Miles In Between

Woah!  That was a month already??  I see how this goes, you get older, more kids and time starts to fly by.  Here’s to slowing down and remembering.

All about Hazel:

• I was looking forward to a tiny newborn who would placidly sit on my lap and love to cuddle.  I heard girls were like that.  Nope, not this one.  She’s a squirmer, and since day one would throw her body weight around to be anything but still.  If Miles was “spirited” she is spirited-plus and lets you know what she wants when she wants it.
• Speaking of body weight, she seems to have put on a bit already.  OK, a LOT.  Not sure how big she is at the moment, but she has already been through 3 wardrobes (luckily all generously borrowed) – NB the first week, 0-3 mo for the next week and a half and now into 3-6 month size.  Mainly all due to her extraordinarily long torso and all the clothing being onesies and bodysuits.  Sorry, you have momma genes to blame for that one, I never could wear a leotard.  Or a dress.
• She has rolled over from back to front on at least 3 occasions, once on day 2!  It is by no means intentional, it’s just all that wiggling, but I am not leaving her on the couch any more.
• Eat. Poop. 5 minutes of calm alertness. Scream bloody murder. Sleep. Repeat.  It’s the simple life.
• Fingers, toes, eyes and nosehairs all crossed: she shows no signs of colic, or “extreme fussiness”, or “happy hour” crying like her big brother blessed us with for 10 weeks of his infancy.  Two more weeks and we will know for sure, but seas looking smooth.
• I thank the puking.  This one pukes after every meal.  Four weeks in and I still don’t have the habit of covering my shoulder.  I’m that mom with the eau de baby-puke, but I do carry an extra shirt in the bag.
• It took Miles 8 months to get anything close to sick.  After her week one escapade with fever, she’s already on illness #2 – this one with a blocked nose, cough, and if its like me a headache and blocked ears too.  Miles has it too, he’s getting over it first, which means he brought it home!  Poor little thing.
• She is known locally as Bazel.  Thanks, Miles.  Looking forward to the nickname she will bestow upon you once she tries to talk.
• She hates the car and the stroller, but loves the swing and the sling.
• Her eyes are turning the bluest blue.  She’s still bald as a monk on top, though.  Don’t worry, sweetie, it shows off your Buddha cheeks.

I never thought it could be possible to love another baby the same way, but we do. There is exponentially more love in our house right now, all thanks to our sweet Baby Hazel. <3

I’m getting choked up writing this post. Anything about my babies getting bigger, growing up, makes me really emotional these days. I’ll blame it on hormones. Just look at him…he’s Godzilla!

What’s new, now that he’s 2:

• His favorite color is pink. Except for candy gumdrops (I-nandy, he says, I believe a reference to “I like candy”, the song) in which case he prefers green.
• He pronounces butterfly “apple pie”.
• Miles can swim! Well, with a noodle or arm floaties on. This is a huge leap forward, as he was not very into the water for a long while, preferring the playground instead. Speaking of leap forward, he will also jump into the pool, but thankfully only when we are standing there with arms outstretched. We started swimming lessons today – on his birthday!
• He eats like a horse, massive amounts but very slowly so meal times take an age. The rule is he has to try everything, and if he doesn’t like it he pulls it out of his mouth and hands it to me and says “no thank you, momma”. Finishing his food allows him to choose a treat, either candy or olives. Bolhouse that he is, he often chooses olives.
• As soon as Tim started paternity leave, Miles started sleeping in. Only 2 years it took to get here! He’ll regularly sleep from 7:30pm-7am or later. After the 3 weeks of leave were up, Tim started creeping out of the house to not wake him, but Miles often got up to see daddy off around 6:30. Still, 11 hours I will not complain! He also takes an afternoon nap of 2-3 hours. Mom treat.
• He still loves singing and dancing, and will follow his friends and play monkey-see-monkey-do…He LOVES the moon, and stars…and he loves his baby sister Bazel (his name for her, Baby Hazel morphed into Ba’azel into Bazel)…lots of family time this month, its been fantastic watching him interact in person with people who were once only available on Skype.

