The Miles Chronicles

Early reader

2011-11-13T16:41:00.001-08:00

Miles has been able to recognize signs on stores for at least a year or more now. He knows when we are at Fresh and Easy, Costco, Home Depot, Smiths etc by the logos and locations more than actually being able to read. But yesterday he actually read his first sign at a building. We were going in the rear entrance we never go into at the movie theater at Aliante to see Puss in Boots. He looks up above the door and starts to sound out the one word posted large. Cuh, cuh, sssss, sssss, eheheh, no, no, no. CASINO!! "mommy, that sign says Casino". And it did. Not a logo or anything, just some letters making a word over the door.
I don't know whether to be proud or shame.

Miles turns 4!!

2011-10-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Wow! I'm lying in bed with insomnia and realizing that at it's 5:12am PT and at 8:32ET Miles, you were born a whole four years ago already. You are safely asleep in your bedroom and ieagerly anticipating your birthday party later today.
You have been counting down the days before your party on your fingers and saying "ok, so, 1,2,3,4 ok, 4 more sleeps till my birthday". So last night before you went to bed you were SUPER excited. You also promised me you wpuld take a nap beforr your party today.
I was lucky to be able to spend the whole day with you yesterday and you were very helpful in getting everythung ready for the party. You worked at blowing up balloons, sweeping the back porch, cleaning out your playhoise, packing up toys, filling the pinata, baking your chocolate cake from scratch and carving pumpkins for decorations!! Yes, even as a small boy you were able to set aside fun and do the work to prepare for even bigger things tomorrow.
You have a cool Spiderman costume and I already had your birthday CD made for weeks now so you know the words to the Spiderman song and a good bit of the others. It is a highlight of my day to sing with you in the car on the way to and from school.
So what have you accomplished in your 3 rd year? You love school. Prefer it to just staying home! You learned to ride a bike without training wheels in May 2011 in Germany with your Uncle Duane and Eva and their kids, you travelled to Europe TWICE this year. Spent 2 weeks in Germany in May then 7 weeks in Suffolk England from July 20-Sept 11. Your best friend is Lorelei Lott and she has already told her mom that she is going to marry you. She tried to marry you a month ago but you didn't want to because she only had a butterfly ring and you really wanted a green one because that is your favorite color.
You are around 105cm and weigh 41 pounds. You love to dress in your Addidas Tracksuit, your Spiderman hoodie that talks when you push a button ( it says "it's web swingin time!"), you love wearing "fast running shoes". You proclaim that you are "the worlds best backward walker" - and you havent fallen yet. You made an amazing painting of a duck floating on water with blue sky last week at school after a long time of showing no interest in drawing or paint or art of any kind. Your teacher Mrs Stevenson said it was very advanced work for your age.
You are very well liked at school and at home. Your personality is a combination of happy and competitive. You love sports and are taking lessons for swimming, gymnastics and toddler ninjas. You also love riding your bike.
You are a bit vain. You love checking yourself out in the mirror and smiling at yourself and also practicing making an intimidating face. You are currently trying to figure out what things are funny. So you will tell knock knock jokes. You also will watch a sitcom with me that you totally dont understand like Big Bang Theory and laugh along hysterically with the laugh track which makes me laugh hysterically too till we are both laughing along at whatever the laugh track says is funny, its so fun watching TV with you!
Is there any downside to being Milesy Boy? So far I cant see any. Your future is bright my son and I am so curious to see how your life unfolds and I will be there with you to guide and protect you however I can. Love always, Mom. P.s it's now 8:51 ET, you are 4 years and 19 minutes. Happy Birthday!!!

Lakenheath England

2011-08-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

We are visiting England as Norris has a TDY here. Miles and I took a Virgin Airways flight and landed in Gatwick on July 21. We are here until September 11, 2011.
I feel terrible that I never even blogged my trip to India in February with my parents. And also never blogged about Miles and I going to Hamburg, Germany to visit my brother Duane and his sweet wife and kids in May for 2 weeks for my birthday.
We have been loving England despite initial hardships in housing. Now we have a nice 1 bedroom apartment and feel very settled and in a nice routine. Miles is taking swimming lessons 5 days a week and that is great because it's in the morning and once it's done we head out to explore some little village for the day.
We will go to visit my brother Duane in Germany again end of this month and are trying to spend lots of family time together.

5x7 Folded Card

2011-06-03T12:44:00.001-07:00

Happy Day Cocoa Father's Day 5x7 folded card

Modern greeting cards and party invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Gratitude

2011-01-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

I found this blog while reading the NYT's Motherlode. Its http://dearmissaudrey.blogspot.com/. I got immersed im it and felt so much sadness for that family. The dad died when the little girl was only 24 months. It made me clear out any thoughts of self- pity or complaimimg that I tend to have. I have everything. Maslow's hierarchy of needs talks about basic survival as a start and it all goes up from there. I think Self-actualization is the place where I am always out of reach of and making myself miserable over. The idea of needing to lose weight and have a more successful career are true things but I make myself too unhappy over them and don't even put enough work into making happen.
In Miles news, he started taking the violin this month. His class is only 5 minutes from our house and he likes the teacher quite a bit. I was really ambivalent about signing him up for this. I'm excited for him to develop the ability to practice daily on something and feel the pride of achievement and learn the disciplime of persevering through difficult or boring things to reach a big goal. I'm concerned that I myself lack this skill and will have to learn it with him if he will be successful. I'm concerned that I'm turning into one of those underachieving mothers who put everything into their child to have them achieve what I could not. I'm trying to be aware of it.
He loves school and I feel proud of myself for letting him go and encouraging his independence and self-reliance. I often worry that his school is too play based and he is not "learning". But there are a lot of changes in his personality that I do admire. For example, his ability to express himself verbally quite charmingly and convincingly without pitching a fit. He already knows how to build a case for his request before you even know where he's going. He practically corners you into giving him his way.
For example, we have a veggie tales CD in my car that's not in Norris'. He named my car Hansitafam and Norris' car American Flag. I picked him up from school in my car which is an SUV, clearly different from Norris' sedan. I strap him in and we drive off. He asks me in his sweetest voice "mommy, is this your car Hansitafam or is this Daddy's car what we are driving in?". I think to myself 'why is he asking this, he knows its hansy, but I answer " we are driving in Hansitafam". He says "ok then, can I listen to my Veggie Tales CD because I know it is in this car". In the sweetest little voice ever. And I realize how I've been lawyered by a 3 year old.
I think often about how different Miles' upbringing is different from mine and am curious about how this will shape him. For one I had a large family of 6 and endless cousins and neighbors who to this day are still living in Trinidad exactly where I left them for the most part. I spent tons of time at church, never had a babysitter and even lived with the most consistent sunlight patterns ever. Sunup at 6 sundown at 6. I never experienced serious racism or being a minority as a child and knew people both wealthy and poor. I guess all these things are considered ideal conditions to raise a child. Miles has no extended family that live nearby. No church affiliation, no close family friends. Military life makes it hard to know people for any length of time. My guess is whenever we leave Las Vegas we won't know the people here or keep in touch with them 5 years out. But I remain grateful for the opportunity to be here and hopefully travel the world and have him experience other cultures. I think when he is older he may mourn not having some of the things I had which society says make an "ideal" childhood. And I'll help him cross that bridge when we get to it. But I think the biggest thing I can do to help him is to focus on gratitude and what we do have. And hope that Norris and I are around for a long time to get him on his way in life.

Christmas Eve Confessions

2010-12-24T20:59:00.000-08:00

Its 9:01pm on Christmas Eve. I just spent the last hour trying to get a panicked Miles to go to sleep.
It all started well enough. He made a tray with me for Santa with milk and cookies and carrots for the reindeer. He drew a picture for Santa to take with him. I got him dressed in his Elmo Christmas Pajamas which he wore to the Polar Express and where he already met Santa.
Then he starts fretting about Santa. And I think hes just excited. And I tuck him in and ask him like I do every night whether he wants to pick the story or wants me to. And he mumbles " You can pick the story, I'm looking for a place to hide from Santa". And sure enough I see him burrowing under his covers and putting his pillow over his head and looking very distressed. I ask him why he's hiding from Santa and he says its because "I like Santa when it is daytime and i can go see him, but I dont like Santa to come and see me when I am sleeping".
At this point I call Norris up and Norris explains that we will be up when Santa gets here and he will be coming in the fireplace in our bedroom and that Norris will walk Santa down to the tree and show him where to put the presents then Santa will be on his way once he has his snack and gets the carrots for the Reindeer. Hes still not happy. So Norris texts Santa and says could he please leave Miles' presents in his clubhouse in the backyard and not come inside. And Santa texts back that he will and that Miles is on the good list.
This does not pacify Miles. He starts crying that he does not like Santa, that Santa is mean. And i ask him why Santa is mean. And he says "Some children really want presents but Santa says they are naughty and he will not give them presents". And so I ask if that is Santa being mean or the kids being bad. And he maintains that Santa is the mean one. So I ask if he is having a guilty concience about something he did that was naughty that I dont know about. And he says "I did something naughty". And I ask him what. And he says " I put the cord from the pull along frog in the plug hole". Which he KNOWS IS WRONG!!! And Im seriously trying to maintain a Motherly composure but Norris
is busting a gut laughing so hard.
So I tell him that its good that he told me his naughty deed but that he is still a good boy and he can go to bed and he will still get his presents from Santa.
He is totallly lobbying for Santa to not come to our house anymore and for Norris and I to buy his presents instead. Clearly he has figured that he has us right where he wants us. Seems Santa and his minion the Elf on the Shelf (who he had a breakdown over back in November) are unknown entities. He wanted that Elf out of the house ( and tell him to take his box too, but leave the book)!!
I just love this kid. This has been the most wonderful Christmas of my life that I can remember.

