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!

even MORE sugar

I seriously have not taken a photo since we've been home from the beach. So here's one where we actually went to the beach and tried to walk around. It was the last day as we were leaving! If you want more of this, I've updated his photo page in Shutterfly ===> the link to the right.

Miles has really been working up the sweetnes factor lately. I keep thinking "oh, if I only had the camera!" but of course, I don't. Although some moments would be hard to capture on "film". They will probably be too hard to capture in written word, but I'll give it a shot:

When we get Miles ready for bed, he has his bath to wash off all the dirt and dinner from the day. Then we go sit on the twin bed in his room to diaper and pajama up. Lately he will crawl up to the pillows, lie down and put his feet under the covers. He'll even pretend to sleep. But he still gets carted over to the crib for the real night-night.

The other night when he lay on the pillow, I lay down on one side and Wayne squeezed in on the other. We were giving Miles goodnight kisses and it turned into a smoochfest - mwa, mwa, mwa, mwa - we both laid on the kisses all over his face. When we leaned back and took a breather, Miles looked at us, slid one arm beneath each of our necks, and hugged us back in for more. It was the sweetest. thing. in. the. world. Smoosh!!

with sugar on top

When Wayne gets home from work every day, we all pack up and go for a walk. Miles gets to ride in the wagon and the dogs have fun scouting squirrels and other walkers. Afterward, it's daddy & Miles time. They go to his room and play play play. Miles even shuts the door on me when I come check in! But tonight he wandered out and found me checking e-mail, eating a popsicle.

He climbed in my lap and wanted a lick. And another. And another. And then just took the rest. We put him in his booster so he wouldn't make a total mess. When he finished he started saying "mo, mo" and signing "More". We stalled because, well, it was bedtime. But then he pulled out the big guns. He said "please". Three times. It was more like "Peeaaase," and sounded a lot like "cheese." You could see his brain working, "Mommy says it's the magic word, and when I say it she gives me what I want." Thank goodness distraction worked and we got moving along to bath time. It's going to get hard to say no to that sweet face! (but don't worry, I'm sure I'll manage.)

[Picture is from the beach trip.]

Spring Break

Since I'm sure you are more interested in pictures than reading my explanations, I'll let the pictures speak their thousand words. I may add a few anyway, tho!



Here are the cousins, figuring out how to all have fun together. That would be by chasing each other around squealing, then doing football drills: step-step-step-step, drop to the floor!








Beach = Ice Cream Parlor, so we made a trip every afternoon. Miles liked it and made the required mess, but we didn't make it through without tears. He must have thought I would take his, because he wouldn't let me near it to help him keep the sherbet on the cone.
















Evan & Kate are experts, having been to this ice cream parlor before. Evan chose Superman ice cream and Kate chose Dora the Explorer (actually raspberry truffle swirl, but anything with pink swirls would do in a pinch).













After ice cream we stopped at the park where the fountains shoot up from the sidewalk. Again, Evan & Kate were old pros and Miles had to warm up to it. He never got soaked but he was curious and had fun laughing with/at his cousins.













This was the only time we got them all to sit still for a second. We're still a few years away from a good group photo op!











Dinner on the drive home = Cracker Barrel. Too bad that's a Georgia rocker Miles is sitting in. It's pretty cute otherwise!

Where are the beach pictures you ask? We didn't get out in the sun all that much. The water was still a little cool! And since the condo was beachfront, we enjoyed the waves, boat and bird watching from the comfort of our patio and windows.

pooped

Home at last... we had a fun time, but the three wee ones sure can wear a mommy (or two - & a YaYa) out.

I will be sure to share some pictures and tales as soon as I can sort through the 400+ pictures from the trip. But for now, I'll share the scene from Valdosta last night. Elizabeth & I had Miles & Kate sleeping with us. It took Miles about 20 minutes to settle down and pass out. Kate wasn't cooperating so Elizabeth stepped out, thinking she would calm down with just me in audience. It still took an extra half hour but she fell asleep.

As I waited for her to drift off, I could only think of a similar scene some 25 years ago. We weren't quite so young, but I had joined my cousin Tiffany, Aunt Connie and Uncle Dave for a trip to the 'nooga. Nothing like a little Fat Man's Squeeze to get a couple of 6/7 year old girls giggly. Now I can sympathize with Connie and Dave as they endured us jumping on the beds, cheering and laughing until who knows what hour. Of course they probably never expected the same thing to happen 15 years later, but 20/21 year old girls on a cruise with the fam can get pretty silly too. But that's another story.....

The time has come, the walrus said.....

to hit the BEACH!!

We're on our way tomorrow, making the trip in two 1/2 day drives. Hopefully daddy won't miss us too much (and vice versa). We'll be sure to post a big update full of fun pictures when we return.

xo,
mama & miles

but what if I needed that hour?

