millerization

Less Sleep is More Sleep (13 months)

2008-07-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

After last week's sleepless nights, we thought we would try giving Myles only 1 nap during the day; the thinking being that if he slept less during the day he might sleep more at night. We started the new 1-nap schedule on Monday and Myles has been sleeping thru the night the whole week!!

Spitting Food
In addition to his recently found talent of removing food from his mouth with his hands, Myles has just now discovered that he can spit food out as well. Ah yes, the joy of food. :)

Its My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To

2008-07-13T23:57:00.000-07:00

The main event this week was our celebration of Myles' 1 year birthday this weekend. Myles was overwhelmed by all the people and spent much of the time in the safety of his parents arms, but when he was able to relax he seemed to enjoy himself. It was a good afternoon gathering complete with nice weather, grilled sausages, all types of wonderful salads, and of course so many great guests!

But, the party wasn't the only thing going on this week.

Swimming Class
Myles started his first week of swim class at Mills College this week. As with many new things, he took a little while to warm up to the situation but soon he was like a fish in water.

King Myles
One of Myles' favorite "toys" these days is the cardboard tube left over from a roll of fabric. He enjoys walking around with it in his room, feeling like a king.

Sleepless Nights
This hasn't been a good week for sleep. Infact, its been a pretty bad week. Myles hasn't slept a full night in atleast a week, and that means neither have Mom or Dad. Being up from 3am to 5am every night is taking its toll.

Gag Me With a Finger
Myles is exploring his mouth these days, including rolling his tongue, fingering his molars, and pulling on his tongue. He even seems to like to gag himself.

Pointing
This week Myles discovered the power of pointing to something he wants or wants to go towards. Thusly, Myles now does a lot of pointing. :)

Moms Little Sparkler

2008-07-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

Myles has been quite the little sparkler this week. He is walking everywhere all the time and getting into and out of anything he can. He is also experimenting with exerting his own will and power, including throwing small objects and pushing large ones, taking food out of his mouth, and even sometimes purposely/knowingly (with a smile no less) disobeying his parent's "no" statements. But through it all he full of smiles and is always a total joy!

(click to see more picture from the weekend)

Weekend At Grandparents Miller
Along with Lara, Glenn, and Faith, we spent the 4th of July weekend at GrandPs Miller's house in San Louis Obispo. We BBQ'ed, sparked some fireworks, watched movies, ate yummy meals, and went to the beach. It was a great fun filled weekend!

Fireworks
Myles had a number first-time-experiences this weekend, one of which included fireworks. We kept the boom factor to a minimum and didn't spark any fireworks with snaps, crackles, or pops, but Myles was still nervous around even the most mild of "sparklers".

Beach
Another first this weekend was our trip to the Avila Beach. The beach is only 5 minutes from GrandPs house and after this first experience we will surely be visiting many more times in the future. As with many new experiences for Myles it took him a while to warm up to the roar of the ocean. But by the time we had to leave, Myles was so enthralled with the sand and water that it was hard to pull him away.

Separation Anxiety
Since returning from Sweden Myles has been having some mild "separation anxiety" when his parents aren't around. When Brikti comes in the morning and Mom leaves for work he cries for 10 minutes or so until he warms up to the situation. And this weekend when he realized that Mom and Dad weren't around (we left to pick up some food) he again cried for about 10 minutes.

Sitting Without Crying
When Myles was first leaning to walk (oh so long ago :) he didn't know how to sit down from a standing position and he would cry every time he fell/sat into a sitting position. Now Myles can get into a sitting position whenever he wants to, and he is crying much less when he falls. And when he does fall, he just gets back up and keeps on going!

Mighty Molars

2008-06-29T23:46:00.000-07:00

This week while Myles was laughing with his mouth wide open we noticed a white blob in the back of his mouth. Thinking that it was a bit of paper (he likes to chew on paper) we reached in his mouth to grab the blob, but to our surprise found a tooth! Myles now has not one, but two mighty molars in his mouth!