Threenager

2010-11-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

Miles turned 3 and we had a big party to celebrate. Pictures not back yet but will post in the future.
At 3 his personality is that of a charmer. He is in a good mood, singing laughing or just being pleasant most of the time. He likes to please me and he likes to know what rules are and be recognized for doing well. He also likes to point out to me when other people are breaking rules.
For example I told him that people need to wear helmets if riding bicycles and motorcycles. In Florida we saw a lot of motorcyclist without helmets because there is no law there. He would point them out and I said one time "his mommy would probably not be happy to see him with no helmet". EVERY DAY since then he scans the road for people and either says "look, look, that guy over there is wearing his helmet! His mommy is probably happy of him". Or "look, he is not wearing his helmet, his mommy is probably not very happy of him". And it is said in a woeful voice that is so sincere if the rider has no helmet.
He is adjusting really well to school and is excited to go everyday. His appetite has lessened considerably since his 2's when he was like a termite. He is not as open to new foods. Today he refused to try apple pie. So he totally missed out on that.
He has moments more now of being willful, not wanting to be told what to do. But he will still comply. Usually my best tactic is to ask him to do something but be ok with him taking about 10-30 seconds to do it because he has his pride. Not sure if I should be demanding instant obedience or not. I tend towards avoiding a power struggle with him because I feel that once we have a falling out he tends to be more difficult the rest of the day. I also think it's ok for him to think things are his idea and want to empower him to believe that brushing his teeth or picking up his toys are his ideas and preferences vs that he is bending to my will.
Some of the more tiresome behaviors now are mimicking children who are doing annoying things, stalling before bed (need water, blankets are messed up, one more story) and having a crying fit before going to bed.
He is not a fan of taking on the phone. He asks me to buy EVERYTHING HE SEES ON TV COMMERCIALS for kids! I ask him what it is "I don't know what it is.". And "I don't know what it does" and "I not know what I like about it". Then he is on to the next commercial. Same with toy catalogs. He loves to look at them and pick out things he likes and wants. It's really cute. He mostly wants to talk about them and we spend lots of time looking at things in catalogs.
He sleeps in his own bed still and he loves to lie in bed and read the books that I read him for bedtime story after I'm done.
He sometimes screams this high pitched scream when he can't get his way and it's really annoying. He is still super loving to me especially for his age compared to his peers. And he is a bit cocky because he knows he is cute and how much the other moms like him because he is well behaved. He will tell his friends "Cameron, don't hit your friends". Or "Kent, I don't think that you are making a good choice right now".
I love love how present he is with whatever he does. Just so engrossed. I long for that clutter free mind of his.
I feel satisfied a lot with how he is advancing but always anxious about the future.

Closing the baby chapter

2010-09-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

My little baby started preschool on August 30, 2010. I feel like I hit the jackpot with his school. It's a lab school at a nearby university and usually has a year long waiting list. One of my friends was on the list for 9 months and got in and wanted me to be one of the people authorized to pick her daughter up. I went to get fingerscanned and set up for that and it was 2 weeks before school started. The receptionist was nice enough to give me a tour and I was impressed by the security of the school, the accessibility that the parents had to be involved in the classroom and that the curriculum is research based instead of religious or ideologically based. I put my name on the waiting list very unsure but I guess after a year of waiting many people felt hopeless about their child getting in and went elsewhere because we got an acceptance letter the next week!
The program requires that the parents enroll at the university and go to an early childhood education course for 2 semesters. It's one night a month for 2 hours for 8 months. I think it's great but I've heard other people say they would never do that. The parents are also obligated to have one of them volunteer in the classroom as a parent aide one morning a month for 3 hours.
I already did mine and it was stressful dealing with all those 3 year olds and I was ready to be done at the end! Preschool teachers have a tough job. It's not all storytime and snacks. The biggest challenge is the ability to keep calm and not scream when some kid openly defies you again and again and you need to go back and redirect over and over.
I thought Miles would have some problems with adjusting and he has. But Ms. Geri did win him over before he even got to school and it was so simple - she sent him a postcard in the mail! It was the first piece of mail he has gotten in a very very long time. He loves that postcard and will show it off and read it to anyone who comes to the house.
His school even has an outdoor classroom that he can be enrolled in next year. I am pretty sure we will do it as it will probably be the only time in his life when he will get to spend the majority of his day out doors and playing and learning. Plus I want him to be with all the hippie kids whose parents would enroll them in an outdoor classroom!! Bound to be good kids and parents who hike and love nature like we do.
He had his 3 year checkup early since he had to do the school health card and September 9 he was 35 pounds and 100 centimeters tall. I dont know why they do pounds and metric but they do. Either way he's in the 90th percentile for height and weight. But the pediatrician ( I miss Dr. Katz, what a caring and wonderful first pediatrician he had) whose name I forget got on our case about the binky. She had little interest in Miles and mostly spoke to me to ask me things that he could have answered if she gave time. Anyway she gave him a lecture about the binky and was on her way. So that night we painfully went without it. It was not nearly so bad that night actually, just took a long time and he sort of mournfully whined. But nap and bedtimes the next 4 days were awful. He cried like a heroin addict without a fix. I couldn't take it. And too late I learned about the process to cut the binky. I now hate that pediatrician. Really, she couldn't give me that information? I really don't see the point in needlessly making a child cry about missing something he loves. He got past it but now naptimes have gotten really challenging and he is resisting the nap and passing out at 4pm.
So to replace the binky he has been very resourceful. During the day he wants chewing gum constantly. He must chew about 5-7 pieces of gum a day. And at night he wants the book I just got done reading him for bedtime story and he lies in bed and "reads" himself to sleep. I went in there tonight around 930 to get his book out of his bed so he wouldnt sleep on one and he'd gone to his bookshelf and had 3 books and they were all on his bed in a little pile and the last one was laying open and he was sleeping curled around them. Such a sweet little man.
He has been naming inanimate things. Our car has been named Hansitafam. I get harassed to "bathe" Hansitafam, "feed" Hansy and get reports from the back seat that Hansy is driving so crazy or Hansy is driving so safe.
He named his tummy Tump. He will tell me "Tump is hungry" "Te Tump says he needs a snack". "Te Tump has milk and juice and crackers in him".
Other names:
nose - Humpennose
Fingers - Finks
Ears -Finklears
Hair - Hairkikt
Lips -Lipsy
Penis -Petesys
Bottom - Bumtix
and theres more but I cant remember them.

And he has started playing board games. First played Candy Land September 15. He is pretty good at playing it already and loves to play. He doesn't have the longest attention span so I usually stack the decks so the ice cream or lollipop card come up after a couple turns so he can play till the end.
He HATES to lose. Such a bad loser. One time I got there first and he started screaming and crying and hit the pieces off the board and stormed off. I have no idea where he learned this behavior.

Tonight we played Candyland with Norris via Skype. That was pretty cool and I think Norris enjoyed it too.
Ok Miles, enough memories for now, hope you like these someday and are not embarrassed Bunky.

Identity

2010-08-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

Miles has been conceptualizing who he is and his identity lately. Of course he does not know that's what he is doing. He does not want to be called a baby any more. He is a big boy. And he calls himself "Milesy boy". And he will often say " I am a chef and an athlete and a b-boy (dancer), and a big boy and Milesy boy!". He is a chef because he invents recipes like "blueberries, blueberry yogurt, chocolate syrup and sprinkles" or "banana sAndwiches" which are little round slices of ban a a with peanut butter in the middle or "letter sandwiches" which are sandwiches cut into letter shapes. He is an athlete because he plays soccer, goes swimming, rides his tricycle and bike with training wheels and plays basketball and tball at home. He is a b-boy because I took him to a show to see some breakdancing and now he has 'moves' and they are really cute. Milesy boy is just a charmer from any way I look at it!

Dust devil!

2010-08-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

fixing dinner tonight and we had the blinds open to backyard and witnessed a dust devil come up into our garden just on the patio and throw the playhouse and chalkboard around, stir up a lot of dust and leave. The desert is so cool! Thankfully nothing and no one was hurt by this mini tornado so it was fun to witness but loud and confusing also.

Lonely times

2010-08-18T21:53:00.000-07:00

So it's just Miles and I for the next little while here while Norris is off for a bit. It's been 10 days now and tonight was the first night we didn't have plans with friends or something to do. And it was a bit challenging and lonely. Miles just was fussing about everything and not wanting to be home and I have a summer cold and not really as patient and resilient as I could be and I was so happy when he went to bed.
We did decide on a preschool to send him to. And he starts August 30 and will be there 3 days from 930-1230. And I will volunteer in class 1x a month. So that I think will help him to stay busy and have fun and not miss daddy too much.
He's been angry with norris when he calls and won't talk to him on the phone. Luckily Norris is very understanding. But last night Miles got up at 4 am fussing and wanting to be held and told me he misses Norris. So we made plans to do something about it and he mailed him a homemade card today. Gotta get better at sending out packages and cards a couple times a week and it will make things easier I think.

Notes

2010-08-05T02:15:00.000-07:00

Miles is sleeping next to me right now, I am listening to his breathing and feel him curled up so soft and warm and good. He peed in his bed so I had to strip his sheets and bring him in our bed. He asked me "can I sleep in your bed?" and I said "mmm hmm" and he said "is that all you gonna say?" I said "well yes, what did you think I would say honey?" and he said " I thought you would say don't pee pee in my bed!". And he smiled. Just a little heart melter.
It's that time where he is almost 3 and can enroll in pre pre school and I have looked at a few but nothing seems great and we work on stuff all the time at home together so I'm torn about what to do. He seems to know about as much as other kids I know who are his age and going to school and I don't think he lacks for socialization with friends. And once they start school the lifelong process of them drifting away from the home and into the world starts. All that said, I still am not sure what I'm going to do.

2 year, 8months

2010-06-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

Time is flying by. Unbelievable I have not updated in 8 months. Miles is 99%potty trained now, talks in full long sentences, has opinions about lots of things and knows how to test you to see how serious you are and what the limits are.
We started moving into the new house April 26 and somewhere around that time he moved into his own bedroom and own bed where he still sleeps. This is so bittersweet to me as I miss his sweet breath and hair and face snuggled up next to me while knowing it is for the best that he learn to sleep on his own. I usually read him a story to go to bed or nap. But today I had some music on in the hall to try to drown out some noise downstairs while I read his story and he sat up and said "Mommy, can you please stop reading, I'm trying to listen to the music". And that's how it is now. He is sweet and polite but has his opinions and wants and is good about expressing them.
He was in the newspaper the other day, the Las Vegas Review Journal. A pic of him smiling and petting an otter. So sweet. I will try to post it.
Things he knows:
My phone number
All our birthdays
His alphabet
Can identify a lot of letters by their shape
Knows a lot of colors
Can count things
Can do a little math - addition
Can invent little stories - take his animals on a ride in his pirate ship to the San Diego Zoo
Thinking about good and bad, nice vs mean, making judgements e.g Bella is a good girl,Bodhi is a biter boy, bad bad Bodhi.
Concern when others are upset
Loves loves loves music and singing and dancing
Funny- will tell me to stop singing because I am scaring the neighbor dog. Tells Bella and Bodhi to stop running around the house, that it is not a dog park.
Amazing memory. Still spontaneously talk about his birthday party and the elephant bouncy castle and his cake and his friends. Remembers things large and small.
Very cuddly and loving.
Still sucking that damned binky and constantly negotiating to get it " I sleepy mommy, I need my binky" - a half hour after waking up.
Will try to update soon with pics and keep better log.

