They learn fast

So we're out in the pool and it's dinnertime, so we started asking Miles what he wanted to eat. He says no to everything. He's been doing this and we'll get crazy with the cheese-whiz:
Do you want nuggets?
>Noooooo....
Do you want yogurt?
>Noooooo....
Do you want ice cream?
>Noooooo....
Do you want a bicycle?
>Noooooo....
Do you want to go to the beach?
>Noooooo....

He's starting to pay attention, though... listen to his free association!




[P.S. YaYa is grandma, Wayne's mom]

ABC Redux

We're still working on the ABCs. Miles has a few favorite letters and even added a 27th... the letter "YAY!"

The other kids ... (corrected)

I know most writings here are usually reserved for the goings on of Miles, but the other kids have some crazy things happening in their world, so I thought I'd expand the horizon a bit.

First we have Chelsea, our poor little crack baby. We call her the crack baby because she was found in a less than desirable area of town eating hot dogs out of a convenience store dumpster. So we imagined a hard life, living on the streets, doing what it takes for a meal. After we adopted her we discovered her tic - she has these little seizures, gets a blank stare and goes a little sideways whenever she gets worked up over something.

So now she's found something that gets her worked up all day long. Chelsea has a new obsession. She has created an imaginary friend who hides in the monkey grass just beyond her fence. Anytime she's outside now, she races around to the corner and yells at "it". I've tried clearing some brush and poking around in the grass, but I have no idea what she's found. I can only assume something has burrowed and she can smell it. She did go nuts over a small snakeskin in the grass a few weeks ago. Hopefully what she's cornered is not the now-full-grown snake!!

I haven't even mentioned that she cornered and killed what I think was a prairie dog [CORRECTION: it was actually a groundhog] under our front shrubs. That was a lovely experience. I heard her barking so Apollo and I went outside. The two of them cornered it and .... well, that's all I want to expand upon that. The girl does put her skills from living on the street to use!

Apollo is our other big baby. After realizing that a food allergy has probably caused the excessive yeast on his skin and in his ears, we've put him on an extreme allergen-reducing diet. He now eats nothing but pinto beans and sweet potatoes. Thankfully I can just mix up cans of the stuff, no cooking needed, but he does have some quirky preferences. The items must be mushed together then mounded in a broad, flat bowl. We've gone through meals pureed in the processor (by me), spoon fed (by me), and hand fed (by me). Now he's eating it all on his own, but we have to physically separate Chelsea from his food. They both want what the other is eating!

We can already tell a difference in Apollo. He's a little less cranky and enjoys spending more time outside, I guess he's less itchy. Also it has NOT had the expected side effect of extreme gassiness... yet. We'll see how that goes! We will eventually try to switch him to some allergen-friendly dog-food, but for now I'm blending up the slop.

Happy Father's Day!

Ah, summer. Miles is discovering the joys of being a kid in the summertime. He's got the ice cream cone thing down, and now he's into the nightly soaking with dad. Always in the front yard, the method changes from evening to evening. Sometimes it's the hose hooked up to the rain wand or the sprinkler, other times it's splashing in the wading pool. The latest is spraying each other with water-filler spray bottles, although he ends up spraying more in his own mouth than on anyone else. Of course even with all this splashing, he can still be pretty dirty, so then he goes to play with his tub full of toys!

One who could really use a bath is his buddy, bear. More specifically, Brown Bear {as opposed to Black Bear}. Brown Bear hails from Old Navy, and unfortunately is out of production. I don't think Miles would be too traumatized if we lost Brown Bear, but it would be nice to have a clean spare. Brown Bear is an almost constant companion these days, and Brown Bear is in tune with what Miles is doing. Miles will tell us "Bear hung-ee," which really means Miles hungry! He likes Teddy Grahams and feeds them to his bears at snack time. Poor bears, forced into cannibalism!

Anyway, by the time I get this posted it will be Father's Day, so happy happy to all the dadd-ios out there. Wayne's getting some clothes and a new CD. Miles made him some cute stuff at school too, and they took this photo of him for the card. Guess Wayne will have to take him golfing sometime soon!