2 Molars + 1 New Incisor = 10 Total Teeth
And speaking of new teeth, his molars aren't the only new teeth. That fourth bottom front incisor tooth finally came in. So now Myles has a total of 10 teeth!

No More "Baby Food"
Its a good thing that Myles has 10 teeth, because as of last week he pretty much refuses to eat mushy "baby food" any more. He wants "big people" food and he want to feed it to himself. This has caused the process of eating to be much more messy; but oh so much fun. :)

12 Month Doctor Visit
This week Myles visited Dr. Usem for his 12 month check up. Everything is great and "on track" with Myles weighing in at 21.5 pounds and 30 inches long.

The Saratoga Gang
On Sunday we went down to the South Bay to hang out with Mom's good friends from High School and their respective families. It was the first time the whole gang (including spouses and children) were together.

(click to see more pictures of the first swim)

First Swim
It was hot enough in the South Bay to have some fun in Andy's pool. Myles got his first exposure to being in a body of water larger than a bathtub and he was a little overwhelmed by the shear size. He'll have more time in a pool in a couple of weeks at his first Swimming Lessons.

Sweden Celebrations (12 months)

2008-06-22T17:52:00.000-07:00

We spent the last two weeks in Sweden (and 3 days in Paris), where we celebrated weddings, birthdays, graduations, sun rays, and anniversaries.

Swedish Pride on Graduation Day
Mom's cousin Joakim gave up a well deserved break from his kids and put us up during our stay in Sweden. Thank you SOOOOO much Joakim. But just before his kids Jesper and Simon left for summer vacation they rode in Joakim's custom VW bug to their school's graduation day.

Anniversary Hotdog
June 13th is Mom and Dad's wedding anniversary. We thought it was appropriate to celebrate our anniversary by going back to the exact same Hotdog Stand where Dad asked Grandpa John for Mom's hand in marriage.

Myles 1st Year Birthday
June 14th is Myles' birthday, and even though we will be having a full birthday party at our house on July 13th we still had a small celebration in Sweden on his actual birthday. Hard to believe its been a full year since he was born!

(click to see more photos from our vacation)

Wedding
Saturday was the day of the main event: Mikael and Joyahanna's wedding. A grand time was had by all.

(click to see more photos from our vacation)

Paris
The day after the wedding Mom and Dad flew off to Paris for a few days, while Myles stayed in Sweden with the Christol Clan. During the days Dad attended some work meetings and Mom toured the city. They meet up in the evenings for $30 dollar hamburgers. Seriously, Paris is expensive.

Standing Up, Unassisted
Our second week in Sweden saw Myles learn how to stand up from a sitting position completely unassisted without even using inanimate objects for support. With a week of practice under his belt his is now a pro at standing up and walking to anything he so desires. Watch out world, here comes Myles Stanton Miller!

Midsummer
The Friday closest to June 21st is Sweden's "Midsummer Celebration Day". The entire country has the day off work to celebrate the longest day of the year and worship the sun. Every town across the country decorates a "May Pole" and much dancing and celebration is had.

Home Sweet Home
Early the next morning while the rest of Sweden country slept, we flew back home. After traveling for nearly 24 hours we finally made it home and were happy to sleep in our own bed (with brand new sheets courtesy of GrandP's Miller, who stayed in our house while we were gone).

Finally Crawling

2008-06-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

Woot woot! Myles can finally crawl! Its not a traditional four limbed crawl, but it is definitely a crawl. He kinda drags one leg underneath him. From what we hear, this is how Dad first crawled as well.

On Off, Open Close
Myles is starting to learn about two-state entities. He is opening and closing doors and draws, and is enamored by lights going on and off. We are teaching him that switches on walls control the lights in the ceiling and he seems to be fascinated by this concept. Here he is sitting at the dinner table while dad turns the dinning room light on and off.