Family on Miles' 2nd Birthday

2009-11-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

Just shy of 2

2009-10-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

It's Monday and on Thursday my boy will be 2 years old. It's such a bittersweet time as I know that next birthday I'll be able to understand everything he says and this birthday is really the end of babyhood.
Here are some little memories I don't want to forget.
When he first started to try to say Bella's name about a month ago he would say "bla-bla". Now he says Bella well and is always trying to get her to follow commands. It's like a little general going "sit Bella" "off Bella" "come Bella" and she just kind of rolls her eyes and plays along until she's sick of it.
10/14 Miles trying to say bottle says bol-ottle.
10/15 - changing his diaper and he just starts counting and counts to 10. Prior to that he said 2 for everything. He would count 10 things and go two, two, two, two....
He has been sleeping in his crib for about 2 weeks now right next to our bed. He likes to sleep with blanket which he calls blank-Kent.
He is currently doing the co-op once a week, gymnastics once a week and a mommy and me dance class once a week. Swim just ended last week and we need to find a new class with a good teacher during the mornings.
He is a very well behaved child considering his age. He does try to test limits but he usually accepts a time out pretty well and is able to tell me what he got the time out for.
He's not great at playing by himself, he is very sociable and usually wants another kid to play with or for me to play with him. I feel like a failure sometimes when I feel that I am not providing enough play time for him or am not patient enough in wanting to play for hours with him. I'm trying to find a balance where he can play alone sometimes but I think part of this problem is me. I feel that he will be independent so soon especially if he goes off to preschool soon as we have been talking about. I just want to hold him, hold him and keep him close. He is as close to perfection as anything I have ever seen.
He is so loving and in tune with those around him. Every morning he wakes up and smiles and identifies us all. "mama, dada, bella, miles" round and round about 3 or 4 times. Like he's doing a headcount and it pleases him that we are all there. And Norris better not leave for work without telling him and giving him a proper goodbye. It does not sit well with him if that happens.
And so far he's honest. The other day he accidentally bit his friend and the kid was crying and Miles blurted out " I bit. I sorry" with a horrified expression on his face and spent a lot of time hugging his friend and checking his finger.
On Thursday we have a party for him with a bouncy castle. I hope he has fun and I hope I can step back and enjoy it as lately I have been letting little bumps become huge mountains for me. And I feel guilty for that too. Miles is up from nap.

New interests

2009-08-22T13:48:00.001-07:00

Picture of Liam Picture of Mountains

Dead bug

Loves his shoes

Picture of forest

Enjoying nature

Recently Norris and I realized that Miles has outgrown a lot of his toys and needs the next step up. He has a newfound interest in computers, cameras, phones. He has started grabbing my camera whenever it's out and walking around taking pictures of things that are interesting to him. I find his perspective on what is interesting fascinating - as any mom would. Also what I like is how much of his field of vision is interested in small things or things close to the ground. Clearly he is small and I love having these pics to show me what he sees and how he percieves the world.

First Day of Co-op

2009-08-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

This morning Miles went off to a playgroup without me. I guess it's kind of like his first day of school. I created the coop with 5 friends where we all take turns hosting with one assistant so that the kids get to learn how to play with others and have fun without mommy. I expected that he would be fretful but he was perfectly happy when I left and didn't even cry like he does when the babysitter comes. Probably because it's the first time and he doesn't know what to expect. I have been feeling for a while now that he's ready for some independent play but not really with strangers. He knows all these kids and the moms so I feel it is as gently a transition to more independence as I can provide him. I'm happy that I was able to create this and think it will be good for him. I'm kind of sad that he's ready to do this and is really getting to be not a baby anymore.

Wily Miley

2009-08-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

So we let Miles go outside and play with his sink this morning since it gets over 100 degrees by 9am. So he's out there playing away and we're in the kitchen half looking at him. Then Norris notices that my new issue of Vanity Fair is taking a bath in the sink. He goes over and Miles sees him looking at the drowning Vanity Fair and says "uh oh." Uh Oh. Like "hmmm...who did this mess" uh oh. Like he's on the same side as Norris trying to figure out this puzzle. We try to not laugh but it's really hard.

And the other day Norris was driving and made a sudden stop and Little Back Seat Driver goes "Woah!"

21 months

2009-07-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

21 months old today! Next 21 birthday I'm gonna party like this again!

Yeah!

Norris and Miles too cool for school flying first class to Cancun for Alfred's wedding.

View from hotel room. He's painted like a tiger and he keeps pointing to the ocean saying "pool! pool!". Vegas babies don't know better.

Made this t-shirt for Norris for Father's day.

Pure joy.

It's amazing to me how lame I can be. The poor child will never know what happened when he was 20 months old, what he did or looked like. So to make up for it I can at least post his 21 month update on time. Looking at the 19 month photos it is remarkable how quickly he has changed. His hair has gotten coarser and lighter colored and his skin darker. Partly it may be due to just getting older but a good part has to do with having at least one or two, sometimes four pool playdates a week in the roasting hot Vegas sun. Sunscreen is no match.

Miles and River cooling off in a sink. Don't ask how they both got in there without head injury.

Miles and River demanding entry into the house.

Today we went to a pool playdate and he saw his friends Lorelei, Liam, Nathan and Zac and had a good time as always. Then we came home and were talking about the playdate - by which I mean I talk and he usually just says yes or no.

Conversation went like this:
me: did you have a good time at the pool today?

miles: yep

me: did you like playing with Liam?

miles: yes

me: did you have fun with Lorelei?

miles: yep

me: and Zac and Nathan, you had fun with them too?

miles: yep

me: who is your best friend?

miles: Bella.

He's loyal like his daddy, keep the friendships in the family.

And about a week or two ago I made this pasta dish with veggies, ground turkey and cheese. And he takes a bite at dinner and spontaneously says "mmmm. Good!"

Already a charmer, giving out compliments in a most sincere way.

He can totally get over on you, really smooth like. The other night I'm putting him to bed and he wants to read books before bed. We used to do this but I cut it out completely because it grew into let's read every single book we own. But this night I thought, well what's the harm, we can read one. No, we read about 7. I finally put my foot down because I realized he was stalling going to bed. So I said "no more, bed time, books tomorrow". He threw himself on his pillow and wailed pitifully for about 2 minutes "boooooooks! boooooooooks! boooooooks!" I felt like a book burning Nazi but I held firm - and tried to not laugh because his acting is not very good. Then I guess he realized he was getting nowhere with the books angle so he looks up, clear as a bell, not a tear on the face, gives me a sweet little look and makes the sign for "milk" with his little head cocked to the side as if to say "surely you can't deny your only child milk". So I said no milk and again it was "miiiiiiilk!, miiiiiiilk! miiiiiilk!" for a few minutes then he curled up next to me, patted my face and drifted off to sleep.

He is an expert climber and has great balance. He can actually stand on a basketball and balance unassisted if you hold the ball pretty still. I wish we lived in Hawaii because I think with his love of water and great balance he would love surfing.

He can turn on my iphone, scroll to the 3rd page where his apps are and pick the one he wants to play, turn it on and play the baby video game. I think it's a sign of his genius. Norris think's it's a sign that iphones are really just toys.

He can and does turn on the tv, get the remote and change the channels. Sometimes it will be on the wrong setting and he will bring it to us but he can also do it himself about half the time.

He's starting to get a crush on Dora the Explorer. I've got my eye on her and her magical backpack. You should see the smile on his face when she comes on TV. It has been pointed out to me that I do bear somewhat of a resemblance to Dora so perhaps that's why he likes her so much. I've still got my eye on her though, cute as she is!

The not so good:

He is beginning to be posessed by the "mine!" demon. Sharing is getting more and more difficult and even the other night in his sleep he just started yelling "mine! mine! mine! mine!".

He is snack crazy. He wants snacks all the time. He will eat fruits as snacks but also he somehow learned the word "cookie" - probably from that damn Cookie Monster. And we will hear a chant of "cookie! cookie! cookie!" from a little voice in front of the pantry. Luckily so far cookies equal gold fish crackers and those little graham cracker bunnies. But a friend brought over cupcakes from one of those amazing cupcake stores and he almost instantaneously began saying "cup-cup!, cup-cup!" and pointing longingly at the white box.

He is practically obsessed with TV. If we are home he turns it on and wants a cartoon channel on. If I turn it off, he turns it back on as soon as he notices it's off. The TV was on all day and I found out Michael Jackson had died by text from a friend. The world could be blowing up and unless they report it on Sprout I will not know.

Oh but to end on what is wonderful about Miles - his latest thing is to get up in the morning and give me a kiss, then Norris a kiss then Bella a kiss, then me again, then Norris, then Bella. So expressive of his affection for his family and so absolutely charming - these days go by too quickly.

19 Months - No Way!

2009-06-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

19 Months is in some ways a blah uncelebrated birthday. You start the slide down to 2 years and a lot of families start thinking about baby #2 as you are starting to not look or act so babyish any more. Your baby fat is almost all gone, your walking is awesome, even running.

In Miles' case add to the accomplishments of 19 months that he can actually jump now. He leaves the earth with ease and regularity. And is taking jumping to new levels, trying to jump out of highchairs and off of toys.

Talking has picked up some but and his big accomplishment is a short but heartfelt 2 word sentence that is used all the time all day long - No way! Sometimes it's a sweet no way and other times it's a no way that comes from the depths of his soul it's intonations conveying that he will probably stop breathing if made to comply with whatever it is he's responding no way to.

Sometimes I don't know why something will upset him so dramatically. A simple "Do you want some applesauce?" can produce a most pitifully tearful "No Way!". My guess is that because he can't speak yet he gets really frustrated when I offer something he wasn't thinking of.

This month it's finally gotten hot out here and so going for walks and hikes have mostly stopped. We went to Mandalay Bay to the Shark Aquarium with his friend Liam and he was a little scared of the big sharks swimming by. We saw Nicole Richie there with her husband and kid. She's small, like the size of a 9 year old small.

We also went to the Secret Garden at the Mirage and saw the dolphins and a couple gay white lions dry humping.

During the day Miles spends a good bit of time just hanging out in the back yard with Bella playing and on this day he ended up naked in his pool.

See the picture of a ton of pacifiers in a dirty corner...what's that you wonder? Well we were cleaning the house one day and it was time for his nap and we couldn't find any pacifiers anywhere and he totally needs one to go to sleep. Searched high and low, not one. I actually left and went to the grocery store and bought a couple new ones so he could take his nap. A few days later Norris, desperate again for a pacifier thought he would actually move our massive and heavy bed as he saw one behind the headboard. Well there's a storage space under our bed and he lifted the bed part up to try to reach behind the headboard without moving the bed and lo and behold, our little squirrel was stashing pacifiers down a hole on the side of the bed.

And finally as you have already noticed he got his first professional haircut this month. The hair was getting way to shaggy and I didn't have the heart to give him the low cut he really needed for the summer. The pics are on my iphone and if I can get them off I will post them soon as they are quite a dramatic before and after.

My boy likes to party all the time paaarty alll the tiiiimmmmeeeeee!

