Miles learns to play tee ball

It is girls' softball season around here and when we take Miles to the park, he has become very interested in watching the girls of all ages playing softball. He knows to clap when a good play has been made and he has learned to squat like a catcher. He likes to stand right up near the fence so he has a really good view.

The other night we noticed that he was chasing a ball around with a stick and Jeff thought he might be playing "hockey." But eventually we figured out that he was trying to play baseball like the big girls he had seen at the park. Jeff rigged up a tee using a tube from one of my vacuum cleaners and found a long cardboard tube to use as a bat. See the video below to witness the final results. We've since bought him a real whiffle ball and bat. Next is the tee so he can play for real.

Amazing Miles

Here is a wonderful and amazing Miles story:

He was at daycare and everyone was outside playing in our daycare lady's backyard. One of the other children was just arriving to school and having a hard time of it. She sat down at the beginning of the walkway to the backyard and cried. The provider encouraged her mom to just come into the backyard, expecting that the little girl would follow after a moment or two.
Miles heard her crying, left the playhouse and walked to where she was sitting. He began talking to her, which made her stop crying, and then offered his hand to her. She took it and then joined everyone in the backyard!

Beyond being the sweetest story ever, I was amazed to hear that my boy was so adept at empathy. I expect he will accomplish great things.

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.