Whew! I thought I'd never get a chance to sit down and blog again! But it's a good problem to have, we've been busy, busy, busy. For starters, last week was GORGEOUS. Any chance we had we were outside in the yard or at the park. We even played out on the patio despite the sediment of winter still covering the chairs (we weren't sitting in them!).

Miles loves to be outside. He's says "ou-side, OU-SIDE!!" all the time and will go and slap his hand on the door just so I know what he really means. We've tried lots of new slides and even tried "spider" swinging on a real swing. That's where he sits in my lap facing me and I hold on around his back. It's easy to forget about the laundry and dishes and toys everywhere at home when you're swinging under a bright blue sky with your little boy.

The winds died down by then end of the week so we could get out and play unencumbered by silly hats. We checked daily to see how many daffodils had bloomed in our yard. Miles liked to count them once he got past trying to take a bite of them.

He's still into wearing my sunglasses and has started sporting a little attitude with it too. I need to get him some of his own since he'll wear them now. He'll need to keep them on next week when we go on spring break!! Yes, we are actually going to the beach for spring break this year. Wayne's sister's in-laws have a place at the beach so she, YaYa and I are taking the three kiddos down for a few days. Should be lots of fun. We've rented a minivan so we can all pile in together, and Wayne bought a car DVD player that we can keep on hand just in case But we're hoping sleep, sing-alongs and the presence of cousins will make it a smooth ride (HA!)

The final wear-out of the weekend was an all day Karley-party. Well, sort of. We started the morning with her 2nd birthday party, a story book and tea party. Miles wasn't te only boy there, Karley's cousin Will brought the trucks. After cupcakes and presents we went home for a quick nap. Oh wait, first we dragged Miles kicking and screaming out of Karley's new Cozy Coupe, then we went home for a nap. After naptime, Daddy and Miles got to go back to play with Karley & Will while the mommies went to a baby shower for Karley's soon-to-be sibling. Needless to say, he's been sleeping very well!!

Ham and chee-eese

I have pictures from this week I'm working on posting, but when I taped this at dinner I had to get it on the blog first.

Daddy has apparently been teaching Miles some important phrases, and I think this may be his first sentence. Listen closely and see if you hear what I hear...



P.S. Yes he does love his daddy too. He was just a little busy with his Frosted Mini Wheats. :)

Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails

I wasn't holding on to any idealized image of my child as a "baby" anymore. I've known for a while that the nights of rocking and cuddling are gone. No more days lazing on a blanket in the den, swatting at toys. But all of a sudden I'm getting this feeling that he's not even a toddler anymore. He's a full blown little kid! I know he's still a toddler (I realize that with every stinky diaper I change) but we've entered the "little boy" stage. Last Friday we made our first sofa cushion fort in the den. It wasn't very elaborate, and he preferred to walk on top of the sheet more than under it, but it was a fort all the same. I tried to prop it up with a center pole broomstick, but that turned into a weapon too quickly.

Then Friday afternoon we met our friends Lori & Aiden at a new park with slides geared toward toddlers. Wow! The boys could climb and slide entirely on their own. There were still a few tricky opening for older kids up high, but we stood beneath them there. It's a good thing we didn't have to scramble after them. Aiden is a quick one, and Lori is 8 months pregnant with #2.

The boys started running out on the walking trail so we worked our way around. They found all the mud puddles and sticks along the way and almost veered off into the swamp to catch frogs, but we reined them back in.

Back at the ranch, Miles has been completely enamored with Apollo & Chelsea, or as he calls them, Papo and Chelchi. Our favorite is when he calls Chelsea in the high pitched scream "Cheeeeeeeaal-chiii" as we do when trying to get her back inside. They have been fantastic with him, really amazing. I guess they figure wearing hats, having blankets thrown on you and being patted very enthusiastically are worth the Goldfish, hot dogs, chicken and yougurt cups they get to lick clean.

Speaking of boys, congrats to my dear friend Stacey and her hubby John. They welcomed Landon Allen at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6th. He weighs 7lbs 1 oz. and stretches to 21 and a half inches long. Now I need to convince her to start a blog!!

Mini Me

First off, have to share this picture of Miles's souvenir from Italy. For those of you keeping track, I've added our two days in Tuscany to the blog. Only 3 days in Rome left!








Last Friday our parent educator, Jackie, came to play with Miles. She's part of this fantastic program from Knox County called Birth to Kindergarten. Once a month she visits us, brings a book and teaches me some activities I can do with Miles to maximize whatever developmental stage he's hitting then. So now at 18 months the focus is on imagination and pretend play. I hadn't realized, but he has already been doing some pretend play. Other ideas were letting him help with dusting, sweeping, picking up toys, reading to his bears. The aspect of pretend he's really picking up on is copying mama and daddy. He loves wearing my sunglasses now and see him carrying wipes? At least he hasn't started going through diapers on his bears like cousin Kate!