Home Alone

Ah, an evening home alone. Miles is in bed and sweetie-pie is out of town for the evening on a work trip. It's to Nantucket, don't feel too sorry for him. So what do I do with an evening all to myself? Blog, of course! I am way overdue. Actually, I have a new-to-me series queued up OnDemand and a glass of wine with my name on it. But first some pictures and tales from the weekend....

Friday morning was "The Big Show," AKA the last class of the session at The Little Gym. Since they're not even 2 yet, all that meant was a normal class with a cute medal ceremony at the end. Here is Miles with his buddy Millie comparing awards. The instructor reminded me that for the first several weeks of class, Miles took a while to warm up and wouldn't leave my lap for about 10 minutes. Now I can barely stay by his side! So yes, he greatly improved socially as well as physically in the last 20 weeks. We start the summer session next Friday and several more friends have signed up, so he'll have a big time.

One who will be joining us at TLG is his girlfriend, Karley. He had a dinner date with her on Saturday. They shared the turkey burger {sigh}. Really they were too cute together. They started copying whatever the other was doing, the funniest thing being a bit from The Wiggles. One of them says "Oh no!" with hands to his head. The others reply "Oh what?!?", hands to head. It goes back and forth a few times. Well a couple of 2ish year olds doing that is comedy gold, I'll try to get video of it in the near future.

But the day Saturday was filled with a visit from YaYa & B, always a good time. We had lunch, played, napped, went for ice cream (see above!) and played some more. As usual after a day with grandparents, he was exhausted yet happy and ready for the next visit!

Bedtime Story

Here is Miles "reading" to us from his bedtime book du jour.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Daddy celebrated the big 3-6 yesterday! Miles told him "hab day da-dee" as he left at the crack of dawn to go golfing. Sounds like a fun b'day outing, but was with clients, so technically "work." Ha!

Yesterday was also Miles' first day back to school with his new class. He and Eli welcomed two little girls to their room. I think the girls have just started taking their first steps, so will be a change for Miles from the rambunctious 2 year olds. Ms. Candi said he was a real sweetheart with the babies, even patting their heads when they took their naps.

With the two boys occupied for the day, I set out getting ready for the birthday dinner and cake. Well, actually pie. Wayne has celebrated with Baskin-Robbins Grasshopper and Turtle Pie (yes 2 pies) since forever, but when I asked for them at the new BR, they looked at me as if I were crazy. Thankfully they had one close enough to work. Also had to take the dogs to the vet for a 2 hour annual check-up. Apollo is getting on up there - he'll be considered geriatric at his 7th birthday in December!

Then I went and got myself a new 'do! I mean, you know, I had to suffer at the salon to look good for daddy. It's a lot shorter than it has been in years, but I like it. We'll see how it does the first time I style it, though! [no, Erin, Amy didn't do it. she called in sick so Zelda did it.]

Then daddy got to open presents. I made him a book of our pictures and journal from the Italy trip. I had a lot of fun making it, but Wayne's reaction made it so much better. I think I may have actually seen tears as he looked through it! If you want to check it out, you can flip through the pages here.

Memorial Day

Yay, a holiday! Okay, so the weekend could have been like any other, but we actually did lots of stuff. Miles got to go to a neighborhood BBQ on Friday night and stay up past bedtime. He had fun playing with their new puppy and the big kids. Another night Wayne & I got a babysitter so we could go to dinner... all the way next door. It was lots of fun and we learned that our neighbors are expecting their 1st child in December.

Miles will be glad to have a new buddy close by, even if he/she is 2 1/2 years younger. He got to meet two new baby boys this weekend - Landon and Connor. They came to play and brought their parents for a little revelry with old friends. I had so much fun getting to hang out with my girlfriends from back in the day. It's so wild thinking about how much we've changed and grown together over the last, oh, 14 years. Fourteen!!





Here's Miles this week getting dirty with his girlfriends from Moms & Tots. Wonder if they'll still be hanging out in 14 years? And how is it that they were all digging in the sand, but Miles is the only one covered in dirt?

Buhr Hunt!

