"Miles"tones - an update

Rambunctious Miles taught another little boy at daycare how to play tag. Apparently, the two of them had a giggly blast doing the toddler chasing toddler thing.

On top of that, the daycare has straightened out the transition thing. There has been quite a delay, but the hiring of new teachers is remedying the situation some. Miles will begin his 2 week transition March 1st with 4 of his buddies from the older infants class (including the one he enjoys chasing) to join 4 pre-existing toddlers. I'm excited to see how much faster Miles will develop - especially in his speech - now that he'll no longer the 'top' of the class!!

Miles popped another tooth today-YAY!! His left bottom incisor broke through, putting me one step closer to a break from all of this teething. 14 down, but the 2 top incisors remain. His doctor promised me that I will get a break after they are all out! Finally! His first tooth surfaced at 4 months... I need sleep!!

Miles gave me his Valentine today. It's adorable!!!! Besides the adorable 'i love you' note, the picture is priceless!!! Take a look!!!



Nate came home early with more wood to sew. He took some time to bond with Miles over Oreos first though.






Finally, Nate brought home some gorgeous vegetation for me to adore!!!! Maybe his motivation was simply due to his love for me, though it was likely encouraged by his loving my willingness to help him with his sewing project. The flowers were much appreciated either way ... Just another reason each of you should read "The 5 Love Languages."

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Posted in: Miles

East coast snow

So, snow in NY/CT has been nothing like this winter's snow falls in
Iowa, Pennsylvania, or Virginia - but we are finally getting some snow.

Sadly, our snow comes via grossly inaccurate forecasts. We were
supposed to get 1 to 2 inches overnight (last night). We got more like
5 or 6 - and even more into CT where I work.

This picture is from my drive though my company's campus. Fresh snow
is pretty - however I feel it's much prettier when I'm not driving
through it!!

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Posted in: Kelly

Valentine’s weekend

We had a pretty low key, together kind of a weekend. It was exactly what we all needed. Miles got to wrestle and climb over his dad, and I was able to have interesting conversations with my best friend!

Nate came home early on Friday night in order to see
Miles before he went to bed.  As usual, getting Miles down after his dad walks in the door proved to be a challenge, but seeing them together is worth it.

Nate spent Saturday morning with us.  We’ve grown very fond of relaxing family pajama mornings. Nate and Miles played hard so that following lunch, Miles welcomed his afternoon nap. Miles’ naptime gives Nate an easy exit to studio. While at studio, Nate made the best of his time in the woodshop – cutting and drilling the components of his wooden quilt (email Nate if you’re interested in knowing more about the premise of his project).  He brought the pieces home so that he could string them together in my company.  I helped Nate “sew” his wooden quilt until 2am. Surprisingly, it was pretty fun….

On Sunday, Nate gave me the best gift I’ve received in a long time – a whole day together with NO studio interruptions! He’s a fantastic husband like that! We went out to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings in Stamford, CT. My gift to Nate was a big dinner after Miles went to bed.  We had garlic shrimp scampi and mussels, oven roasted potatoes, and steamed – never frozen broccoli. Not too bad….

Today (Monday), I didn’t have to work thanks to president’s day. We woke up and got back to work on Nate’s quilt. He finished it around noon.

After a nap, Miles and I drove Nate and his project into the city for class. Miles was a perfect gentleman while spending about 2 hours in the car. We went to the pet store near our apartment to unwind.  Of course, we didn’t leave empty handed. Miles got 2 little fish! (the frogs are statues…)

It was a great, family weekend!!  Happy Valentine’s Day ;o)

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Posted in: Kelly,Miles,Nathan

Yo Gabba Gabba

I rented a Yo Gabba Gabba DVD from netflix for Miles. We watched it today. He was intrigued, especially since he still not much of a TV watcher.....









He danced his little heart out too, but he quit as soon as he realized he was caught.

That wasn't all we did today.
We made a bunch of Aunt Emily's funfetti cookies, played in the big hallway connecting the 2 towers, and colored with pens and crayons.

Finally, Miles got tooth #13 today- his bottom right incisor! He wore himself out and went to bed VERY easily tonight. Now if only he'd let me sleep in past 6 am tomorrow.......

