Wild Things

Milo in the Blizzard of 2009

The Dark Knight (and his Bat Blanky)

Happy Chanukah, y'all

Ready for winter

Thanks to Grammy, Milo is now officially prepared for winter.

Vocabulary

I'd been having some trouble with the fancy video camera for some time, and I had just about given up on it, but decided to try out a new battery, just in case. That seems to have helped. In celebration, I offer this video of Milo demonstrating a few words from his vocabulary. We've compiled a list of words he can say (with, admittedly, varying degrees of skill), and it's about 80 items long.

Robot by the Bay blogging

Happy Halloween

Go Yankees!

A year and a half and a month update

Milo is picking up a lot of language these days. He's both getting better at pronouncing the words he knows (book instead of b') and picking up new ones. In the sky alone, he can identify the moon (moo!), stars (stah), birds (bir), helicoptors (cop), and clouds (clow). A squirrel running on the power lines is a whirrr, and an airplane in the distance is just pointed to with general excitement. He can even quack quack quack at the appropriate place in the one little duck song.

He likes looking at books and magazines, taking walks down the street, looking at pictures of his favorite animals, and most of all doing anything involving balls. He likes watching people cook. He understands a decent amount of what we say, now; we can tell him to go throw something in the garbage and he'll do it. It's very endearing. I think the theme of the 19 month update is that the little dude is turning into a little boy.

Considering the tortoises

"They're so slow. How do they win the race?"

Hair update

What would you call this hair style? Sort of a half-Princess Leia?

Milo helps out around the house

The plastic bags apparently needed some airing:

Satisfaction with a job well done:

Pictures from the pool

Did I mention the pirate theme?

Relaxing modestly at home

Bubbles

Bubbles, it will come as no surprise to experts like you, are insanely fun. Here is a rather muted example of what happens when bubbles are introduced to a room:

A Sport

I'm not quite sure where Milo acquired this behavior.
I'm pretty sure it can't be from us.

Milo's continuing quest to acquire language

There are some stickers of animal shapes on the wall over Milo's changing table, two of which are turtles. We've been teaching him names of animals, so I decided to show him some videos of turtles on the internet. He got very excited pointed, and said 'turtle!'

We immediately whipped out the camera to record this momentous feat, and of course managed to miss it several times. Below, though, just before the end of the clip, is film magic.

Fresh new photography

To make up for yesterday's posting of a somewhat stale photo, today we have a fresh new steaming hot photo taken this very day:


Milo's gotten a bit better with the spoon lately. Notice how (relatively) little of the food is displayed on his bib and face.

Placeholder blogging

We apparently haven't taken very many good pictures of the child lately, so we offer this one to keep your mind off your troubles:


I think he must be trying to impress a young lady or something; his belly is usually much larger than this.

Your Milo fix for the day

Milo has decided he can do what he wants and doesn't have to listen to his stinkin' parents. In this video, he has mastered the slide (sort of). Note that he's already torn his hat off, exposing his nigh-hairless scalp to the sun.

Milo at the 4th of July parade

We forgot Milo's hat, so he had to make do with my doo-rag.
His overalls have a handy loop, useful for preventing him from running into the street any time there was anything interesting to see.

Milo views his first fireworks

Milo plays at the fountain

The pedestrian mall in the next town over has a fountain that's usually packed with kids. Today, it was a little cooler, so there weren't too many people there. Plenty of room for Milo to wander around:

One and a quarter year update

Milo seems to have entered toddlerhood over the last couple of weeks or so. He's picking up more words, especially if they begin with 'b': he can identify balls (b'!) and buses (b'!) and bellies (b') and can say 'bye' - even with the proper sort of high-pitched inflection. He has also become yet more willful; getting him into his stroller when he does not want to go is no simple task.

And of course he can toddle like a madman.

His own man

Milo has been demonstrating that lovable toddler can-do attitude lately. He will (try to) put his own shoes on, he will bash away at the toy until he can get the round peg into the hole, etc. And forget that spoon - he will eat dinner the way he chooses.

His father's side ...

Here's Milo, flocked by his parents and his paternal uncle and aunt.



His uncle worked on teaching him 'Yes'. During the next visit, the Sandman and proper comic book care are on the curriculum.

Butterflies

We took Milo to see the butterfly exhibit in Wheaton this Memorial Day:



Milo consented to a short paparazzo break:

More from the grandparents'

Milo's world:

Milo and Grampy have the same stylist

Going ...



and coming ...

I don't think that table is for what you think it's for

Milo seems to be something of a climber. We bought him a Milo-sized table and chair today, and he immediately put them to use:

First official walking

Oh deary me

"I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers ... "

Stylin'

I don't think any of the previous pictures have properly displayed Milo's sweet natural hairstyle:

Bamboo digression

Watch the bamboo grow!

Apr. 26 noon


Apr. 28 3:15 pm


Apr. 30, 1 pm

Howdy, ma'am

Looks like y'all have a serious plaid problem here.

Ah, Spring

The weather has started to warm up here. That means it's time to put on your sunhat, sit on the porch swing with a six pack, and chill out.

His future's so bright ...

Milo doesn't really like wearing the sunglasses, but he objects less than he used to. Since it makes me worry less when he's facing the sun in the stroller (and because it's immensely cute) I make him wear them sometimes.

Milo and his future residence

He's even tried out the furniture:

Standing in the place where he is

Milo's been standing without holding on to anything for probably a couple of weeks now. He's not very confident about the whole thing, and when he notices he's doing it, he tends to stop.
So it's been hard to get it on film - but today we have an exclusive: the first free-standing Milo picture!

The birthday boy!

A whole year old. Who knew he'd make it this far?


As spring rolls around, Milo's thoughts turn to the outside: he loves to play on slides and touch plants and eat sticks and just generally be out of doors.

But never fear, there are good things about inside, too:



But we already knew that Milo rocks, right?

Sitting like big man

Milo is sick again - started out like the stomach flu again, though it hasn't been too vomit-y since then. This means his parents (one of whom is enjoying the same illness) do not have a lot of energy for recording his mostly still enormously cute antics. So here's one from not too long ago: Milo sitting on a stool. I guess stool sitting is pretty fun.

Milo and Jenny slide

It doesn't come through well in the video, but Milo loves sliding a whole lot. He will be very excited when he's old enough that we let him slide without at least having a hand on him.

Saturday in the park with Milo

We had beautiful weather on Saturday, and spent some time at the park. Enough time that I can milk it for several posts.

Eleven month update (a bit belated)

At eleven months, Milo has become a pointer. Generally, we tell him the name of the thing he's pointing at. "That's Mommy, Milo." "That's the light again, Milo." "That's the outside world." He spent a solid two or three weeks of month ten not feeling well: stomach flu, ear infection, still ear infection, diarrhea from the antibiotics - but he seems fine now. His appetite's certainly come back strong; he's very interested in anything we're eating. Tonight, in addition to baby food style sweet potatoes, he had some cheese, toast with hummus, pear, and a couple of bites of taco.

For a while it seemed like he had finally learned a trick we could show off to people: we could ask him where our noses were and he would identify them, but when we took the show on the road, so to speak, it fizzled. I think we may have confused him by trying to teach him 'mouth'.

Great Expectations

Milo enjoyed seeing his Grammy and Grampy this Presidents' day weekend. He didn't so much enjoy the projectile vomiting, the cough, or the runny nose. You win some, you lose some.

Hats!

It is an unalterable law of the universe: it's cute to wear the same sort of hat your child is wearing.