The last day of school!!! His class celebrated by going on a bear hunt. Now I've heard different versions of the bear hunt, but the song they sing has them going through a candy factory, a peanut butter river and a jello swamp.


Of course the "last day" is only until next Thursday when summer session starts. Miles will stay in the 1 year old room for the summer, but almost everyone else from his class will move on to the 2 year old room. Hopefully that change won't be too traumatic next week. He loves all his buddies, talks about them every day: Coop-er, Jen-NA, Ha-sen (Harrison), Eh-Kay-Line (Emma Caroline). But EEE-Lie (Eli) will stay with him through the summer, so he & Miles will get to be the BMOC for a little while. In the fall they'll move to the 2 year old room with the rest of the buddies.

the very big awesome weekend

Miles's birthday isn't until August, but if we'd had a cupcake with a candle in it, he may have mistaken this past weekend for the big #2. Here's the rundown:

the Farmers' Market
a great big flamingo
3 fountains
an ice cream cone
an excavator
a park with b-i-g hills
2 buses
a choo choo train starting up "Tooot-tooooooot!!"
lots of ducks and big huge catfish

I not sure if I can remember when we did everything, it all runs together now, but here goes. Saturday we tried to go to the main library but it didn't open early enough so we swung over to the Farmers' Market to check out the action. Miles wasn't interested in the booths and we weren't shopping, so we just explored the area and found a few fountains to look at. Beside the big "pool" fountain near KUB, Miles said "IN, IN!". Uh-oh. Too bad it was a little chilly that morning. We kept Miles moving, killing time until lunch. Then he spotted them --- the fountains spouting up from the sidewalk. I literally had to hold him back or we would have had one drenched and shivering boy. Fortunately we found a big garden-art pink flamingo to mess with until the lunch bell rang.

That evening we caved in to some ice cream cravings and hit our local 31. He has greatly improved his "I-sss keeem" eating skills, alternating between a spoon and licking the cone. He got strawberry and was very pleased to discover whole "stwaw-bu-behwies" hidden within.

Let's see, what's next? Oh yes, leaving BR we passed a construction site, so we pulled off to check out the excavators and dump trucks. They were all resting for the weekend, so we'll have to check again during the week to see them in action.

Sunday just before lunch we went to our park to play. Miles is getting the hang of sitting in the big swings, but his favorite part was hiking up and down the hills. We were all for the exercise and he was inspired by the buses parked in the lots above.

After a great nap we went down to the river for dinner. Our friend Haley, whose husband Mike passed away 3 weeks after their wedding in 2005, has found love again. She'll marry a British bloke, Kevin, this September. Dinner was for him to meet all of Mike's buddies in Knoxville.

We went downtown a little early to play on the waterfront and as luck would have it the Three Rivers Rambler was set to depart in minutes!! We listened for the engine to fire up then Miles stood and waved as the mighty engine, 4 cars and a caboose chugged away.

Toward the end of dinner Miles needed to get out of his chair for a bit. We wandered down to the water where a crowd had gathered to feed the ducks. A nice family shared some bread with Miles and he loved tossing the pieces to the ducks. On corner floated in front of us for a minute untouched. Then all of a sudden from the depths came a gigantic fish who swallowed it whole. Miles had a huge smile on his face the rest of the evening.

Me Do It

We ended up having a really fun evening tonight. I was kind of worried about the after-school witching hour since last Thursday he had a complete meltdown on me. I meant to write about it but just never did. It was like deja vu, except that the first time didn't happen to me. We had to swing by the grocery for, like, 3 things before going home. He refused to get in a normal cart so I tried putting him in the humongous car-cart. This thing is obnoxiously large, but it does have a nice pivot wheel in the middle. While it supposedly lets you turn completely around in the aisle, I usually get stuck perpendicularly and feel like Austin Powers in the golf cart.

