Filed under: milo’s monthly journal
How on earth are you 5 years old. I really do think time speeds up the older I get. You are less “little” every week. I can see the big boy you are becoming and the man you will be in brief moments here and there. You are still my daily companion. You are almost always right by my side or at least in the same room as me. Occasionally you will go alone to your room and play for a bit. If you are not calling me every 5 minutes to see something or help you, you might get really interested in what you’re doing and forget you are alone, but as soon as you realize you’ve been gone for too long. You close up shop and get back to where I am.
We started to homeschool this fall. You technically wouldn’t start kindergarten until next fall, but you seemed ready to start reading and writing. So far, you really love it. When Lucas takes his nap, we work on your school stuff. Watching you read your first book was awesome. Your sweet face just lit up when you realized that the words you were reading made a sentence and made sense. You were so proud. Writing is a little harder for you and makes you tired and frustrated. Math is a piece of cake for you so far. You are still always full of questions and you do still talk all day and narrative almost everything.
Lucas and you have hit a rough patch lately. You are frustrated that he wants everything you have and takes every toy you try to play with. He screams and yells at you and you hold strong on your belongings. There are battles. You try to engage him in your games, but he is still too little to understand your rules. You usually get mad and huff away. Lucas usually goes to you and hugs you to make up. He loves you and is always saying, “My-mow” in the sweetest voice. He brings you your clothes and pats your back too. You love to go in his room with him and play and sometimes you offer him your toys as peace offerings. You’ve got a sweet heart Milo.
Keely and you aren’t doing too much together lately. She’s in school all day and your age differences aren’t helping. You don’t want her to think you are a baby, so you try hard not to do anything she wouldn’t approve of. She can be rough on you, but if anything happens to you she is so upset. If you are sick or hurt, she falls to pieces. She loves you. She just wants you to know she is so grown and you are not, right now. You do have your inside jokes and secret meetings in her room. You both love to play old computer games on daddy’s computer and practice wizard works and look for fairies in the backyard at night. You watch the movies she likes and you get into them too. You’re good like that.
Right now you are into matchbox cars and Lego’s. A good section of your bedroom floor is covered in your Lego creations. All you really wanted for your birthday was Lego’s and you got it. That’s a lot of little pieces. You like to invent your own little things to build- mazes, games, animal lands, traps etc. You are also into finding secret treasures. Everywhere we go your eyes are on the ground searching for lost little objects. You fill your pockets with pins, change, beads, and other random bits. At home your dump your pockets to inspect your loot and then dump the goods into your treasure jar. It’s filling up fast. When I ask you if you want to go to a new place you always ask if they will have good treasure for you to find.
You do not have any desire to play with other children outside of our home. You get so upset if another child touches your things or plays with something in a way you don’t want them to. You almost hide from children who are your age in public. You do wave, smile, and say hello to younger children and babies though. You are shy around people you don’t know. You work your way behind my legs or pretend like you don’t see them at all. You are also kind of a germophobe. You got that from me. Sorry about that. Sort of. You have to wash anything that some other person (who you have randomly deemed germie) touched before you can touch it. You do not like your hands to be dirty and you can’t stand if your nose is drippy. You go crazy and beg me to take care of it for you. You also do not like much food still. Very not adventurous in that department. I think you would happily eat the same three meals everyday. Cinnamon toast for breakfast, some cheese/bread/pasta combo for lunch, a sectioned tray of bananas, dried cereal, cheese, and an extra for dinner. I keep trying to slip in new items but you won’t even try anything. Vegetables are the enemy. Thank goodness you like V8 juices and vitamins. Maybe this is the year for new food? I hope.
You are still very sensitive and your feelings get hurt quite easily. It breaks my heart and makes my eyes water when I see your face when your feeling like that. I just have to hug you and pretend to erase the hurt. You do still have your temper too. If you are wronged or if you are asked to do something you don’t want to do, you get so mad. I think I can see the steam coming off your head. Lowered head, frown brow, clinched fists and the meanest look comes from you. Sometimes you will just stand and stare at us and other times yell and tell us how mean we are. Lately you tell me you are mad at me about 100 times a day because I’m not doing what you want me to do with you or for you. That’s fun. I try to acknowledge your feelings, but keep moving on and engage you after you’ve had a pout. Eventually, you come and hug me and apologize and we move on. Lucas has been yelling at you every time you try to sit on my lap lately and I often have to help Lucas with something before you and that seems to be getting to you a lot lately. I think you feel a bit displaced and that’s why you are “mad” at me so much. I’m trying to make up for in whenever I can. Parenting 3 is a wee bit harder than I expected.
