All About M

Reading books in his favorite chair.

(Pre-haircut)

"Boo!"

"Yes, I look darn cute with my new haircut."

Playing ball in my playroom.

Looking at the goats at Deardorff Apple Orchard Saturday.

Pumpkins!

Miles looks a little too happy for just making his first crayon mark on the wall!

Coloring with Grandma and Grandpa Nickolay

Oh boy these crayons are fun!

Horsey ride from Grandpa.

The Amazing Mr. Miles

Boy, Miles is a mover and a shaker now. His primary occupation these days is walking everywhere. Up and down the hall, up the stairs, around the playroom with his vaccuum popper. He puts on many miles a day and so do the rest of us following his every move. If we're not watching him every second he will probably a) have his hands in Ruby's water bowl, b) be trying to press the buttons on the carbon monoxide detector or c) trying to break down the babygate by shaking it vigourously.

Other things that keep this little man busy include:

• peaking around corners and saying "boo!"
• pretending to sneeze (very dramatic)
• reading books constantly - this is usually done either while walking around or snuggled into his little stuffed chair
• hugging Ruby
• reading books to Ruby
• making funny faces
• signing "more milk please" (3 different signs in a row)
• cleaning surfaces with his washcloth

He also very clearly says words and phrases like "bye-bye," "hi dad," and "ma ma." We have figured out that mama has several different meanings including: calling me, he wants something or he's hungry. It's very cute when he's walking up and down the hall looking for me he'll really draw the word out - "maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

How much more can the kid take?

It's been a rough week in the health department for our little man. The least of his problems was waking up one morning with several mosquito bites covering one side of his face and neck. He still has the chronic snotty nose in part now because his molars are cutting through. One huge one on the bottom is in and the others are starting to poke out. I can only imagine the pain this must cause him. He also started to run a low-grade fever last Thursday and was not himself. We took him to the doctor but his ears were clear of infection. His fever persisted through the weekend and on Sunday he broke out into a rash all over his body. Sunday night he was really feeling horrible and was inconsolable for nearly 1 1/2 hours. Mike and I were feeling really horrible too - nothing we did seemed to comfort him. Miles and I went to the doctor again where he was diagnosed with a virus - aka - we don't know what your kid has and we're not giving you any medicine for him so you'll both just have to wait it out in misery. Luckily grandma and grandpa Nickolay have been around to take good care of him during the day so that he hasn't had to go to daycare.

We scheduled Miles' appointment for surgery to get tubes placed in his ears for next Tuesday morning. Many parents have told me that tubes helped to clear up their children's cold symptoms and ear infections. We're hoping it also works miracles for Miles. This will be a long cold and flu season if illness is hitting him hard already. I must say, although his temper has been a little shorter (meltdowns are the norm the last few days) and he's clearly not been feeling well he still plays through it all and is a sweet child. A clear sign that he has been sick for too long happened this morning when we were getting him dressed for school. He grabbed his thermometer and actually put it under his arm and held it still there. Fingers crossed that this latest virus kicks the bucket soon!