Anyway, I put him in that cart and he threw a fit because there was no steering wheel. OMG. So I figured I'd just lug the 30 lb. sack of potatoes around and grab bananas, Chick'n nuggets and pretzels. Ha! After we grabbed bananas I spied a stack of baskets and thought I could let Miles walk. He proceeded to flop himself down on the ground in front of the lobster tank and demand "peel banana!" Argh! I carried him on down to the frozen section and thankfully the aisle was empty. I set Miles and the basket down and went to search for his nuggets. Mistake. He pulled a banana from the bunch and started ramming it in my leg "peel! peel!" I told him we had to go buy it first and he threw himself back on the ground wailing. Since I'm apprenticing with the master, I calmly walked away down the aisle. He scrambled after me. As soon as I looked back at him (and caught the smirk on his face) he was back down on the floor!! Booger. Thank goodness Shrek saved us, even though he doesn't have a clue who Shrek is. The big endcap was distracting enough to let me scoop him up and get to the checkout. Whew.

So I worried about how he'd be this afternoon, but we figured out the best game ever. Water Miles!!! As soon as he saw the water spraying he said "me do it." Oh, the big boy. He had a blast spraying himself, daddy, the flowers and the tomato plant we've got going. And he totally bought it when the water "ran out." Sneaky daddy turned the knob just in time for bed!

One of his big words now is "HAVE," which in Miles-speak means "gimme." I pick something up and he is suddenly right at my feet saying "have? have?". Bedtime is another battle of wills right now, with Miles stalling using ever trick in the book. He wants to kiss everything in the room, sing songs, have every toy in the room, but the clincher is when he calls out "ma-meeEEE? Hug?" Ouch, how can you say no to that?

reporting for duty

The problem with waiting (slacking) so long between posts is that soooo much happens, it's hard to figure out where to start. Or stop. But any stuff that happened over the last week and a half was swept aside by the birth of Miles's cousin, Ellie! (So, they're actually 2nd cousins, but who's counting?) She kept her mama waiting 7 days past her due date, but made it easy on Tiffany when she finally did appear. Tiffany called me to share the news while Miles was napping, so when I went to get him I said, "Miles, Ellie's here!!!" (we've been praying for Ellie at bedtime, so he knows the name.) He walked out of his room, looked around & said, "Ellie? Ellie?" I had to explain that she wasn't actually HERE in the house, but here in the world!!

CONGRATULATIONS TIFFANY & LEE

WELCOME ELLIE!!

It was business as usual for us yesterday. For this week's playgroup, we went to the newly reopened kids area at the museum. There were drawing stations, books, and paintings that you could dress up & "step" into. But the coolest thing of all was the Lite-Brite wall! I admit I was a little concerned with 3 toddlers jabbing acrylic spears through a holey wall, but they got the hang of it and had lots of fun. Miles wanted to swim in the bucket of pegs, but settled on diving into the ottoman. He did take off in full sprint to the hallway about 5 times, so mommy got a workout yesterday, too!

We're #1! (or the post with TMI)

Miles had a big Saturday evening this weekend. Here he is cheering on the horses in the Kentucky Derby. He wasn't too sure what was happening as they got in the gates, but he rocked his way along with them to the finish. Why is he not wearing pants, you ask? Ah ha, exciting news!


Just before the race Miles pee peed on the potty for the very first time! We were playing in the living room when he stood up and started saying pee pee and took off down the hall. Lately whenever he says "pee pee" I go sit him on the potty fully clothed, just to get the hang of it. So when he took off down the hall, I knew something was up. I stripped him down and set him up there and ..... PEE PEE! I don't know if he realized what happened, but we started giving high 5s and 10s and knuckles all around. Such a big moment. So then we came out and watched the horses run before he turned it in for the evening.

Then today just before lunch he was outside with Wayne and said pee pee again. Wayne brought him in, stripped him down and sat him on the potty. And again... PEE PEE! (Oh the things that excite our lives these days, right?) He sat on it a few more times today, but nothing happened. Still, 2 times when we weren't really trying is fantastic!!

Funny highlight: one of the nonproductive times he did let out a little toot. So we said, "toot, that's good, we toot/poop on the potty too" etc. And Miles said, "Toot! Mi-wus [Miles] toot. A-pa-bos [Apollo] toot. Daddy... TOOT." The "Daddy toot" got a laugh, so he repeated it a few times. Thankfully he spared mommy from the accusation of tootness. What a silly! So today as a "good job, big boy" we shared smoothies at Ben & Jerry. Miles really dug the Strawberry Kiwi, so much that mommy almost didn't get any!

