride. He kicked his legs the entire drive he was so happy to be free!! Also, we finished the last of the formula and started whole milk today. He drank a little but wasn't super-excited about it. Could be that we also ditched the bottles too!! He's been taking his mid-day drinks from a sippy cup for a few weeks now, but I did a full switch now that it's all milk.

And the toys!! We spent the weekend with his cousins and Aunt Elizabeth sent us home with so many fantastic toys. Most were ones that Kate and Evan had outgrown, but some had been repurposed into stunt props and needed to go. Like the police rocker, Kate can stand up on the seat and rock back and forth!! Great skill, but uh-uh. And the little car with the push handle, which Miles loves to push up and down our hall? Let's just say Evan thought he was Lightin' McQueen. And on top of those, lots of trucks and shape sorters and such, it's been "birthday" every day!


Kate's favorite toys are her baby dolls. She graciously let Miles play with them, helping her feed and rock and diaper them all day long. But sometimes she thought Miles was one of her babies. She didn't want him to be hanging out in a dirty diaper, so she helped check him for "poo-poo" several times a day.




So the last "welcome to one" party we'll be having is the ceremonial removal of the paci. He's worked down to only using it at bedtime and has even made it a few naps without. Guess we'll just have to suck it up and let him do without one night. Hopefully it will only take one night!!

banana fanna fo fanna

There was a request for more video so here is Miles enjoying a whole banana at Aunt Elizabeth's this weekend. That's cousin Kate you hear in the background. There will be more pictures, but enjoy this for now!!

Splish splash

It's so hard being a celebrity these days. I mean, with the camera in the face all the time. A guy does tire of it.


Ha!! Who am I kidding? He's a total ham, especially for the camera. Take here for example: his bath now consists of massive splash attacks and an extended game of peek-a-boo via the chrome drain thingy on the tub. Good times. The kid is growing up. He took a few steps last Friday - four little steps, and then plopped down to hands & knees. And we haven't been able to entice him to take more since. But that will officially be his first steps. And he's getting more teeth. That #3 cut through a while back and I'm convinced #4 isn't far behind. I thought it was going to be a molar the way he was gnawing on his fingers back there, but so far I can't see anything.





So anyway, just another usual week for us. [Boring blogger alert!!] We had a fun visit from Lee this weekend and scored some good stuff at McKays. But I think Miles would have been content to watch all the yardwork happening around the hood. He loves the big mowers and seriously shed tears when Alexander finished the front and moved to the backyard this time. Poor guy. He'll be so sad when fall comes, although I'm sure a leaf blower will be just as exciting.

Movin' on up

Miles got a new room! I guess it's his big pre-birthday present. We realized the former "guest" room was a few feet larger than his nursery and would give him better space to play. And since it was the only room in the house that we'd never painted, it was due for a facelift. We had these shelves put in to store all his toys and books and painted it two shades of bright blue. I realize I didn't take a picture of the color, so I'll have to update this later. But he's been having a great time crawling around and playing with everything. The wide open room is perfect for pushing a diaper box!!


He's been having lots of fun playing with this big bear that his Mimi's Mama gave him. He'll crawl right over and snuggle up. (He's almost walking... he can do it holding onto the tip of my finger, so he's close, just needs to get bold enough to let go completely). He likes to say "behr" too! In fact, his vocabulary is full of "B" words. It probably takes a mama or dada's ear to distinguish but he says "bay-bay" (baby), "bah-te" (bottle), "buh-buh" (bye bye), and "baye" (Wayne - one of the Higglytown characters). He also has some cute sound effects. When he sees his Sesame Street pop-up toy he makes a throat clearing noise like Ernie's laugh and when we read "Goodnight, Gorilla" he snores.


Since the entire house is his playground now, I don't really know why I keep the playmat down in the den. We're never in there anymore. If we try to sit there, it's merely a launching pad for racing to the front door, dumping boxes of blocks or heading for the kitchen. I'd like to say his favorite stuff in the kitchen is everything I've collected in his very own cabinet but I'd be lying. No, his favorite desitnation in the kitchen is the dog bowl area. They only eat at night, so it's not an issue of him eating their food or messing with chow time, but the water bowl is there too. In this heat it would be inhumane to close off their water all day!! So after many a repeated "no!" (mostly without tears) he's starting to look at me like "I'm gonna do it, aren't you supposed to say no?" Maybe if I add more enticing things to his cabinet?

But what could be cooler than this awesome purple colander/hat? In a humorous side story, my husband told me that he and his friend, Lee, used to think they were pretty funny when they wore pots on their heads. Of course they were 25 at the time, not 1. Nice one, sweetie. I'm surprised you didn't try to impress me with that on a date.

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. 

Redo on the video clip

So I think there were some issues with the video I imbedded from YouTube a few posts back. I've tried a new site that seems to work better. You should be able to hit play here and see it!!

I wanna hold your haaaaand

Can you have a first date at 10 months? Her dad may say otherwise, but Miles was making the most of our lunch at Calypso with Karley and her mom. We hadn't seen Karley in a while and from the minute she walked through the door he was bouncing and laughing. His table manners were lacking - he threw his cup at her a couple of times and had black beans and sweet potatoes up to his elbows - but she was entertained. Here's a little montage of their "date" (click on the picture to see it larger).

So the problem with a new camera? We've taken a zillion photos!! Rather than fill this page with all the shots, I've updated Miles's collection in Shutterfly. The link is here and also permanently on this page to the top right (More Pictures of Miles) so you can see everything.

Oh and thanks for the book recommendations!! Keep them coming. I found Ashley's recommended "The Kite Runner" at the library first and have already finished it. Wow, such a moving story. A great recommendation, thanks Ash! And Happy Birthday too!!!

