Miles' Games

Miles is so inventive these days! He has so many little games that he likes to make up and play. Over the weekend, he was lining up shape toys in a line for a net; then he gave me a shape (circle) and him a shape (circle) and we were to hit a ball with the shape as if it were a racket over the line of shapes. He wanted to play tennis! He plays bowling and golf too, although golf and tennis are a lot alike in his world. He's into taking pictures on Ahmad's old digital camera and gets such a thrill out snapping that perfect shot! Although, the majority of them have his fingers in front of the lens. He is on a tickle kick and loves being tickled! He always has, but more so these last few days again. He holds our lips closed and asks if we want a snack and then when we try to respond, we can't! It's hilarious! Then it's his turn and we hold his lips closed and do the same. He cracks up! He also has started holding my eye lids down and having me try to open my eyes. Then he makes me do it to him too. Too funny! When he's learning something new, he goes through the list (of items or whatever he's learning) time and time again until he can remember every last thing on the list or page. He's also recently into Stop signs and loves looking for them. He's realizing there are "ABCs" on the sign too and has identified all the letters. Every now and then he gets it right, but when I asked him tonight to spell Stop for daddy, he said TSOP. Almost! Another funny thing he does is say "Obama" as if it's a bad phrase or word. He knows who Obama is when he sees him and says President Obama. He also calls the flag the "Obama Flag". But, when he talks about his friends at school, he often says "Obama Austin" (one of his friends at school or he'll use another friend's name)! Or he'll walk up to us and say "Obama" as if it's an insult. Not sure where that comes from, but it's kinda funny. Often we get home from school before Daddy is home from work, but if Daddy is home first and I ask Miles what he thinks Daddy is doing, he usually will say cooking. When I ask him what he's cooking, he'll usually say eggs. Then sometimes he'll add pizza on to that. Tonight he wanted to help Daddy cook the eggs. :) He's just so full of ideas these days...can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

Nana's Visit

Last week, Nana and Mommy both had the same day off, so Nana decided to come up and visit. Miles played hooky from school and we went to the Children's Museum and then a little maternity shopping. Miles had a blast at the museum; he's been talking about going for some time now and it'd been awhile since I was there too. They've remodeled and it was nice, but a long walk into the museum now! Our first stop was the carousel and then playing in the tree house and with the 'potato heads'. Nana had to show Miles how they worked, but he checked out the tree house by himself!

Then we checked out the sand and water tables where he had a blast as well! He got his arms soaked though and Nana decided to buy him a new sweatshirt in the gift shop to stay cozy the rest of the visit. After figuring out how to get out of the gift shop, we went and ate some lunch and then visited the dinosaurs. Miles did good with them and liked looking at them until the simulated rain came on. Then he decided he didn't like "wet dinosaurs" and wanted to leave. So we headed home.

After a poor attempt at a nap on mommy's part, we decided Miles probably wasn't going to nap, so we headed out to the stores for some new shoes for Miles and some maternity clothes for me. It's slim pickin's for maternity clothes, but we managed to find a few new shirts at Target. Then we went home and played for a short bit before Nana had to go home. It was a nice day and so wonderful to have Nana visiting. Now we just have to get Grampie up here!

Not napping on Wednesday did have its affect on Thursday and Miles didn't have the greatest day at school. However, that was the only bad day all week, so it was overall a good week! I went to the doctor on Thursday for my monthly check up and all is well. I was a bit concerned about my swelling, but my blood pressure and protein were both good, so she's not worried. I'm already getting on the every 2 weeks schedule though! I can't believe I'm that far along already. Time is flying!

Miles is still loving his Halloween candy and regularly tries to get in his stash to see what goodies he can have. Saturday was a good day too. We started out the morning getting ready for a portrait shoot at JC Penny's. Miles was quite the diva and didn't want to wear anything we picked out. So, we finally had him choose a shirt out of the 10 or so we laid out for him. He chose the most wrinkly shirt! Oh well. We finally got it on him and realized it was also on the small side. At least he was dressed though. We brought 2 other shirts in hopes of getting him to change, but he never did. The photo session didn't go too well and let's just say we aren't planning on going back. It's too bad too, they've done some good photos for us. We weren't overly impressed with Miles' two year old photos either and had the same lady this time. Miles was being shy and she was trying to get him to open up. Which is fine, but we think she was scaring him more than anything! And anytime he was actually doing ok, she wasn't holding her camera. Ug! We wanted to get family photos as well as maternity shots and she probably only took about 4 maternity shots and 18 total photos. We managed to get a few decent ones and did order some, but it was quite a process.