Back to sweetness

Miles awoke refreshed and so did mommy. It probably helped both of us that Miles had school, so we had something to get excited about (and mommy got a free afternoon after working at daddy's office in the morning). Miles LOVES his teachers. When I pick him up he usually runs right past me to go say good-bye to Ms. Anna and the babies. Ms. Anna splits time between the 1 yr olds and the babies and Miles just adores her. He gets to stay in the 1 year old room through the summer, so he'll finally be a "big kid" in class. I should say "old kid" because while he's one of the youngest in the room, he's almost the biggest in size! Hopefully he won't bully any of the new walkers when they move onto his turf this summer. If he ever gets to take all of these trucks to school, he would surely share them all, right? I talked him out of taking all of these yesterday!


Miles has his first job! He is taking care of the dog across the street while its mommy is out of town. We went over to meet Shadow yesterday (that's PopPop holding Shadow). He's an older dog, but seems like a puppy since he's so much smaller than "Pa-bos & Chessie". Miles gets the double fun of seeing a puppy AND a tractor - look in the distance behind him, it's the riding mower! Last night Miles fell asleep saying "check Shadow, check Shadow" since we promised we could go back after he woke up. I even heard a few "Shaaa-doooo" calls. What a smoosheroo!!

Dear almost-two-year-old Miles,

Sweetie pie. How could this face ever make mommy grit her teeth as she wipes "ho-hee" (honey) and "noo-GAT" (nugget) crumbs off the dining room chairs? or as she scrapes from the cracks of linoleum the smushed peas that you tossed one by one with the "pop!....pop!....pop!" accompanying sound effect? or as she props you on her knee at a bathroom sink that's too tall for the stool to wash your hands for the kajillionth time in 30 minutes after you wanted to practice "peepee" on the potty? (I know, that's really a good thing, right?) or as we listen to your new favorite song for the 12th time in a row on the way to your playdate? (although it isn't that bad of a song, I'd just like to hear something else once in a while!) or as she cleans up dog vomit from the hardwood floors? Okay so maybe that's not your fault.

But I guess that's why they call it the twos (sorry, Elton). I've been warned of what's coming. It's just too bad that you've already figured out that we think you're pretty darn cute even when you're a stinker. So all you have to do is flash those puppy dog eyes and say "al luh te tu" (I love you too!!) and all is forgiven. Almost. Tonight when you shoved mommy with your foot and hit her a few times, well, bedtime came pretty fast, didn't it?

Love you so much!
Mama


Whew! Venting feels good! Thankfully most of that stuff happened in the last 45 minutes before daddy got home, so it was just percolating. Most of the time Miles is 100% sweetheart. He's come up with some pretty funny games recently. Like last night he was able to recline the La-Z-Boy all the way back and began to rock it up and down. He was laughing so hard at his fun new game. Then he just stretched out and watched the end of his movie. Oh, and we taught him to say "help, please" when he's frustrated, so we don't get a lot of "AAaaaaaaaaa!" So now we get a whole bunch of "hep, peas? hep, peas?" TOO sweet! And he's (usually) such a snuggle bear at bedtime. He loves squirming under the "cuh-buhs" (covers) of the big boy bed and pretending to sleep. Sorry we had to skip that step tonight, buddy. Tomorrow will be better!

Go, go, GO!

Here we are, a year to the week after he became mobile. Look how far we've come! From crawling to running around in mad circles. At least it's burning some of that energy! And I swear there is no candy in his diet!

He is such a fun kid to have around, so silly. I told you that he's started copying what we say. That has led to some really funny "bits". For example (I hope this translates into written form), the neighbors had a Bobcat in their yard for a few days while they were clearing for landscaping. We'd walk over and watch the "tractor" work. The other evening Wayne carried Miles over and this is the conversation that followed:
Wayne: Let's see if the tractor is still here. Hmmm.
Miles: Trak-tor. Hmmmm.
Wayne: Well, I guess it's gone. No more tractor. Sorry, buddy boy.
Miles: Hmmm. No Trak-tor. Saw-wee.
Miles: (continuing) Trak-tor? Hmmm. No trak-tor. Saw-wee.

