oohhh, BOY!

Let me preface this by saying that Miles is the most wonderful little boy I could ever imagine. He is amazingly affectionate, loves to give kisses, snuggles, hugs. His favorite self-soother is to run his fingers (remarkably gently) through my hair, which is quite endearing. He has an infectious sense of humor and laughs often, agreeably cleans up his toys (with encouragement), listens well, sleeps well, eats well, and is generally an incredibly great little person who we love having in our lives.

All that said, he is a boy in every sense, and becoming more boy every day. And he's pushing me to the brink of sanity. I have developed this terrible fear that my third little dragon will be another boy ... and I don't think I can do it! My pregnancy dreams (why do I only dream when pregnant? I hate dreaming) almost exclusively involve some dramatic exaggeration of Miles' less-than-ideal little boy actions.  I've been thinking lots about my Aunt Margaret (who has 4 boys), my Aunt Lisa (who raised 3), my M-I-L and Grandma Mary (who each had 4 along with multiple girls) ... and I tell myself that if they can do it, then I could survive 2 ... and then I wake up in terror because I am not sure I could survive 2!!!

Growth!!

Everyone is our family is growing by leaps and bounds right now (well, maybe not Joe, but he's trying hard to take care of all the rest of us).

Adelaide has exploded into 4-year-old-ness. The past few months have been a steep learning curve in every aspect. She now counts to 100 by 1s, 5s, 10s and does simple addition. She's gone from sounding out a few words here and there to reading whole sentences. She does the monkey bars, back and forth, over and over, like a real monkey! And her ability to think and reason are just astounding. She's suddenly a real person. I am daily amazed at the things she can do, achieve, comprehend, remember. It's been explosive. Here she's "spelling" farm animal names.

As for Mr. Miles, he's in a language explosion phase. New words abound every day (today: spider, jump, raspberry), and he's starting to put them together occasionally "Ada, bath" (when she's too slow up the stairs for bath time), "mama, no!" (when I misunderstand his request). Unfortunately for us, his annunciation of all these new words is just above terrible. We recently discovered that "bauk-bauk" (the sound he makes for chicken) sounds almost identical to Papa, his name for my dad, which has been amusing for all but one in the family. Fortunately for us, he is very expressive and persistent, so when we misunderstand, he repeats, points, gestures, frowns, until we get it right! Nonetheless, new language is so exciting!

For my own part, I have a growing belly. Now 20 weeks with the big #3 (third and last, if anyone is counting!). Had my fetal anatomy scan this week, and everything looks good which is a nice relief. I've been affectionately calling the baby Norbert, the little dragon. This baby absolutely tortured me for the first 18 weeks or so with nausea, exhaustion, lots of illness ... it was a rough winter. But now the spring has arrived with gusto and thankfully I am feeling like a normal (fat) person. My belly is swelling to the point that I look "plump" (thanks mom) but not quite pregnant. The nurses at work have been teasing me about my new "booty" and I'm just at the point that my clothes all look too small, but the maternity stuff is ridiculously baggy. Here's Norbs, blowing a kiss from that cozy little space to his/her new family.

catching up!

It's been a busy couple of months.
Here are a few of the highlights:

A trip to Florida for a wedding, complete with rides through the airport:

A quick visit to Disney's Magic Kingdom, which was pretty magical I have to admit.

 Of course, no hotel stay is complete without a good pillow fight.  Adelaide is getting big enough to fight back, but she still loves getting thrown around.

We celebrated Joe's 31st birthday and Adelaide's 4th birthday. Everyone loves candles.  Birthdays are more fun every year as she is more and more able to anticipate, plan, participate, and have a great time.  Adelaide woke up the morning of her birthday and announced, "I'm 4; look how high I can jump now!" And she has been jumping, hopping, skipping, leaping at every opportunity since, showing her newly acquired (or at least newly appreciated) skills to everyone who asks about her birthday. I think 4 is going to be the smoothest year yet.  