You are still interested in nature and watch all the happenings in our yard and the sky through the seasonal changes. You question the hows and whys of it all. I’m glad (at this point anyways) that I usually have an answer. You still collect rocks and berries outside. You call the tiny berries on our Liriope- wish berries. Every time we go to the car- you give me a few and I have to make a wish for each and throw them in the air. Milo’s rules are: If they disappear and you don’t know where they fell, then you get your wish. You don’t like to be cold and go outside when it’s chilly is not your cup of tea. You like to have your head covered but you look stiff and uncomfortable in non-balmy temperatures. However, in the summer your face turns so red and you’re so sweaty that you like you might pass out. I guess your a moderate climate guy. You do like to curl up in blankets since fall is here and are often found perched on our heater vents…the modern hearth.
You still pick out a small stuffed animal to sleep with each night and you still wake up at about 6:30 and rush downstairs to sit next to me. You give the best hugs and you are a wonderful cuddler. Your eyes are just as sparkly blue as ever and your light yellow hair is so gorgeous. Your smile and your giggle lights up my heart. You will always be my baby Milo. I love you so much and I think you are such an awesome, beautiful boy with a very special light in you. I’m lucky to be your mommy. Happy fifth birthday Miggity.
December 3, 2012
Milo you are 4 1/2 already. You’ve grown a lot in these last few months. You are starting to look less like a little kid and more like a big boy. You’re still shorter than other 4 1/2 year olds, but you look huge to me. You beautiful yellow hair and crystal blue eyes have not changed a bit though. You do have a lovely scattering of freckles across your cheeks and nose now. No matter where we go, people always tell you and I how handsome you are and they always comment on your eyes. You have gotten friendly to strangers lately. You will randomly wave at them and finally speak to them. Mostly you tell them about Lucas.
You are next to me almost all day long. With Keely in school for the whole day, I am your companion. We have a pretty good routine going now. I do some computer work while you play Playmobil, we clean up the house together, run our errands, you play with Lucas, we have lunch, maybe read some books or work on a project, each afternoon we take a nice long walk around the neighborhood, then you and Lucas have a snack together and play for a little bit, we tidy up all the played with toys and then its time for the other half of the family to come home.
You are such a good helper to me. You love to help me with my shop-finding boxes and wrapping them up. You carry stuff at the post office for me. You like to make the bed or clean up one of Lucas’s disasters to surprise me. It’s very sweet.You still give me lots of hugs and need lots of cuddles. You always will sit next to me or daddy instead of alone. You have gotten much more spastic and active recently. You have lots of energy and you run and flip and spin a lot. Jumping on furniture, running through the house, flipping on the floor….and talking.
So much talking from you. You do not stop talking all day. You follow me room to room talking and it takes you a long time to get through your stories and train of thought. Sometimes I just have to stop you because I really have to do something else and can’t listen 100 percent to the hour long explanation. I always feel bad though and try to give you some undivided attention afterwards.
You are still a sensitive boy and your feelings are easily hurt. You also get really upset when you get hurt.You want us to get rid of the offending wall, door, furniture or whatever it was that made you get hurt. If someone else knocks something over or hits anything (accidentally or on purpose) I hear you whisper and oh so quietly apologize to the thing. “I’m sorry Keely pushed you gate.” You don’t want anyone to hear you though. Lately, if I am not around when you get hurt (emotionally or physically) you will sulk and delay the crying until I see you and ask what is wrong. Then you fall to pieces in my arms. My sweet little boy.
Keely and you are almost always fighting now. We can’t leave you two alone for 5 minutes without some explosion of words. It is almost out of control. When she makes you made you go to hitting her or throwing things, both dangerous so we are always on guard. It seems like a mine field around here. I hope this passes soon or it’s going to be a very long painful summer.
Your favorite things to play right now are Playmobil and Legos. You still like little things and do that you can change, build, or make do something. You’ve lost interest in books for some reason and any schoolish activity I try with you you tell me, “Mommy, let’s just wait until I’m bigger for this stuff.” Fair enough. You do know the alphabet and letter sounds and can count pretty good. You just want to run with Lucas and build stuff. I get it.
You still love nature and spotting pretty things out in the world. You still bring me crystals (rocks) that you have found and pick me flowers. You love to chase butterflies and run to pet every dog and cat you see. You love babies and talk so sweetly to them. You adore Lucas and are so sad if you think he doesn’t like you for some reason. Lucas pets your head and says, “iiiii-ooooo” for Milo. It’s really cute, and your face lightens and you take it all in.
You say cute things still…if you want to go see a neighbor or a pet you say, “Let’s go meet such and such.” or when Lucas wakes up from a nap you say, “Can I go meet Lucas.” You call the universe, “noodle verse.” It’s bigger than the whole noodle verse. I love you more than the noodle verse. Awesome. You tell me that you are special to birds and dogs and cats. You still say “scare” when you mean “stare”. Stop scaring at me. Don’t just scare at me. You think that Madonna’s song, “I’m Going to Dress You Up in My Love.” is saying Milo instead of My Love. They are same to me.
