This past weekend, Miles got to attend the Jackson Mississippi annual Boo at the Zoo.

They opened up the zoo and allowed kids of all sizes into the park to - what else? - go trick or treating in a family friendly and safe environment. Miles got to pet a turtle outside the zoo while waiting in line. Actually, I believe he tried to wrestle it away from the zookeeper, but he seemed intrigued nonetheless.

Once we got into the park he waddled through a trick or treat maze, mostly ignore people's attempts to talk with him and give him candy. 

After he left this area, we wandered into a dark exhibit inside a small building with creepy music, low lighting and lots of children. Unfazed, Miles decided to make a break for it and veered right into the darkened glass wall of the exhibit, which to be fair, did clearly reflect a potential space to explore. It reminded me of old roadrunner cartoons in which Wile E. Coyote smacks into a fake tunnel on the side of a rock. It still made me laugh - even though this time it was for real.  

After this, we went to this area which had large dinosaur eggs that kids could crawl through. Miles LOVED this area. Although right before we got there, this older kid (~7) with a face mask ran, full-throttle into Miles.  Miles landed directly on his butt and then smacked his head into the pavement. That was not as funny. He cried for a couple of minutes. The other mom felt terrible so she had her son apologize to Miles. I didn't know what to say because she looked like she was about to cry, so I just said, "It was an accident; he'll be fine." We subsequently avoided this family for the rest of the night. Regardless, I think he forgot about it less than 5 minutes later, but perhaps that is part of the concussion (kidding- of course). 

After a few pieces of candy, Miles preferred simply running around to various isolated areas in the park to explores trees, rocks, dirt, whatever struck his fancy at the moment. Andrew and I decided that he is probably still to young to "get" Halloween, but had a great time at this event. 

One of my favorite parts was when he saw this random guy floating around as a ghost, making scary sounds. Miles came upon him and just stared at him for about 30 seconds. Then, he ran right past him like - if you're not gonna do anything, I am just going to keep on going about my business. If nothing else, we confirmed that Miles Gene is definitely a securely attached little boy.

Playtime!

Well, it has been a long, hot summer, and we have gotten somewhat creative with ways to spend time indoors. For example, A.W.E.S.O.M.-O has been recycled into a spaceship. Miles loves to poke his head through the portal windows. 

As another example, here is an inside view of Miles' first pillow fort. He loves reading books inside of it with a flashlight. 

Miles really got into dancing recently. His favorite book to dance too right now is "Let's Dance, Little Pookie." I put the words to a rhythm and he bounces along as we dance the words together. While Auntie Christine was in town recently, she put on some Gabriela y Rodrigo and Miles just went to town.  

That's one small step for Miles, one giant leap in gross motor skill development

Well, okay. I wouldn't necessarily call it walking at this stage, as he is only able to take about 5-6 steps at time before he falls on his butt or catapults himself to the floor.

Nevertheless, just look at the progress he's made in a few short days...

Saturday, Aug 3rd (My good friend Christine has pointed out that I often make a "Cartman-type" voice when I am talking to Miles):

Thursday, Aug 9th:

I'm so glad you came into my life, A.W.E.S.O.M.-O.

This past weekend Miles celebrated his first birthday with some of his close family and friends in Jackson, MS. Grammy and Grandpa, Auntie Amanda and Uncle Ryan, and Nana came into town for the weekend. 









On Sunday, we started out the big day by going to the Hilton (where the Littlefields were staying) to swim. It was Miles' first time in a pool.

He was a little unsure at first, so he clung to his Daddy like a little koala bear.

After a while he was feeling a little more adventurous, so he sat on Andrew's shoulders and they waded in a little deeper. Miles even splashed around for a bit.

After swimming, we all headed to Char for a nice brunch.

Miles had chicken fingers and french fries and, finally, a bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce. He ate a whole bunch and feel quickly into a food coma.

After brunch, we headed back to the house, and our friends Mikey and Court joined the party.  A.w.e.s.o.m-O. the robot (created by myself and Nana) was the party mascot, who was programmed to ensure that the party was not lame.

The theme of the party in general was robots (as if you couldn't tell). The first toy we bought Miles was a robot from FAO Swartz in NYC with Auntie Christine. He loved his robot friend, Marv, so much around 6-8 months, we let that inspire this theme. 

When it came time for Miles to make his first birthday wish, he became mesmerized by the candle. Never mind the only time his mommy was spanked in her childhood was when she set her nightgown on fire. I am sure he is not a pyro at heart....really. 

He was interested in what this blue confection was that we placed in front of him. He shoved his finger in the frosting and looked up at me with questioning eyes. 

I placed a piece of the white cake in his mouth and his eyes lit up, as if to say, "why have you been keeping this from me?!" 

He tore into the rest of the cake and devoured almost 3/4s of it. Andrew and I joined in on the blue-tongued fun. 

Following the cake, Miles opened his presents. He got some clothes from Great Aunt Joanna and Uncle Rick. His Grammy and Grandpa got him some clothes, books, a leapfrong laptop and a ride-along dog toy.

Auntie Amanda and Uncle Ryan got him a baby pool for the hot jackson summer. Nana got him some clothes, books, and a kid chair shaped like a frog. Mike and Court got him his first Nascar Racing Suit - he is super cute in it, of course!