2009-05-04T23:28:00.000-07:00

So last Friday we had a little water party for some of Miles' friends to come over and hang out with him. We had a pool shaped like a whale, a sink that pumped water like a real sink and this dinky little circle that had sprinkles come out all around. I figured with the amount of kids coming over that it would give them all room to play. Wrong. They all adored the thing with the sprinkles coming out and it looked like Cancun at Spring Break up in there. Wall to wall toddlers. And they liked to hang out in there with a snack in their hands looking for all the world like old men chilling in the water nursing beers.

Preparty Miles was busy running around without shoes. I tried to keep him on the patio by keeping shoes off thinking the rocks would be to hard and he would stay confined. No, he's ready to do a firewalk, his feet have no feeling apparently. He can walk on the sharpest rock without a "weh".

Then they partied.

Then there was an afterparty with his best buds River and Liam. This afterparty involved clearing me out of all kitchen utensils then jumping on the couches like 18 month old maniacs. Poor River practically fell asleep mid jump. I looked over one minute he's partying, next passed out!

This age is so fun when it's not being challenging. And he's starting to talk more! And last Wednesday he was trying to jump and mostly he looked like a Sumo wrestler because just one foot would end up going dramatically up and down. But ONCE! he caught some air. Like maybe half an inch. And he landed on his feet. And the expression on his face was priceless. Filled with awe and amazement that he just left the earth. So full of wonderment and curiosity. I just hope to not spoil that.

18 months

2009-04-29T20:16:00.001-07:00

Our Sweet Littlefeet turned 18 months old today. A year and a half of a kind of life I never thought I would really enjoy or be cut out for. But I have loved it. Miles makes it so easy. Even when he's being naughty he's mostly still so cuddly. Like in the first picture. We were in the parking lot of the base hospital on the way for him to get his 18 month checkup. The light was good. I asked him to look at me so I could take his picture. He would look everywhere else BUT at me. Because that's how he rolls now - he's 18 months and thinks he can be an independent agent now.

This weekend we took him for a little hike at Corn Creek. He had a stick and used it to poke and point at any and everything. As little boys go I guess that's par for the course. I kind of thought it was how all the kids were but my friends who have girls say no, girls are just more mellow. Miles, well, let me just say that everyday is a desperate attempt to find outlets for him to use up his BOUNDLESS energy. Today it was peds office followed by thrift store, toysrus (we're having a water party playdate on Friday with some of his friends), then off to the neighborhood park to play with his friends River and Liam in the water feature. It was a lovely 81 degrees today but that water was ICY and poor Miles is crying in this picture as the water chills him to the bone. The upside of Vegas' dry and windy climate is that it's like living inside a hairdryer so he dried off in a matter of minutes.
So 18 month stats:

Weight 27.2 lbs, Height 31.8 inches, Head Circumference 49.5 cm - not much change from 15 month checkup, except for his height which, since it's the first time he was measured standing up instead of lying down actually DECREASED by 3 inches. Go figure. Maybe it was the haircut he got.

Pace July 7 1996 - April 19, 2009

2009-04-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Today is one of the sad days. Feel free to skip reading this post because it's a downer. It's a loss not only of a life but one of my best friends who made the transition with me from single to married. I am still in shock and keep thinking I will see her on her favorite chair or in the tub meowing for some water. But I won't.

Last night my gorgeous Pace suffered a severe asthma attack and she died. The pollen and dust here in Vegas is horrible. Miles has an inhaler as do I, for the first time in my life. The dust and pollen must have gotten to her that much more and it has been especially horrible the last few days and it was too much for her. She was only 12 years old and she was never a problem cat. Norris even grew to begrudgingly like her. She was simple, she liked water. She had a routine. She started her day around 7 by meowing at our door to open up and turn the tub faucet on. She got her good drink of fresh water then she went to the green chair in the playroom to sit and wait for the sun to pass across and warm her body. Mid day she moved to the chair in the living room and watched the action of Miles and Bella horsing around. Every now and then she would get involved but not for too long. In the afternoons she dissappeared and I think she went under the couch. She would come over at night for a little cuddle and then patrol a bit and go to sleep for the night.
She was a picky eater. Only kibble. No wet food, no treats - not even fresh fish or milk or cheese. Not interested.
Pace was a Ragdoll I adopted along with Appolonia a Persian (Kitty to those who knew her) in Washington D.C. in January 2003. I knew they were already older but I was not sure if I would like having pets so I thought an older pair of cats would be a good starter. They were a great starter. They were bonded since they were kittens but since Pace always really thought she was the shit she tried to give Kitty the beat down whenever she could.
All that equalized a few years later when we got Bella and then Pace was the one always getting extra special "love" from Bella who would jump in the fray whenever a Pace/Kitty rumble started up. Kitty, my sweet little Persian with the stuffy nose would have had an even more terrible time with allergies here in Vegas and unfortunately she died when I was 5 months pregnant with Miles.

Kitty was easy to love though she had more problems. She was a sneezer who liked to get right in your face and spray you with cat boogers. But she always was so grateful to be near you and she just couldn't get near you enough. She disarmed even the crochety cat hating Norris who I would catch cuddling with her and babytalking her.

Pace was not as easy to love but of both my cats she was the one I loved more. Kitty had everyone's love, even my mom who was terrified of cats. Pace was almost universally second cat to everyone but me. Her name was pronounced Pachi and it means Peace in Italian. She mostly lived up to her name thought had a poor reputation because Kitty was so sugar sweet. I loved Pace for her totally unrealistic confidence and superiority. Pace was totally full of confidence and kind of dumb. She had no fear and would approach dogs and try to play with them the couple times we had friends' dogs over. She had ZERO hunting instinct and was hilarious in the way she would see a bird at the window and just think she could run up to it and catch it while Kitty spent twenty minutes sneaking up inch by inch. She ran out of the house a couple times. She caught fleas and brought them in and we had a horrible flea infestation in the Pensacola house after Hurricane Ivan that was so bad that Norris had to take the cats to Biloxi with him and I had to stay at a friends and have the house treated. Because of Pace. But for all that she never peed anywhere untoward (unlike Kitty) and was not a terrible shedder (Kitty again).

And when Miles came she was wonderful to him. She slept near him and hung near me and was motherly to me. And she never hissed or tried to scratch him when he would bestow his enthusiastic love on her. She just stayed and purred. My last memory of them together is of his bath day before yesterday. He was in the tub and she came over and sat on the rim just looking down at him bathe as she often did. And he just sat in the water looking up at her and smiling. And they were in harmony at that moment and it was wonderful.
I loved Pace so much and miss her already. I know that she hasn't been as lively lately and just wants to sleep and is even more grumpy and antisocial than ever but I still think of her as just misunderstood. And now she's gone and so suddenly it's unreal. No one to turn the tap on at a drip for anymore.

Chopped Liver thy name is Mummy

2009-04-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

So it's become a pretty predictable thing now that Miles starts fussing every day around 4pm till Norris gets home. Once he sees Norris he's all sunshine and light and I am left to complain like a paranoid delusional about a horrible acting Todd that was just here but can't be found now.
So I accept my role as second string when Norris gets home but yesterday Miles took it to a whole new level. I was sitting on the couch covering my legs with one of his baby blankets and Norris was sitting on the other couch. Miles decided that Norris was looking cold and just walked over to me, took the blanket off of me and gave it to Norris with a big smile kind of saying "for you, precious Father". So Norris takes the blanket and says "Thanks Miles, can I get Mommy's cushion too?" with a laugh. The child walks over to me Very Seriously and tries to pull the cushion from behind me to give to Norris. And kind of gives me a sour look when I wouldn't give up my cushion. I feel happy that he loves his Daddy oh so much but this better not be the start of a trend.

17 months

2009-04-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

The pace of life has been quickening as Miles becomes older. Where I used to have hours of free time while he napped in which I could download pics and update the blog, he now naps about an hour a day and there is much to do in that time.

This month has been additionally busy because of a great jaunt we took over to California for a week. We started with a couple days at Disneyland and California Adventures while staying at the Grand Californian right in the park. I do recommend this if going with a small child as it was excellent for just breaking up the day and letting him come back to the room to rest or go to the pool. We had originally planned to do 4 days at Disney but quickly realized that Miles is not ready for Disney. He doesn't watch much TV apart from Animal Planet and didn' t know any characters. He was also most interested in everyday things like the flowers, DRINKING FOUNTAINS (we could go to the gym for that) and little stationary cars he could climb in. The highlights at Disney were the Jungle river boat ride with the animals and Small World. He did not like meeting Mickey and was pretty much overwhelmed by the crowds which made it necessary for him to mostly stay in his stroller.

So after a couple days we left and went down to Sea World in San Diego as he LOVES animals. Sea World was not crowded at all and we had pretty much the park to ourselves. Miles was able to run about freely and absolutely loved seeing all the animals. I would recommend Sea World for toddlers any day. They even have an excellent play area to just let them run around and have free play while the parents chill on the side.

And for Norris and I we got a chance to tool around San Diego a bit. We stayed at a nice hotel on Mission Beach and our room had a beautiful view of the marina. We also went to Coronado and Miles played in the sand - which may have been a highlight for him.

Lesson from this trip for me was that I have a simple, easy to please child. Give him some sand to play in, a playarea, or a car and he's as happy as he'll get. Things he did not like: Fireworks - totally terrified of those, Big Characters - didn't want to meet Mickey etc. Fell asleep FOR THE SECOND TIME at Mickey's Playhouse - I think it overwhelms him and he just shuts down.

And the grand finale of the trip for me? IKEA!! Managed to drag Norris to IKEA (which he pretends to hate while simultaneously making a beeline to their cinnamon buns the instant he gets there). There is no IKEA in Vegas and Miles has almost outgrown his little wooden toys and I wanted to get him trains. He seemed to like IKEA so I guess he is my child after all even though day by day he is more of Norris' Mini-me.

17month report:

He is still not a big talker. Words include Mummy, Da Da, Dog, Eyes, Teeth, Ball, Yummy. He makes his wishes clearly known however with an incredibly bossy index finger. But his personality.... pure sugar. He's the only kid his age I know who just comes up to his mommy in the middle of a playdate and gives me a big hug and wet kiss. All the other moms were jealous. He's super loving like that. He is such a little charmer it's hard to put your foot down and tell him no. He is very mild and pretty well behaved most of the time and the times when he does act naughty I tend to let him slide now which I will probably rue one day but as he doesn't have tantrums and do mean things like biting or shoving other kids I give him leeway on not letting me brush his teeth as well as I would like.

We stay busy to burn off the endless supply of toddler energy. Currently he takes Swim classes, Gymboree and Music Together classes once a week. Then we meet up with other kids and have playdates or go to the museum, park or some random thing or other - this week it was touring a dairy plant and going for a hike at Calico Basin.