 

For his part, little Miles has developed into a busy little boy; he and Adelaide are best buddies. Their interactions have become downright hilarious as they've learned to play together over the past month or two. In this photo, Ada built a "nest" and coached him in, through the obstacles, so they could read together. The reading never lasts long, as most games erupt with a tackle into hugs and shrieks of laughter. Adorable. When the day of "boys-are-stupid-girls-are-mean" arrive, I hope I remember these times of two little happy companions.

a little walking

 Miles finally decided to walk last week!
He's been standing unassisted, even playing with both hands while standing, for several months now, but he has simply refused to walk.
Our theory is this: although he obviously has the balance, he's become such a proficient "pusher" that he doesn't want to slow down to walk.
Miles started pushing a cute little wagon when he was about 8 months, and has become increasingly steady and now super fast with the wagon.
Then he learned to push the little shopping cart (with swivel wheels - an extra level of challenge but also extra maneuverability).
Now he's transitioned to pushing absolutely anything -- he turns toys and furniture over and over until he finds the best sliding position and defty maneuvers them all over, almost fast enough to keep up with full-speed-ahead Adelaide.
Now, although he can walk, he knows that running behind a small table or a tipped stool is much faster, so he does that in stead!! Who has time these days to toddle around anyway??


Adelaide has also been learning how to walk ... up walls!  Here we both are on the rock wall. She surprised me with great enthusiasm for the rock gym and fearlessly attacked some pretty tough stuff!

the best Christmas ever

 Although Miles was technically present for Christmas last year, this was his first opportunity to participate. He didn't waste any time -- he figured out right away that the plan of the day was to tear paper, as much and as fast as possible. Miles ripped into everyone's presents with little disregard for the contents, he was all about the process, and loved every minute.

Adelaide, for her part, had her best Christmas yet. This year she was old enough to understand the countdown, and we all know the anticipation is the best part. She loved the "how many days until Christmas" discussion. Correspondingly, this year she also understood that we celebrate for a reason, and she talked a lot about Jesus' birthday party, in her own way ("when I'm dead, March 2 will still be my birthday").  Most adorably, on Christmas morning, with every single present she opened, she said, "Oh, this is exactly what I've always wanted" with sheer excitement. I am certain all Christmases will not run as smoothly or be filled with as much happiness as this one, so I hope I remember this one down the line!

The day after Christmas was her first day skiing (apart from the trail-side stuff she tried last season). It was a blast. She rode the little kiddy carpet 3 times with me, then "I'll go by myself this time," and within a few hours she was ready for the chair lift. Completely fearless and thrilled to be out in the cold, she laughed at the wind blowing in her face and shrieked with delight when she got to go "really fast." Tonight she put together a puzzle with a photo of a little skier and said, "this person looks like a really good skier ... so it's probably me." I couldn't imagine a more successful first mountain experience! We can't wait until Miles can join us too!

The Cat's Meow!

Miles celebrated his first birthday last week. As wonderful as he was at this time last year, as wrinkly new baby, it's been really fun to watch him grown and learn for the last year. During Adelaide's first year, I think I changed as much as she did. This time around, Joe and I are all settled into this parenting thing, so we got to just watch in amazement as that squishy blob turned into an adorable little person.


And in that year, Miles has developed his own personality. Who knows what the next year (or 5 or 50!) will bring, but Miles at 12 months is a very sweet, gentle guy. He's a little shy, and very content. He loves to snuggle, and he's quick to smile. He approaches new things cautiously, and watches carefully. When he feels comfortable, Miles is an avid explorer and is very interested in how things work (one of his favorite games is to throw things into the bathtub, or off a table, proudly announcing “down!” then pick them up and start again, “down!”. Unlike his sister, he doesn't care much about music, but he makes lots of sounds (my favorite: ROAR!). He doesn't like loud or busy things, but he absolutely loves his sister, although he's starting to realize that he'll have to stick up for himself – when she takes something he wants, he scrinches up his nose and yells! (Fortunately for all of us, she loves him too and takes particular care of him; she's learned that she has to coax things away from him by trading for something else to get his interest. Solid life lessons at such young ages!) Oh, yes, and he loves any "tat" (cat)!


The Miler has also established that he belongs in our family: he's always happy outdoors, no matter the weather, loves splashing in the pool or bathtub, and (after a few months of uncertainty) he has now figured out that he loves to eat!  Mr. Miler, my sweet little guy, we can't wait to see what you'll learn next and who you'll become during your next 12 months.

first Halloween

Despite his grouchy face, Miles' first Halloween was a great success -- he wore his jack-o-lantern PJs and braved the rain to see a bunch of zoo animals (as well as the cherry-picker putting up lights, which was far more exciting than any animals).

Adelaide had her version of a first Halloween as well - she went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood (well, to about 10 houses) with the older neighbor girls. AND she got to try her first lolly-pop! The lolly-pop was a huge success ... that took her 2 days to finish, in 2-lick increments.