It kills us! He does the "hmmmm" all the time now, like he's really concentrating. It's all we can do to keep from laughing!

Dirt don't hurt

Dirt seems to be the theme of this week. Now that the weather is back to fabulous, we've been spending quite a bit of time outside, but that's not the main source of all the dirt. His favorite toy du jour are the "dirty car" & the "jeep" that YaYa got him on the way to Florida. Note they are at his feet at the park? In his hands while swinging with PopPop? He takes them everywhere, even naps & eats with them. Everywhere.

The rest of the dirt is the real deal. Our bathtub has been getting some good use lately! Whether he's rolling on the patio or digging in the sand at the park, every day he seems to be a little bit dirtier. I should get used to this, right?

Lazy Sunday

So did March and April get swapped this year? I'm looking out the window on a dreary, cold, rainy Sunday afternoon. But it's a perfect afternoon for Miles to take a 4 hour nap(!). This was fantastic for me... after I prepped dinner and some other treats I got to start my book club book. Thank goodness it's a quick read, I may actually finish before Tuesday.

When we woke him he still seemed a little hazy, so he climbed into his chair and had a snack while watching his new favorite movie. He calls it "neigh" but it's about cars, trains, planes and boats. The wee one is now obsessed with all things mobile. Since we're approaching the big 20 month mark, here's a round-up of fun things Miles is doing these days:

.: Talking! Up a storm! He repeats everything, so we're having to watch the language a lot closer. Good thing he didn't repeat the "Hot Damn" he heard last weekend [you know who you are!!]. Also, daddy has taught him how to shake hands and say "I'm Miles!" It's sooooo cute. It still sounds like "I'm Ma," but we'll get there.

.: Talking up a storm does have its downside, like in church this morning. We brought books for him to read and today he started calling out "key-cat" (kitty cat) , "e-bruh" (zebra), "bye-bye" and all sorts of things during those crucial "reflective" moments. Oh well.

.: Not eating. At least not as well as he used to. He does love fruit and will eat berries, kiwi, any citrus (even unsweetened grapefruit), most melon, so I figure he's at least getting some variety of nutrition there. "Boo-berries" are is absolute favorite food. Hands down. That's Blueberries, not the awesome monster cereal, although he'd probably dig that too.

.: Smoochin'! He's quite the affectionate kid and is very liberal with the kisses and hugs for mommy & daddy. He even gave cousin Shannon a couple of smooches this weekend. She and her b'friend and my Uncle Gus and Anut Teresa stopped in for a quick visit with Miles. Uncle Gus had a blast building towers and knocking them down with Miles. The sad face Miles made when they said they were leaving was priceless. Hope we'll get to play with them next time we're back home.

That's for sure not all he's up to now, but in the interest of getting this posted, I'll break there. Here's hoping Monday is sunnier!

oh, this basket?

Brr! The Easter egg hunt in our neighborhood was filled with hats and mittens and hot cocoa. It was still fun, even though they kept pushing back the start time. Miles got a little frustrated waiting but once it started he was all smiles. He found 3 eggs! His age bracket was the 0-3 year olds, so the rest of them were like a swarm of locusts picking the field clean. But the three eggs might as well have been gold he was so happy. Oh, this wicker basket? That's not his. He kept sneaking around the corner to try and snag it!

Easter Sunday we woke up to record lows across the area. We went to the early service, which was pretty full but not overflowing like the next services were. Miles had a big time playing with the finger puppets the Easter Bunny brought. And made it through until just after communion. A pancake breakfast at Cracker Barrel with his friend Millie and her parents rounded out the morning.

Hope you all had a happy Easter and are thawing out!

Happy Easter!

This was from earlier this week when we had a practice run for the Easter Egg Hunt today. Of course today we just had some really light snow, so we're not in our cute shorts! Hope everyone has a happy Easter!