Surprise GrandPa Visit
GrandPa Miller paid us a visit on Friday to pick up our house key and drop off some goodies. It was a short visit, but its always good to see GrandPa!

Standing In The Crib
This weekend we had to lower Myles' crib, because we found in standing in it when we went to get him after a nap.

Sunday Picnic
On Sunday we made a trek up to the Tilden Park Steam Trains with Clair and The Beaties. Besides a round on the train, we also had a picnic on the neighboring hill.

Off To Sweden
Early Monday morning we take off to Sweden for two weeks, with a special quick visit to Paris for a few days the following week. We mostly likely won't make a blog post the next two Sundays.

Stair Master

2008-06-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago Myles was on the last phase of needing assisted walking. Two weeks ago he was cruising the obstacle course. Last week he was walking across the room completely on his own. And this week.... he is stepping the stairs!

But, the guy still can't crawl, and still can't even get into a sitting position from his back or stomach.

Backseat Singing
The other little tidbit to share this week is Myles' increase in "baby talk". Well, it probably isn't even really baby talk by definition, but we definitely have noticed an up tick in the amount of new vocals sounds he is making this week. When he is in the car with us, it is common (as of this week) to hear him "singing" away to some of the jazz tunes we play. It cute. :)

Walking a Myle

2008-05-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

This Memorial Day weekend Myles walked completely unassisted on his own! And he didn't just walk from furniture to furniture, but clear across the room!

Last Days at Lundy's
Earlier in the week we visited Grandparent Millers and had dinner with them on the last night in their San Francisco house at Lundy's Lane.

Weekend at The Christols
Friday evening we drove up to Lincoln to spend the Memorial Day Weekend with Grandparent Christols. Despite the overcast weather we all had a wonderful time together.

Wine Tasting
On Sunday, Mom and Dad left Myles with his Grandparents and spent the day wine tasting in El Dorado Country! We visited six wineries and thoroughly enjoyed the chance to spend quality couple time together in the beauty of mountain vineyards.

Cruising for a Bruising (11 months)

2008-05-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

Myles is now a master of the cruise. He can walk from one 2-foot-object to another 2-foot-object with ease; as long as they are only a few feet apart. We have even setup a little obstacle course for him to cruise around.

However, with all this cruising, also comes some bruising. What isn't captured in the video above is all the missed attempts at navigating the obstacle course. Not too mention all the other falls Myles has taken during his numerous other attempts at walking. Ah yes, the trials and errors of learning to walk.

Daddy Has Bruises Too
And speaking of bruises, Daddy has a few of his own bruises. On Wednesday evening while in the city running an errand Dad had a motorcycle accident. A car cut into Dad's lane and to avoid hitting the car Dad had to make evasive maneuvers, which led to him taking a little spill. He is fine and nothing is broken or cut, but Dad does have some bruises and the bike took a long skid on its side which caused some significant damage to its cylinder block cover.

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The Last Supper (at the coffee table)
This week was the end of an dinning era. As a couple, Mom and Dad got into a bad habit over the last many years of eating dinner at our coffee table while we watched some mindless TV. But this week Myles made it clear to us (by constantly pulling up to the table and grabbing at our food) that this practice is no longer appropriate. So, from this week forward we will be eating dinner at our actual dinner table, like a regular family.

Pooping In The Pot
We are happy to report that Myles continues to poop in his pot. That is, whenever he signals to us that he is ready, or whenever we happen to see his "poop face". :) He isn't 100% yet, but he is somewhere close to an 80% success rate. It helps that he is fairly regular and seems to poo mainly in the morning hours.

Surprise Guest
Our friend Angus give us a surprise visit on Saturday evening. He was "in the neighborhood" after attending a Law School Graduation Party in Berkeley and was wondering if we were around. One thing lead to another and the four of us were having dinner together.

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Walking on Mothers Day

2008-05-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Mother's Day with the entire Christol Family in the South Bay this Sunday. We had supper at Bela Restaurant in Saratoga and visited a couple of the Christol's house rentals including their former home on Herriman.