Valley of Fire State Park

2009-03-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

We went to the most gorgeous park the other weekend. Valley of Fire State Park was the first State Park of Nevada. The rock coloration there is unbelievable, there are petroglyphs all along the hikes and several movies have been filmed there. We enjoyed hiking there and plan to return at least once more before the weather turns hot as it gets very hot there in the aptly named Valley of Fire - usually around 120 in summer.

16.5 months

2009-03-14T13:03:00.001-07:00

Well this post is officially very late and will be very lame. I'm kind of burned out on keeping up with the blog now which is sad because we do so many things to blog about now and Miles is increasingly entertaning to be around.

For instance, he loves putting on our shoes and walking around in them. Here he is, pure joy as Norris put his boots on Miles and let him try to walk around in them.
We've also been doing a lot of fun things with him. Here we took him to see Thomas the Tank Engine Show with his friend David. The child did not blink for minutes at a time during that show.

He also hosted his first playdate last month and had a blast. We had about 6 little boys from ages 4 to 9 months come over and play. We made edible fingerpaints and they had a blast fingerpainting. The recipe is simple if anyone wants to try. Just mix 2 tablespoons flour with 1 tablespoon water and add food coloring to make the desired colors. Look for neon food coloring also. Miles was the youngest of the fingerpainters and the only one to dip a cracker in the paints and eat them.

Things he can do this month:
Can eat with a fork - baby fork

Can drink small amounts from a cup

Can drink from a squeeze bottle

Good at throwing a ball

Can walk up and down hills of moderate incline

Helps rub lotion on himself after bath

Not immediately putting everything he sees into his mouth

Went poop in a potty once

(Pooped on the floor twice though)

Helps put his toys away

Can identify dogs, cats, fish and frogs in almost any book

LOVES, LOVES watching Animal Planet's Pet Star. He and Bella both get right up under the TV and he screams with delight while Bella whines and gets excited.

Says Mommy, Daddy, Da (dog or duck), occassionally will say other words (Pace - our cat, dirty)

If I say something is dirty he will scrunch his noes and make a face like something smells bad

Loves going to the park, and can now throw bread to feed the ducks.

15 months

2009-02-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

This 15 month post is so late it should really be called the 15.5 month post. But he's been growing like a weed and keeping us really busy! His 15 month well baby checkup shows him at 95%tile for head circumference (observe picture of him in black jumper, head is almost bobble head proportion), 75%tile for weight and 100%tile for height. The boy is big and strong! Miles loves to walk and can't quite run yet so he looks like a penguin who speed walks as he races down the halls. He can also walk backwards which he loves to show you and can run in place, which he does when he's excited. Talking is not happening much yet but he understands a lot and will occasionally repeat something you say. He loves, and I mean loves reading books and they are his favorite toy. He will bring Norris and I books all day long for us to read to him and can be quite demanding about it. It's like having a small General barking orders "read! read!" but instead just grunting or yelling something we can't call English. The pictures of him eating corn and near the lake are of him at the Floyd Lamb State park near our house, the closest thing to regular nature you can get out here in the desert. He also RODE A PONY! for the first time, and loved petting and kissing the animals at the JR Pony Farm. Also observe our kitchen chairs lying on the ground, as he has already climbed onto the table and fallen off. So now he trys to kill himself by entangling himself in the chair legs and leaning over all sorts of ways. The scary news this month was that he might have asthma. We've had to get an inhaler and though his doc hasn't heard wheezing in his follow up visits he's still on an inhaler for a while till she can determine he does not need it. He's not the biggest fan of the inhaler so it's a bit frustrating sometimes but other than that he's a great eater and very even tempered.

Why I haven't posted much lately....

2009-01-21T21:36:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling badly about not posting much lately. But when I finally got a chance to download the pics from my memory stick I saw why. The house might catch on fire if I took time out of the day from watching this kid. This Todd is into everything! (His nickname is sometimes Todd, short for Toddler.)
His current obsession is climbing. And he climbs everything he can. He climbs in drawers to get to higher drawers, on toys, in the picture where he's "reading" the WSJ he climbed the chair in the minute I went to get a coffee refill. I planned to take more pictures of him climbing, but in the short time that it took to take the memory stick from the computer and back into the camera he has managed to snatch it from the computer and we can't find it anywhere. And it could be ANYWHERE. We were missing the remote control for the TV for 2 weeks, and notice my pastry dough cutter nicely placed in the lamp in our guestroom.

The labor saving automatic dog feeder was not so handy once Miles got through with messing with the programming and we woke up one morning to a hill of dogfood pouring out the bowl.

The harassment of Pace continues at a healthy clip. Notice in the final picture he is getting a 2fer. Not only harassing the lamp but also note the cat tail poking out from under the bed as Pace flees to escape the Todd.

Despite all this the sweetest picture to me is the first one - it's the first time he used a straw. He was sucking down undiluted apple juice and acted like a happy drunk for a good while after all that sugar hit the veins.

14 months, Christmas and all that!

2009-01-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

It's been wayyyy too long without posting. Since last meeting our hero he has become very good at walking, even running in a cute penguin running sort of way. His favorite object of adoration is Bella, they are ALWAYS kissing/licking in the mouth and it's disgusting but we can't make it stop all the time.
Pace, our poor old cat also gets more love from him than she probably wants but she tolerates him really well considering how people hating she usually is.
Christmas was sweet and wonderful. Miles enjoyed having his Uncle Alfred and Granny Annie over and they spoiled him with lots of love and attention. He has started swimming classes again this winter and also started itty-bitty gymnastics which is hilarious because he can't follow any directions and just runs around like a crazy garden gnome jumping on things and shouting "ahhhh!". He enjoys it.
Verbal skills still not great due to excessive pacifier sucking. He'll have one in his mouth, find another and try to suck two at once, it's that bad. He loves playing games with pacifier also, trying to lure me in with the offer than perhaps I can have a suck, then at the last second he'll pivot and give it to Norris and laugh, laugh, laugh. So the only major verbal development apart from the very good and endless "da-da's", and the sporadic "ma-ma's" is, no kidding, "yabba dabba do". He hasn't seen the Flintstones once either. I don't know where it came from but it is fitting seeing as he is kind of like a caveman with his primitive grunting, poor coordination and lack of social graces. Oh, and he makes the sign language sign for "more" when he wants food. So that's pretty neat.

13 months

2008-11-29T14:17:00.001-08:00

Today Miles is 13 months old. I am totally feeling sick, runny nose, headache, sore throat so blogging skills are down to zero. So here are some cute pictures of Miles taken recently. He is a strong walker now and even runs a bit. He is a total giggler and ham. If we are paying attention to Bella he'll try to do something funny like put a toy in his mouth and wave his arms around in order to get attention.
The first picture is just the best one I could get after taking about 60 of Pace, Bella and Miles. I feel like I've been neglecting Pace, there's been no pictures of her on the blog or even a mention for months. She's getting old and even more antisocial but she does let Miles pet and kiss her, poor old thing.
Then there he is hiding in a cupboard in the kitchen. It's so comical to come around the island and there he is, in his foxhole, peering out.
The pictures in the snow are from Thanksgiving. We drove up to Mt. Charleston and there was fresh fallen snow and Miles got to experience his first snow. As you can see he does not instantly take to new things so no smiles. After about an hour he got a little curious and would touch it a bit.
Life these days is sweet and good and we have been having lots of laughs and happiness watching Miles continue to expand his horizons.

Miles

2008-11-08T18:15:00.001-08:00

Myspace Glitter Graphics

Officially One

2008-11-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well here we have it. One year old. The cliche about time passing quickly is true. And you're so wonderful right now, I wish I could freeze time and we could just stay this way forever. You walk like a Frankenstein revving his motorcycle engine - arms sticking straight out and hands twisting. You kiss the dog and cat as much as you kiss your mom and dad.
For your birthday I made you a train cake. We went to the park, you got a little train truck from your uncle Alfred that you love, a Radio Flyer bicycle from Ms. Norma that you demand to be pushed on all day even when it's cold and windy outside (thanks Norma!), Daddy and I got you a fishtank with 3 beta fish, Ga and Ga got you a Noah's Ark with a crapload of noisy animals which you love (except the cow, you are afraid of electronic cow noises - you have 2 electronic cows that scare you now).
You went trick or treating and were so cute. You'd stand there and quietly hold your bag and then I would ring the doorbell and the people would open the door looking at their eye level then have to look allllll the way down almost to the level of their knees and there you'd be, dressed like a dinosaur. Bella dressed like a pirate.
Before Halloween we went to a pumpkin patch and you had a nice time trying to eat hay and rolling little pumpkins and dried corn around.
Hmmm....what else...

Only that the first Black President was elected and you'll never even know what it's like to grow up in a world where maybe some things are not possible. And I'm proud to tell you that I donated, phonebanked and canvassed so that you'd have this world. Everything is possible for you my boy and you live in a promising and optimistic time right now.

Daddy and I love you immensely too, just so you know, in case we don't tell you about 5000 times a day.

2 more days

2008-10-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that in 2 measly days my precious little infant will be 1 year old. This is terrible. I don't know how it happened so fast and I'm not ready to stop counting his age in months. I'm calling him 11 months till tomorrow. And he's so sweet. Just a lovey dovey little human.
I'm toying with going back to work and it tears me up inside to think about handing him over to someone else for the majority of his waking hours. He is a total mamas boy and we do everything together. Here's some pics of him trying on his Halloween costume. We have been so blessed with this little infant and everyday is a treasure.

Vegas is unreal

2008-10-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

We live in a fancy neighborhood where almost every house is either a rental or in foreclosure and the economy here is in dire straits. But here today we see this amazing blimp flying over our house with a movie theater size screen on the side advertising Land Rovers and other luxury brands. It's hard to be impressed by things anymore since you see everything here but this blimp is new and kind of awesome. My question is...who's buying Land Rovers right now? Everyone except Warren Buffet is holding on to their money like white holds on to rice.

11 months

2008-10-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Suddenly at 11 months you seem like a big boy. You are learning so quickly and want to talk to me all the time. And the crazy thing is I think I understand what you're talking about. Granted your interests are few and relate mostly to putting things in your mouth or to wanting a toy but still...I think there's been progress in the communications department.
Our trip home from Trinidad was 14 hours and I was panicked when I thought about it. However you showed what you're made of and were such a good baby and a total charmer. You slept for about 3 hours on each leg of the trip and played with your toys and sometimes other passengers the rest of the time. You even had a small playgroup with a couple other kids in the Miami airport.
Standing and dancing is no problem to you. Taking one or two steps is no problem either. But you still have a fear factor with just letting go and walking. I can see you are ready though. Your Dad and I think it's just a matter of letting Bella come home and when you want to chase her then you'll get the motivation.
And Bella comes home on Monday!
Foods you like: Chicken! Apple Juice! Peanut Butter! Sweet Potatos! Kiwis are OK, Oranges are hit and miss.
You are already a little director. The other night you were whinging, Dad and I were sitting on the couch and you kept going from one of us to the other. Then FINALLY! we figured out what you wanted and we sat really close together. The relief on your face was evident. And you sat on both our laps and stared up at us with satisfaction.
You are very affectionate. A total Huggy Bear. If you could spend your day hugging and giving kisses with occassional breaks for bottles and food I think you'd take it.
And we got your nursery back in order but with almost 5 months of sleeping in the bed with me in Trinidad we're a little concerned that the days of you sleeping in your crib are over. You'll hang out there for a few minutes if I'm in the room but that's it. And seeing that you've already climbed out of your playpen I'm not willing to let you cry it out by yourself in your crib and end up bouncing off the floor.

