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.....

Big fun

The big guy is now officially two and he survived a weekend full of partying. We started Thursday with cupcakes at school and the arrival of BeeBe and PopPop. On Friday we welcomed Aunt Elizabeth, YaYa and cousins Evan and Kate. WOW, did that get the party going! We celebrated his actual birthday with pizza and cake out with the gang. Uncle Shay joined us that evening around bath time.

Saturday morning we joined the H.O.G.s at Cracker Barrel for yummy French toast, biscuits, eggs and bacon. Later that day brought B followed by the west TN crowd - Mimi, PawPaw, Uncle Kiley and Aunt Megan.

After an afternoon full of play and fun (including the family photo op) we headed to the real party. We headed over to The Little Gym where we joined a bunch of our buddies. It was a great party for Miles and for mommy too. They did everything! They even brought all all of Miles' favorite activities - including the air mat and the parachute.

After a whole lot of shaking, we adjourned for nuggets and cake. We stood back and sang while the candles flickered in front of him. He waited until the song was over then r-e-a-c-h-e-d those little fingers toward the flame. About 12 moms dove at him shrieking "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Crisis was averted, but he wasn't in the mood for cake anymore. Not that he needed it, he was revved up enough!


Finally we made it home to open presents. Miles had some willing helpers in his cousins Kate and Evan. they were just as excited about all his gifts! He got lots of cool trucks and books, a basketball goal and a sandbox, but so far the most played toy has been the assortment of Thomas the Train gear, specifically Lady . Even Uncle Kiley couldn't resist setting up some cool tracks and trying to wreck the trains.


All in all a hugely fun weekend for us. Thanks you so much to all our guests who traveled far to join us, and to those who survived the chaos of The Little Gym. The ear-to-ear grins were worth every yawn the next day!

GIVE HIM TWO!!!!!

The big boy is two today!! We've been working on two fingers but it's hard to hold the two on one hand up. So 1+1=2!

This morning he got a little present from mommy and daddy - Engine Emily! He's been asking for her all week but has been pretty patient.

We have family rolling in from all across the state yesterday, today and tomorrow. The big shindig with his little buddies is Saturday night. There will definitely be more to come!!

Miles' Very Important Phrases

Daddy's been teaching Miles some vital phrases... check it out..

Our family is growing even more!

Yes, you read that right. We're adding still another family member. (And no, we didn't learn that we're having twins!!)

Uncle Kiley proposed to his girlfriend, Megan! So sometime in the not so distant future, Miles will have an Aunt Megan and Wayne and I will have a new sister!



This is his version of what his plan was. I don't know the exact details yet, but I do know she said yes! He took her downtown for dinner, saying he had a 2-for-1 coupon. This would not be surprise, as Uncle Kiley is one of the most, um, fiscally conservative guys I know. But it definitely didn't foretell a romantic dinner out! Anyway, they first stopped along the riverfront where he planned on using the "car trouble" line to stop and get out. So it was sunset on the Mighty Mississipp', they are "stranded", and he drops to a knee with a ring. How romantic! He said there were a few toots from passing motorists too. They followed this with a nice dinner - without a coupon.

So congrats and best wishes! We're so happy for you guys!

Goofballs

The fun has begun. Miles loved goofing off with the PhotoBooth feature on the new Mac. Pretty silly stuff. I'm still working up the learning curve. It's hard when I've been an ingrained Windows user for over a decade, I had all the shortcuts memorized!! Now I'm trying to figure out if I've lost all the detailed categorization I've done on all 8K of my photos (most of those since Miles joined us). Got the calendar and address book in sync; got the music and playlists over, but lost all the ratings and playcounts; now gotta figure out iPhoto and how to convert Quicken. Sheesh! But we'll get there...

PS.

I totally forgot to add these cute things Miles is doing now. He has some boots - I think given by his buddy Davey - that he absolutely loves to wear. I'll get a photo uploaded as soon as everything else is set up. But he can pull them on by himself and he just clomps around the house. They are rainboots, green jungle scene with salamanders all over them. Too funny.

And the other cute thing he's started doing is saying "be right back" when he's going to do something. He'll say "Miles get tractor. Be wight back." and look at us very seriously like he's making sure we heard him. Hmmm, wonder where he picked that up??

New adventures in hi-fi

This has been a crazy week! I guess I can blame it on nesting, but we (I) decided to rearrange our house. The way it was - picture a square divided into 4 quadrants - we had the living room and office in front and the dining room and kitchen in back. Since we're not throwing any fancy dinner parties soon, we decided to swap the dining room and office. We've moved almost everything, just the table and sofa to swap now. So the dining furniture will take up the smallest room (and we'll also cram the piano in there) and the large room that connects to the patio will be office/living/playroom. It will basically be wide open space for Miles to roam. When everything is finished (HA!) I'll post a picture of the new play space. Oh, yeah, Wayne also decided to dismantle and stack the drums. So now we have an artful display of percussion towering in the playroom. We left Miles' favorite - the Hi-Hat - standing so he can sorta bang that and the low stack of drums.