Hazel is one week old, and I don’t think we plan to go to the hospital today. She spent her first two days in there, admitted with me. We broke out early, but ended up back there every day since, checking the bilirubin levels on our saffron-hued baby. We’ll be back in tomorrow for the scheduled momma/baby check, and then hope to stay away for a while. The jaundice turned out to be borderline and did not require additional treatment with light therapy. She did have us scared on day 5 with a high fever, but luckily that was in and out in no time. After the relative health of Miles over the last 2 years, this has been a rough thing to deal with.

Otherwise, she is doing great. Nursing, sleeping and pooping. Bonding with her brother, who ecstatically repeats “Baby ‘Azel, Baby ‘Azel” and gets in her face every waking moment (he’s awake; she also, soon after the pouncing begins). We’re settling into life with a family of four, and today I single-handedly got Miles ready for kindy, took my own shower (mom treat!) and got him on the bus while Tim was out and Hazel was in. I felt like super mom.

It hasn’t all been super mom feelings. I think Tim put it right when he explained that I am giving a lot of myself right now, and that is why I feel a bit on edge, anxious for things to be OK. There were a few tears shed on a day with a sick Hazel and difficult Miles. And for those days, we are thankful for chocolate.

I am so thankful for all the friends and family we have literally around us, and those who send their support from afar. We made it one week into this adventure, I’m excited to see what’s next!

This is the month Miles becomes a big brother!  Hope he’s looking forward to it.

• Helper.  Miles started helping out around the house.  Little things, like setting the table (who taught him where to put the forks and knives?) and actually useful things like picking up after himself.  Never to early to start, and it is really cute.
• Shoes.  He can put on his own shoes.  This was major, as it’s not the most comfortable thing for me to bend down and put them on for him any more.  The funny thing is, he tries to slide into them from standing, perched on one leg, usually with one hand on the wall.  I suppose this is because he has watched me put on flip flops, and only flip flops for the last 6 months.  Oh, if that boy ever has to wear socks I don’t know what we’ll do.
• Getting it.  Miles is starting to call us out on some things.  What do you mean I can’t get up?  Mom’s done with her food.  You said 8 hours ago I could have a mini gumdrop if I ate dinner – I remember. Do you?  I need to wear shoes?  Dad’s not wearing shoes.
• Quickly, quickly.  Miles has a habit of running in circles (literally) when he is excited.  It makes me tired just looking at him.  He did it once in the middle of a mommy-and-me yoga class, and the teacher gave me the most pitying look.  I looked back, “This is why I am tired.”
• Talk, talk, talking.  And singing.  The things that come out of this boy’s mouth!  We need to watch it.  My favorite are the 4-syllable words, which seem like monumental accomplishments: torta-tilla. ado-tado (avocado). tocto-dido (crocodile). peanut butter (amazingly clear).  The songs? Best one this month was “Ninja Balls” (jingle bells).
• And sleep.  Thank you, my son.  Long, long naps this month (although not easy to put down for a nap), and easy to bed, waking up happy and playing in the crib until well past 6 (11 hours)!  You know momma needed this.  It may be my last chance to sleep for a long, long time.
• Plus!  I love the innocence: the way he loves balloons, and gets really excited about Christmas lights and bubbles…no progress at all on potty training, I think we’ll be in stage 1 (which means poops in the pot) for the next couple years…calls for momma a lot, but is comfortable if he knows where I’ve gone, I can leave him for a while (did kindy help this?)…

Very much a little boy at this point, so so much fun to play with and interact, Miles is a joy in our lives.