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Peter & Stacy Wedding
Mormor and Grandpa Christol came over on Saturday to baby-sit Myles while Mom and Dad went to Peter and Stacy's wedding at the Hillside Club in Berkeley. We had a great time and really enjoyed the company and the food!

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Unassisted Walking
The big development in Myles' life this week is that he can now walk short distances unassisted! He still reaches out for our hands, but he has shown that he is capable of walking without any assistance at all. Here is a short video we took earlier in the week when we were trying out a "walking assistance device" called Walking Wings.

Chateau Le Cache Flow

2008-05-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

The big event this week was our trip down to San Luis Obispo to visit the grand opening of "Chateau Le Cache Flow".

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Great-Grandma Lydia Turns 90!!
Grandparents Miller hosted Great-Grandma Lydia 90th birthday party at their new house (Chateau Le Cache Flow) in San Luis Obispo. We drove down Saturday morning and stayed thru Monday. It was great to get the extended Miller/Heywood families together and everyone had a great time celebrating Lydia's 90th!

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Ringing Ears and Aching Backs
Myles is now a pro at adult-assisted walking. He wants to walk every chance he can get! And if he isn't walking, he is yelling/crying to be walked. Unfortunatley for his parents, this leads to aching backs from bending over to assist his walking, and ringing ears from his loud demands to be walked. But we love it all!

Bump On The Head
With all of his walking, its no surprise that Myles took his first big fall this week. While holding on to a table he bent over to picked something up with *both* of hands, and landed on his head. Oops. He got a nice round red bump, but seemed more upset that he wasn't still walking.

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Poo In The Pot
In other news, we are happy to report that our early potty training may actually be having an effect. Myles has now had a hand-full of bowel movements while sitting on his toilet, and we believe he is even indicating to us (via raising his hands) that he is ready to move his bowels. So far so good.

Play Eat Play

2008-04-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

This week has been crazy busy. Dad went away to the music festival Coachella with his friend Ches. They rented an RV and drove down late thursday night. They arrived at Coachella late friday morning and enjoyed the day of music. Then they got back in the RV and drove to Las Vegas to meet up with some early YouTube employees for some fun, celebrating all the hard work everyone has put into YouTube. Then they drove back to Coachella for Sunday music enjoying the sounds of Pink Floyd and Justice.

While Dad was off driving around the south West, Myles and Mom went to Mormor's and Grandpa's house with Auntie Sarah for the weekend.

(click to see more pictures)

This was lots of fun and Myles got to ride on his fire truck again which of course he loves. He even started to accidentally push himself along!! Now that he can touch the ground we expect his desire to push himself will move along quickly. We also went out to dinner where Myles drank from his first straw. He doesn't breath while drinking from the straw yet but we're sure he'll figure that out soon. We're trying to feed him more finger foods including a delicious strawberry.

Da Boyz Week III (10 months)

2008-04-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

Dad was home all this week using another family-leave week from work. Myles turned 10 months old on Monday, and it was a week packed full of adventure and fun.

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tuesday - MusicTogether
On tuesday we went to MusicTogether class with Jimmy and The Twins who joined us for a free trial class. Myles seemed to enjoy himself more than last week (when he was sick with the PFR Virus), and The Twins,,, well, they were all over the place. :)

wednesday - Habitot
We meet Jimmy and The Twins again on wednesday morning for an adventure at Habitot, the East Bay's hands-on children museum. We all had a blast!

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thursday - One Handed Action
On thursday we visited the park and Myles showed off his one handed walking skills.

saturday - Steam Train
After Mommy's BBC class on saturday we visited the Tilden Park Steam Trains. Myles is still completely enthralled with the train.

sunday - Erik Says Good Bye
We capped off the week by inviting ourselves over to Erik and Helen's house to see Erik before he heads off to India next week for the next phase of his career.