This weekend Miles had two 2 year old birthday parties, but we only went to one, Millie's. Braden had a fever Friday, so we figured we'd let him recover. Although Miles was so worn out from Millie's, I don't know if he'd have made it very long. She had a bounce house and cute froggy cupcakes to go with her froggy theme. Miles had a blast, and now the countdown is on for his own 2nd birthday!

The last bit of excitement is that we've moved to the dark side of computing. Actually it's the the sleek, brushed aluminum side and so far I'm doing fine! We got an iMac! We'd ordered one over the tax free weekend and lo and behold 5 days later Steve Jobs presents a brand-spankin' new model. I called them and they happily shipped me the newer, faster, sleeker, shinier AND cheaper model, which arrived today. So I'm in the midst of transfering my life over to iLife (hah hah), hopefully without a hitch. Thank goodness for external hard drives! Anyway, it will take up residence in the new playroom, and it's so nice, there is literally a screen, keyboard and a cord, none of all that other junk that ends up taking over the desk. Anyway, off to move my music.... I'll let you know how it goes!!

The Three Musketeers

Thanks so much to everyone for your well-wishes. We've had several wishes for a girl from the peanut gallery, so stay tuned for that news, possibly next week. I'm starting to feel much better as the 2nd trimester approaches. I did go get a few cute maternity things this week, so I'm enjoying the new wardrobe options!

Got back from a late "weekend" visit to YaYa & B's yesterday. Miles didn't have school so we thought it would be nice to have extra help to let Miles play with them and with his cousins. He had a HUGE time playing with all of them. The day we left we told him when he woke that we were going and he pestered me all morning long "Go YaYa B's? Go YaYa B's?" until we finally skipped lunch and left early.

He always has fun with the cousins, but this time when he saw Evan he took off shrieking "EVANEVANEVANEVAN" spinning, running and laughing. The kid was excited! He knows that all the trucks and trains at YaYa's were Evan's and couldn't wait to see them.
They still played more side-by-side, with Miles assembling Thomas tracks next to Evan's big train track. Miles got to sit inside Evan's track and watch it go around, which was huge. Then he accidentally sat on it and derailed it, which I think upset him more than Evan!

It was blazing hot there, so sprinkler time was on the agenda. Miles wore Kate's pink Crocs and B "suffered" through the 3 different sprinklers, the hose and finally a bucket full of water. All were soaked and ready for a cool treat when the time came.




Now I hear him waking from his first nap in the big boy bed. I figured we'd start with naps and work up to nighttime over the next few months. He was down 2.5 hours, so a good start!

In Training

Miles is working on a new life-skill....

BEING A GREAT BIG BROTHER!!

He'll become a big brother sometime around February 24, 2008 if things go as expected. We're very excited, well at least Wayne & I are. We've told Miles he'll be a big brother, but I don't know that he gets it yet. We do know that he likes babies, and he's had lots of fun with the younger girls in his class this summer. We'll just have to see how he does when one is in the room next door!! (a baby, I mean. We don't know yet what the sex is, but will find out in the next couple of months)

I've been feeling fine. Sleepy of course, more than last time, but I guess that goes with the territory of chasing a toddler. I've been more nauseated this time but have been able to eat enough. Crackers and soup help! Already starting to retire some clothes that don't fit anymore... maybe by this time next year I'll be back in them? HA!! Our next appointment is on the 14th, so we'll have more news then. Keep us in your prayers in the meantime.

Home ownership = Excitement!

Ah, the gloriously fun things you get to spend money on as a homeowner - like asphalt resurfacing!!! We finally got our driveway resurfaced this week. It's been needed for a while, and became more urgent after Miles required stitches when he fell on it last winter. So in one afternoon we got a nice, smooth, black surface AND we got rid of the bonus sandbox that came with the house. It was a built in eyesore/litter box from day one. Now we can landscape a bit at the end of the drive and have a lovely view! And there is more parking, but more important, more room for Miles to ride his trike!

Speaking of cutie-pie, we just got home from his last day in the 1-year-old room at school. After a little break he'll start next week in a new room with new teachers! He knows most of his classmates already, so hopefully that will ease the transition.

Today when I picked him up we had a conversation that went a little like this:
ME: Can we stop at the grocery store, Miles?
Miles: House!
ME: But we need milk, crackers, apples....
Miles: No go-cee store. House.
ME: Really quick!!
Miles: No! House! Play mini-loader!