Sunday was very fun! Miles was great at church, especially after he discovered a pack of gum (his latest craze) in my purse. He proceeded to chew each piece throughout church. I was a bit worried how he would do during communion because he had already announced to me that he wanted "some Eucharist". However, he actually walked with me (instead of me carrying him) during communion and didn't try to swipe any from the dish. I was impressed! We went to the store and then home for lunch and a nap. When he woke up it was time to get ready for Amber, Jeff and baby Lauren to come 'tailgate' with us. We had a great time catching up and eating some good food! Miles was very entertained by Jeff and Lauren as well. However, I didn't get my camera out in time to get the tickle photos of Miles and Lauren. He was acting like a great big brother in practice and gave her some toys, turned them on for her, and periodically checked in to see how she was doing. Miles and Jeff played some games, but I'm not sure who won!Today was a great day! Miles was in a good mood all day and had a great time at school. He and Daddy got down the Adam's Family tune because I'm holding the work phone and that's the ring tone. It was too funny! He enjoyed playing with baby before bed and gave it a kiss goodnight. Baby has been very active tonight, up almost since I got home from work. I've also had a lot of braxton hicks tonight, so there must be a lot going on in there today! We're looking forward to another good week of just having fun. Hope to be able to catch up with some friends and family soon!

Seeing Spots

This last week was a good week! Miles has been really good and the hitting phase seems to be over. I'm sure there will be exceptions here and there, but he has only hit once in almost 2 weeks. This is such a huge relief! He's still having more accidents, but hasn't had one in the last 3 days, so perhaps that is getting better too. We've been working hard on getting the baby's room ready and finally have it all painted and the furniture placed. We still have some finishing touches, but it's mostly together. After not being able to get the stripes exactly how we wanted, we decided to ditch that idea and go with polka dots. I'm so glad we did-I love it! Miles is really getting into the baby now and was excited when we were working on the room. He kept telling us to watch out because the baby was coming! When I picked him up from school today, the teacher told me that he was talking about the baby today and said that he was going to be a big brother and have a little sister and her name was going to be Miles. :) We haven't even talked to him about names, so I guess we need to start doing that! He chose to read the Big Brother book tonight, so this must be on his mind.

He's been very independent this week too and insisting on doing things himself-everything from getting dressed or undressed to opening containers, going potty, and cleaning up. It's a fun change, but we sure have to plan extra time now! He's also still insistant on taking all his belongings with him when he leaves for school. Both pumpkin buckets, 3 stuffed animals and 3 blankets. It's so funny! He calls them his stuff and his purse-we think this may be from watching me in the mornings with all the things I usually have to take to work-a bag, computer and purse!

We had wonderful warm fall weather this weekend and were able to get outside on Saturday and Sunday. Ahmad bought a smoker to smoke something (hasn't decided what yet!) for Thanksgiving and had to try it out Saturday. He smoked a chicken and it was delicious! While outside smoking the chicken, Miles decided it was football weather and wanted to play catch with Daddy. He instructed daddy to go get the helmets and he'd get the football. All we have are bicycle helmets, so that's what they wore! Miles even caught the ball a few times!

After playing football for a bit, Miles needed a change of pace and decided he wanted to bowl. The only problem-no bowling set. However, we do have one that he will get either for Christmas or his birthday. I was so tempted to pull it out, but I resisted and got creative instead. We bowled with a ball and papertowel rolls...
Then we headed back into the leaf piles Ahmad had created and had fun messing them up!














Lastly, tonight we introduced him to Connect Four. He wasn't into actually playing it, but did enjoy putting all the "wheels" into the game and found it very interesting that there was one missing and it was always the top right corner that was missing!

Fading Into Fall

This past week has been very busy! Miles finished up the week awesome at school. He didn't hit Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and he was good all weekend! It felt so good! He was good today too and even got 3 stickers! Last week I did buy "Hands are Not for Hitting" and we've read that a few times. He seems to like it alright. I had my eye on a few others on Amazon, but didn't get that far to buy them yet. I still might since I liked their themes. I am not thinking we are quite in the clear yet, but he's been great and really seems to be more aware the last week of his actions. However, on the flip side, he's had an accident every day the last week. I'm not sure what's really going on with him, but I'd rather a backslide in potty training over hitting any day.