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Fever and Rash, then Sun and Fun

2008-04-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

It was an active week.
On Sunday evening last week, right after finishing dinner (while still in the high chair) Myles projectile puked up everything he just ate. When we took him out of the seat he was feeling hot to the touch. By the time we put him down for the night, he was running a 101 degree fever! We took him to the doctor's on Monday afternoon and the doctor said he had seen 5 other kids with the same symptoms: puke, then fever. By Monday night, Myles was up in the 103 degree area. Eeks. The next few days Myles was absolutely miserable. He was hot, cranky, not sleeping well, and not eating well. To top is all off, on Wednesday he developed a rash all over his torso (back and chest). We did the best we could and made a mohawk with his sweaty hair. Check out these sick eyes.

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Music Together
Tuesday morning Myles was schedule to attend his first class at Music Together and we had been looking forward to it for weeks. Myles' fever had come down by the morning and he seemed better to us. If we had known the fever was going to actually get worse and that he would soon develop a rash we wouldn't have gone, but at the time he seemed ok, so off the music class we went. Despite being sicker than we knew, Myles was still able to enjoy himself.

Feeling Fine by Friday
By the end of the week, the PFR Virus (puke fever rash) had come and gone and Myles had return to the land of feeling well. His rash was gone, he was eating full meals, and he temperature was regular. Great way to start off a weekend in the sun.

BBC First Class
We started Saturday off early and headed off with Auntie Sarah to the beautiful Lake Cabot park to help with Mom's first full Baby Boot Camp class. Not as many moms showed up as had signed up, but it was still a successful launch of a new venture. Go mom!

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GrandP's Miller
After boot camp, GrandParent's Miller came over and Mom and Dad went on a date! The street-side patio of Caser's is most lovely this time of year. :) And while Mom and Dad we're off frolicking in the evening sun, Myles was hamming it up with the GPs!

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Sunday Fun in the Sun
We started Sunday off with wonder brunch with the Beaties. Brunch followed by a snooze and then the Ardley Block Party. The weekend capped off with a pleasant sprinkler spray. Ah the joys...

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Sit and Spin

2008-04-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

Over the last week or so Myles has become an expert "spinner". Either laying on his belly or sitting on his butt he likes to spin around to find his next object of desire.

Midnight Peace
The midnight screams of last week have thankful stopped! We still don't know why he was screaming (for hours) in the middle of the night last week, but we are very very thankful the screaming has stopped.

Preliminary Potty "Training"
We know its quite a bit early to do format potty training, but with the trend in "hybrids" these days and all the hype about Excrement Communication (EC), we thought we'd try to mix the two disciplines. Here is Myles sitting on his new baby toilet.

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Baby Boot Camp Prep
Mom is the proud owner of a Baby Boot Camp franchise and in-between work at eVault she has been intensely getting ready for classes to start. This weekend we had a practice class with instructor that Mom hired to teach the classes. Next weekend is the official first class!

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Walker Action

2008-03-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Even though "the books" recommend against it, we recently put Myles in a walker,,, and he loves it!! He moves all around the room, all on his own, wherever he wants to go.
[video]

Grandparents Miller Visit
On Saturday afternoon this week Grandparents Miller came over for a visit. We had a wonderful homemade brunch and Myles even ate some "big people" food. Yum yum good.

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Midnight Screams
The last few days of this week Myles has been waking up in the middle of the with screaming fits. And these are short little moments, this is screaming that goes on for hours! We don't know why and we will be watching this closely.

Mom's Book Club
Sunday evening Mom had her group of "healers" over for some intellectual delights. Myles was a big hit with the girls and then spent the evening in the back room with dad while the gals discussed amongst themselves.

Da Boyz Week II

2008-03-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

Dad was home from work this week, using the 2nd of four available "baby bonding" weeks, and had a wonderful week with Myles!

Dr. Usem 9 Month Visit
Myles visited Dr. Usem this week for his 9 month check up. He checked out great with all systems in good working order and weighted in at 20 pounds and measuring 28 inches long.

