Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Around here lately: "Uh oh!" and "'Ananas"

Hi friends.  Sorry for the radio silence, but toddlers are tiring.  Our little guy is on the move from the moment he wakes up and we are loving this age!



Miles started walking more than he crawled at about 13.5 months and is currently OBSESSED with books.  Obviously, this thrills me, since one of my big fears is that he'll grow up hating to read.  We watch him toddle into his room and come back with a book (usually one of his four favorites) that we will proceed to read over and over.  His shelves look like a wreck most of the time, but I don't care, and always want him to feel like he can read whenever he wants.



Little guy is also thrilled by how quickly he can move!  He still falls occasionally, but has generally mastered standing without pulling up and turning around.  He is already trying to run, and I find myself missing my chubby little infant and tearing up when I notice how much he's grown up lately.


Another big development is speech - finally!  Just when I was starting to worry a little bit, Miles started repeating things we say and now proclaims "UH ohhhh" when something falls (or there's a loud clap of thunder) and asks us for "anana?" when he sees the bananas on the bar.  He points to pictures of Dada and Mama on the wall, and clearly comprehends lots of instructions and questions.  If I had to guess, I'd say that he probably understands about 15 words (nouns) right now and is starting to vocalize them and use his sign language more.  He signs "please", "more", and "all done" but still rarely waves.  He also knows where to go for a diaper, and where he takes a bath, and that the front door leads out to the driveway where we walk around.


I think my favorite part of the toddler age are the hugs and kisses.  He just makes my heart melt when he walks over and gives me a very loud "mwa" on the cheek and hugs my neck or my legs.  He will also kiss his stuffed puppy dog, and blow kisses to other people.

It has also become evident that Miles is finally old enough to really enjoy activities like going to the aquarium and not just hang out in the stroller.  This kid was yelling and pointing and happily splashing in the water and now I can't wait to introduce him to more local sights like the zoo, and watch him navigate the park like a big boy.  Miles is also really fond of certain toys, and loves to bang with his toy hammer and push his cars down the ramp.  He is starting to latch on to a stuffed dog of mine (now his) likes wearing his Cardinals cap or Rangers batting helmet.  We also blew up his new wading pool and, as expected, he looooves it (to the point where he cries when he sees it in the garage and we say that we're not swimming today).





This month we also took a quick trip to Houston to visit Nick's family and attend his mom's retirement reception.  Miles was the co-star, and happily added his own (loud) points to the Principal's speech and then explored the library and tried to pull all the books off the shelves.

I'll post more pictures from the big camera soon, but wanted to document all of these fun new changes before I forget!