Secret Club House

A present from his cousins Louise and Violette. Awesome. He squeals when he goes into it. An absolute blast!

cokie

Miles likes drinking"cokie" i.e. coffe. He has his own little cup that he carries around. One of his favorite words is "hot" which comes from us telling him to stay away from our hot coffee cups in the morning.  

 Enjoying some "hot cokie" with dei-dei. 

Christmas Celebrations

Christmas celebrations starter early when grandma come to visit last weekend.

Miles got his first firetruck!

This is our gift to Miles. We set it up on Christmas Eve, ready for him to see the next morning.

He quickly immersed himself.

A gift that will last and he will enjoy and play with differently as time goes by.

The weather was unreasonably warm today and we enjoyed lunch in the back yard!

A quiet, low-key Christmas for us with lots of laughter and quality time together.

We are awaiting more family this weekend, as our Christmas celebrations continue. It's nice to stretch the experience out and enjoy it thoroughly.

Frohe Weihnachten and Merry Christmas!

Germany Part One

We have been back from Germany for almost two weeks! Oy. What happened?

We had a great time, from beginning to end. The trip went very smoothly both ways. No horror plane stories. Considering the long trip, Miles did incredibly well. No freak outs, no tantrums. We were very lucky that the plane wasn't sold out (thanks to the economy maybe?) either way and we had an entire row of three seats to ourselves. At one point Frank was sleeping on the floor and Miles and I shared the row as our bed. On both trips, there was a little boy, Anthony, that kept Miles company now and then. Exchanging toys and snacks, it was good to have him there. It killed about 10 minutes here and there. Doesn't sound like a lot of time out of a 10 hour plane ride, but it was a nice distraction from time to time. It also helped that everyone else on the plane didn't seem too annoyed with a little boy running up and down the aisles.

It was a lot of fun spending time with family and friends that we haven't seen in a long time. Introducing my son to old childhood friends. Reminiscing about old times, recognizing places from the past, riding the train through familiar territory, wondering what it would be like living there again some day. Maybe.

Not to forget about all the eating! One delicious comforting German meal after the next. Eating whatever we wanted, because we only had so many days. Enjoying watching Miles engulf one pretzel after the other. Loving it as much as I do. Evenings of Miles sharing a bath with his cousins. It was the little things that made it so great.

Visiting Omi (87) and Nana (92) was hard. I am very glad to have seen them and to have seen them together with Miles.

getting ready

Next week we are off to Germany for 10 days! We'll be back with lots of pics and hopefully a "it was so easy on the airplane" story.

robe tradition

The last boy to wear this robe was my brother, 38 years ago. My four sisters and I stayed warm in it next, followed by my four nieces. Now it's Miles' robe. It's amazing in what good condition it still is.

Miles enjoys brushing his hair.

Incredible!

image from here: http://www.patrickmoberg.com/

What an amazing day! It's still hard to believe that this country has finally woken up and realized that things will have to change. A new chapter for this country and the world. A historic moment in so many ways. Maybe I will become an American.

sunday morning self-portaits

All about cars

It's all about cars these days. Everywhere we go, you point out the cars and trucks. At Loews, you needed to go climb up all the John Deere lawnmower trucks; at the playground, you climb in and out of the cars most of the time we are there. In the morning, we let you sit up front with us in the driver's seat for a couple of minutes. You love turning on and off the volume of the radio, the windshield wipers, etc. So much to do and see!

Will you be my cowboy?

I knew you weren't going to wear the hat, but I went to three different stores to find one anyway. I was successful at tricking you into wearing it around your neck at least.

There was a smoke machine in one of the yards. Here you look like a real cowboy, ready for whatever is next.

You walked confidently towards each house but of course you didn't know what to do when we got there and didn't take any of the candy people tried to give to you (that was a surprise). I think you will know what to do next year.

Time for Apples

We have been going to the same place to pick apples for the past three years. High on a mountain, various types of apples, hanging ripe and ready for us. The best apples all year long. It's worth waiting for the whole year. We also picked out a huge pumpkin.

I just noticed that it has been ONE year since I started up this blog. Cool. Here is hoping it will have a long life.

When I was working on the post from yesterday, I meant to write something too. But, your little hands got in the way and you accidentally hit the button that uploaded the post.

I was going to write about how we have been home with you for the last three working days. Day care was closed, so papa and i were able to spend half the day with you each. A little taste of what working part time would be like. It would be nice. Maybe some day. The weather has been gorgeous too, so it's been especially nice to have extra time outside together. Things you are into:

• riding your little tricycle and getting much better at it
• walking up and down the street
  
• going in and out of the shed - you LOVE that shed
• eating A LOT. After you are finished with your meal, you must have whatever we are eating too
• you have been saying "bye" whenever we lay you down in bed and it's time to go to sleep
• you are starting to play with blocks (stacking)
• you are into your books, especially the ones with animals
  
• you know how to make the sound of a dog, bear and horse and do it every time you see it in a book
• you look up into the sky every time you hear an airplane go by
• you look up into the trees when you hear the birds

Weekend away

We had a great weekend in DC which included me going out with friends on a Saturday night for drinks! Yes, that is pretty special these days. I don't remember the last time I did that. Sure we were a little tired the next day wakened by boys early, early in the morning, but soo worth it. I need to make sure to do that again soon. There is nothing better than feeling balanced by all the little things in life that bring joy. It's also during those times that I feel damn lucky.

Cheekalicious!

Not so funny

While cleaning up my desktop, I came across this picture. I have posted it before, but it made me smile again. Here is Miles with his cousins Louise and Violette. It's so sweet how hard they are trying to make him smile. He is hardly impressed :) To his credit, he was feeling quiet sick the entire time.

slowing down

Work has been very demanding lately, but I finally feel like I have some breathing space again. In fact, I am sitting here with awesome red wine and dark chocolate (thanks Papa!) feeling very relaxed. Work should slow down now for a while and I am looking forward to the fall. There is the Folk Festival, weekend trips to the mountains, vineyards, and the apple orchard. In late November we are off to Germany!! We got the flights and passports are ordered. I can't wait, although I am slightly nervous about the long airplane ride with Miles.

Learning, what a beautiful thing

There is a lot of learning happening. You are into climbing on everything. The sofa, chairs (into standing position !), up and down the stairs, etc. Pretty amazing to see you pull yourself up like that.

You are starting to follow directions really well. When I ask you, "where is your drink/milk" you go and get your sippy cup from wherever you left it; "go get another book to read," you know to go to the book shelf and grab another book; "come sit next to Mama to read," you come and sit next to me; "where is the elephant?" and you find it out of all your other stuffed animals. It's awesome to see you process that information and make the connection. Your response to "No" is another story. You are still testing the waters in that area. Sometimes you listen to "No, let's not go upstairs," but most often you do it anyway. The funny thing is you are starting to say "no" to things yourself: "are you ready to get out of the bath?" "No." "Do you want another bite?" "No." It's pretty cute, especially the way you say it.