The Wardlaws and his friend Jackson sent him some Tonka truck playsets. Finally, his Mommy and Daddy got him a new set of baby golf clubs and some books.

After the party, we played for little bit and then headed to Margarita's Mexican Restaurant. Miles was sugar crashing, so that was not too exciting, but we had a good time and said good bye to the Littlefields and McCluskys at that point. We sure will miss them!

Nana got to stay an extra couple of days and so that she could visit her favorite baby daughter and help her run some errands. It was so great to spend some quality time with her and the rest of the family on this special occasion. Even though Miles won't be able to remember it, at least we know he had a great time!

We've gone to Jackson! (well, Ridgeland actually)

We have been in our new place in Ridgeland, Mississippi (just outside of Jackson) for just over a week and Miles would like to give you a tour!

This is our mantel - it is pretty cool...

...although I prefer the view from down here!

Here is the where we keep the TV...

...and I love ceiling fans!

Here is where I like to play!

Here is our kitchen...

...and our dining room!

I love to look into the backyard...

...because it is soooo pretty!

This is quite the dog house...

...but this is where I like to chill out!

Of course I love the room with all my toys...

...although I do put in my time in the office.

I wish my crib was this big!

Overall, I love it here! 

Some of March, Most of April

It has been so long since I have updated this blog I figure I should just hit the highlights.

Talldonadofield - The Reunion Tour. Our superfriend Christine came into Columbia at the end of March, during the first part of spring break. It was the first time she and Miles met each other. Of course, he was instantly delighted by her and they became fast superfriends.

We ate at all of Christine's favorite restuarants, like Love Sushi, and also introduced her to some new ones, like Chim's and Curries, that have come into town recently. We also did our own tie dye projects - underroos, a onesie, some longjohns, a t-shirt and a running shirt. One weekend day, when the weather was just right, we went to the disc golf course. Finally, we did some movie watching (The Muppets) as well.
 
Yum! Yum!  In other news, Miles has recently sprouted 4 new teeth. The bottom middle two came in first and then his top bunny teeth have just erupted. These new teeth also coincide with a recent interest in more "adultlike" foods. He now just loves little cheese squares, toast, and crackers.


Sunday, Easter Sunday. We went down to southwest Missouri on Easter weekend. That Saturday we got to spend some quality time with his Meme and Papa. He had a fantastic time riding around with Papa on his scooter.

He also had some good laughs with Meme.

Grammy was nice enough to watch Miles on that Saturday night so that Andrew and I could celebrate our 2-year wedding anniversary with a date night in Carthage MO, complete with a suite at the Precious Moments Best Western. On Easter Sunday, we went to a brunch at the Methodist church in Stella and many people were excited to meet Miles for the first time. He also got to visit with his two oldest friends, Lois and Hattie.

The Adlers put together a delicious Easter Lunch and Grammy brought along some delicious pies (who knew Coconut Creme was so delicious!? Why didn't anyone tell me?). It was our first time meeting cousin Aaron's fiancee, Alison. She definitely got two enthusiastic thumbs up from the Littlefields. Finally, we took some nice family pictures, as it was Miles' and Lincoln's first Easter.

Bethany, Scott, and Lincoln posed with me, Andrew and Miles for an Easter pic.

Cousin Aaron, Alison, Sister and Brother joined in for a few pictures.

Miles also got a picture with his Grandpa - taken while he was hamming it up!

Here is a cute one of Lincoln and Miles with thier two Grammys. :)
A Mover and a Shaker.  Just in the last two weeks, Miles has started army crawling. It is so cute, he will flop onto his belly and only use his left knee to push himself across the floor. His right leg will just be straight up in the air, being pulled along like dead weight. We will try to post a picture of that soon as well. He is still practicing his standing as well and interested in figuring out how to go from sitting to standing by pulling on something.

Stranger(?) Danger. Recently, Miles is also starting to strongly prefer the company of his Mommy or Daddy. Even with people he has known since birth, he will fussbutt a little when he is in their arms if one of us is in eyesight. Not surprising, but we are doing more floor time so perhaps that will give him practice playing independently if we leave need to the room briefly.

We're Gonna Snowball Jackson. Just last weekend, we headed down to Jackson to spend time with Mike and Court as well as to look for a rental house. We didn't have much luck with finding a place to live, but Miles did great in the car. There were a couple of melt downs in the last 30 minutes of each ride, but I couldn't blame him because I was tired of being in the car by that point to. Our trip did seem to catalyze another exiciting milestone for Miles.

He's Got Something to Say About It. While we were out admiring the Ross Barnett Reservoir, we were walking behind a family with a group of small children, about 5 or 6. Miles was in my arms and clear as day, he said, "Hi." It was pretty surprising, but we could not get him to say it again. Then, a couple of days later, Andrew showed me that Miles consistently said "Dad" (not Dada) when he entered the room. Just a couple of days later (this past Thursday), he said "Mama" twice and then again tonight! It was very exciting! So, it seems has has started building his vocabulary. We will try to record him saying these things but he is not good at doing things when it is convient for us. ;)