Baby Steps!

2008-09-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

So with 11 months looming just around the corner, Miles has been picking up the pace on walking. I try to submerge my inner Michael Phelps but sometimes I help him practice and encourage him with " Come on baby! Daddy walked at 10 months, you can't let daddy beat you! You're #1, beat Daddy baby!"
Miles looks at me and laughs.
He has taken a couple steps however. Tiny baby steps and the whole time he's doing this "weh, weh, ung, ung" thing. Like "I don't like this, but I'm doing it, but I'm telling you this crap is scary and I don't know why you have me doing it but since you're so excited I'll try".
So he made a tiny baby step today a couple times and then fell into my arms. It was so cute. And another thing he did today was while he was going down for a nap. He was laying on his pillow and scooted over near me and put his arm around my neck and nuzzled my face with his and put his cheek next to mine and cuddled me. Butter! I melted like butter.

Not going anywhere

2008-09-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

So we're not going anywhere. Poor Norris has to stay in the hellhole for longer. But here's some pictures of Miles with his BFF Nicky riding a kids tractor in the garden.

Leaving Trinidad

2008-09-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

The munchkin is napping and it's two days before we leave for Vegas. It's been a memorable time for me. Coming down to Trinidad for 4 months while Norris was gone has not always been an easy or fun thing, but on balance I would say that I made the right decision.
Miles has gotten to spend more time with his Grandparents than he will probably ever spend again. He has gotten that "raised by a village" experience that Hillary Clinton spoke so eloquently about. This has made him into a very friendly, happy little infant. When we came down here he could just sit up a little. In our time here he has gone from rolling around to crawling to standing and even riding a little fire truck.
This visit has also injected new life into my parents. I know they will be at a loss for a little while after we leave and Miles will also miss seeing his Ga!'s every day. He loves them and when he sees them he throws his arms up to try to grab them and have them hug him.
I have gotten a lot of help in raising him. I don't think I would have done as good a job if I had toughed it out in Vegas by myself. This experience really showed me how insanely hard the life of a single parent is and I honestly have no idea how they do it day after day if they know there's no end in sight. Knowing this was temporary made it easier.
The hardest part may be coming up. When we came down here he was a wee, malleable 6 month old. He actually slept for most of our trip down and people commented about how well behaved he was on the flight. Now I have an almost 11 month old who is a veritable ball of energy stacked on chubby legs. The idea of having him be still for two four hour flights is so laughable that I am just keeping it out of my mind as much as possible. That coupled with the fact that I have NO assigned seat and as it stands now will be assigned to middle seats the whole way also makes me think that this journey will be epic.
Our trip down here would not have been the same if not for the help of my friend Sandra and her sweet son Nicky. They babysat Miles and loved him and treated him as part of their family. He is going to miss them so much and I wonder if he will understand when we leave everyone behind. The culture and the life we are returning to is so different. We are going from an extended family system to a pretty isolated nuclear family dynamic and apart from playgroups or other activities like that Miles will spend all his time with just Norris and I. Rarely if ever will he experience other families, other ages of people and the sheer amount of people in everyday life as he does here. But as everyone says, children are resilient. And when we get back he will have three great constant companions who will worship and adore him (Norris,Bella and I) and one who will have a passing interest and show occassional love (Pace).

I love Anderson Cooper

2008-09-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

....so why doesn't Bill O'Reilly begin with the letter G?

Stock trader

2008-09-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

With the market down Miles has been doing some heavy trading, picking up those blue chips at a bargain and our phone bills are sky high.

Miles and Amelia

2008-09-09T15:35:00.001-07:00

Today we see Miles with his frenemy Amelia. He loves Amelia but is also afraid of her because she is kind of like a cat. One minute she's playing nice, the next she's biting, hitting or kicking him.

Pictures!! Finally!!

2008-09-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, over the next few days I will post pics. It takes forever to get them posted so bear with me.
Todays's pictures show Miles doing two of his favorite things, bathing and eating. He is an eating machine. I never have to worry about him eating. I never understood how scary it can be when your child does not eat until he got sick a couple weeks ago. I HATED that he was a picky eater. I got so worried for him. His legs got a little thinner so I guess he used some baby fat around that time.

10 months

2008-08-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

Miles, today you are 10 months old. You are sleeping right now. Yesterday Barack Obama had a historic nomination acceptance event and it makes me hopeful that the world will be an ok place for you to grow up in.

So how have you grown? You got 2 more teeth this month, your front top teeth and when you smile oh, well, I just melt inside. You're about 2 1/2 feet tall, your 18 month clothes are too small for you and keep popping off at the snap crotches.

So what can you do? You can give an Obama style Fist Bump, give High 5's, wave bye bye and give kisses. You call your Grandma "Ga". You call me "Ma", FINALLY! You enjoy chatting on the phone with Amelia - you both can't really talk but somehow have intense phone conversations with each other. You totally have everyone around here fascinated by your every move - even the office staff, who pitched in and bought you a piano with animal sounds which has become one of your favourite toys. Your Grandma seems to get high whenever she sees you - she acts so silly to entertain you. Another thing you have gotten good at is crying to be held. You act like we left you in the forest and you're afraid we will do it again. You CONSTANTLY want to be held and while my parents find it cute I find it annoying.

What happened this month? Well you got gastro and was the sickest I've ever seen you and it was scary. Projectile vomit, violent diarrhea and no appetite at all. Thankfully that has passed and you are back to eating like a termite.

Ok huggy bear, you woke up and are demanding attention, holding on to my chair and shaking it with your tiny might. When are you going to let go of that pacifier? Ok, you're trying to turn off the TV again, gotta go!

Vitamin D Deficiency May Lurk in Babies

2008-08-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

From NY Times today, scary and something I have never heard of:

Exclusive breast-feeding may be associated with vitamin D deficiency and rickets, recent research suggests.
Click on title of post to see article.

I didn't know until this weekend.....

2008-08-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

that babies could have such explosive diarrhea that it would actually blow the poop out of the diaper and all up the back of the baby and all on the bed too. I feel I have learned this piece of information the hard way.

Because I miss Pace and am kind of sick of the Olympics

2008-08-22T17:42:00.001-07:00

more animals

House of Ill

2008-08-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

We are hunkering down this morning weathering a storm of projectile vomiting coming from 3 sides. Two days ago my mom started having vomiting and diarrhea. Miles was not around her and we thought maybe she had food poisioning so did not expect it to spread. But it did.

Yesterday around 3pm I was feeding him green peas (what an Exorcist Cliche but it's true) then a little milk and the child started Linda Blair-ing on me and ALL over the couch. I had never seen projectile vomit before. It's like an ugly fountain. It was kind of a light green, Martha Stewart probably would choose it to paint a kitchen or mud room. Poor child did that till there was less than nothing in his stomach. Quick trip to the doctor and he was diagnosed with gastroenteritis. Last night was a nostalgic trip back to the first weeks of his life when I had to be up every couple hours to care for him. Baby got the diarrhea too.

Today so far he's been holding on and I've been giving him Pedialyte every 15 minutes as well as coconut water and Crix biscuits. Unfortunately my dad has fallen to the gastro as well. I am currently the only soul standing. I feel a little paranoid kind of like I may be Linda Hamilton and the alien is already in my stomach and will soon rip through kicking ass and taking me down with everyon else.

Mayaro beach house

2008-08-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

You know how when you're home, and it's just hot and you're kind of bored and you think to yourself how nice and cool it would be to be at the beach instead? Well I had that thought while sitting in our air conditioned living room and went and spent the weekend at a beachouse in Mayaro with some friends of my mom's.
My mom (who could give those fabled rats a run for their money when it comes to packing) and I packed for the overnight stay so that meant that when we left we took a playpen, 2 fullsize suitcases, a lasagna, a gallon size bottle of Baileys, a stroller, 8 liters of water, 6 towels, bedding for 2 beds, plus enough baby food to feed Miles till he is ready for college.
Barely able to close the trunk, with no room to move her feet in the back because of all the luggage we were not ready to leave yet. No, we had to pick up a friend of the host who we had never met. Did she travel light? Well comparatively but not really as she was going to the house for the entire week having nothing to do with her life but roast in the hot sun I guess. So we jammed 3 more bags into the car plus this lady who had green painted very long toenails and off we went.
Those who have never been to Trinidad may think that it being an island in the Caribbean that the idyllic beach must be, oh, a stones throw from every doorstep. Not so dear reader. Though as the crow flies the beach we were destined for would only be maybe 20km south east of us, in order to get there we actually had to go NORTH about 30km then EAST about 20km then SOUTH about 50km. And so it was 2 1/2 hours of bumpy road with a strange, kind of loud talking lady (who later the next day stripped half naked in the yard in full view of everyone and just didn't care) we arrived at a pretty nice house.
Our hostess is a lovely and gracious woman who kindly told the few friends she invited that they could bring friends too if they wanted. What resulted that day and the next was a kind of Indian Animal House where bottles of booze and new people were arriving nearly every hour and massive amounts of food were being cooked. There were children everywhere, adults swarming and even a crab in a bucket who jumped out of his confines and escaped to safety, preferring his chances with in the wild to his chances with these people who seemed to cook every type of meat they could get their hands on.
Eventually however night fell and the day trippers took their leave and there was calm in the home. We all happily took to the porch and drank Baileys, and eventually got a bit sleepy. To the sleeping quarters we went and there realized that sleeping in a beachhouse in the Caribbean without air conditioning is kind of like sleeping in the ocean itself as the air was so wet and humid. So my mom and I dragged one of the plastic encased mattresses to teh rooftop deck and made it up and with pillows and all lay under the full moon with Miles for a few hours till he fell asleep then moved it back downstairs to prevent him waking up with lungs full of dew.
Oh, I forgot - the neighbors were having a MASSIVE party with live tassa drumming and everything so getting Miles to sleep that night was especially impossible.
Around midnight I went with one of my aunts to the beach so she could find her husband who enjoys taking a midnight dip. As we were out looking for him, out from the water emerges an aging Venus, naked as the day she was born and cool as anything says "hello, goodnight" and heads into the party next door.
Next day, drink, people, repeat. Drive back in blazing hot heat and think to self that the beach may be good for a lot of things but not for cooling off.