You ask a lot of questions about how things work and I try to explain them to you, but you often tell me I’m wrong if you don’t like my explanation. You insist that the clouds are part of outer space. They are not part of our earth. You always think of things that you think would be SOOO cool and then you tell your wonderous ideas to me with a far off look on your face and little thrilled smile on your face. Your world is full of great stuff.
You like music, but you don’t like things that are too noisy. You get really mad. We can’t listen to songs too loud or be somewhere very noisy. You mood will sour fast. You don’t really sing or dance, but you listen to the words of songs.
You are a watcher and a learner, a wonderer, a dreamer, and such a beautiful little boy Milo. We are so lucky that you are part of our lives. I love you Milo.
June 4, 2012
Milo you are now three years old! You woke up on your birthday and pointed over at the photos hanging by my side of the bed. You said, "That's mommy holding baby Milo. I'm a big boy now though!" You didn't even know it was your birthday and you never talk about the photos. It was very strange and knowing of you. You did tell me on your birthday that you are going to grow bigger and bigger. You will be seven just like Keely also on your day. You decided that you wanted a green, ice cream birthday. You wanted to get too many BIG cars for your special day too. You have told everyone about this for at least a month now. You picked a chocolate cake with green icing and you happily helped me make it. You were very pleased.
You are all boy. Monster noises, car playing, climbing, throwing, hitting, racing little machine. Thankfully, you are also the most cuddly, loving, adorable little man I know. Your fluffy thin blond hair and bright blue eyes can win anyone over. You still clasp your hands and feet together like you did when you were a wee thing. You are incredibly short. Some of your clothes are for 18 month olds! You talk an awful lot (too keep up with your sister) but many people still have a hard time understanding all of your words. You do say some of the cutest things though. When your daddy or I come back from the store you tell us that you have been waiting "aaaall day looooooong!" for us. You love to give little presents to everyone (rocks, silly bands, broken little cars) you always tell the recipient that "it's for YOU! and you can keep it for.ever." When you are in a good mood you like to help me clean up and you tell me that you are a very good helper and strong too.
Cars are your life. It is almost the only thing that you play with. You take one car for each hand to sleep with you at night. You pick several cars to go with you anytime we leave the house. You love your cars. You are very good at playing by yourself. I love to listen to your little stories. The cars talk to each other, make food for each other and race and need rescuing often. Sometimes you pretend that you are a kitty. A black kitty that purrs and often is mad and hisses. You dressed up as "kitty" for Halloween too. You refused to wear the ears or tail though, so you were just a little dude all dressed in black. Everyone thought you were some sort of junior Ninja. You did have fun trick-or-treating. You had to tell (scream!) to each and every one what each piece of candy you got was. "LOOK! mommy, I got a chocolate thingy!" "LOOK! Keely, I got a chocolate thingy!"etc. Good times. You usually picked a green lollipop if the people let you pick out your own. You love all things green.
We switched you and Keely's rooms around, so that you and the new baby would be sharing the slightly larger room. You insisted that it be painted green. You are happy with your new room. Your favorite animals are pigs and peacocks. You are so sad if we don't get to see the peacocks when we go to the zoo. You also love little, tiny things and baby anythings. Baby animals, baby leaves, baby clouds, baby cars. If it's bitty, you like it. You still like to play with dice a lot too. You have a good little collection of them.
You can sing most of the ABC's now. Not in quite the right order, but it is adorable to listen to you. You also can write most of the letters of your name and you point out M's everywhere you see them. You don't like me to sing to you and you rarely will sing a song yourself, but you do love for us to read you books. You are a very patient listener and interested in the story. We read a stack of books together every night before bed. Sometimes you'll read to me too! I love that.
Milo, you are a beautiful handful. You are energetic, loud, smart, short, cuddly, funny, and loved. We all love you so much and can't believe we've had you for three years! You stay as yummy as you are baby boy and never forget how much you are loved by us. Happy Birthday Milo-miggity moo.
December 5, 2010
Milo at 30 months old you are beautiful, active, funny, very two, curious, and a handful. You talk in the sweetest little way. Most people still don't understand your language, but I adore it. We often ask you to repeat things that you say because they are beyond cute. You like to make us laugh so you usually comply.
It is so hard to find the quiet time to sit and write these little journals. Keely and you are always asking for me, squealing at each other or climbing on me. You just climbed up on my lap now and are using my cable cord as a snake to bang on the keyboard. kO*HDSioy9*89h.
Let's record some of the brilliant things you say. If something happened at any other time besides right now you say it was "last morning". "We ate this for dinner last morning." If you are doing something odd or undesirable and we ask you why you are doing it, you say, "because Miwo likes to." When you get upset about something you stay mad for a little while and then you'll come and tell us all that, "Now, I'm happy!" I'm happy now!" and you go about your day. When you are yelling for me and saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy," endlessly and I scream reply, "WHAT do you need, son?" You say in a sweet voice, "I need YOU mommy." I'm a sucker for that. When you are being snuggly and warm you curl up on my lap and say, "Are you my mommy, mommy?" I say, "Oh yes I am your mommy. Are you my baby boy?" "Uh-huh" is usually your answer, but sometimes now you say, "No, I a big boy!" with your finger sticking up to stop my baby thoughts. Sometimes you tell me that I'm YOUR baby.
You had a serious truck phase a few months ago. You had this little book that named all types of construction/emergency vehicles and you learned them by heart. One of them was called a grass cutter. You found an electric co. cherry picker truck and started called that grass cutter. Grass cutter has had many adventures around our house. He is your favorite. You love to identify vehicles on the interstate when we are out and about too.
You are playing more of Keely's pretend games now. For short periods of time anyway. You look up to her so much. You want to do what she does and go where she goes. She mostly looks after you and tries to keep you out of trouble.
You are very friendly to people. You will talk to anyone. If we are taking a walk and see a neighbor in their yard, you will yell out to them that, "HEY! We are taking a walk. I found a ladybug. We pet the dog. etc." Even if they aren't listening. I always feel bad for you when others don't hear you. You look confused at why everyone doesn't want to know this important information. You talk almost as much as Keely now…and with both of you going, there is little quiet time in our house.
You finally take one regular nap a day around 1 o'clock and go to bed around 8:30. We join you around 10. You wake up really early in the morning though and demand to get up. You will have no slow wake-ups with cuddles and such. You yell that you want to get up now. Let's go down stairs. You still nurse and show no signs of wanting to give that up. You come to me and say, "Mo' please." many times a day and night. I made the mistake of letting the pediatrician in on that many months age and he said something along the lines of "Well, that's alright for now I guess, but you'll want to end that soon or you are going to have some real attachment issues." Man, THAT would be terrible, dude. An attached child.
Daddy just built a new playset/fort in our back yard and you have no fear or limits. You can do anything Keely can do. You are strong and balanced and very capable. You energy is full speed most of the time. You like being outside. You love to watch butterflies and look for worms and rollie pollies. You love blowing and catching bubbles. You like to dig in the sand and mud. You do not like to take baths or get clean though.
You like frogs and your favorite color is green-except today. Today it is yellow. Hey, you're two! Annie's Bunny Cookies are your favorite treat and you like to eat Ravioli and Tortellini. Your food picks are very limited. I'm surprised you are as muscular as you are considering how little real food you eat.
You insist that all your band-aids be Hello, Kitty and that you have Princess vitamins. If Keely wants a pink something, you must have a pink one too. Keely insists to you that pink is not for boys, but you do not care one bit.
My boy, you do have a temper. When you have been wronged or not let to have your way, you yell and scream, hit, pull hair, pinch, and try to throw anything within reach- even furniture. You go wild. Thankfully, that doesn't last too long. I hope that phase goes away quickly.
Recently, you've started singing songs and it's good. Twinkle, Twinkle, ABC's, Down By the Bay all sung in a very shy whisper through smiling lips. If one of us is pretending to be something or talking in a funny accent, you watch us amused and then ask, "Who YOU bein'?"
Your eyes are amazing and clear. You hair is so fine and the most beautiful color. I love your smell and your short, stocky body. I'm so glad to be your mommy Milo. Don't grow up too fast baby boy. I love you Miggity.
May 29, 2010
My baby boy is two! I've been meaning to write about you for 6 months, but between moving and making our house a home there has been little time for writing. So, here we are now at two years. There is so much to say about you. You are a beautiful boy.
Your eyes are so bright and sparkly. You laugh and giggle a lot and you can make the funniest faces, always hoping to make us crack up. Your speech isn't quite clear to most people, but I love your language. I know what your saying almost all of the time. You are putting words together in short sentences now, "no like" and "get it" are frequently heard. You love to cuddle under blankets "banks". You love to give BIG hugs and kisses. You give daddy a goodnight kiss each night and then push me on the back while saying, "kig it!" to me. You want me to kiss him too. When you get hurt, even the slightest little bump, you come running to every single person who is in our house and tell them sadly to "kig it." You are recovered once all kisses are received.
You do not like food. You do insist on sitting on our laps while we eat our meals though. Sometimes you will taste our food, but usually you just spit it back on our plates. Not the most appetizing behaviors. You still are breastfeeding and ask for mommy milk when you're sleepy. When you want to take your nap you will close your bedroom door, turn on your air machine, find your baby blanket and any animal that you need to sleep with. Then you will ask me to rock you. You still take two naps a day and sleep with us at night. One of my favorite times with you is drifting off to sleep together. You always have one leg or your head resting against me and we snuggle under the blankets. I wouldn't trade sleeping with you for anything. I felt the same about Keely too.