• Serenader. Miles LOVES to sing.  You saw his rendition of “Happy Birthday”, he also does a great “Wheels on the Bus” (Bus. Round-round-round. All…Day….Loooonnnnggg.) and “Old McDonald” (E-I-OOOOhhhh).  We do a music class once a week on Monday afternoons, and he delights in picking up (and putting away) the instruments, dancing around and being the class “monitor”, helping others put things away or passing out toys.  His sign for music remains intact: clicking his tongue while attempting to snap his fingers.  He’ll point down the road where the class is held if we happen to drive by, and Mondays are worth looking forward to.  She taught us the “tidy up, tidy up” song, so now Miles even serenades me while I do the dishes.
• ICE! A slightly disturbing development. Tim was taking care of his toe after he smashed it on the couch, putting frozen peas on it.  Miles wanted the same attention, and so he proceeded to smash his hand on the ground, do a fake cry, tell him “owwww” and ask for ice.  Two minutes later, the injury had miraculously moved to the other hand.  He continues to pull this owie move, and ask for “daddy ice” (frozen peas), especially when someone else gets an owie.  I’ve seen him invoke similar logic when he wants to put something in the washing machine (like his stuffed elephant) and I tell him its not dirty; he’ll rub it all over the floor and walls and say “dirty, wash.”
• Hiding.  Another new move this month: climbing into the kitchen cabinet and completely shutting the cupboard door.  This is a little disturbing.   At this point he is popping out after a few seconds, but I can imagine these turning into his secret spots.
• Un- Child Proofed.  I knew it would happen one day, Miles learned to use the drawer pulls of the stacked drawers as a ladder.  Nothing is safe.  He can open the child-proof locks, and loves to take out the rice cooker and ask for rice.  He knows to steer clear of the knives, stovetop and oven, though.  And for that I am thankful.
• Tropical Kid.  I don’t think Miles has ever felt cold.  He thinks squirrels are monkeys and pumpkins are coconuts. If I put him in sleeves, pants or socks, he tries to pull them off. M in his alphabet book stands for monkey and mittens, and he thinks the mittens are finger puppet books (he has one of those, the only thing we put on our hand besides oven mitts).  If we ever move to a seasonal climate he is going to be in for a shock!
• Food.  After the marathon eating stage a few months back, Miles seems to have settled down slightly, and the variety of food he will eat has expanded tremendously.  He likes cooked greens, like spinach and kailan (kind of like leafy broccoli) which is a shock to me.  Favorites remain: fish, grapes, raisins, honey, bread, rice, noodles, eggs, cheese, pears, etc, etc.  He has a pretty impressive tropical fruit vocabulary which includes coconut and passionfruit.  Also, his 100% Bolhouse side has emerged with his love of olives.  He calls toothpicks “olive sticks”, Dad’s rock glass is “olives!” and I can motivate him to do almost anything with the promise of an olive.
• AND…No major update on potty training, still getting 95% of #2 in the potty…Lots and lots and lots of naked time, it is hot after all…Kindy is going great, no crying at all for drop off and coming home like a champ on the “bus”…seen lots of newborns the past month, and the interactions are going well, here’s hoping…slight backfire from me attempting breastfeeding education – Miles tried to nurse me, Tim, even his own “boobies” in the days following, this should be fun in a month…Miles has all our books memorized – photographic memory!…Frustrating communications ensue when he is fixated on showing/telling me something and I can’t get it, it took me a good 15 minutes to figure out what he wanted when he repeated “det-ko” 1000 times pointing toward the cupboards (there was a gecko on the ceiling)…
• Enjoying this last month of our little family of three.  And being able to write in this blog.  Free time!

Look at this cheeky little boy!  I am really relishing in his sweetness at this age, although “no” is more and more common, he really does have only pure intentions in his heart.  Love! <3