Tantrums
This week Myles started having what is best summed-up as "mini-tantrums". He required a lot of direct attention, and if we didn't give it to him he would moan, and then cry, and then vigorously shake his body, and then whale as loud as he could. It was a good day when we could sit him down in one room and be in another for even just a few minutes.

Riders
We noticed that Myles really enjoyed himself on the "rider" toy we sat him on at Colby Park the other week, so we got him a couple of his own riders to enjoy at home. Mormor Christol also got him one to ride during his visits at their place. He absolutely loves sitting on them and being pushed around.

Easter at The Christols
We spent the Spring Equinox at The Christol's place in Lincoln this weekend and had a wonderful time. Much fun was had by all.

Park Play
One of the highlights of our weekend at The Christol's was our Sunday visit to the McBean Park. Myles also visited our local park, Diamond Park, earlier in the week with Jimmy and "the twins". Oh how he loves the outdoors!

Look MaMa, No Crawling (9 Months)

2008-03-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

Despite being congested with both sinus and chest phlegm this week, Myles still managed to have fun with all the Kleenex we had to go thru cleaning up his snot.

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Automated Aspirator
And speaking of snot, our automated aspirator broke this week. What bad timing. Bah. We got to found out just how much we like it versus the manual hand-squeeze ones. We even made an "emergency run" to Babys-R-Us to get a new one, but they were out. Ack.

Sweet Brikiti
We totally love our nanny Brikiti (pictured below), but we suspect she may be adding fruit to all of his meals to sweeten them up a bit. It seems that every time WE feed him savory lunch and dinner on the weekends he doesn't take to it as well as Brikiti says he does when he eats with her. Or maybe he just like eating with her more than us. :)

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No Crawling "mama", Me Walk
We have mentioned this before, but Myles does not particularly like being on his stomach, and thus, we haven't exposed him enough to skills needed for crawling. He is 9 months now and Myles is still not even close to crawling. He doesn't even want to crawl. He shows zero sign of interest in it. But man oh man does he ever want to walk! With assistance he will walk clear across the house!

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Unassisted Pullup to Standing
But before he can walk he is going to have to learn to get up on his legs from a sitting position. He made the first move toward doing that this week by pulling up on a table top without any assistance from us. Way to go buddy!

Weekend Partying
This weekend saw much partying for Mom, Dad, and Myles. We had friends (Gunthar, Chelsea, Beorn, Maryrose, and Chris) over on Saturday for lunch, and on Sunday we had dinner at The Curtises. Good times.

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Ba Da La Ma

2008-03-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

This week Myles unmistakably and intentionally started repeatedly saying the "ba, da, la, ma" sounds and even started using them in combination!

Another Cold
Earlier in the week the other two babies in Myles' Nanny Share were sick, and by Friday of the week Myles was also sick with both sinus and chest congestion. When can they start blowing their own nose?

Cousin Faith Visits
This weekend Lara, Glenn, and cousin Faith came to town to help Grandparent's Miller in the first phase of their move from SF to SLO. Faith stayed at our house during the day on Saturday and though we had to keep Myles and Faith separated due to his cold, they still had an ok time together. Here is a cute video of Faith sitting in our jumper.

March Birthday Celebration
On Saturday evening we all meet up at Allison's house to celebrate the various March birthdays in the family. In attendance were: Allison, Brian, Jacob, and Anna, Chris, Myles, and Lara, Glenn, Faith, and Richard, JoAnne, and Jon, Angie.

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Park Play
On Sunday We went over to Clair's house for brunch and playtime in the park across the street. For the first 10 minutes of the time at the park Myles was in a kind of daze at he took it all in and sized up the other children.

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A Week of Da Boyz

2008-03-02T20:21:00.000-08:00

One of the many benefits Google offers their employees is 7 weeks of Paid Family Leave for fathers of infants. Dad used 2 of those 7 weeks when Myles was first born, and starting this week he is using 1 week each month until June. Long story short, Dad had the entire week off of work and had some serious "male bonding" time with Myles!!