You love to play with Keely when she wants you too. You try to do everything she does. You copy her songs and actions. You do not like her bossing you around though and you two do squabble quit a bit. She wants you to follow game rules and you have no idea what she is yelling about. You try to play hide and seek. You cover your eyes and lean against something and count "four, FIVE, COME!" and then look around. We love it. Keely and you do have a lot of little games that you made up and that you do play cooperatively. One of our favorites is the "Organical Awards Fish Race!" You two lay on your backs on the hardwood floors and propel yourselves with your feet, racing to a set finish line. I have no idea how Keely came up with the name, but we think it is fantastic.
You like to say hi to us all many times a day. You say it out of the blue and so sweetly, "Hi mommy." and you smile and usually lean your head on us. It's like a little hello hug. It's great. I just want to gobble you up. You could not be any cuter or endearing.
You are still short, but you are so confident and capable that your size does not matter a bit. You walk up our stairs swiftly and you try walking down them until we catch you and make you "boot scoot"— sit and scoot your way down. You can put your shoes and socks on, take off your clothes. Get up or down from anywhere you want to be. If you can't easily communicate what you want you say, "C'mere!" and drag our hands so that we'll follow you. When I ask you a yes or no question and you aren't saying, no, you will say, "uh huuuuuh, you doooo." while nodding your head yes. You ways make me smile.
You will not ride in a stroller on our walks anymore and you don't like to ride in carts at the store. You want to be free and I guess you think you should since Keely gets to roam about. It's often a nightmare for your parents though. Keely and you go bonkers when left to run about in a large space. We try to never take you both to a store. I try to not take you both when I'm alone. Some of those trips have left me scarred and red faced. You are really friendly to people though. You wave and say things like, "Hi, man." and "How doin'?"
Gummies. You have a giant box that is filled with large dice, small dice, marbles, and random game pieces ( Choking hazard box). You call them your gummies and you get your box out many times a day and play with all the parts. You have many different cans, jars, containers that you sort them into and shake them around in and whatnot. It is your favorite thing to do. Keely is not allowed to touch your gummies. We don't know why they are called gummies either. The gummy box lives in the living room. It does not leave that room. Those are your rules.
You love to play with little things. A box of beads. Our jar of beach glass. Coins. Anything that you could potentially choke on has you captivated. You have not put any of these things in your moth, yet. Please keep it that way son.
When you can't find something, you start saying, "Find!" repeatedly and shaking your head from side to side as if you were looking for it. Then you start saying, "Mope! Mon't mear." translation-Nope, it's not there. Keely finds this hilarious and we all say, "Mope! Mon't mear." now.
Oh, Milo you are such a joy and a handful. Your personality is so pure and just you…not muddled up by outside influences yet. I wish I could freeze you, my photos nor my words can capture Milo. I hope my memory will bring this you back to me when you are too big to want me. Now though, you want to be held and loved on a lot. You let me breath in your hair and kiss and nuzzle you. You let me baby talk you. You want things to be right and good. You pick up dropped things, put away found things, kiss hurt things, throw away trash, try to fix broken things, help us when you can. You are full of joy and light and love and all the good stuff baby. All the good stuff. I hope you keep those qualities with you always. We all adore you little man. Happy two years.
November 27, 2009
Milo, I have been trying to find the quiet time to write about you for months. You are now 16 months old and short and stocky as ever. You have fluffy hair that blows in the wind. There are waves of bright orange mixed with feathery tufts of blond. Your eyes are insanely beautiful. You are a capable and dangerous little guy. You climb to higher heights weekly. You now love to jump off of things. I have injured myself many times racing to catch you as you happily leap from table tops and beds. You have only hurt yourself a few times. If there is anything that looks climbable, you are on it.
You laugh whenever we laugh and always smile when we smile at you. You have very expressive eyebrows. You raise them up and down all the time. You like to make funny faces and blink at me a lot, so that I'll blink a lot back at you. It makes us both smile. You sit in-between daddy and me and look at him and say, "daaaaaaaady!" and then to me and say "maaaaaah-me." You repeat this a few times and we just melt for you. You are very loving and sweet. You dole out hugs and kisses throughout the day to all of us. You often run by me, come back and wrapped your little arms around my leg and squeeze it. I rub your soft head and then you go back to running. I try to etch those moments into my memory so that I will never forget the feeling it gives me, the feel of your pudgy hands, the sounds of your puppy-like breathing, the way you close your eyes when you press your head against me. "This right here is perfection. This is happy. This is pure and love and this is Milo at 16 months. Please remember it."