Happy 1st Father's Day!

My two boys... Miles & daddy enjoyed their first father's day together. Daddy got to sleep in a little bit and we played out in the yard some too. Miles gave him a new camera!! We thought about some fancy digital SLR but decided we're just point and shooters anyway. So for a fraction of the price we got a digital camera that is WAY better than ours from 4 years ago. I guess it's amazing how far technology can go in a few years (sing it with me.. "I still love technology"), or maybe it's sad that what you buy now will be practically obsolete in a year or so.



Miles enjoys trying to copy what mommy does. It's his new game. I've been working on getting him to crow like the rooster using his barn and see n' say. He kind of does that. And he's starting to "oooo" after the cow. But the cutest are his expressions. We have a Baby Einstein book with animals making faces (smiling, peek-a-boo, sticking out tongue) and one face is cow puffing his cheeks full of air. That is Miles's favorite!!! Here he is puffing his cheeks, getting ready to blow, ppffffftttt......

SCANDAL!!!!

MAN DRIVES WITH BABY IN LAP

Okay okay, please don't call CFS on us. It's just up the driveway to the garage when daddy gets home from work. But after watching poor Britney last night, I guess we need to be careful. I hope that I'd make better wardrobe decisions, but we all know how klutzy I can be. The "almost dropped the baby" scenario flashes through my mind every time I step off a curb. And I don't have an entourage who might carry my drink for me. But I digress.... Miles LOVES driving the car. He practically leaps from my arms when he sees daddy anyway, but when he knows he's going to get to lap-drive - I really do almost drop the baby. Today he even saw me in the rear-view mirror. Maybe he'll do better than his mom on his driving test one day.

And he enjoys his toy cars too! These are out of a Wendy's kids meal from my pregnant meat craving days. He just sat on the floor scuffing them around. Busy busy. He kept going for about 15 minutes!! Check out the look of "I'm busy here" towards the end...



Yesterday Miles & I met YaYa at the library for the Birds on Wheels! presentation. The guy from the TN Valley Exotic Birds Club had several birds and lots of information about them. We made it through 2 birds. Miles really liked looking at the other kids and the second bird, a Congo African grey parrot, caught his attention with his fluttering feathers.

Miles is now signed up for the Hiss, Rumble & Roar summer reading program. He has to listen to 20 books to get the prizes. I think we hit 20 books a day if we can count 9 readings of Hand, Hand Fingers, Thumb and 12 of Go, Dog. Go! But we won't do that. I'm going to attempt the adult summer reading program, which requires 4 books. It does specify "age appropriate" material, so ix-nay on the Goodnight Gorilla and Hola! Jalapeno. Does anyone have suggestions?

the injured list

While giving Miles his afternoon bottle in the corner chair he was completely enthralled by the vase of branches behind us. So much that he barely finished half of the bottle and began to climb me to get up the chair. I gave him a boost so he could lean up the chair back. He wanted to keep going so I decided it was time to move to the floor.

 On to his little activity table... he loves pulling up on this thing and playing "Stir stir stir the soup..." (it's a table place setting, complete with napkin and S&P!). But today he slipped and banged his mouth on the edge. Oh my god, it was awful. He was screaming and I saw blood so I just dialed the pediatrician's immediately. He wouldn't let me look in his mouth or touch his lips so I got some ice in a towel and tried to wipe. They connected me with a nurse and Miles was finally calming down so I could tell the teeth were fine and the blood was gone. There was just a small red bump inside his lip, but the bleeding stopped. So huge drama averted, we went back to play.

BUT THEN.... he did it again BAM! right on the kisser. This time he was wailing from the surprise more than hurt. There was no blood but I decided I'd take the nurse up on her suggestion to let him suck on a popsicle. Yum!! So a few minutes later he was loving his first tastes of sugar and we were both covered in sticky orange syrup. But the camper was happy again. Oh, and I took the legs of that table. 

When did this happen?

 Maybe Kate & Evan inspired him, or maybe this is just what happens after you turn 9 months old. But all of a sudden we don't have a baby anymore!! I can't bring myself to call him a toddler yet, but I know that's what he's starting to be. He can pull himself up on just about anything, beds, dressers, lamps, toys; he can chase me around the house on all fours; he knows what he wants to play with and he's going to get it. As Wayne told me last night, I'm going to have my hands full!!
Like today... he's napping (well, maybe not, I just heard him) and I'm cleaning everything in preparation for our playdate. Miles and 3 older ladies!! It's our church playgroup and this is the first time they're coming to our house. The other three in our group have all turned one. Since we've been so busy the last month we've not seen them since he really started crawling. Wow, will he impress them today!! 

Another first

Miles enjoyed his first visit to the zoo with cousins Kate & Evan this weekend. I was really impressed with the Kids Cove area - lots of farm animals and a cool climbing area, although I highly recommend bringing your own lunch. Miles got face to beak with a big rooster, and checked out some pigs and baby goats. Evan & Kate soaked themselves milking the big plastic cow. But the best education they don't realize they got was from a couple of Aldabran Tortoises. Maybe on our next visit there will be a few more tortoises to see! :)


Earlier in the week, Wayne & Elizabeth's Aunt Simone & Uncle Jim stopped by on their way to a family reunion. Of course we all should have been attending the reunion as well, but decided it would be much more fun in a few years when they aren't so dependent on those naps to be happy!
Anyway, this was Simone & Jim's first time to meet their great neice and nephews. It was getting close to that naptime so there wasn't much playtime, but they got some quick squeezes in.

The cousins had a great time playing together. Miles loves to see them and can't wait to get into everything with them. I know how much fun I had with my cousin growing up and I can't wait to see what antics these three get into!!