Fun at Daycare...

A couple of days per week, Myles spends a few hours at an in-home daycare with a nice woman named Angie, her youngest boy, and just one or two other kids, depending upon the day. Judging by his reaction when we drop him off and by his smiles when he hears certain names, we can tell that he really enjoys his friends there and all of the activities that come with it. In addition to little field trips to the zoo or just the store, they also have a nice, big, fenced-in yard where the kids can play, and Myles really enjoys getting outside. They sent us a few photos of Myles in action. It's fun and funny to see a glimpse of what he's up to when Mommy and Daddy aren't around. It's also very comforting to know that he's enjoying himself.

First, it was very important that Myles have boots and snowpants for the winter, because the boys that live in the daycare home love to be outside. It turns out that Myles does too, and it is often a struggle to get him to come back inside.
Myles is very fond of the newest addition to Angie's family, a baby girl. She is just a few months old, and Myles always makes sure to point her out to Mommy or Daddy when we pick him up, pointing and smiling, "Baby! Baby!" He also likes to make sure the baby has plenty of blankets. Here they are together on a recent field trip to a local horticultural conservatory.

It looks like Myles really enjoyed the sights to be seen there.

Is it Spring yet?

Well, not quite. However, 53 degrees and pleasant is about as good as it gets for early March here, and that's what we had yesterday. Daddy was sick on Friday and Saturday, which forced us to cancel dinner plans with friends on Friday and also a visit from Uncle Dan, Aunt Tiff and Cousin Cole on Saturday, not wanting to get everybody sick. Major disappointment. Sunday was a new day, and we decided to take advantage of the decent weather with a trip to the zoo.

Myles really enjoys the chance to get outside and run around. It's a great place for that, as the walking paths are pretty well hemmed in by rails and fences, and Myles is allowed to go pretty much anywhere he can. The weather was nice enough outside to enjoy some long walks around the paths through the zoo. Myles, throwing out shrieks of delight, started chasing one of the free-roaming peacocks and was very frustrated when we had to stop him from doing that. We put him back in the stroller so he could get a controlled look at it, which he enjoyed. Myles also really enjoys many of the indoor exhibits, and this time he especially enjoyed the aquariums, spending approximately 20 minutes running around and pointing out the various "seesh." Before heading home for lunch, Myles took one last long walk outside, stopping to climb on whatever railing, bench or snow heap caught his attention. It was great to be outside, and we're really looking forward to Spring.

Off to the Sunshine State

Myles and his parents enjoyed a wonderful visit to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa T. Our flight down was rather early, which required us to get Myles out of bed and moving at 5:00 a.m., roughly 3 hours prior to his normal wake-up. He handled it very well but, to our surprise, he did not return to sleep until approximately noon, when G and G had picked us up at the airport and were driving us back to their place. With having so little sleep and being concerned about Myles handling the flight, we forgot to take a single picture of the trip down. However, Myles behaved surprisingly well, especially considering that he wasn't able to take a nap as we had hoped he would.

For the first few days, the weather wasn't as nice as we had hoped. It was cool and windy, with rain coming and going. However, Myles was at least able to get out on the lanai and play in the fresh air. Even if it was cool and rainy, it was much nicer than home in January.
On one of the cool days, we were able to get out to a playground near G and G's, and Myles had an absolute blast running and playing outside. We had to cut it short because of the chilly wind, but again, it was something fun that we couldn't do at home in January.

However, the big highlight of the entire week for Myles was a series of golf cart rides. The community in which G and G reside in Florida is fully golf car accessible, and it is the preferred mode of transportation for residents. Even when Mommy and Daddy snuck out for a couple of dates (thanks G and G!), we passed up taking the golf cart because we knew how much Myles enjoyed his rides with G and G.

On the day before we had to leave, we had a really nice day. It was over 70 degrees and sunny, with a nice breeze. Grandma took us to a really nice playground a few miles away with huge equipment in place, and Myles played and played and played. That was a great day.