You do have a temper too. When things aren't going your way you throw things and then pick them up so that you can throw them again and everyone will know that you. are. not. happy. I usually let you be mad and sit by you until you're finished and then you come for to me for comfort and hugs. You don't stay upset for long thankfully and I'm happy that you'll let me help you feel better when you're ready.
Keely and you have a number of games you play together. They involve yelling, screaming, and running mostly. Some funny faces are also thrown in there. She doesn't let you near her things and thinks you will break everything or lose them. Most of the time, if you do get a hold of something of hers, you give it back to her quickly. Sometimes for fun you get inside of your barrel and chase us through the house growling like a monster. You laugh the whole time. You also love to lead us around the house. You grab our hands and drag us up and make us wander around the house. You don't seem to have a destination in mind, but you happily bring us on many a house strolls.
You have a lot of words now, but interestingly you prefer to say the sound something makes instead of its actually name. A car/truck is "vroom!" A bear is "roar". You do finally say, "Keely" though. When you ride your push bike through the house you continuously say, "vroom. vroom." I love it. You also play a "HI" game where you just keep saying, "hi" and we say in back over and over. Your words currently are: mommy, daddy, Keely, baby, Milo, cracker, hi, baby, uh-oh, puppy, Caribou, cat, Sadie, woof, meow, roar, neigh, ribbit, quack, elephant trumpeting noise, hoot, tweet, vroom, rock-rock, flower, beep, sock, shoes. I'm not saying anyone other than me could recognize all of those words, but I know what you are saying. You mostly talk like a chimp or a caveman. Lots of uh-uh's of different intonations and ma ma ma ma ma's until we figure out what you want.
Your favorite hobbies are climbing, book reading, rocking/riding, and spotting puppies. We alert you to any we see walking down our street so that you can fly (Man, can your short legs move fast!) to the closest window to yell, "Puppy!" at them. You chase every dog that is at the park or beach-no matter what size they are. They lick you with giant tongues, slobber in your hair, knock you down with their wagging tails and huge heads and you go back for more and more… until I have to drag you away. You, of course, cry and turn your body into a heavy wet noodle with arms up-stretched. Hoping to slide out of my arms so that you may go back to your beloved dog and its stranger owner that is now at least a mile away. So that's always fun. You love your dogs Milo.
Food shopping is also another hit. You are content in a cart for about 14 seconds and then you want out. NOW. I try to carry you, but I can't push a heavy shopping cart, monitor Keely, shop, and hold 25 pound you. I put you back in the cart and you start throwing our goods to the floor. You reach to the back and grab anything you can and then fling it to the ground. Crash, splat. I have to stop every few feet to retrieve said dented, smooshed products. You throw out of the right side and the left side. Then a few right in front. I leap, grab, and jump a lot. Last week on our way out, you lifted a big carton of orange juice and I went to grab it, but you were faster than me- you flung it to the ground and there was a lady squatting down getting something. The carton whacked her in the arm really hard. I was so embarrassed and sorry. I have no answers for getting the shopping done with you. No toys keep you entertained. Toys cannot compare to flying food products and a dancing mommy. Hopefully, when our house is sold and our new house is settled into- daddy can take over the shopping for awhile. I think it's best for everyone (especially assaulted by o.j. lady) if you stayed home.
Crackers are your favorite food. You go to the cabinet and slam open the door saying, "Twahter" repeatedly-until we get them for you. You love to drink water from our glasses. You like to take showers with me and put your face in the stream of water. You bang on the door and yell if I try to shower without you. You still sleep next to me at night, wake up several times and want to nurse often. In the daytime, you try lifting my shirt up so that you can nurse anytime you get upset or feel tired. It's quite sweet- except there are many places that you try and do this when the timing or company isn't quite conducive to the nursling. Boy, do you get mad if you are made to wait. You still are taking two daytime naps.
I love you little boy. You bring me so much joy. My eyes tear up just thinking about your yumminess. I wish I could keep you this age forever. You are a handful, but you are so loveable and adorable that it hurts. If you think I'm asleep you get right in my face and breathe heavily on me and then say the sweetest, "maaaaahME?" and you smile so big when I open my eyes. I want to eat you up. Usually the next step is you flailing and moaning to get us all out of bed so we can get running around, but it is so nice when I get to wake up to your bright face Milo. I adore you.
April 14, 2009
You did it baby. You went and turned one on us. We all can't believe how big you are. It went so fast. We love the little boy you are though. You make us laugh so much and you give us love just perfectly.
In the last month you've started saying more words…"bo-bo" is puppy. "Gat!" for cat and "meeeee-ow". "Bye-bye," "Aw," and "Uh-oh" is constantly heard. You say, "uh-oh" and then drop things a lot. You think you are so funny.
You have yet to sleep through a night. I guess you make up for it through naps, but I do not. I can't wait for long night time stretches of sleep again. I do love going to bed with you though and hearing you breathe. When it's cold, you snuggle up so close to me and I can feel your breath on my face. I wouldn't trade sleeping with my babies for anything.