I got a bad cold a few weeks ago and have pretty much recovered, but still have a lingering cough (no, it's not swine flu!) and sometimes have a coughing fit. Miles is too cute and comes and holds me to him, patting my back and saying "come here mommy, it's ok, you're ok" until I'm finished. He's such a sweet pea!

Miles is also still so adorable with my belly! He pulls up my shirt all the time and hugs the baby, pats it, and gives it kisses. He talks about when the baby gets bigger, it'll be able to talk to him and play "dunk dunk" (a.k.a. basketball) with him. He says how nice the baby is and how little it is. He pretends to take the baby and hold it and cuddle it. Too cute! He says he's going to have a little brother. We'll see soon enough! The other night, he put a ball down his jammies and acted like he had a baby in his belly too. It was very funny!



I also turned 7 months on Friday! I can't believe how time has flown this pregnancy. I think it did the first time around and this time, it's gone twice as fast. I finally had to take off my wedding ring and right hand ring on Friday too. I knew it was getting close, but all the sudden, that was it. :( Now I'm wearing my fake wedding ring!

Since time is flying and the baby's arrival is getting close, we decided we finally had to buckle down and work on the baby's room. So, we spent much of the weekend painting. We just have to touch up the ceiling and add some circles and then we'll be done. I'm hoping to get to that after I finish posting. We were going to do a horizontal strip around the room in two colors, but after working on that last night, for some reason (Ahmad says he understands why, but it baffles me), we couldn't get the lines to match up despite our best efforts and using a laser level. So, we scratched that idea and decided to do random circles. I'm pretty excited about it! Miles really wanted to help us paint, which we didn't let him do, but he did provide some drum entertainment while we worked!

We took a break and finally also carved our Halloween pumpkins Halloween morning. Miles did quite well considering last year he had about zero interest and wouldn't touch the insides. It took him a bit, but he did reach in there and take out some seeds. He had a pretty good time and tried hard to separate the seeds from the goop so we could bake them. Then he instructed me on how to carve them. The first two were supposed to be happy faces and then an "o" face and then a sad face. He seemed pleased with my artwork!

When we (my brothers and I) were growing up, our dad always had us carve lots of pumpkins because he really liked the seeds. It was very important to make sure we did a good job of separating the seeds from the guts and we had to make sure there were no seeds gone to waste. It became quite a tradition and I'm sure he misses our seeds now! I had to laugh because I found myself saying some of the same things and really trying to get Miles to not play in the seeds because he was spilling them. However, I know how tempting they are because they are so slimy feeling. The mess we made never would have stood up when I was younger!Finally, it was time to dress up for Halloween! Miles instructed his makeup, but was getting tired of holding still by the time I got to his mouth. He also wasn't feeling the bow tie or hat this time around, so those got left at home. I still think he made a very cute clown! I dressed up as well, kinda. I was supposed to be an 8 ball due to my bulging belly, but my message may have been confused. I had someone ask me towards the end of the night if I was supposed to be the Octo-Mom. I had to laugh and say no! Miles did a great job trick or treating and had fun looking for the houses with the light on. He said 'trick or treat' to everyone and followed up with a 'thank you'. Once it got dark, he was finished though and wouldn't get out of the wagon. I think the other kids all dressed up were a it scary to him. We came back and went trick or treating to daddy, who had left us a bit early to come back and pass out candy, and were treated quite nicely! He's
enjoying his candy stash very much!

We finished up the week last night with some Roots dancing, Miles leading the way through the obstacle course he set up. He had a great time, but I had to sit out a round or two!

Scary Clown

I realized that I forgot to mention in my last post how Miles thought he was a lion/clown and kept acting like a 'scary clown'. It was so funny! He kept growling at everyone!



And Daddy caught him making up a dance to one of the songs in his book the other day...




Tonight before bed, Miles was "playing" with baby in my belly and decided it was time for him/her to go to sleep. With my belly exposed, he covered it up with his blankets and patted my belly saying 'night night baby, I love you'. Too adorable.

Jammie Jams, Zoo Boo and Baby

Over the weekend, Miles and Mommy had fun doing a duet of our Jammie Jam Time song, which is second only to Pee Pee on the Potty and Take a Bath. He loves these songs and gets him going, usually.