That evening, on our last night, Grandpa took Daddy and Myles on a nice, long golf cart ride around town, and Myles really got a kick out of the ride in the dark. We even saw some folks playing night golf with glow-in-the-dark golf balls, and Myles found this very amusing.

The next morning, it was time to leave town. We had a short wait at the airport, but Myles took it in stride.

Finally, we made it home. It was good to be home with our own crib and all of our toys, but we sure miss Grandma and Grandpa - and the golf cart rides!

Myles's first stitches.

So, Myles had his first trip to the ER about a week and a half ago. He was playing around in his bath as usual, but slipped and hit his face on the edge of the tub. The cut looked pretty wide, so we ended up taking him to the ER (the local urgent care centers were closed for the evening). He was a very brave and happy little boy throughout the process, with the exception of being furious that he was strapped down and held still for the actual suture process, which took about 3 minutes. In the end, he walked out with 5 stitches and a new stuffed animal from the ER staff. Unfortunately, this came just in time for his big trip to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa T. It looked pretty brutal once the black eye really set in. He looked like Rocky in his bath robe.

Big Little Boy...

Mommy took Myles for a standard check-up and immunization appointment yesterday. Though he doesn't like being held down very much, he takes the shots in stride and bounces back pretty quickly.

Myles is still a very big kid for his age. He is not quite 17 months old and he measured 36" in height. That puts him within the 100th percentile for his age. The doctor explained that roughly 9 out of 10,000 kids that age are taller than Myles. He's just a few yogurt melts shy of 30 pounds, which is about the 93rd percentile, and he's around the 90th percentile for head circumference. All around big.

We often point out that he's not even a year and a half old when strangers, like the woman who cut his hair, seem to expect him to be a little more conversational or responsive to instructions. We can understand the assumption that he is older. He is taller and bigger than most of the 2-year olds we know, including some that are a full year older than he is. He's just kind of a big dude.

Chef Myles

This video was taken in the afternoon on Christmas Day, and Myles was already getting into a groove in the kitchen. Clearly, he favors liberal use of seasonings. The "practical toys" - the kitchen, pots and pans, vacuum cleaner, shopping cart, groceries - have been a huge hit, because he really just wants to be doing the things he sees us doing. It's so frustrating for him to be told "no" all the time when he wants to play with the real thing, so these toys are perfect. Fun times!

Christmas Celebration No. 2

With a great opening round behind him, Myles charged into Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with confidence and gusto. My family graciously accommodated our wish for Myles to have childhood Christmas celebrations at home, so they all traveled from the Madison area to our place on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. In attendance were Grandma and Grandpa A, Aunt Jenny and Uncle Mike, and my cousin Kristi and her daughters Stephanie and Leanna.

Myles woke up from his afternoon nap to find that the whole bunch had arrived, and he very much enjoyed playing with all of his visitors until dinner time. We sat down in the dining room and had a nice Christmas meal, and then moved into the family room to open the mountain of presents. Myles scored some pretty sweet items, and wasted no time starting up the vacuum cleaner Grandpa and Grandpa gave him.

He also got a shopping cart and a lot of toy groceries and dishes from Grandma and Grandpa. Myles was also spoiled by Aunt Jenny and Uncle Mike, with the doll and stroller below, as well as the Little People airplane Mommy and Myles are opening.


Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jenny and Uncle Mike stayed overnight to be part of the Christmas morning fun. Myles awoke to find a living room full of family and a very elaborate play kitchen from Santa. He wasted no time getting started on working hard in the kitchen and enjoying all of the accessories he got from Grandma and Grandpa.

Then, he had presents from Grandma and Grandpa T to open, including a CD of personalized songs, such as "Myles and the Dinosaur," plus another handmade wooden train car to add to his collection, as well as an insulated motion W cup, just like the ones Daddy uses.

Myles finished off Christmas morning by digging in his stocking, where he found such treasures as yogurt melts and a Tonka truck. So much excitement.

So, all of these new toys should keep him busy until his first big airplane trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa T in Florida at the end of the month!