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Starting Chunky Foods
Now that Myles has teeth on top and bottom, we have started to feed him some slightly chunky food. We first tried some soggy Cheerios and small bis of bread but Myles would choke on those. So we backed down a little and went with the "Level 3" jarred baby food which has small soft chunky bits in it and he is eating those like a champ. On Sunday we gave him some mini mango bits and he eat those up without a problem. A little bit at a time is our motto here.

Standing on His Own
While at home with Myles this week Daddy spent time encouraging Myles to practice standing on his own while holding onto furniture. By the end of the week Myles was a total pro and was even holding on with only one hand! Scary.

New Smiles

2008-02-24T21:40:00.000-08:00

This past week we have noticed that Myles has started to develop some new, more refined, facial expressions including smiling with his mouth closed like in this picture.

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6 Chompers
Last week we report that Myles got 3 new teeth. Well, another tooth has broken through on top, which brings the grand total so far to 6 teeth all together! 4 on top and 2 on bottom. Is it time now to introduce real solid food?

Cause and Effect
Myles and Dad spent some time this week exploring the relationship between cause and effect. Myles learned that he could get an object that is attached to a cord or rope by pulling on the cord. Here he is demonstrating his new learning.

(Click here to see our other videos)

Special Visit
One of Dad's best friends made a quick visit this weekend. We had a very short but great visit from Paul and Monica who live in Chicago. They were on their way to a wet but romantic kid-free weekend in Napa!

Three New Teeth (8 months)

2008-02-17T23:09:00.000-08:00

The big news this week is Myles' three new teeth! As we reported a couple of weeks ago, Myles had two little white nubs just under his upper gums. What we didn't notice was a third little nub. Well, now all three teeth have broken through the surface and Myles is having a chomping good time with them.

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Teeth Grinding
And now that Myles has both lower and upper teeth, he has started to grind them together. For his parents, his teeth grinding sounds like finger nails on a chalk board! eeeeeeeeek. It causes us to shiver everytime he does it. Here is a short video of his grinding.
[video]

Using a Pacifier
We can't be sure of it, but we think that his recent use of a pacifier is also due to his three new teeth. The last many months Myles has always shunned away from a pacifier, but this last week he has really taken to aggressively sucking on a pacifier at night.

Midnight Moans
As well as sucking on a pacifier, Myles has started to moan at night. Hours and hours of moaning actually. For the past few nights at around 3 or 4am, we have been awakened by Myles' high-pitched moans. When we go upstairs to sooth him he appears to be in a semi-conscience state as his eyes are closed and his arms and legs are at rest yet there he is moaning. A single touch of the hand quites him down, but within seconds he is back to moaning. The moaning lasts for up to a couple of hours and then it stops as sudden as it started.

Baby Sign Language
We have started to introduce a small amount of sign language into our communication with Myles. We are going slowly with this and are just using a few essentials signs right now, such as "eat", "milk", "drink", "more", "all done", and "bed". At this stage he probably thinks we are just being kooky. :)

Over His Head
An interesting observation this week is that Myles is starting to raise some objects (like blankets and clothes) over his head. For instance he will grab a blank and raise it over his head (and sometimes let it rest on his head) and will then quickly lower it again and look around. We use these moments to play "peek-a-boo" with him and he just loves it! Its a crack up.

Scooting, Swinging, and Rolling Over

2008-02-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

On Friday this week we got a shipment from Amazon that included a Flip Video Camera. We unboxed it, turned it on, and immediately caught Myles doing a perfect roll over.

Scooting
The next day we noticed Myles inching forward to reach a toy while seated on the floor. To try and encourage him more, we put him on one end of the room and enticed him with some of his favorite toys just out of his reach. After 15 minutes he had scooted across the entire room!! Here is a video of Myles scooting the last few feet.