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

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Posted in: Miles

.....maybe older than that!

So... just when I thought Miles had really out done himself, he took his new 'skill' to a new level.

I know that you can already see where this is going, but.....
When Miles' teacher was on the floor putting away diapers into a low cabinet, Miles ran right up to her, got in her face and smiled his cheesy smile. He backed up a little and ran his hand across her back as he walked by. I'm told this is actually common behavior by several of the kids.  Here's where Miles differentiates himself from the rest...
Miles stopped in his tracks. His teacher could tell that he stopped, but continued to load diapers into the cabinet.  His hand dropped down her back a little.  Miles used his other hand to pull back her waistband (and waistband only) to check for poo.  Lucky for us, his teacher thought this was funny!! I was a little worried.  I would think that its never appropriate to pull back the waistband of an adult female!!!

Miles helped the teachers check the pants of the other kids again today. He's a persistent little man.  Though his desire to be helpful is appreciated, we may need to figure out how to tame his aggressive, forward tendencies.

Other than that, Miles had a typical messy day.  He stained his hands red by getting really into his finger painting project today, he ate some of the non-toxic paint, and he smeared his dinner all over his face.  Finally, behavior typical of a 15 month little boy!!!!  I knew my baby boy was in there somewhere.

Mmmmm.... Dinner!

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Posted in: Miles

15 months going on 25 years

For most of my adolescent and adult life, I've heard the phrase 'the apple doesn't fall from the tree.'. My oh my is that ever true!!!!!
Miles was already growing up tooooo fast! He's trying -really hard- to grow up even faster. Apparently, Miles auditioned for a job as a child care provider today.... As a young child, I also felt that I could relate to adults much better than my peers.

Listen to this-
As the kids in Miles' class get smarter, Miles finds new ways to demonstrate his superiority and higher intelligence. His teachers announce that it's diaper change time and some of the kids waddle/walk/run toward the changing station. Miles doesn't. Miles grabs other kids to pull back the waist band of their pants to help the teachers look for 'poo'. Really?? This wasn't a fluke. He did it during several diaper changes today and always to the same kid. The teachers giggle and ask him if the kid poo'd his pants - Miles lets go of the kid's waistband, shrugs his shoulders, puts his hands out, and mumbles his wordless version of "I don't know". He gets so confused when he can't find what he knows is supposed to be in the back end of another kid's diaper.

Miles wants soooo badly to be big. Like me, he mimics those he wants to be like. I'd rather he learned to talk before trying to help care for other children.

Sadly, Miles will not be the newest child care provider at his center, but he definitely secured his spot as class clown.!! What an adorable handful :)

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

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Posted in: Miles

Saturday activities

We had a whole day to play. Miles practiced pointing at his nose, ears, feet and belly. He practiced his high pitched barking and monkey sounds too. He tried to march with knees lifted high, however only his right foot gets any distance from the floor.

We watched 'Finding Nemo' and sang songs like 'Itsy Bitsy Spider.' Miles drew pretty pictures too.






We took the dog out. Despite to cold and wind, Miles was really good and quite the little explorer.
He LOVES little dogs-a lot!! A tiny white furball came out to the dog lot. Cooper was excited to see another dog, as usual, but Miles was actually the more difficult one to control. He took off in a sprint to get the furball being walked by an anti social owner. I caught up to the little man and picked him up. Miles barked really, really loud the whole way back into the building. All he wanted to do was pet (and probably hug) the tiny dog. Oh well.

After dinner, Miles warmed up during a 30 minute bath.

Finally, we brushed his teeth, read a story and said "Good night!"

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

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3 bananas and more

This morning - around 5 am - Miles woke up screaming. This is NOT unusual, but given it's Saturday, I was willing to do anything to get a few more hours of sleep.

I took Miles out into the kitchen and grabbed a sippy of milk and a banana. He drank the milk and ate to entire banana (only cut into 3 large chunks) without even opening his eyes.

I changed his diaper and he went back to sleep for another 2 hours!!!! But again, he woke up screaming. I picked him up from his crib and he pointed me toward where he wanted to go.... You're right -he wanted ANOTHER banana!!!

