Spring Break and Great America

I had a week off which was much needed. Unfortunately, much of it was spent dealing with a sick baby. Miles has had a crazy awful cold. He came down with fever the Thursday before my break and I took off half of Friday to be at home with him. The fever went away after two or three days but I got a call on Wednesday from his daycare telling me that he had thrown up. I went to get him and Leila told me that he had woken up from his nap with ear wax down his cheek. I knew he had an ear infection and that we were going to have to make another trip to the doctor. He's now on oral antibiotics and ear drops but his ears still look horrible.

On Saturday, Jeff's choir sang at Great America, a local amusement park. We met everyone at 9 am and the park opened at 10. They set up, warmed up and then the choirs sang their pieces. During the warm up, I let Miles run around the roped off area and he walked right up in front of the group as if he was going to conduct them. It was adorable.


Surprisingly, there were lots of rides for him to go on. They have two areas specially designed for the toddler set and we took him on all the appropriate rides. It was his first real experience with rides and he loved it. There were a number of "car" type rides that went around in circles. He also loved the toddler sized carousel where he got to ride on a "train." A few of the rides went slowly into the air and he seemed just fine with that. It was a full day but he had a great time. Jeff and I even had some time to go on adult rides while Miles spent some quality time with our friend Vicki.

My dancing boy

We've just returned from a fundraiser for Jeff's district. It was a crab feed/auction dinner where they had all-you-can-eat crab, salad and dessert plus drinks you can buy for cheap. They had a rock band going during dinner. They were a fun band playing classic rock from the Beatles and the Doors to U2 and the Police. There was some Tom Jones and Marvin Gaye thrown in there for good measure.

What made the night memorable was the fact that once we were done eating and Miles was getting a little antsy, we got up with him and, rather than walking outside or playing with the toys I brought to keep him entertained, Miles wanted to dance. I was astounded by the sophistication he showed in dancing to the songs and stopping as they made their transition to the next tune. He also clapped for the band between songs. Miles got quite a bit of attention and there were a number of ladies who wanted to be his dance partner.

My son has enough personality to share with many other children and still be a complete charmer. He was too cute!

My singing boy

Miles has begun to sing.  Sometimes the songs are recognizable.  He can sound out an interesting approximation of the Alphabet Song.  I know when he's trying to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" because he does the hand motions.  But today, I heard him chanting something that sounded like "Ahseh, ahseh, all... Dahn!"

Knowing that he says "all done" I figured this is what he was saying.  But he kept chanting the line over and over.  Then I realized what he was getting at; he was singing "Ring Around the Rosie."  Jeff shook his head over the first recognizable song being about smallpox.  Go figure.

Sometimes his singing will be an amalgamation of all the songs he knows and it sounds like he is just composing his own.  It's not bad, either.  He obviously has his daddy's musical genes.

In this way, he's also starting to "count."  When we heat up his bottle in the microwave, we count down the seconds.  He has begun imitating the tone and approximating the sound of the numbers.  Smart baby!

Language Development Despite Ear Infections

This is the time of a toddler's life where language just explodes. Even a little guy with hearing problems like Miles  starts picking it up left and right. It's amazing- the desire to imitate takes over and he just picks up everything we say and everything we do. Everyday there is a new word or new sign or new discovery. It's so much fun.

The other day we picked him up from daycare, gave him dinner and got him ready for his bath. As we took out his hearing aids, I saw that there was a yellowish goo in the tubing of his aids and then realized that the tubes in his ears were doing their job. He had developed the beginning of an infection and the discharge left his inner ear and flowed right up into the tubes of his aids. Yuck. A visit to the doctor and a few days of drops and he is doing much better.