We also went to the Zoo Boo on Sunday with our neighbors, Eric, Katie, Evelyn, and Robyn. We had a great time and it was jam packed since it was such a nice evening. The kids loved the candy
they got from
trick or treating and had it all eaten before we even left. Miles had a great time and did quite well with his clown outfit. However, I didn't know what a challenge it would be to put makeup on a 2 year old. He didn't do too bad with it, but was finished before I was. At least it was good practice for Halloween! Miles also was quite impressed with the dressed up dogs they had and gave them a high five and a hug. On the way back around, he insisted he get his picture taken with one of them and proceeded to do a little dance-should've taken a video!



Miles has been adorable the last few days with my belly. He's suddenly realized the baby is in there and he pulls up my shirt to talk to the baby and see it. He tries looking in my belly button for the baby and then sticks his finger in it. He pats my belly and says what a nice baby it is and how little it is. He give it kisses and snuggles too. Tonight before bed, he was cuddling with the baby and sang it the ABCs. He'll be such a good big brother!

Pluggin Along

This has been a pretty good, but busy week! Miles did ok this week at school, but it didn't start out good on Monday. When I went to pick him up, I was informed by the staff at the front desk that Miles had kicked a girl and busted her lip. I was horrified! I've never seen Miles do anything like this before. She proceeded to tell me about the time out that he didn't seem to care about and how upset this girl's parents were (of course!). I was so ashamed. I took him home and talked to him about what happened and put him in timeout. I ended up crying some when I was talking to him (partly because I was upset and frustrated and partly due to hormones!). That really seemed to affect Miles; he didn't like that at all. We didn't let him go play outside even though it was beautiful and he went to bed early-something we decided to continue as he didn't even seem to notice, so he must need the extra sleep! Tuesday was a good day and he got stickers. I talked to his teacher about implementing a reward sticker system at school too and she said she'd do it. Ahmad picked Miles up from school and found out that while Miles did kick a girl in her lip, it was during a tantrum he was having and more or less, her face got in the way of his kicks. This would have been real helpful information to know yesterday! I know he doesn't need to be throwing tantrums and kicking and such, but I would handle this differently than just being mean. Wednesday was another good day! Thursday he had a time out for hitting. Ahmad picked him up again and on the way home, Miles fell asleep-something he never does! After being put in timeout, Ahmad left the room and came back to find Miles sleeping on the floor. He must not have napped. No info on that either. Upon talking to Miles later that night about what happened at school, he told me another child had "booped" him (his term for hitting or bumping) and also bit him. Again, would have been good information to know! Instead of just "no hitting", we could address what to do when someone hits your or bites you. Friday there was a note that he threw a book and it hit a teacher-another time out. Ug. He knew he was going to get a timeout and all the way home kept saying, 'no mommy, no timeout'. I told him yes and halfway home, he got real quiet and then said 'mommy sad when I hit'. Yes I am! And he went through everything 'mommy sad when I throw books, mommy sad when I kick, mommy sad when I hit'. I said, yes, it does make me sad because you are a such a nice boy and those are not nice things to do. He said, 'I go in timeout'. When we got home, he went inside by himself, took off his coat and shoes and sat himself in timeout. I couldn't believe it! I'm frustrated with this phase and ready for it to be over! But I'm also a bit disappointed with the daycare that we've been so happy with. Instead of being met with what he does wrong and making me feel like a bad parent, I'd appreciate knowing the whole story and some support. I'm sure he's not the first 2 year old to have done these things. I did talk with his teacher Friday morning and let her know about wanting to know more about what happens and gave her those two explanations. She agreed, so hopefully that will change.

We went out with our friends Amber and Jeff and their baby, Lauren last night for dinner. It'd been way too long since we hung out and it was great to catch up finally. Miles had fun at the end of dinner showing Lauren how he could act like a lion and ghost. It was too cute! Lauren didn't much appreciate Miles' 'roaring', but instead wanted to play with his hair! Miles also got tired of his mommy and daddy holding her and insisted on sitting on our laps.

Miles is also doing a bit better with toilet training. He's done well all along, but is now finally starting to tell us more when he has to go rather than waiting to be asked. He's had some accidents (3 in one day this week!), but overall he usually doesn't have any.

This morning, even though it is Saturday, I had to work. Of course he woke at 5:30am. Ahmad went to get him back to sleep, which worked for about 45 minutes. Then he wanted Mommy. So I snuggled with him for a bit and he was too precious. He just kept kissing my cheeks and playing with my hair and snuggling. I just can't imagine my sweet baby boy hitting at times like these! Despite being tired, it was a nice way to start my day! :)