This time Miles grabbed the banana from me whole. It's the weirdest thing to watch.... He holds it fairly normal, vertically and with 2 hands. The strange part is that once the one end enters his mouth, it never exits. It's almost this the banana is a juice box or something. I saw a little jaw action and some swallowing, but the banana never came out of his mouth. Oh and his eyes still remained closed the entire time. Weird!

So, I left his side breifly to get him some milk. He began to scream again. I assumed it was because he was having a tough morning. I walked back to him with the milk. He did not want the milk. I picked him up and he pointed me back into the kitchen for another banana. He'd been eating these things so fast. I was hoping that he wasn't going to get sick. I gave it to him anyway and timed him. He ate this one in less than 3 minutes!! and then pointed for another. I said no to that request!



This tiny man is growing up toooo fast! We had his 15 mo check up this past week. He weighed 22.5 lbs (25%)- but lost quite a bit of weight with his pneumonia. His height was recorded as 31 inches again (47%)-the same as his 12 mo appt. However, Miles was not cooperating and was pretty slanted for his measurement. I apologize for the inaccurate data, but it's all I've got.

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

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Posted in: Miles

Hoping to retun to a little bit of normal this week....

Update: Miles is breathing great, but the antibiotics he's on are doing some damage.....
He has his worst diaper rash to date, 5-6 loose BM's daily, eats little to nothing, and he vomits the contents of his stomach on occassion. Last night, about 1 am, Miles coated himself and every blanket, stuffed animal, and pillow with mac'n'cheese etc. I'll spare the remaining details for the weak stomached! Nate took Miles and I took care of the rest. Within 20 minutes, we had the bed switched over, Miles changed and asleep, and load #1 in the washer! We are a great team!!!

Today, we deprived Miles of dairy and things are looking up. I'm now working on clean up and prep to go back to work/daycare tomorrow. Tuesday is Miles' 15 mo check up, so I hope to get his meds changed-we cannot do 5 more days of this!!

Tonight's bathtime was a vocal one!! I missed each opportunity to record the quality babble notes!! So sorry...
Can I offer this sassy pose instead?



However, in a desperate attempt to redeem myself, I was able to capture this video!
Backgroud: Miles' best friend is the boy in the mirror that he talks to after each bath and diaper change. "Boy in mirror" must have done something wrong- Miles is dishing out quite an extensive lecture, complete with hand gestures!!

Enjoy!

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

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Posted in: Miles,sick

Contagious continued

The day after our night in the ER, Miles and I found ourselves at home. In order to return to daycare, he needed to be on antibiotics for at least 24 hours.

He was doing A LOT better. I was on top of the breathing treatments all night long. He looked like he as feeling pretty good. He was drinking very well again, but still wasn't very interested in food. We took naps together, played with his new Christmas toys and watched the movie "Cars!". I love that movie!

Miles watched most of it-it's just really hard to hold his attention!



Yes- the sick little guy still uses his pacifier. I feel bad taking it away when he's sick.....

Dancing with the movie.....

We ended the day, as usual, with a super bubbly bath



Soooo tired! Good night!

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

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Posted in: Miles,sick

Hope this blog isn't contagious

The illness on the family started with Miles. Over a few days, his low grade fever and runny nose progressed to a weak wheeze and a cough, which further progressed to a high fever and a huge struggle to breath.

We woke up Tuesday morning and got completely ready for work and daycare. We noticed then just how bad Miles' breathing was. He definitely wasn't acting like himself..

I changed my clothes again-I was now going to be spending the day at home. I made an appointment with his pediatrician for the afternoon. She confirmed my fear. Miles' breathing was THAT bad. He was using his stomach, rib, and neck muscles to get air. His oxygen saturation was really low as well. We nebulized Miles twice in the office, but the doctor didn't see much improvement.

She said that she needed us to go to the ER... I asked for other options, but she told me that she wouldn't be comfortable with any other option... To the ER we went :(
I called Nate to give him the bad news and then drive to the train station to pick Nate up since he was only a few stops away.