• Bean Counter.  Miles is learning to count!  He likes to count “beans”; a bean being anything smaller than a rock that is not a rock, like a seed or a pinecone, or a shell.  He extends his index finger and knows where to start: “unnnn..doooo”, it stops there and goes to erratic pointing at all the beans.  The other day he busted out with an “eight!” when I was counting and got past 7.
• Who, What, Where?  This month, Miles developed standard answers to the W’s: Who? Ada. What? Apple. Where? Up.
• Bus or Truck?  On the way to kindy each morning, Miles and I have a game.  He chooses one or the other, and I get the leftover.  Whoever sees their vehicle first “wins”.  He can also identify a motorcycle “mo-turrr” and a taxi.  This game was modeled after the game he plays with Tim each night: Bird or Dog?
• Morning, Sun!  Each morning, Miles gets very excited at the appearance of a huge red ball over the sea “Dun!!!”  He waves and says good morning.  At night (and he discovered even during the day) he searches the sky for his second favorite, the moon.
• Sleeping seems back on track, for the most part.  At least it is pretty consistent, 10 hours at night and 2-3 in the afternoon.  Thank you!
• Food.  We started off the month with Miles insisting he would only take food off a spoon or fork he personally delivered to his mouth, and ended it with him dumping out the contents of any plate or bowl onto the table/floor eating only when we shovel it in for him.  Favorite food: fish!  And yes, I am a mom that hides veggies.
• Potty!  Miles is using the potty for all his #2′s and I can take him out of the house without diapers for short periods if I explain he is not wearing diapers and he can’t poop or pee unless he is on the toilet.  Still uses (disposable now) diapers at daycare and during sleep.  But it is a step in the right direction.  Slowly, slowly.
• Other…Miles LOVES to play in the sand, “beeeetch” is his favorite destination; favorite toys are a tea kettle & cups, bus with sesame st characters, anything with wheels; singing is also a great distractor, although he is most interested in new songs, I am constantly challenging my memory and coming up with something he hasn’t heard before; “preparation” for the new baby consisted of reading a story where the big brother’s bed was relegated to the new baby, we think he is getting it, because he HATES that book now and refuses to read it; naked time is all the time around here, as soon as we get home it’s shoes off, shorts off, dipe off (at Miles’ insistence).  Unfortunately, it’s extending to outside the home, hope our neighbors don’t mind a naked boy running around the pool!

Miles is growing up.  He understands what we say, copies what we do, and needs to be up to his elbows in everything!

• Mine: word of the month.  Everything is ‘mine, mine’.  Basically just means he wants something, but I try and explain, no Miles, that actually belongs to Momma, and I am sharing with you.
• The stool.  Miles has  a little ottoman from his nursing chair that he drags around the house, effectively making him 18″ taller.  This means he is on every counter, every table, in the sink, at the stove (yikes!) and helping with all tasks that go on there.  Dishes are a clear favorite (and luckily he cannot reach the faucet yet).  He also likes to “mix, mix”, which means to help with cooking.  I’m glad he has such an interest, and that he is learning to steer clear of knives and the stove (do you want to touch sharp? hot?, to which he replies with a shaking head, waving hand and ‘bye, bye’)
• The pot.  Another month of diaper free, and we’ve had some back and forth.  Not so much with accidents on the floor, those are very rare, but sometimes he is keen to sit and read/watch videos on the potty, and other times he would rather hold it.  For a LONG time, or at least until I get his swim diaper on and take him to the pool.  Ugh.  We’ll get there, anyway.  I stopped using cloth diapers (he was super-soaking through them in about 45 minutes), so we go through 2-3 disposables a day.
• Thanks.  We made it a priority to start family dinners this month so we all sit down and eat together each night.  Most nights, anyway.  This means 2 good things: Miles gets exposed to whatever we are eating, and tends to eat better when he sees us doing it AND he participates in our pre-dinner ‘grace’, where we hold hands and go around saying what we are thankful for.  He knows the drill, daddy goes first, then momma, then Miles says ‘thanks’ and then we can eat!  He loves this tradition and sometimes insists on doing it before breakfast or when we eat out.  Its so sweet, though, we can’t resist.
• Sleep: a regression.  I can’t blame jetlag, or molars, or lack of routine.  Miles just did not have a good month of sleeping.  Night waking, calling for momma, and not putting himself to sleep.  Sigh.
• Other – Miles started daycare Monday, just a little break for momma and a chance to get some energy out on some other, well-paid adults…even with the mine-mine attitude, Miles doesn’t seem to care that much if other kids take stuff from him, he just picks up something else to play with…so much singing these days, there will be whole mornings where Miles is hanging around singing songs to himself, or having an unintelligible monologue…I have been taking some mom time recently, so lots of chances for Miles to bond with dad, they are so sweet together.  I love my little family, and looking forward to it getting bigger…I don’t think Miles has any concept of a baby on the way.  He likes to poke and prod my belly, kiss it and say baby, but I don’t think he ‘gets’ it yet at all.  He will soon enough, 3 months to go!!