Miles has discovered technology. We can no longer work on the computer while he is awake because he wants to play with it. He loves the telephone and has long "conversations" on anything that even looks like a phone. He has also discovered the DVD player. He isn't really interested in watching the TV (though he does enjoy a Baby Einstein video now and again.) He just likes opening and closing it, putting in new disks and pushing the buttons. He also really enjoys our cameras but it makes taking photos of him difficult as, whenever he sees the camera, he wants to play with it. So we don't have too many photos of him at this phase in his life. However, I'll add a few ranging from about December to now. One of the more recent ones, I had to sneak up on him and use the telephoto lens. As soon as he realized he was being photographed, he started coming after me!

You can just imagine the caption for this one!

New, new, new

So we are in our new home. We're still up to our ears in boxes but that will decline dramatically once spring break comes along.
Miles is now going to a new daycare. This place is a very small daycare facility run by a young woman out of her home. She only takes a maximum of four children on any one day. Most of the other children are younger than Miles but one is just a bit older. Our daycare lady commented that when the older child is there, Miles acts like a "big boy." When he is surrounded by the babies, he is whiny and clingy. This is a bad omen for a future baby in our family!
One thing Miles has learned from this older boy is to say "uh-oh." He uses it appropriately (like when he drops the yogurt container on the floor) but he also just likes to say it. The other night I had put him in his crib for bedtime and turned the monitor on in the kitchen. I heard him cooing to his teddy bear, singing to himself and listening to his music. Then he starts saying, "Uh-oh, uh-oh." I knew he was just practicing but I certainly stopped short thinking, "Hmm, should I go up and check on him? What's he saying 'uh-oh' about?"
Very cute.
The words are coming fast and furious. Though as I say this, I also laugh about this past week's situation. I made a very concerted effort to get started with Early Start in Santa Clara County as soon as possible. We met up with one of their teachers last Tuesday. I was trying to get Miles to perform for her, to show her signs that he knew or to say words that he knew. Jeff likens it to the cartoon with the singing and dancing frog who will only perform for his owner.
So, trust me. He is starting to talk! Check out the list of words and signs on the side of the blog.

This I Believe

In a fight, Love will kick Death's ass each and every time.

So many changes, so much to do.

We are healing slowly, bit by bit every day. I no longer cry everyday. I am going to a support group for those who have lost babies. I am back at work. And I miss Izabelle terribly.
How is it possible to miss someone you have not even met?

And still, life goes on. Miles is the light in all the darkness. He is my cheerful little boo, a total charmer. He came with Jeff and me to my school winter party and flirted with all the teachers. He played and laughed and had a great time, even though he was up way past his bedtime.

Last Thursday he had tubes put in his ears. He has had fluid for awhile now and I think this is really going to help him. At his yearly IFSP, Nikki noted that he is at age benchmarks or beyond in everything except expressive language. And yet he babbles up a storm. It will be amazing when all that talk is actual language.
The tubes went smoothly. Jeff and I were both overanxious after having lost Izabelle. I was very much on edge when he had to have general anesthesia for his ABR at six months but I was almost as anxious this time around. Jeff asked me to call him as soon as the surgery was done and didn't even make it that long before calling.
Miles was like Curious George when the monkey goes to the hospital. All the other kids were nervous and sad. He was clowning around, flirting with a little girl in the waiting room and making everyone smile. It took a long time for them to finally come get him for the procedure but the actual operation took about 30 minutes from when they took him from me until the time I could go be with him. He was kind of cranky until he was awake enough to take a bottle. Then he came to and we made it home in time for another bottle and a three hour nap.
I think the worst part (for him, at least) was the drops we had to put in his ears afterwards. It took the full three days for him to learn that they didn't hurt. Now that we don't have to use them anymore he wants them in his ears. Silly boy...

We're buying a house. A townhouse, actually. It's got 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms and closets! The closing date is this Thursday and moving day is the following Tuesday. It's very exciting but stressful as well. One thing we'll have to do is transfer Miles' services for Early Start as we'll be moving to a new county. I'm not looking forward to it. And then there is the actual moving. We're trying to pack when Miles naps. We obviously haven't gotten much done. My mother is coming soon to watch him while we work. Hopefully we'll be ready!