Baby Top 40

2008-08-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

Miles usually does not watch T.V. it's on in the background and I'm watching the Olympics or surfing through the election pundits. There's only one thing he consistently stops to watch, agog with enjoyment, bouncing up and down no matter what he's doing. It's those Free Credit Report. com commercials. You know "they monitor your credit and send you email alerts, so you don't end up selling fish to tourists in tshirts". That one. More than Disney channel, more than anything educational on PBS or Discovery Channel. That's his favorite thing on T.V.

front teeth and talking

2008-08-09T07:06:00.001-07:00

So 2 days ago our boy got his top right front tooth. My brother in law may know what this tooth is technically called but I call it Adventures in Biting. The Miles mouth is now a place you put a finger only if you have paid up your health insurance. Unfortunately in my Mommy Duties I do have a responsibility to go in there fairly often. His gums hurt and he's fussy so I have to rub some teething gel on there. I feel like I've been drafted to go into a battle where everyone knows heavy casualties are the expectation. He seems to smile knowingly when he sees the tube, like he's rubbing the tongue on them polishing them up for the attack. He aims for the cuticle. It's the most sensitive spot on the finger I guess.
Talking is pissing me off. I am the Ma Ma. I did EVERYTHING for 9 months then mostly everything for another 9 months. Why oh why then does he call my mom "Ga! Ga!" but me, I get coughed at. Yes, I said coughed at. Miles gives me this little "cough, cough" to get my attention when I am not looking at him. I guess he doesn't want to cry but can't talk yet. But it is humbling to be called by the infant as though my name is Jeeves the Butler. This has got to be remedied. I may start playing a loop tape of "Ma Ma Ma Ma" to him in his sleep till he starts saying it.

9 months

2008-08-05T14:34:00.001-07:00

Dear Miles,
A few days ago you turned 9 months old. You are just good enough to eat. I love everything about you, and many other people do too. Your babysitter Sandra here in Trinidad comes to "borrow" you like a library book if she hasn't seen you in more than 3 days. Her whole family is in love with you and I'm taking pictures of them in case I have to call the authorities if you're missing. You LOVE her son Nicki here in the picture holding you. You just hang on to every move he makes when he's around. You want to walk like the big kids so bad, you stand up and barely hold on to things and inevitably fall and bust your butt when your feet get tangled. But after a little cry up and trying again you go. You can say car and dada. Every now and then you will repeat something clear as day.

You have your two bottom front teeth and you make the most of them. You are an eating champion. There has only been one food (gross Heinz chicken and vegetable puree) that you have refused. You eat the most bitter vegetables like carile and spinach and want more. We took you to Ruby Tuesdays a couple weeks ago and gave you a little bowl of pasta and when it was done you picked up the bowl and started licking it. Here you can see a picture of you eating a chicken leg like it's nobody's business but yours.

You are surprisingly strong. You grab 4 liter bottles of water and drag them around, you picked up the computer chair by holding on to it and refusing to let go when we tried to get you away from the computer. And you're tall too, you're already 30 inches.

You LOVE to bounce up and down.

You cut the cake with Amelia for her 2nd birthday party and then stuck your whole hand in her cake trying to grab what you could for yourself. It was quite a day for you, in the swimming pool with a bevy of 2 and 3 year olds, hanging out quite calmly while all the chaos swirled around. Having this time to spend with you every day is something I will never forget, it is truly worth the effort and self sacrifice to see you enjoying life and turning out to be so brave and calm.

Foreshadowing the future by Amelia Joseph, age 2

2008-07-17T16:24:00.000-07:00

So last night Miles' cousin Amelia came to spend the night. Since posting pictures is an incredible pain in the ass I will instead draw you a verbal picture. Picture a 2-3 foot tall uninhibited skinny laughing, screeching, jewelry wearing, fingernail painted, wild jungle child who has recently been discovered living in a tribe of wolves and has been brought to civilization about a week ago. Basically your typical 2 year old. Favorite food - ketchup. Amount of food eaten, about one teaspoon at a time of anything. She seems to survive on air, like an orchid.
She got jealous of my parents giving him attention so she bit him. The look on his face now when he sees her is one of longing and confused fear. This morning you could tell he wanted so badly to be near her and giving her kisses but he was a little afraid that she might bite again.
She went to my dad, her "grandpapa" and matter of factly told him " I bite Milesy boy". She calls him Milesy boy like she is some old lady and he is a little child even though they are only a year and 3 months apart. She is so tiny, actually weighs the same as Miles and they wear the same size Pampers. I remember her a visit last year being Miles' age and being just like Miles, all smiles and effort to walk and sweet as morning sunlight. So I'm trying to enjoy my fat little roly poly ball of love right now as I know that just around the corner the "Terrible two's" await and life will be a non stop action movie.

First tooth and more

2008-07-12T18:13:00.001-07:00

Today our boy went to the Emperor Valley Zoo here in Trinidad. He was more interested in watching people, especially anyone eating anything than in watching the animals. But he did like the parrots it seemed.
Yesterday he cut his second tooth. Last week on July 3 I noticed his first tooth working it's way out.
He is very sharing. He shares his pacifier with me all the time - I have to pretend to suck it when he puts it in my mouth. Today he was eating a cracker and thought I would like some so he offered me his wet mushy cracker and watched to make sure I ate it. He smiled, ate some more then offered me more after him. I was touched by his sharing and grossed out that I ate a slimy cracker covered in someone else's spit.

8 months old - 22 pounds of pleasure

2008-06-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Miles turned 8 months old. For some reason that age just seems SO OLD to me. Though he is still an infant he's now a mobile infant. And that mobility makse such a difference. It's still not walking unassisted but he can really get accross a room now, whether holding on to furniture and "cruising" as they call it (I just picture babies at bars with cigarettes when I hear that) or belly wiggling accross the room or even actual crawling which he will sometimes engage in.

He's knows plenty of baby tricks to get his point accross without words.

Exhibit 1: Morning time circa sunrise. Infant Miles awakes delighted to be alive. Looks over at sleeping Mommy and determines that she has had enough sleep and should now wake up and entertain him with belly tickles, raspberries on belly, kisses and wrestling. So he approaches Sleeping Mommy with 2 pronged attack. First, pull hair, preferably the hair near the front, small bunch so it really hurts and alarms her to protect self from possible bald spot. Next close in with open mouth really sloppy, I mean to say extremely wet baby kisses that also go "mmmmmmmmmm". Aim for Sleeping Mommy's mouth but failing that suck on chin or nose. When sleeping mommy opens eyes very irritated at possible bald spot he gives a bright smile with twinkling eyes and roll back to engage me to chase him around the bed and play. Repeats as necessary until I give up and am awake and playing at 5:30 in the morning.

Exhibit 2: About an hour after waking it is bottle time. If he is hungry he will start whining when he sees the bottle but not full out crying. He watches me make the bottle and makes this little anticipatory whinging sound only bursting into full tears and crys when we sit on the couch and the bottle is 2 seconds from landing in his mouth. Why does he do that? I can only guess it is his way of cheering me on to get the bottle made then giving me some negative reinforcement by the relief from hearing the crying.

NOTE:
This post was a lot longer but I lost a lot of it when the internet went down and right now do not have the heart to try to recreate. Suffice it to say that Miles is doing many typical 8 month old baby things and is progressing to adulthood in, ahem, baby steps.

Happy Birthday Granny Annie

2008-06-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Granny Annie,
Happy Birthday from Miles and Cindy. We hope you have many more happy and healthy birthdays to come. Miles is doing well and sends you a big sloppy wet kiss!

If Miles had a sister...

2008-06-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

This is what she would look like. His great grandmother, my grandmother knitted him this outfit and I have to say he is so cute he makes the Gerber baby look like a cigarette smoking wrinkled old hag.

blogging from Trinidad

2008-06-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

We have been in Trinidad now for a few weeks and it is very difficult getting a good internet connection, far less downloading pictures. Fortunately we have found a good place and hope to keep blogging.

It is hot down here and the rainy season has begun so it is also very humid. Unfortunately there is an outbreak of dengue fever so we have to be very vigilant about mosquitos. So far so good though.

Miles is enjoying life down here as he has many hands to hold him and he is actually getting a little spoiled, he crys now if he is put down to play by himself where he used to play by himself quite nicely.

He went to the beach for the first time and it showed that he is his father's son. He is not a big fan of the beach much to my surprise. I love the beach and thought for sure with his love of swimming class that he would take to the beach but not so much. He was curious about the sand and played with it a bit but when I took him to put his feet in the water he was more overwhemled than excited. We didn't go in, just a dip of the feet and he didn't cry but he didn't laugh or seem pleased either.

He loves being in a hammock though, I put him in this hammock at my aunt's house thinking that I would get in too and we would play, but he immediately got really quiet and relaxed and within minutes was asleep with his book on his face. It was very adorable to see him sleeping very seriously with his book in the hammock. We may have to set up a hammock in the living room when we get back.

He is 7 months old now and still does not crawl or have any teeth. He does do a serious body drag when he is motivated to get something though. He looks more like a flailing beached fish than anything else as he squirms and grunts his way a few feet to his destination. But he is quite good at pulling himself up and even holding and walking if the environment is right. He can almost get to sitting all the way up from lying down which is one of his most dearly desired feats, he tries to do it all day long and cries tears of frustration at his inability. But in true baby fashion he is unstoppable in his squirming and trying and I have the bruises on my arms and stomach to prove it ; )

6 Months Old

2008-05-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well, our boy turned 6 months old a week ago and the times are changin'. He's about 21 pounds now. He can sit up now pretty well, does not rely on his hands for balance as much now - they are free to grab at things all around! He can't crawl but he can stand and hold on to your fingers or the mirror and balance for a little bit. He can roll from front to back and back to front and is rolling around like a log now, kind of rolling to get where he wants to go - which is usually near Bella and trying to grab on to her. He is smiling and loving, gives sweet hugs and sloppy baby kisses. He loves bouncing in the baby car pictured here. He is going through a phase of not liking his car seat - doesn't he know the Britax is the Rolls Royce of car seats? And absolutely everything in sight must be grabbed at and put in the mouth if possible.

First foods

2008-05-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

So Miles was about a week shy of his 6 month birthday when he finally tried solid foods. His first food was a freshly picked orange from my uncle's orchard. We went to my Uncle Kenny's orange orchard to spend the afternoon and Norris and I got to pick fresh fruit and walk the grounds. It was very pretty and the oranges were so sweet. We peeled one and Miles first gave it a lick then once he realized it was good he was nose deep, sucking at the orange like a little pro! It was so comical to see him eating the orange with gusto like he had been doing it his whole life. He sucked both halves and as you can see from the picture almost finished both.

