He digs it

And he's off!

At 9 months, 1 week, 5 days old, Milo is walking! He's been taking single steps for the last week, but in the past 24 hours, he's strung those steps together--his current record is 7. All he does now is a seemingly endless cycle of up, walk, then down. We can't believe our littlest boy is already walking. It seems like just yesterday that brother was taking his first steps, too.



This development gives me hope that we'll soon see the end of the pick-up-every-single-thing-on-the-ground-that's-a potential-choking-hazard-and-put-it-in-my-mouth stage. Seriously. I've never seen anything like it. Moses could've cared less for anything inedible, but Milo--Milo's a sucker for any small rock or dirt clod or pecan. It's made any time spent outside a chore!

Up, up, up!

For two weeks now, Milo's been standing solo, solo I say! Not only that, but he can now stand on his own, no props needed. He just pushes his little tush up in the air and voila!, he stands. He gets so tickled by his standing--he just flaps his arms and claps and giggles. Such a cutie.

We always thought Moses' mobility came early, but brother's milestones are coming even sooner. A little sibling rivalry perhaps? I think he just wants to pal around with his brother more.

We don't have too great a video of him standing, but you can kind of see his skills here, from last weekend:

(Did you hear Moses say "Mi -Lo?" He's been practicing his Ls lately and accentuates them nonstop. Mi-Lo. Ye-LLow. He-LLo.)

Anybody out there?

My poor little blog, how I've forgotten you. Not forgotten so much as neglected in favor of other things like school, sleep, cooking, cleaning, and other crucial needs.

We're on the other side of Chicken Pox for both boys now. Milo didn't actually come down with it until 21 days after Moses. Milo's fever that we wrote off as a Chicken Pox symptom was actually a double ear infection, poor boy. When he eventually came down with the pox, I was hugely surprised because our pediatrician said that we were out of the woods if he didn't have them 8 days after Moses since the exposure was so intimate. Wrong! He had very few pox though and seemed to weather the virus well. Now, we won't need that vaccination for either boy!

Milo's been crawling for several weeks now and two weeks ago he started pulling up on everything. It's a lost cause to hope he'll just sit in one place anymore. He's cruising our furniture, too, but with lots of supervision since he's still pretty unsteady.

Moses is doing really well too. He's still obsessed with trains, construction vehicles, and sports. I bought a great Tonka truck coloring book from the dollar store, but he doesn't color in it: he just carries it all over the house and we read it like a book. We've also discovered "Mighty Machines." I thought they looked ridiculous initially, but the shows are really pretty great. The DVDs talk about a variety of vehicles and explain what each does and why they do it. It's pretty crazy how much Moses talks while watching those. Boys.

By the way, Moses is most assuredly a lefty! Dave's already planning Moses' sports career. Too bad they don't make sports toys for lefties at this age.

Growing boys

The boys had their checkups last Friday: a late two-year checkup for Moses and a six-month one for Milo. The boys' checkups were done at the same time, which I usually try to avoid since it's chaos, but it was unavoidable this time and we all needed a good nap afterward.

Moses is doing well and growing like he should. Our skinny boy is 29 pounds and 37.25 inches tall, which puts him in the 93rd percentile for height and 50th for weight. His 2T pants started falling off recently, and I credit his non-stop movement for his weight loss (and mine, too). He has nearly all of his teeth: his eye teeth just broke the surface. His speech is still delayed, but it is picking up. If it hasn't improved much more by April, we're taking him in for a re-evaluation with the speech therapist. We know he'll talk in his own time, but we can't wait for those funny toddler-genius moments.


Some fun things he enjoys:

• Catching balls! He caught his first ball a month ago, to our surprise, and requests we play catch nightly now.
  
• Playing football and using his bike helmet as a football helmet.
  
• He adores baseball and football and cranes his next to see anything related to the sports.
• He shouts "go, go, go" at any sport we watch--we aren't sure where he picked that up since neither Dave nor I shout at the TV.
  
• Playing "backpack" or piggybacking on us as we run around the house.
• Showing more interest in the clothes he's wearing--preferring anything with a football or a baseball or jersey-like numbers. He also likes hats and headbands (think exercise).
• Brushing his teeth. I'm not sure whether it's the dot of toothpaste or the car toothbrush, but I have to restrict his brushing these days.
• Shoulder shrugging, just because.
  
• Making vehicle sounds for his cars, trains, plains, etc. His goldfish crackers also making swimming noises before they're eaten.
• TRAINS!
  

Milo's doing great, too. I can't believe he's already six-months old and sometimes worry I'm not challenging him enough because I still think of him as my baby! He is 18 pounds 9 ounces (50th percentile) and 27.25 inches (75th percentile). He doesn't have any teeth yet but he's chewing on everything. We're curious if we'll have to wait for those teeth as long as we did with Moses.

Milo enjoys:

• Sitting and playing on the floor, especially with brother's toys.
• Getting tickled or "eaten."
• Watching, watching, watching--he has to be in on all the action even if he's just a spectator.
• Belly scooting. I love watching him move around on his tummy, but he's getting a little too good at getting in to things.

Well, that's my long overdue update. I'd like to start posting more again soon, but time is short these days so I'm not going to make any promises.

Final Countdown

After much deliberation, I've decided to return to school in order to complete my master's degree this semester. The idea of sending Moses and Milo to day care twice a week is heartbreaking, but there's no good time to finish my degree, and there are two excellent classes being offered this semester (Document Design and Online Publishing for those curious) so I'm putting on my big girl panties and finishing. I don't anticipate an easy time of it, eek!, but hopefully, come May, I'll possess my M.A. in Technical Communication!

On that note, Moses and Milo's dry run at day care was today and so far, so good. I called to check up on them and was told that Moses had an excellent morning(even napping!) and Milo was adjusting. Even though Moses is my shy boy, I know he'll acclimate quickly, but we recently switched Milo to bottled breast milk from nursing, and while he accepts it most of the time, he has his stubborn moments.

Wish us all luck!

Dimply sweet

Milo was all grins and giggles this afternoon while lying atop his new quilt that Dave's Aunt Inez made (Thank you!). I don't know what it is about that boy, but it is so easy to solicit a smile from him. I'm so used to Moses' stoicism that I tend to go a little over bored capturing Milo's dimply grin.

Halloween

2008. I thought I should specify the year these photos were taken since so much time has lapsed since my last post. 2009 could have been a possibility.

Our family kept Halloween low-key, but we still enjoyed the usual costuming. Moses reprised his Yoda role from last year, and we slapped a Monkey hat on Milo. Voila! Halloween.

Since both boys are too young to really trick-or-treat, we visited Gran and Granpop's house for one treat - a toy monster truck. I really hope Moses doesn't think future trick-or-treating will yield such prizes or he's in for a real let down.



We then went to our friends' house to hand out candy with them and enjoy the holiday. They have two daughters, Vivian, who is 8 months older than Moses, and Olivia, who is just a month older than Milo. Moses and Vivian enjoyed handing out candy, but Moses threw in the towel after spotting a kid in a monster mask. The ensuing freak out was legendary. Since he wasn't the same happy kid after that, they shed their costumes and played to their hearts' content.

My little tadpoles

I'm not sure if it was the tree and snail motif on Milo's pajamas but Moses thought Milo's belly was a good place for his frogs. Then, he found the superfluous little pocket and had to put a frog in there too.



I was able to snap some of Moses and Milo together, which is usually a pretty tough feat. Strangely, it's Moses who is the difficult one to photograph: he's usually a big, weird mouthed blur.



Milo was enamored with Moses the whole time we were playing on the floor. He just kept watching and smiling at his big brother.

Fall, Out Boys

I'm quickly learning how precious time is once your second child is out of that newborn stage. Milo is no longer sleeping a majority of the time, and while he's developing a routine, I still find my hands the fullest they've ever been: it seems I'm constantly keeping cars from getting microwaved while wiping up oodles of spit up and juggling a cup of coffee. Don't even get me started on the house.

As always, I've composed many a blog in my head only to not have the time to get my thoughts down on keyboard. I've been more diligent about taking photos though since it's the easier form of blogging these days. Here are some highlights:

Fall Planting: We bought some ferns and fall annuals for our back patio. Moses was incredibly helpful and quickly picked up on the dos (the don'ts were a little harder to comprehend). After he saw me packing the dirt around our newly planted flowers, he was suddenly a professional gardener and insisted that he pack the dirt around all our plants, new and old.


Milo watched us plant, pounding his fists when he wasn't satisfied with our pace. All his direction paid off though--I love fall colors.

Pensive Progeny: Milo reached a new level of awesomeness while sleeping. Such a thoughtful boy.

He's just one cool dude all-around though.

Cocoa: We're still taking our long walks most mornings even though the weather is turning chilly, and our new favorite thing is having a cup of hot chocolate when we get home. Even though Moses' mug only has a couple of ounces, it's the highlight of his morning--he even wakes up talking about "co-co." If these eyes and lips don't scream satisfaction, I don't know what else would.

Well, it's off to bed. I aim to blog most nights but usually end up falling asleep with Milo, at least tonight was a success!

Milo'sTwo Month Check Up

Milo had his 2 month check-up (at 10 weeks) this morning. All went well as usual and he got the age appropriate shots. Even though I know the shots are coming and that they'll be fine in no time, I always cry when my boys get those. It's so hard to seem them so upset.

14 pounds 5 ounces (93rd percentile)
25 inches (95th percentile)
40.5 centimeters head circumference (50th percentile)

Dave and I've joked that he's a little pinhead because he's getting so chunky everywhere but his noggin'. I guess our observation was correct!

I also talked to our pediatrician about Moses' lack of vocabulary (he has maybe 30 words total, only 10 of which are clear and understandable to others out of context). He's got a great listening vocabulary and can understand most anything we say, but he's just not meeting the 50-100 spoken words that our doctor wants to see at two years of age. So, we're taking Moses for a hearing test, and he's to begin speech therapy soon. I'll keep our fans posted!

Dave Jr. and Dave III

Dave and I've had trouble with names lately. We're constantly calling Moses "Milo" and Milo "Moses," and sometimes "Mises" and "Molo" sneak in for good measure. After all the recent name confusion we've had, I've realized George Foreman was onto something when he named all five of his sons "George."

I found this quote:

USATODAY.com: Why did you name all of your sons GEORGE?

George Foreman: In boxing, you have to save money and you have to prepare for memory loss. I wanted to make sure I didn't forget anybody's name.

I used to think it was a vanity thing but now I see it as a sanity thing. No ones feelings get hurt if the parents can't constantly trip up on the wrong name. So, from now on, please refer to Moses as Dave Jr. and Milo as Dave III, for our sake and theirs.

Fall!

Today was the most fall-like day so far. The air had just enough of a chill to make it comfortable outside. Finally! Moses and I celebrated the pleasant weather with a little backyard time. Milo joined us but celebrated by sleeping.

Fake Photo Booth

My boys are playing a cruel trick on me by tag-teaming their sleeping habits. It seems the second one is down for a nap, the other wakes and vice-versa. Since Milo woke the minute Moses nodded off and used his baby ways to prohibit any cleaning, I did some self portraits with my youngest progeny. He's got such a great smile.

New and Old Hat

Milo got his first tummy time session yesterday, and he didn't do too bad. He's not too great at lifting that big noggin for long periods of time when lying on his tummy yet, but it was good practice.


Moses got a little jealous and decided it was time he return to his activity mat. I certainly don't look forward to introducing Milo to the jumperoo. Talk about some potential for jealousy.

I think home skillet's recent camera usage has led to tweaked speed settings because everything is coming out blurry now. Blurry or not, at least I'm providing photos.

Yesterday

Moses made himself a pallet on the floor and took a nap. I kid you not. It was magical.

Then he took over the camera and dubbed himself our family photog (which is one of the reasons blogs have been light on pictures--camera batteries are dying rapidly these days).


And, we captured cuteness. Both were unsure of the set up though.