Notes

Miles is sleeping next to me right now, I am listening to his breathing and feel him curled up so soft and warm and good. He peed in his bed so I had to strip his sheets and bring him in our bed. He asked me "can I sleep in your bed?" and I said "mmm hmm" and he said "is that all you gonna say?" I said "well yes, what did you think I would say honey?" and he said " I thought you would say don't pee pee in my bed!". And he smiled. Just a little heart melter.
It's that time where he is almost 3 and can enroll in pre pre school and I have looked at a few but nothing seems great and we work on stuff all the time at home together so I'm torn about what to do. He seems to know about as much as other kids I know who are his age and going to school and I don't think he lacks for socialization with friends. And once they start school the lifelong process of them drifting away from the home and into the world starts. All that said, I still am not sure what I'm going to do.

2 year, 8months

Time is flying by. Unbelievable I have not updated in 8 months. Miles is 99%potty trained now, talks in full long sentences, has opinions about lots of things and knows how to test you to see how serious you are and what the limits are.
We started moving into the new house April 26 and somewhere around that time he moved into his own bedroom and own bed where he still sleeps. This is so bittersweet to me as I miss his sweet breath and hair and face snuggled up next to me while knowing it is for the best that he learn to sleep on his own. I usually read him a story to go to bed or nap. But today I had some music on in the hall to try to drown out some noise downstairs while I read his story and he sat up and said "Mommy, can you please stop reading, I'm trying to listen to the music". And that's how it is now. He is sweet and polite but has his opinions and wants and is good about expressing them.
He was in the newspaper the other day, the Las Vegas Review Journal. A pic of him smiling and petting an otter. So sweet. I will try to post it.
Things he knows:
My phone number
All our birthdays
His alphabet
Can identify a lot of letters by their shape
Knows a lot of colors
Can count things
Can do a little math - addition
Can invent little stories - take his animals on a ride in his pirate ship to the San Diego Zoo
Thinking about good and bad, nice vs mean, making judgements e.g Bella is a good girl,Bodhi is a biter boy, bad bad Bodhi.
Concern when others are upset
Loves loves loves music and singing and dancing
Funny- will tell me to stop singing because I am scaring the neighbor dog. Tells Bella and Bodhi to stop running around the house, that it is not a dog park.
Amazing memory. Still spontaneously talk about his birthday party and the elephant bouncy castle and his cake and his friends. Remembers things large and small.
Very cuddly and loving.
Still sucking that damned binky and constantly negotiating to get it " I sleepy mommy, I need my binky" - a half hour after waking up.
Will try to update soon with pics and keep better log.

Family on Miles' 2nd Birthday

Just shy of 2

It's Monday and on Thursday my boy will be 2 years old. It's such a bittersweet time as I know that next birthday I'll be able to understand everything he says and this birthday is really the end of babyhood.
Here are some little memories I don't want to forget.
When he first started to try to say Bella's name about a month ago he would say "bla-bla". Now he says Bella well and is always trying to get her to follow commands. It's like a little general going "sit Bella" "off Bella" "come Bella" and she just kind of rolls her eyes and plays along until she's sick of it.
10/14 Miles trying to say bottle says bol-ottle.
10/15 - changing his diaper and he just starts counting and counts to 10. Prior to that he said 2 for everything. He would count 10 things and go two, two, two, two....
He has been sleeping in his crib for about 2 weeks now right next to our bed. He likes to sleep with blanket which he calls blank-Kent.
He is currently doing the co-op once a week, gymnastics once a week and a mommy and me dance class once a week. Swim just ended last week and we need to find a new class with a good teacher during the mornings.
He is a very well behaved child considering his age. He does try to test limits but he usually accepts a time out pretty well and is able to tell me what he got the time out for.
He's not great at playing by himself, he is very sociable and usually wants another kid to play with or for me to play with him. I feel like a failure sometimes when I feel that I am not providing enough play time for him or am not patient enough in wanting to play for hours with him. I'm trying to find a balance where he can play alone sometimes but I think part of this problem is me. I feel that he will be independent so soon especially if he goes off to preschool soon as we have been talking about. I just want to hold him, hold him and keep him close. He is as close to perfection as anything I have ever seen.
He is so loving and in tune with those around him. Every morning he wakes up and smiles and identifies us all. "mama, dada, bella, miles" round and round about 3 or 4 times. Like he's doing a headcount and it pleases him that we are all there. And Norris better not leave for work without telling him and giving him a proper goodbye. It does not sit well with him if that happens.
And so far he's honest. The other day he accidentally bit his friend and the kid was crying and Miles blurted out " I bit. I sorry" with a horrified expression on his face and spent a lot of time hugging his friend and checking his finger.
On Thursday we have a party for him with a bouncy castle. I hope he has fun and I hope I can step back and enjoy it as lately I have been letting little bumps become huge mountains for me. And I feel guilty for that too. Miles is up from nap.

New interests

Picture of Liam Picture of Mountains

Dead bug

Loves his shoes

Picture of forest

Enjoying nature

Recently Norris and I realized that Miles has outgrown a lot of his toys and needs the next step up. He has a newfound interest in computers, cameras, phones. He has started grabbing my camera whenever it's out and walking around taking pictures of things that are interesting to him. I find his perspective on what is interesting fascinating - as any mom would. Also what I like is how much of his field of vision is interested in small things or things close to the ground. Clearly he is small and I love having these pics to show me what he sees and how he percieves the world.

First Day of Co-op

This morning Miles went off to a playgroup without me. I guess it's kind of like his first day of school. I created the coop with 5 friends where we all take turns hosting with one assistant so that the kids get to learn how to play with others and have fun without mommy. I expected that he would be fretful but he was perfectly happy when I left and didn't even cry like he does when the babysitter comes. Probably because it's the first time and he doesn't know what to expect. I have been feeling for a while now that he's ready for some independent play but not really with strangers. He knows all these kids and the moms so I feel it is as gently a transition to more independence as I can provide him. I'm happy that I was able to create this and think it will be good for him. I'm kind of sad that he's ready to do this and is really getting to be not a baby anymore.

Wily Miley

So we let Miles go outside and play with his sink this morning since it gets over 100 degrees by 9am. So he's out there playing away and we're in the kitchen half looking at him. Then Norris notices that my new issue of Vanity Fair is taking a bath in the sink. He goes over and Miles sees him looking at the drowning Vanity Fair and says "uh oh." Uh Oh. Like "hmmm...who did this mess" uh oh. Like he's on the same side as Norris trying to figure out this puzzle. We try to not laugh but it's really hard.

And the other day Norris was driving and made a sudden stop and Little Back Seat Driver goes "Woah!"