Swinging
Saturday morning we went to our lovely local park where Myles got to experience a swing for the first time. He seemed to really enjoy it.

(click picture for more)

Sleeping
We started feeding Myles a little Formula Milk last week to help encourage sleeping thru the night. This week we increased it such that Myles now receives 4oz of Formula Milk every night before going to sleep. We can't be certain of it, but we believe the added "weight" of Formula Milk is helping him sleep thru the night.

Running (of the nose)
Maybe its the decrease in breast milk, or more likely the increased exposure of objects in his mouth, but Myles unfortunately now has yet another cold. :( Though not as bad as his previous cold, the distinguishing feature of this one is his perpetual running nose. Mmmmm, tasty; Not.

Winter Fun in Tahoe

2008-02-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

The main event this week was our trip to Tahoe. On Friday morning we drove up to the family cabin in Tahoe and had a wonderful snow-filled weekend with the Beatties.

(click image for more pictures)

Developments and Mylestones
In developmental news, Myles is still struggling with his rolling, but he is a champion archer and twister. He is now standing unassisted by holding on to a low table or crib board. He has "found" his penis (aka "peepee") and occasionally reaches down to play with it when we change him. And we can now see two little white caps in his upper gums about to break thru. He might have his two front teeth in a week or two...

Rolling, Moving, and Jumping

2008-01-27T18:05:00.000-08:00

This week Myles finally started rolling! With some encouragement, he arches his back and rolls onto his side to reach for objects just out of his reach. He isn't a roll-master yet, but he did roll completely over a few times this week and that makes us smile, just like Myles is in this cute picture :)

(click image for more pictures)

Night Moves
And speaking of rolling, Myles has started to move around a bit in the middle of the night. Sometimes he moves so much that he finds himself with his head pushed up against the crib and he cries out. We've found him perpendicular to his original position as well as in a totally different location within the crib.

Midnight Cries
We're not sure why, but unfortunately sleeping thru the night didn't last long. Myles has been waking up crying in the middle of the night every night this past week. We can usually get him back to sleep after a few attempts of "shushing" and calming touch, but a week of sleepless nights makes for some tired and frazzled parents.

Automatic "shush"
There was one night this week where the late night crying lasted more than two hours and Dad got so tired of going up and "shushing" that he got the idea to create an mp3 of our "shushes". Dad recorded his "shushing" on the computer, looped it, created an mp3, loaded the mp3 onto the ipod, and docked the ipod in our boom box. Now all we have to do is press play and we have unlimited, mouth-free, automatic "shushing".

J,U,M,P means Jump
We are fairly certain that Myles understands atleast one word: "jump". One morning last week our nanny Brikti was feeding Myles in the kitchen and Dad was in the living room talking to Claire who was in our jumper unit. Claire hasn't yet taken to the jumper so Dad was trying to encourage her by saying "jump Claire, jump". Claire didn't start jumping, but from the kitchen Brikti called out that Myles started bouncing up and down in his high-chair every time Dad said "jump" to Claire in the living room. Now, every time we say "jump" Myles starts to move his whole body up and down as if he is jumping. Its very cute!!

Who are All These People
This week Myles got to spend time with lots of new people. On Monday we had an early dinner party with the Moses Crew and Imber, Joe and their 4 month old son Micheal. We all got some good play time in on the floor of the Moses' living room with all kinds of fun toys and such. On Saturday we had Erin and Robbie, and Sara, Scott, and Ryan over for a yummy brunch. And on Sunday Kenny came over for a whole day of good times.

Weary of Other Men
What started out as a hunch when Grandpa Miller visited two weeks ago (and Myles started crying) has turned into fact. Myles is weary of other men. When visiting the Moses on Monday, Myles took a little while to warm up to letting Dean hold him. Same thing happened with Scott when he was over on Saturday. And on Sunday, Myles started crying when he first saw Kenny but soon came around to Kenny's funny faces and then quickly became enthralled with Kenny the rest of the day.