AHA!! He wanted to get home to play with his new toy!! Yaya was here for a couple of nights and they made a trip to Toys R Us. Miles picked out a Roberto & his loader, I believe prompted by all the equipment on the driveway yesterday!!

The crush

I think I've said this before, but I get writers block when I wait too long to post. There's pressure to write pages and pages of what's been happening, when in reality, not much is going on. I guess I should be thankful for that... relative calm. We've just been hanging out, doing the usual: playing, "driving" Miles in the Big Red Car, working out at the Gym, eating at Qdoba or IHOP or Calypso Cafe. In fact that is Miles showing off his spoon prowess at Calypso on Sunday after a trip to the mall. Wayne and Miles needed new shoes (mommy does too, but I'd rather get these) so we headed to Over-Consumption Mecca. Miles wasn't so hip on leaving all his toys to go shop, so we enticed him with a promise of seeing TRACTORS!! That meant a side trip into Sears. He got to test drive 2 models and loved it.

Since he was so great at the mall, we hit Calypso for dinner. Miles loves black beans and sweet potatoes, and their Boija muffins are pretty great too. But that evening the thing he liked the most was our waitress! He was too funny, making shy faces at her and grinning from across the restaurant. He wouldn't stop watching her! When it was time to go, she was seated at the counter near the door. He literally stopped in his tracks and wouldn't walk by her, just hung onto my leg and stared. Here he is checking her out while we ate:

Evan's big day

Sorry for the delay in posting from the weekend. We had a big weekend. Evan turned 5 and had a big bash we had to attend! Miles partied all night long! Kate wore lipstick and walked around in my heels all weekend! Oh yeah... and the new Harry Potter book came out!!!!!!

I'll start with Harry: no we didn't go get it at midnight, yes I have already finished it and yes it was fantastic, although the epilogue was a bit light following such an epic story. My boss <swak> had given me the day off Thursday, so I caught the matinee of HP5 movie, then on the drive to Nashville I skimmed book 6 to be ready for the excitement of book 7. I have shelved them all now, but really look forward to reading them to/with Miles here in a few years.

Back to reality... Evan turned FIVE!! He's such a big kid now. He had a fun party at Pump It Up and got a bike, baseball bat and glove, and some other cool games and toys. Miles had never been to a Pump It Up place before, so we warmed up in the big bouncy room before tackling the obstacle courses and 20' slides. But he did it all, and laughed the whole time. About halfway through they had us change rooms to play on some new games and he thought it was time to go home. I thought he was going to start crying until he realized no, there will be more fun! After all the playtime Miles had cake and ice cream but definitely preferred the ice cream. That seems to be the theme for this summer!

Kate's a funny girl too. She was obsessed with getting me out of my shoes so she could wear them around - even the flip flops! And she had some Hello Kitty lip gloss she liked to smear all over her face. We tried to convince her that she is so beautiful she doesn't need makeup but she replied matter-of-factly, "No, I need my lipstick." Ah, Uncle Shay and Aunt Elizabeth have their hands full!!

Brown Cow Rules!

Poor little booger bear! He had a couple of miserable days last week, including one 3 hour sit at the pediatrician's office. He came home from school Tuesday feeling puny and started running a fever that evening. Tylenol kept it down through the night, but it kept coming back. The doc did the strep swab and a blood count test (looking for white blood cell levels) but he seemed to be fighting a viral infection. So we sat home Thursday and by the evening he was almost back to normal. Thankfully it was just a 24-ish hour bug! He shared some germs with Wayne and me, now we're suffering through a cough that wakes us up at night. Argh!

But Miles felt great by Friday, so we made our Little Gym class and lunch out with the girls. That evening we hit The Pizza Kitchen, hoping to expand his palate a bit. He's never eaten pizza, but he knows cousins Kate and Evan love it, and one of his favorite songs talks about pizza. But alas, he would have none of it. He would much preferred to play with the Edwards kids sitting around the corner!

Saturday YaYa and B came to visit for the day. We had a yummy and fun lunch at Calypso Cafe and on the way home we passed a humongous cow in our neighbor's driveway. No fear of stray Jerseys, our neighbors won a party from Mayfield Dairy, complete with the big brown cow! So after naps (and some sweet cow dreams for Miles) we strolled down the street for the fun. Lots of neighbors were in attendance and Miles had a blast with the big kids. I love our neighborhood! We're starting to get lots of young families in the area and all the activities are really picking up. (Oops, as I type I realize we missed the potluck in the park tonight. Oh well.) It's hard to beat 3 playgrounds, a walking trail and a YMCA with pool all within an easy stroll! Not to mention multiple playdate and babysitter options. Now if only we had the nice flat back yard that some of the other houses have. Hmmmm......