April 20, 2008

2008-05-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

This was the day that all the preparations and travel was for. And it was a great day. First was Miles' baptism, I don't have the best pictures, they're in my mom's camera, but here he is with the pastor who baptised him. He was calm and interested in what was going on, seemed to like the water being anointed on him, but he loves water anyway. My dad played the guitar for the service and the pastor went to elementary school with my mom at the school right next door. The church was Riversdale Presbyterian Church.

After baptism we went to a brunch at my grandmothers house and got changed for the big party - my dad's 60th.

It was held in a pretty ranch with wide open spaces and big trees. It was quite a party. There was singing, dancing, acting, steelband playing, a live band, a DJ, facepainting, a bouncy castle for children - and did they bounce!, people playing cricket and a Master of Ceremonies. Then there was the food and drink - barbecue, curry duck, roti, curry goat, channa and aloo, I can't remember all the food plus lots of drinks to make everyone tipsy. It was one of the best parties I've been to. There was a river nearby and people would go there and hang out and talk, a huge huge tree called a salmon tree that was off from the main event and you could just go sit out there and watch the children get their faces painted. Everything for the main event went on under tents so it was cool and breezy. And Miles, well he must have been held by almost everyone there - and there were more than 300 people there. He was so happy with the whole thing, didn't fuss at being passed around and admired - I think he liked it.

They Meet....

2008-05-04T08:42:00.000-07:00

The trouble cousins finally met. As is evident from the pictures, Miles and Amelia seemed to already know each other. They stared deep into each others eyes, fell in love and decided to begin their plans for parental and grandparental domination! Bwahahahaha!

The journey begins - Toronto

2008-05-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

So we had to go to Trinidad with Mr. Wiggles. A few people recommended that we try to do the trip in 2 legs with some time in between and that along with the opportunity to use some of the masses of sky miles we have collected resulted in us taking a flight from Vegas to Toronto from 11pm to 5am then another flight to Trinidad at 8pm. Yes, in retrospect this was a very.dumb.idea. but sitting at the computer at home it made perfect sense. So anyway, we red eyed it to Toronto (both of us in middle seats and separated, me holding the 20 pound infant in my lap the whole way) and got in around 5am and rented a car from seriously, a one man car rental company (note: companies can look a whole lot more professional online than in person - remember this when I tell the tale of the Moonhole couple in Bequia later). It was a beautiful day in Toronto and the weather was perfect, little crocuses coming up, daffodils peeking out and at Niagra Falls we got to see bits of icebergs broken off and careening to their deaths off the fall.

Miles was pretty good for the Vegas to Toronto and day trip parts but kind of had a meltdown halfway through the 6 hour flight to Trinidad. He was restless and fussy and we were so glad to land and put an end to his jumping up and down on our legs on the plane.

Alfred and Stephanie visit

2008-05-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

What a month! Long time no blogging as real life has been busy and exciting. Kicked off the month with a visit from Alfred and Stephanie, had a lot of fun going to Red Rocks with them to see the cactus blooms,

went to Mystere, and Alfred, Norris and I had an eternally memorable time at a hypnosis show - sorry, can't explain, and you probably are better off for it. Their visit was a great reminder of how much fun we have in Vegas and after they were gone it was time to pack and 2 days later we left to go to Trinidad for my Dad's 60th birthday celebration.

5 months

2008-04-01T16:39:00.000-07:00

Miles turned 5 months old a few days ago and here are the pictures from his Kiddie Kandids photo shoot. He still does not like to smile in public or for cameras so here are the few pictures we got with him smiling. Notice the outfit changes? Not planned. Our dear boy puked all the way down his outfit mid photo shoot so we had to strip him down hence the semi naked shot then put on whatever we had in the diaper bag, which happened to be a way too big hand me down onsie but it looked cute in the photo so we kept it.

At 5 months he drools constantly but has no teeth or nubbins that might turn into teeth. He can sometimes sit up unsupported if he has his hands positioned in front of himself just right and can sit for a little while in a shopping cart child section - maybe 10 minutes before looking tired and strained. He does not sleep through the night, sometimes wakes at 4am just to talk to himself and laugh but does not want a bottle - totally just wants to play and woe be to you if you go in there and think you can just leave if he wants to play. His personality is sweet and shy - calm and pretty easy to understand - basic needs - hunger, love, tired, play. He weighs 20 pounds and likes to be board stiff and leaning outward when you hold him so he can look around. That makes it hard to hold him with one hand as he doesn't snuggle into you to help out with the holding at all. Absolutely everything must be experienced by mouth if possible especially my fingers - they seem to be a baby's version of barbeque ribs, he can't get enough of sucking and gnawing on them then contrasting them with sucking and gnawing on his own fingers. A very sweet phase of babyhood that I am relishing as crawling lurks just around the corner.

crazy hair amelia

2008-03-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, we've all had a laugh about Miles' hair and how it has a life of it's own, and I thought his hair was crazy, but check out his cousin Amelia, my brother Warren's daughter - she takes crazy hair to the next level! She is so cute, she's about a year and a half and they just opened their own business in St. Vincent and the Grenadines selling tiles etc. and when people come into the store apparently she goes up to them and tells them "buy tiles!". My sister in law Dee is so sweet and mild mannered that kind of shameless marketing and promotion behavior can only come from our side of the family - BTW, if you are in need of tiles in St. Vincent, check them out at http://islandstyleinteriors.com/. Side by side comparison of the crazy hair cousins:

Waterbabies

2008-03-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, lots of you have heard about it but behold today, the first pictures! Sorry for the blurry pictures but I guess something about the lighting at the pool made for poor photo quality. Norris was able to come to visit our class and took some pictures of Miles in his wetsuit in his swim lessons. Today was his third lesson and he actually spit water out today after his submersion which is great progress according to his teacher - if you look closely at the picture of him submerged you can see him spitting out as he is on his way up. Norris looked a little queasy apparantly after seeing his offspring submerged in the water because our teacher had to reassure him that Miles was fine : )

Here are some pictures of him before class chillin with his infant friend Skylar, then in class being a pancake laying on his back, submerged in the water holding his breath, holding on to the noodle while floating in the water and generally having a good time in the pool and trying to take a taste of the edge of the pool like all the other babies.

You know you're way too in love with your kid when...

2008-03-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

he's sleeping so you check YOUR OWN BLOG to see pictures of him and then go to You Tube to see videos of him that you yourself have posted. If I wasn't his mom I would be his stalker.

Gratuitious cute photo

2008-03-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, here's Miles in his first pair of sunglasses in his little car. He loves wearing sunglasses, I put them on for the first time yesterday and he started smiling, didn't try to take them off or anything. It's like he knows they are cool quite unlike hats which he hates.

4 months

2008-03-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

Miles turned 4 months old a few days ago, here are some pictures. He has gotten more smiley and "talkey" recently. He babbles on very expressively and seems to think I know what on earth he is talking about because he is full of knowing smiles and seems pleased with himself after he finishes one of his screeching rants. I just play along and tell him I agree with him, he seems to like that. Also, his hair has a life of it's own. It is completely untameable, everyday is a new situation. Some days it will lay down very nicely and he looks kind of like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes when his mom gets him ready for the class picture. Other days it sticks straight up in the air, or it spirals wildly any which way and no brush or comb can tell it anything. Today it's kind of straight in the front with waves sticking straight off the back.

hoover damlet

2008-03-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

Typing with sleeping baby in arms, so excuse any typos. This weekend we took the new ride to Hoover Dam. We live about 1 1/2 hours away so it was perfect for a good drive in our new Veracruz. Norris was very excited about going to Hoover Dam, and was quite let down with the size of it when we got there. Perhaps owing to the record low water levels Hoover Dam looked like it was made by an ambitous beaver more than the feat of engineering it is supposed to be. I have been to Brazil and the largest dam in the world near Iguacu Falls on the border of Brazil, Uraguay and Argentina and so was not expecting to be overwhelmed by the grandeur of HD so was not as unimpressed as I would have been if I were expecting a massive structure. Of note, we saw a small pack of bighorn sheep going up and down a hill and finally crossing the street to the next hill, very cool. What was strange was that there were a lot of people all around and we were the only ones to notice them.

We took a wonderful drive around Lake Mead and saw some beautiful inlets that we plan to visit again when the weather is warmer. Bella loved being out and about and Norris overheard some people say "and you thought our dog looked gay" in reference to our beautifully groomed poodle. But we don't care.

Miles for his part is a good traveler and just took it all in calmly like he had seen it all before and was unimpressed.

Cute pics

2008-02-26T16:37:00.001-08:00

Here are some recent pics. The first is Miles in a great present he got before he was born and only now has gotten big enough to use. He mostly likes licking the steering wheel right now but we're hoping for more as time goes on. The second is him in another shower gift - the Bumbo. He looks so confident in his Bumbo, likes sitting near his gym and seeing the animals from a different perspective. Then there's some tummy time, one in the playgym and one with crazy Alfalfa after shower hair.

You Tube

2008-02-26T15:31:00.000-08:00

So in order to post some of the videos for everyone to see I've opened a YouTube account. If you click on http://www.youtube.com/cindyandnorris
you will be able to see new videos of Miles. It is much easier to post on there than here with the videos. Hopefully you will go there and see him today playing very intensely with a new toy that Dr. Erickson and his wife Lisa sent over. He looks like a little pilot who must save the world, he is a very intense almost 4 month old boy. Hopefully with my new You Tube capabilities I will be able to show him smiling for a change.

Muscles McBaby and where he got it from

2008-02-14T12:49:00.001-08:00

For those who haven't met him yet, let me tell you, Miles is one strong baby. This is the child that first rolled over at 3 weeks and as you can see, not only does he have muscles, he enjoys admiring them in the mirror too! Norris is genetically blessed with a quick metabolism and super strength so I guess it's where Miles gets it from. Since the pregnancy I've been one pain after another. Had muscle spasms after the pregnancy and now I'm having pain in the joints of my fingers and wrists to the point that it's difficult to open childproof containers. I've been told it's ligament pain that's normal post pregnancy and that it will fade but it still sucks - must be what arthritis feels like and if so, let me tell you, arthritis is not minor!

Paris the Hotel

2008-02-14T12:36:00.000-08:00

Last weekend our little family continued our exploration of our new city and went to Paris the hotel on the strip.

We recommend paying the $9 and going on the Eiffel tower elevator ride. Try to go near the top of the hour so you can see the Bellagio's water show as well. It was spectacular from that height and very different from viewing it at eye level.

Norris has commented, and I think it may be true that the ideal baby nursery should look as much as possible like a casino. Our little angel just LOVED looking at the blinking lights and hearing the chirping sounds coming out the slot machines. We just pray we're not imprinting him with these things but hopefully one quick walk through the casino to the Eiffel Tower will have little effect.

Miles and Obama

2008-02-14T11:36:00.000-08:00

We've been trying to post the video of Miles and Barack Obama for a while but keep having problems posting. Here is a screen shot that may make the Miles adoring club happy: