21 months

21 months old today! Next 21 birthday I'm gonna party like this again!

Yeah!

Norris and Miles too cool for school flying first class to Cancun for Alfred's wedding.

View from hotel room. He's painted like a tiger and he keeps pointing to the ocean saying "pool! pool!". Vegas babies don't know better.

Made this t-shirt for Norris for Father's day.

Pure joy.

It's amazing to me how lame I can be. The poor child will never know what happened when he was 20 months old, what he did or looked like. So to make up for it I can at least post his 21 month update on time. Looking at the 19 month photos it is remarkable how quickly he has changed. His hair has gotten coarser and lighter colored and his skin darker. Partly it may be due to just getting older but a good part has to do with having at least one or two, sometimes four pool playdates a week in the roasting hot Vegas sun. Sunscreen is no match.

Miles and River cooling off in a sink. Don't ask how they both got in there without head injury.

Miles and River demanding entry into the house.

Today we went to a pool playdate and he saw his friends Lorelei, Liam, Nathan and Zac and had a good time as always. Then we came home and were talking about the playdate - by which I mean I talk and he usually just says yes or no.

Conversation went like this:
me: did you have a good time at the pool today?

miles: yep

me: did you like playing with Liam?

miles: yes

me: did you have fun with Lorelei?

miles: yep

me: and Zac and Nathan, you had fun with them too?

miles: yep

me: who is your best friend?

miles: Bella.

He's loyal like his daddy, keep the friendships in the family.

And about a week or two ago I made this pasta dish with veggies, ground turkey and cheese. And he takes a bite at dinner and spontaneously says "mmmm. Good!"

Already a charmer, giving out compliments in a most sincere way.

He can totally get over on you, really smooth like. The other night I'm putting him to bed and he wants to read books before bed. We used to do this but I cut it out completely because it grew into let's read every single book we own. But this night I thought, well what's the harm, we can read one. No, we read about 7. I finally put my foot down because I realized he was stalling going to bed. So I said "no more, bed time, books tomorrow". He threw himself on his pillow and wailed pitifully for about 2 minutes "boooooooks! boooooooooks! boooooooks!" I felt like a book burning Nazi but I held firm - and tried to not laugh because his acting is not very good. Then I guess he realized he was getting nowhere with the books angle so he looks up, clear as a bell, not a tear on the face, gives me a sweet little look and makes the sign for "milk" with his little head cocked to the side as if to say "surely you can't deny your only child milk". So I said no milk and again it was "miiiiiiilk!, miiiiiiilk! miiiiiilk!" for a few minutes then he curled up next to me, patted my face and drifted off to sleep.

He is an expert climber and has great balance. He can actually stand on a basketball and balance unassisted if you hold the ball pretty still. I wish we lived in Hawaii because I think with his love of water and great balance he would love surfing.

He can turn on my iphone, scroll to the 3rd page where his apps are and pick the one he wants to play, turn it on and play the baby video game. I think it's a sign of his genius. Norris think's it's a sign that iphones are really just toys.

He can and does turn on the tv, get the remote and change the channels. Sometimes it will be on the wrong setting and he will bring it to us but he can also do it himself about half the time.

He's starting to get a crush on Dora the Explorer. I've got my eye on her and her magical backpack. You should see the smile on his face when she comes on TV. It has been pointed out to me that I do bear somewhat of a resemblance to Dora so perhaps that's why he likes her so much. I've still got my eye on her though, cute as she is!

The not so good:

He is beginning to be posessed by the "mine!" demon. Sharing is getting more and more difficult and even the other night in his sleep he just started yelling "mine! mine! mine! mine!".

He is snack crazy. He wants snacks all the time. He will eat fruits as snacks but also he somehow learned the word "cookie" - probably from that damn Cookie Monster. And we will hear a chant of "cookie! cookie! cookie!" from a little voice in front of the pantry. Luckily so far cookies equal gold fish crackers and those little graham cracker bunnies. But a friend brought over cupcakes from one of those amazing cupcake stores and he almost instantaneously began saying "cup-cup!, cup-cup!" and pointing longingly at the white box.

He is practically obsessed with TV. If we are home he turns it on and wants a cartoon channel on. If I turn it off, he turns it back on as soon as he notices it's off. The TV was on all day and I found out Michael Jackson had died by text from a friend. The world could be blowing up and unless they report it on Sprout I will not know.

Oh but to end on what is wonderful about Miles - his latest thing is to get up in the morning and give me a kiss, then Norris a kiss then Bella a kiss, then me again, then Norris, then Bella. So expressive of his affection for his family and so absolutely charming - these days go by too quickly.