We checked into the ER and Miles had a 102.9 temp. We undressed him so the doctors and nurses could get his vitals. I actually think Miles enjoyed all of the attention for a while!




When the blood draws, x-rays, drug administration, and breathing treatments started, so did his attitude. He got whiny and crabby at the sight of anyone in scrubs. I don't really blame home though- the nurse drawing his blood admittedly struggled with the task. His arm has a bruise to prove it.




After most of the poking and priding was over, we were happy to finally get Miles to drink something.




Miles slept for about an hour once the drugs started to work...
The diagnosis: pneumonia
They really wanted us to spend the night to monitor Miles' breathing and to keep up with his nebulizer treatments. I assured them I owned a nebulizer due to Miles' bad breathing history. They let us go - we were all crabby and tired after 6 hours in the ER... But this was just the beginning. We needed to keep the little guy hydrated, try to get him to eat anything, and nebulized him every 3-4 hours all night long....
Get better, Miles buddy!

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

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Posted in: Miles,sick

Transitions

We've now been back in New York for nearly 4 days since our Christmas vacation in Iowa.  I've just completed my 2nd day back to work, Miles, his 2nd day back in daycare, and Nate, his second day as a bachelor and graduate student working on his portfolio for graduation from home.  The transition has been slow, but seems to be going well.  

We are adjusting to the warmer weather of the upper east, the time difference, the new year, our new weight gain, and fitting into our tiny space again. We miss the home cooked food and the company of family and friends most. We are trying to get Miles back on his typical schedule. Luckily - this has proven to be our easiest transition so far. Next week, Miles and I will begin adapting to life without Nathan again. Classes resume next Tuesday for his final semester! May cannot come soon enough.

To add to this long list of adjustments, I heard that Miles will be transitioning to a new classroom at daycare over the next few weeks. Miles will officially be a toddler with 3 of his little buddies from the old infant classrooms. A large majority of his friends will stay behind and work hard at their walking skills, cot sleeping skills, and big boy/girl chair and table eating skills.

Though we are sad to leave his current teachers, we are excited to know that his toddler teacher is a stellar lady with fun ideas! She has a son the same age as Miles too! The new room will have exciting new toys for "higher functioning kids" and as weather warms up, he'll get outside play time! Miles is excited, he just doesn't know it yet :)

My final transistion: accepting that my baby isn't a baby anymore.

Miles first day of daycare - January 5th, 2009, 10 wks old

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Posted in: Kelly,Miles,Nathan

Road trip boredom

Miles was a little bored as we drove across Ohio.

However, now that we are back in NY, the sun is shining bright and the temps are high-well, high in comparison to those experienced in Iowa. Though we miss our family and friends, we are happy to be back home.

Location:Cleveland, OH

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Posted in: Miles

Miles went to THE furniture store

Miles wanted to visit Grandpa B at work in Platteville, WI.  We drove up on Saturday. Miles like seeing Grandpa again, but he really liked all of the running space and soft, fuzzy obstacles.  He climbed on chairs of all sizes and colors. He rolled around on mattresses and on huge sectional, leather couches. 

Here are his favorite items in the store::

Look, Mom!  They are just my size!!!!

And the best one of all – The Cover had NO bearing on his choice!!

“Sorry, Dad! Sorry, Grandpa!! It’s just so comfy – AND it reclines AND has a cup holder!”

Sadly, a even a Wisconsin furniture store can’t sell this ugly thing. The Bears ones were all sold out :(

Thank for the FUN furniture adventure!

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Posted in: Miles

Santa Came to Visit Miles in DBQ

We still haven’t figured out if Miles was naughty or nice this year…..  However he was to be classified apparently warranted a visit from Santa Claus. I’ll put my brand new lumps of coal on ‘naughty’ :)

Come here, Little Miles!  Ho Ho Ho!

Miles went to Santa – but wasn’t sure if he deserved a hug…..

Miles just stared…. no noise at all – not even a grunt!

Santa left the room and Miles was back to his usual self.  I’m sure he was a little bummed that Grandpa B had to miss the whole visit from that fuzzy, masked man.

 

Until next year, “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

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Posted in: Christmas,Miles