Helpful Dude

Miles loves being helpful. He loves cleaning up his toys (for now), unloading the dishwasher, helping to push the vacuum, and pulling laundry out of the washer. I shouldn't have been surprised that he would want to help hang hooks on the wall. It was probably the least helpful thing he could have done during the process, but it was so cute that I had a hard time refusing.

Play Nook

After rearranging furniture to accommodate our new TV, Miles lost one play area and gained another (better) setup. He has his own little corner in the dining room now, fully equipped with a (noise dampening) rug, and Jesse's footrest that he has now claimed as his own. He loves sitting on top to read books, eat snacks, and well, drink from his beer mug while heckling those that dare to ignore him while typing on their laptops. Be warned, it gets a bit rowdy in the play nook:

Wake-up Face

He's definitely my son. Waking up, whether from a nap or in the morning, is always a rough transition. This morning was particularly bad. Miles woke up at 5am and would only sleep if I stood next to his bed and witnessed his sleeping. How do I know this? Because he would peek one eye open to keep tabs on me -- what a jerk. Drama ensued when I dared to walk out the door one last time (about 15 minutes later) and declared us both AWAKE and marched into the living room flinging on all of the lights. I suppose I can't complain about our son's flair for the dramatic, when I so clearly passed that along to him as well. And for your enjoyment, wake-up face:

Blocks!

I think we've hurdled the dreaded wonder week that was tearing through the household a week ago. It seems as though Miles is learning new words every day and has infinite more patience to sit down and do things like read a book, or play with blocks (instead of just destroying things with blocks and eating books).


In a desperate attempt to keep him occupied for a few minutes while we got some work done this afternoon, Jesse pulled out Miles' block set. We put it away a few weeks ago, because he was less interested in the individual pieces and more interested in standing (precariously) on the box and chucking its pieces at our windows. We held our breath as Jesse unpacked a few of the blocks and witnessed a definite change. He actually stacked them! We both squealed with delight and gave him a round of hearty applause. He spent quite a bit of time stacking and knocking down the pieces and stopping to give himself a round of applause and occasionally "shaking a leg" at his accomplishments.

Words and Moves

Miles is saying a lot of words these days. To date, the ones he uses on a regular basis:


Apple: pronounced ah-bowl
Shoes: pronounced oosh
Boots: pronounced, bootsss
Cow: applies to all cows, horses, goats, and large dogs
Ma ma & Daddy: He finally points to me and Jesse when he says it
Cracker: pronounced crah-kah with this guttural German sound to it
Water: wah-wah
Broom/Spoon/Shovel: pronounced (mauhm) 
Banana: pronounced mah-mah-mah
Baby: applies to all babies, children, and people who are far away (look small)
Nose: pronounced, nooos
Eye: only said when he's pointing directly at it (finger in eye socket)
Teeth: pronounced, tee (also only while he's jamming his finger in your mouth)
Nuk (his pacifier): Nung nung
Car: pronounced, cah 
Garbage Truck: pronounced, Gar-cah
Hot: pronounced, ahhh (used to describe anything that is not room temp)


He has also said Grandma (meh-maw) and occasionally points to his feet and says "toes." He knows where his stomach is and proudly pats it when we say "where's your belly?" Here he is enjoying some apples:



Last night while we were reading one of his favorite books, Shake a Leg, he studied Grover and his pals and lifted up his leg. He's quite proud of standing on one foot and gladly performs his trick over and over again. 

Lunch Train

Miles has been a bit of a stinker lately, as he approaches his Week 64 Wonder Week. He alternates between an incredibly cute 14-month old and a mini tyrant who refuses to eat, yells a lot, and throws things. This weekend out of desperation, Jesse stuck a piece of sandwich on his toy train and pulled it around the apartment. The fact that his food could travel around blew his mind and he gobbled up the sandwich in no time. It's certainly not a long-term solution, but the kid ate and was happy. 

He even took a break from his beloved "maum" (broom) to check out this new way of eating. 

Halloween 2011

This year, Jesse and I didn't have time to make costumes for ourselves or for Miles. He'll probably look back and shake his head because his mom made him wear a generic store-bought costume, but damn was he cute. 


We spent halloween this year with our friends, Anna & Brian, and their son, Elliot. As it turns out, Elliot was also dressed as a dinosaur and Miles admired him even more for it, following him around like a puppy.