Your hair is still pretty red in the sunlight-actually it's orange. Your eyes just couldn't be any blue-er. You are such a pretty baby.
You've given up on baby food. You always want what we have, so we give it to you. You try everything and like most of it. You also make a huge mess. You want to use your spoon by yourself and I try to help you, but it usually ends up all over your head and chair. Your high chair has wooden holes carved in the back of it and you have great fun smooshing bits of food in them. You've also discovered that dropping food for the dog is fun.
Cats and dogs are your favorite creatures right now. You are so happy to see them anywhere. Cards, books, photos, you can't get enough. You are also obsessed with these touch and feel books. You say, "Booooo." for book and then start backing up to park your bottom in someone's lap so they will read whatever book you have. You carry your books around all the time and are so excited when we crack them open to read them with you. You squeal and bounce while we turn the pages.
You copy us all the time now. When I get some lotion on my hands, you pretend to rub it on your hands. When we pretend scream or play, you pretend scream. When Keely runs through the house yelling and singing, you are not far behind her doing the same.
You're still climbing into and onto things. You try to scale our bookshelves. I've walked into a room many times to see you sitting on a (low) table or standing on a kiddie chair. Banging is another thing you enjoy. Anything that can be used to bang, is. You bang away and listen to the different sounds they make. You also bang us. We say, "Ow. Hitting hurts. Play gentle." You say, "Aaaaaaw," sweetly and tilt your head for some love."
Every night while daddy is reading stories with Keely, you and I play in the living room. It's our special time alone. You bring me all your toys one by one and we play together. Sometimes, if you are too tired you will lay still on my stomach and I'll pet your head.
Keely told me on Thanksgiving that she was thankful that Milo had so much love inside of him. It's so true. Oh, Milo. We are so happy you are our baby. You bring us such happiness. Happy first Birthday beautiful boy.
November 30, 2008
11 months. Ah! Inching ever so close to that one year mark. Your personality has really began to shine this month. You laugh all the time. You laugh in our face to get us to laugh. You initiate all kinds of games. You bring us things so we'll do whatever we do with them for you. You bring me our Lambchop puppet so that I'll make it kiss you and eat things. You bring me balls to roll to you and books to look at with you. You give us big, tight hugs, and you are always happy to see us. You bend your head sideways in the cutest way and then smile so big at us. You love to squat down at Caribou too and get him to lick all over your drooly face.
Oh, you are such a little lover. Snuggly and cuddly. You crawl up into my lap anytime I sit on the floor. You laugh at books as we flip the pages. You love your pet the fuzzy cat book. You enjoy having your head scratched and rubbed. You have been loving on your daddy strong this month. You love to stand in his chair with him and play with his computer and various cords. You also like being outside. You love to feel the wind blow on your face and watch the sunlight dancing through the blowing leaves.
Finally, your first tooth came in this past month and more are on the way. They have been giving you pain though and I feel so bad for you. You enjoy your iced-washcloth many times a day.
You've started waving "hi" and clapping your hands together when we say, "Yay!" If we say, "no", you shake your head no really viciously. The funniest thing you started doing is dancing. Daddy started playing the Beatles, Ob-La-Di for you and you started crouching over and rocking your head around strangely. It had us rolling with laughter. Then you started a bouncing dance and you've stuck with that one. So anytime you hear music now you bounce. You also have a little Leap Frog ABC player that sings the alphabet and you carry it around playing the song over and over so that you can dance to it.
Your feet are so chunky that I can't find any shoes to fit on them! It is a problem. I want to let you walk around outside, but it's chilly and socks aren't the most protective for your baby tootsies. I'm not sure what we are going to do. Every time I come near you with a shoe you sit down and hold your leg up because you are so used to me trying to get something on you. Since the weather cooled off I have trying to put long sleeves on you and you are not happy about that. You tug and pull and scream until I take it off.
The phone is your most loved object in our house I think. It is wired up so that it sits very low, unfortunately. You have easy access to it and you love to carry it and push the light up buttons. You have called your grandfather long distance before and breathed heavily into the receiver for him. You have also called random folks who then call me back to see why I was calling them. I claim complete ignorance to them. If we leave the phone on the receiver to get charged you spot it and RUN to it. If we get it first, you fall to pieces in tears. You have also erased our answering message many times and recorded your own. You don't only play with the phone though. Surprisingly, you often go to your toy shelf and get a toy for yourself. You'll then sit down and play for a few minutes. This amazes me. I hope you continue with this wonderfulness.
