18 months

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

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

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

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.