Milo celebrates Chanukah

Milo headed up to his grandparents' house for the holiday. Here he is with his Grampy discussing the Jets poor excuse for a season:



And here he is doing his father's hair in case company arrives:

Newish tricks: Sitting

Milo is in a stage where it seems that nothing is more fun than crawling over to some not-really stable object and pulling himself up to standing on it. He's very good at that, but he is still working on what to do when he no longer wants to stand next to some particular thing.

This is not his most graceful example, but it works.

Sunday in the park with Milo

About a month ago, before it got really cold, we met our friends and their kids at a nearby playground. They have a magic camera that makes everything in the pictures it takes look good (not that my wife and child need the help).


Adventure Milo!

Random cute pictures

Milo in the Bass Flintstone/Phantom Tollbooth car. Doesn't he look like he's out for a jaunty little drive?
Post bath:

Get up, get up, and get down.

Milo is now an official baby, and not just an infant: he crawls, he eats baby food, and he pulls himself up to standing on various objects around the house:

Of course, this provides many opportunities for falling down, of which he has taken ample advantage.

Dr. Teeth!

We've been trying to get a decent picture of Milo's two teeth to post, but it hasn't been easy. Oh, sure, when we're not aiming a lens at him he shows them off constantly, but try to record it on 'film' and he thwarts us every time. Here's an example where he's smiling away with his mouth open, but his tongue is covering his teeth:


So after that happened a bunch of times, we tried pulling his lip down and exposing his teeth. Sometimes this merely failed ...


... and sometimes it failed embarrassingly:


So after all that, we have two pictures on offer. One of the lip-pulling-down variety:


and one where we've captured a still from a video shot just for this purpose:


Next up: genuine crawling!

Catching some Zs

Milo has this odd habit of sleeping with his butt in the air.


In his crib, it's even cuter, as he's usually pressed into the corner as if he had been desperately trying to escape and only fell asleep after digging at the wall with a spoon for a few hours:

C'mon baby, do the locomotion

He hasn't quite figured out crawling, but he's getting close.

Milo's first Halloween

Milo's daycare had its Halloween 'parade' today: the kids got dressed up, and the adults pushed, carried, and walked the kids up and down the block while the parents hovered around them like camera-wielding jackals.

This sort of thing is my bag, baby

Milo's parents give him the best toys ...

Belated video: Milo turns over edition

This is probably about a month overdue. On trying to imitate it, I find that his technique requires strong core muscles.
(Thanks for the video, Dad!)

The return of Uncle Matthew

Since Matt's last visit (in April), Milo has learned to sit up, eat baby food, grab things, put things in his mouth, turn over, and drag himself along the floor. We expect that, by the time he sees Uncle Matt next month, he will be reciting pi to 10 decimal places.

Milo is a modest boy

Even while perusing the latest volume of literature, Milo makes sure to cover his private parts.

Grammy feeds Milo

It's just so hard to get good help these days. How many times does a boy have to bang his tray before he gets fed?

Milo and his proud parents

This is a couple of months old, but it's the only decent picture of the three of us.

Milo, in the lushness of nature

Milo had his first school pictures recently. As you can see by the background, he is in tune with the small town, rural values that make America great.

Scoot scoot scoot

Now that Milo is adept at sitting and eating, he has decided to terrify his parents by working his pre-crawling posture.


So far it has only resulted in reverse scooting and getting his foot stuck under the couch:


(For those of you who are extra observant, yes - that chin is even more covered with drool than usual. The first tooth has finally broken through!)

More 'eating' pictures

Milo's first solid food

Milo had his 6-month visit to the doctors' office, and got cleared for some tasty 'solid' food.
Here he is enjoying some rice cereal.



Hopefully it's good for his skin, too.

Milo bathes

Just like in the song, Milo prefers to have his rubber ducky with him when he takes a bath.


It makes good eatin'.

Sitting

Here's Milo in his new high chair. He seems to enjoy being at the same height as his parents when we eat dinner. I'm not sure what kind of expression that is on his face.
Here's Milo working on sitting without a seat of any kind to help him! He hasn't mastered the knack, or rather art, of sitting unaided. I took this picture right before he fell over backwards. Luckily, his immensely cute hoodie protected him.

Inappropriate items...

given to Milo by his father. He loves them so.

Milo's first romance

Here's Eleanor: she's spotted the object of her desire.


The big kiss!


The stunned aftermath.


Eleanor reflects with satisfaction ...


. . . and decides to go for another round!

Milo visits a homeland

Milo visited his Grammy and Grumpy in New Jersey over Labor Day weekend.
Here he is playing with a neato toy they imported from near-Canada.

Milo plays with toys

This perhaps is not the most exciting video ever; it's an update for the folks out there who have been pining for one.

Up close and personal

Here's where we are after five months.
The eyes are still blue. He's got some fuzz on top, fuzz you might charitably think of as hair. He's very smiley, especially if you sing to him and pay attention to him and feed him and change his diaper and bring him to places with other people who will also pay attention to him. He can definitely grab things, such as his father's hair, but that's as fine as his motor skills get. He can roll over from his back to his front (I haven't been able to capture this on film yet), but not really from his front to his back. He is not fond of being put to bed, but he's a pretty good sleeper once he stops crying and falls asleep.
When he sees his mother or father for the first time after an absence, sometimes he'll get so excited that he has to kick his legs wildly. We call it the 'full body smile'.
On the whole, we think we'll keep him.

Milo meets Dean

Dean's hands are larger than Milo's.

Body part of the week: small of the back (by special request)

This also includes a rare view of his non-poop-covered butt.

Why yes, I exersaucercise

Milo isn't being cuddled, so he's squealing ... or perhaps he's so happy with his new toy that he's squealing. It's all very confusing. Best just to suck on one's hands.

First official thumb sucking

Body part of the week: the elbow

Feet are in season this time of year

4-month-iversary: Milo grows

1 week:


Almost 4 months:

Grandparent blogging: Rick and Amy

Milo tried as hard as he could to blend into the couch, but Rick and Amy found him anyway.
Someday, Milo, you might have forearms like that, too.

More family visits: Aunt Nivla and her mother

Milo has had a busy week, with visits from various family members he had never met before (or only in utero). Aunts Nivla and Pat were in town for a big AKA blowout, and made time to come up for a visit. As you can see, Milo was pretty pleased to see them. He especially enjoyed the song about the brown couch.

Milo's big day out

Last weekend Milo decided to take in some art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum / Portrait Gallery with his friend Gordon. Now he wants a lime green sofa and A LOT of finger-paint.

Milo's grabbing, continued

Milo is learning quickly. Just recently, he realized that he could use his hands to capture things that he sees. Now he's started to figure out that his feet are among those things.
Feet!