And this morning I showed him how to step into daddy's shoes. He can't get around in them yet, but he had some laughs looking in the mirror.

We went to his eighteen month checkup this morning and he's weighing in just a hair under 30 pounds and 32.5 inches tall. It wasn't a pleasant exam since Miles remembers the visit last month. Thank goodness we don't have to check back until he turns 2!

No means no

A little sample of Miles's favorite word right now. All the time.

"Do you want dinner?" "Noooo."
"Wanna go read a story?" "NOE" (long O sound)
"Bath time!" "NOOOOOOOO!"

But it sounds so sweet when he says it!

Can we bring some food next time?

Finally we had a day that was warm and sunny enough to go outside. We took a wagon ride down to the park and had it all to ourselves. We hit the usual slides and swings, then Miles noticed the tunnels. What a hoot! They're attached to tires in the ground so they kind of sway and bounce when you crawl through them. Talk about giggle-inducing!

As we made our way back to the slides, Miles decided it was time for a Bears' Picnic. He went over to the wagon and grabbed his blanket, spread it out and took a brief rest. While I sat there, he made a few more trips to get both bears and his water. It's too bad he found the puddle and sat in it or we'd have enjoyed afternoon tea for a while. Of course today it's back to drab and cold. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to get back out to the park.

That's gonna leave a mark

I know I said Miles felt like he grew 5 inches when we got home, but I don't think I'm far off. We've had to retire lots of footie pjs and some other clothes that just don't fit the big boy anymore. He learned a few new tricks while we were away too. He's quite a climber now, in fact that's how he got that lovely bump on his forehead. He climbed onto the little plastic picnic table and tumbled off. His favorite climb tactic is "King of the Chair" - climb all the way to the top, stand up and giggle. I also busted him crawling along the hearth. He hasn't yet tried to climb out of the crib (that I know), but I'm preemptively getting the crib-tent and installing it this weekend. He'll love that!

Another change we noticed is that instead of saying "dada" he has started saying "da DEEEEE". It's super cute and I know Wayne loves it. I've heard "ma MEEE" a few time too, but usually I just answer to "aiiiiiiigh".

Miles went to the beautiful Kate's 1st birthday on Tuesday night. Mommy didn't get to go since I'd run a fever that day. I think it was just the lack of sleep and travel wearing me down but I went to the MD anyway. They did the strep and flu swabs which both were negative. Must've worked on my subconscious because Wednesday I felt much better.

I've been working on gettig the Italy pictures online, but shutterfly is being a little beastie for me. But I have started a separate blog [link at right] with the stories of our travel and a few photos. It may take me a while to get through the whole trip, but we'll get there!

We're baaack!

Oh wow, was that a long journey home. We had a fantastic trip and I'll will post a link to pictures when I get them up. Miles did well with his grandparents this week. YaYa said that by Friday he was starting to ask about us more, and liked to look at our pictures. We were looking at his every day too!

When we got home he was already asleep. We woke him to get a hug and he teared up a little (so did mommy - maybe even daddy!) but then we just hugged and kissed and told him we were home. He went right back to sleep. He felt like he'd gained 10 pounds and 5 inches in height! The above picture is from the day we left - check out his cool new quilt from my dear friend Stephanie. Below is this morning.

He popped up at 6:30 and was so excited to see us! We played and ate breakfast and talked about school today. While I'd love to be playing with him all day, I'm taking advantage of his school day to do laundry, nap, go to the grocery, and oh yeah, blog. Today is the Valentine's party for the Tues/Thursday class. Thank goodness I planned ahead and had his cards ready. At breakfast I told him about the party and seeing his friends. So when he got out of his chair he immediately went to get his coat and went to the door. Well okaaay!

As I said, I will post pictures and maybe even blog our trip journal for anyone who is interested soon. but for now, about that nap....

The roster

So Miles is not quite to the caliber of this kid, but we've been working on the names of our family members:



He's been practicing a lot so hopefully when those grandparents come through soon he'll be in the know. Will it translate into 3-D recognition? We shall wait and see.

The first test will come this weekend when his grandparents come to take care of him for 10 (!) days while Mama & Dada take a vacation. We will be celebrating our 5th anniversary in Italy! A special thanks to my former employer for having me travel so much. Without them I might never have accrued the miles needed.

The itinerary includes Florence, Siena and Rome. We've got some cool stuff on the itinerary, but we are nervous about leaving Miles. Hopefully the only bad thing from our List of Dread that will happen is that the DVR will fill up.

Back in two weeks....

Happy Blog-iversary to me!

I'd actually forgotten to note the 1-year anniversary of this blog until I read another blog who celebrated her naissance the same day.

So this is what we were doing last year...

And here's what we're doing now...

My, the times they are a changin'!