Talking and teething and tantrums, oh my.

• Talking.  Wow, this month has been all about learning new words and putting them to use.  It’s frustrating at times when presented with just the first little sound of something Miles really wants.  He just repeats and repeats it until finally grabbing our hand and leading us around.  I’d guess he says about 50 intelligible words, and sings about 4 songs.  It’s fun.
• Teething.  Oh, man.  We waited, and waited.  And now Miles has molars.  All but one of the first set, making our total tooth count to eleven!
• Tantrums.  We do have a toddler.  One who is nearing two years old.  This month offered glimpses of what is to come.  A breakdown for him starts with some anxious pre-screaming panting, includes plenty of “mama”s and may or may not be accompanied by throwing something and/or swatting.  Fun times to come.
• Travel anxiety.  For a kid who is on the go a LOT, and who never gets left behind (except this once), Miles has some major travel anxiety.  If he sees a packed suitcase or a travel toiletries case, he refuses to leave my side, let alone sleep.  Tim and I have taken to sneaking around packing, leaving out piles of clothes (that seems completely normal to him for some reason) and pulling out the suitcase in the dead of night, often getting it in the car before he wakes up.  Thirty-nine flights down at this point in his life, and at least he (and I) are getting the hang of airport time and flying.
• Follow the leader.  Miles loves leading us around, grabbing 0ur hand or pushing from behind.  He will guide our hands to do something.  He likes to follow little instructions and “help” where he can, I even saw him do a little clean up!
• Baby buck.  The last week of this month, Miles spent almost completely naked.  We’ve been giving him lots of bare butt time to become more aware of his body functions.  The first day was full of accidents, but since then he has been pretty good about waiting until we sit him on the potty or more often put on his diaper for sleep or going out.  Right now it kind of feels like diaper training, but at least he is learning to control when to let it go.
• In love.  Miles is in love.  Her name is Ada and she lives downstairs.  All day he asks for her, he pretends to call her on the phone.  He looks out the window for her, goes to the door that leads downstairs.  He identified a girl in one of his books who has dark, curly pigtails, and points to her each time we are on that page, “Ada!”.  He watches videos of them playing over and over.  She is currently on home leave, too, in “dur-kees” (Turkey).  She’ll be home next week, and maybe Miles’ broken heart will start to mend.

I hear it all the time, and it is so true.  This is truly a very fun age.