You adore Keely. You love playing with her and imitating her sounds and movements. You love to flop and lay on her and suck her face. She tries to make you do what she wants to do, but that usually does go well. She has put a sign on her door now that says, "No babies". She doesn't want you messing with her bird stuff and you really want her bird stuff. If she is mad or crying about something, you get upset. You either cry too or go to her and put your face in her face and smile at or try to kiss her. You're so sweet that way.
Happy 11 months sweet one.
November 5, 2008
Oh my baby boy, you are something. You just took off walking a few weeks ago and it is so weird seeing your short little body cruising through the house. You follow Keely everywhere, always trying to get into her things-sometimes she even lets you. You chase me into every room too especially, when you're feeling clingy. You moan at my legs and reach up to me so I'll pick you up. Sometimes you throw in a "ma ma maaaaaa." You walk with a definite waddle, but you can go really fast and you have great balance for such a little guy. Usually you walk with your hands up in the air.
Oh! We switched you to cloth diapers last month. How exciting, right? I don't think you care one way or the other-but there ya are. Your parents have gone hippy-dippy.
This month you have discovered the dog's food. It is your constant mission now to get the food. You stealthily go into the kitchen and either dump the bowl out or just pick up handfuls at a time. You either feed them to the puppy or you shove them into your mouth and smile at us. We all have to fish gritty dog food out of your mouth daily. You still love the animals and always drop everything and zoom to Caribou if he starts barking at something. You kind of imitate his sound too.
You still say, "boo" a lot, but now you love to play a little hide-and-seek and a tiny I'm gonna getcha game. You laugh so much at these. You will chuckle whenever we try to amuse you. That's so nice. You are always good for a pick me up. You also laugh at lights that blink and moving shadows. You just started trying to wave when I say, "Hi!" to you. And also if I say, "night-night" you will lay your head down and smile for .002 seconds. Then, you are back off and running. Lately, you will lay on your belly, spread all your limbs out on the ground and start sucking the floor. I don't know what you get out of this. It is a strange sight.
You aren't enjoying eating food much. You just managed to eat some cheerios, but everything else solid-ish makes you gag. You don't really like baby food except sweet potatoes and pears. Juice doesn't excite you either. You do like to hold your water bottle upside down and make drops to play with though. You nurse a lot through the night, but hardly any during the day. You're too busy to eat I guess. You are still chunky so I guess you are getting what you need.
You have said words that sound very much like, "baby", "cat", and "puppy" already. Will you be the early talker that your sister was? We wonder. You love to put objects inside of bigger objects and you seem interested in how things work and go together. You also love to feel small details on clothes like embroidery or run your fingers on carvings in furniture. You love to rub your face on textures too. You laugh when I gently blow at your face and lay still when I lightly run my nails on your scalp. Sometimes I can get you to fall back asleep by rubbing on your feet.
You are my delicious Milo. I love you. Happy 10 months baby.
October 6, 2008
So big you are. So big. You easily stand up by yourself now and cruise along the furniture holding on with one hand. You have taken a few unassisted shaky steps. I can't get a photo of these maneuvers though because as soon as the camera comes out, you quickly come to try and take it from me.
You said your first real word too. 8 months old and talking? Crazy. I've always played peek-a-boo with you and you love it. One day you took a blanket and held it up to my face then you took it down and said, "BOO!". You say it all the time now. We went to the store together and you were sitting in the cart. I dropped something and bent down to pick it up. You peeked down at me and when I stood up you said, "BOO!". If I pretend I'm sleeping you cover my face with the blanket and pull it away to yell, "Boo!" at me. Today you just started playing boo with every curtain and door and covering things with blankets and then dramatically uncovering them. You may be a little obsessed. I love it. Boo to you baby.
I love your feet Milo. You use them so much…like a monkey. When I'm trying to rock you to sleep you kick the heck out of my arms as you fight sleep. You use your little toes to ground into my arm muscles. When you are sitting enthralled with some object, you curl your little toes in -concentration toes.
In addition to waking up 4+ times a night you have decided that you would like to be awake at 3/4 am and stay up for a couple of hours. Fun. We've tried all sorts of schedule changes to make this stop, but nothing has worked. I guess this is just your clock.
I can't get shopping done very quickly with you because everyone wants to talk to you and you reward them with your bright eyes and your crinkly nose smile. As soon as we finish chatting with one person, another one comes up.
You are at the age where you are taking all of Keely's things. She is not too happy about that. She tells you, "Noooooo, Milo! You MAY not!" You don't care at all. You've got no respect for her authority, man. Sometimes she picks you up and moves you somewhere else, but you always go back to her things.
You also love to go in places that we don't want you in, like the bathrooms. We try to keep the doors closed, but if we forget, you hightail it in there. You zip over to the toilet and begin flushing it over and over. Then, you go to the toilet paper and unroll it. Keely never did these things so this is new territory. I don't recall having to chase her around so much. You are an adventurous explorer baby.
Your mommy loves you so much.
August 27, 2008
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