• Talk, talk, talking.  This month has been all about the words.  Miles seems to add about 2-3 new ones a day.  The most used word is not surprisingly, mama.  Of note: family members “May” and “Vra” (grandma);  last week’s “beer”; his extensive janitorial vocabulary that includes not only “bucket”, but “mop”, “broom”, and “trash”; some form of “blender”; a range of foods from “fish” to “blueberries”; and a collection of sound effects including “knock, knock”, “DONG!”, and “BOOM!”.  Signing is still going strong, but I think he will soon realize it is not an effective means of communication with 99.9% of the population, as his friends are not too responsive when he stands in front of them signing *more, food, please* to try and get some snacks off them (little beggar).
• Jump up and Jam.  Miles has been working on his jumps.  He gets zero air at this point, but its cute to watch him drive his momentum up over and over.  He still loves dancing, which reminds me I have a video to share with you.  I tried getting him to be more comfortable in the water by putting water wings on him in the pool, and was only effective in scaring him off.
• Eat your veggies.  Miles certainly eats enough, if evaluated by the input/output method.  However, the variety he readily consumed prior to his first birthday has slowly dwindled to a small list, none of which are leafy and green.  Current favorites: blueberries (by a landslide), salmon, avocado, chicken, tortillas, olives (the saltier the better, and not soaked in gin, yet), watermelon, peaches and cheese.  He is also drinking a ton: milk, juice, water, shakes – making cloth diapering less interesting when I have to change him every 45 minutes.
• I’m not even going to mention sleep.  He is transitioning to just one nap a day and we flew halfway around the world.  He gets some sleep every day, and it appears to be enough to fuel his highly active lifestyle.
• Relentless.  I guess you can also call it endless curiosity.  This is one of Miles’ personality traits that has come through loud and clear.  He will not let something go.  If he wants in he is GOING TO GET IN!  No matter how long it takes.  And he will go back to the same things he is not supposed to be in over and over and over.  Hoping I suppose to wear us out. It works.
• He loves reading and playing.  If mom is around he will constantly ask for up, up, but does pretty good playing independently without that temptation around.  He can open most doors and locks (including bathroom doors and childproofing locks), and is learning to move furniture for a better climbing vantage.  He has been teething his 8th tooth for about 6 weeks, and it should come through any day now, away from home like all the others.  He is loving babies these days, especially pictures of mom and dad with a baby (him), which I hope is good news for the little one on the way!  If you ask “where’s Miles?”, he solemnly points to himself and says “Mies”.

This little bean is getting more fun and more cheeky all the time!  I think this is the fun part of toddlerhood, and I am fully enjoying it.

• Inevitable.  I knew it.  With parents like us how could he avoid it? (No, he’s not already doing calculus…that will be in the 18 mo update.)  Miles is a runner.  He no longer walks anywhere, his flat feet smack on the floor as he rushes from room to room.  Fortunately, his balance seems pretty good and no major accidents thus far.  He also likes to show off on steps, putting one foot only on each going up (not step, meet, step, meet, like he did before) and not holding on for the way down.  Luckily here he’s a pretty good faller.  Is that a notable accomplishment?  Miles has the tuck and roll down.
• Blah, blah, blah.  The constant babbling of last month started to come together into coherent (to me, anyway) words.  Mama and Dada are favorites, and used almost constantly in any new situation where we are not within his sights mamadadamamadada…  He will try and say any new word if you start it with “can you say..,.?”, except for those he has mastered by signs.  The only two I can see that transferred over to verbal at this point are dada and banana, although those signs are often used in conjunction with the word.  Food words are favorites: eggs, cheese, juice, grapes, milk…
• No-No. He’s 17 months.  Of course he is all about the no.  For Miles, its in the form of a very solemn bowed-head-wide-sweeping-side-to-side head sweep.
• Yes.  Fortunately, he says yes almost as much as he says no.  Here’s one where he foregoes his previous breathy “yeah” for a more vigorous full body jolt that comes from the solar plexus and eminates through his body.  I need to get these on video.  They’re emphatic.
• Food.  Miles will only eat things he wants to eat, and only things he brings to his own mouth (with an exception for ice cream, it seems).  I am just trying to go with the provide several healthy options and be OK with whichever goes down, even if its not the healthiest one.  I have not exactly been a pillar of reference in this department the last couple weeks, anyway…pickles and ice cream?  Miles loves it too.
• Others…Tooth seven made its appearance in Borneo, leading me to believe Miles will never cut a tooth at home in his own bed…We counted that Miles was on his 30th flight, making it almost one flight every 2 weeks of his life.  He does have massive feet, but I think his carbon footprint is even bigger…That being said, his traveling days are over it seems, after a particularly needy night at a hotel in KK, Tim swore he was never taking Miles anywhere again…Miles sings and does the hand motions to “itsy bitsy spider” and was showing off for some friends during dinner the other night.  I think I was the only one who got what he was doing…He’s a dancing fool when some good music comes on (his interpretation of good music that is), incorporating moves such as the high stomp, low squat, side to side shuffle, and the arms up spin (but only to the left).