Wednesday, November 20, 2013

he's learning!

milo's in that stage of constantly - CONSTANTLY - testing boundaries and trying out defiance, and whining when we tell him no (ok, maybe not 24/7, but sometimes it feels that way).

tonight he's actually been pretty good.  on the way home from daycare, he was humming something, and it sounded familiar, but i couldn't fully place it.

i asked him what he was singing, and he started putting in jumbled lyrics: "...... what you waaaannnt"

and i immediately recognized the Rolling Stones' little ditty that we sing to him all too often when he starts to get upset over not getting his way.

so on the ride home we joyfully sang together "you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need!" and then milo shouts the "yeah" part. and since that's the only part of the song i really know, we sang it again.

i don't know which part made me happier, that he's learning the classics, or that the idea of we don't always get what we want, but we have what we need is getting ingrained into his adorable little head.


Wednesday, November 13, 2013

the highlight of my week...

milo was wanting to watch an episode of handy manny, so i made him ask nicely, and then turned the show on for him.

he proceeded to snuggle up next to me on the couch, wiggle his little arm into mine, and very matter-of-factly said to me, "you're my best friend, mom!"

the kid just made my week!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

wedding bells already???

tonight as i was helping milo get his coat off, he started to throw a fit when i wanted to put his glove in his pocket, and he kept shouting, "my ring! my ring!"

the zipper was stuck, so i asked him if he wanted help fixing his zipper and getting the ring out of his pocket.  the crocodile tears ceased immediately, "yeah," he replied, cool as a cucumber.

i get the zipper unstuck, and a bulky, grey, plastic "ring" that i'm quite certain was originally a 6-point wrench (had to google that one).

i asked him if it was his ring, again, ever so coolly, "yeah."

"are you going to give it to maggie?" (at daycare today, they informed me that he calls her "my maggie" as in, "where's my maggie?")

"yeah."

"you gonna ask her to be your wife?"

"yeah."

they grow up so fast.





also, on the way home, milo was telling me about playing with maggie, and how she's with her mommy right now, and then he went straight for my heart and said, "everyone needs their mommy!"

wise beyond his years.

Monday, October 21, 2013

what a hoot

so milo's 3 now, and i'm ridiculously behind on keeping track of all his hysterical sayings and doings.

let's see what i can remember:

  • the words are just flying now - there are still some rather indiscernible syllables thrown in, especially when his "s" and "f" still sound like a "d", but the kid is talking a mile a minute, and we love it.  especially at 2 in the morning, when he calls out, "mommmmmmm, i need my bay-ket!" (blanket), instead of simply screaming.
  • the other day, we were driving to a garage sale, and ben accidentally went up on the curb.  i responded a little dramatically, nothing new.  later that day, milo and i were going to the store, and i accidentally pulled a curb check as i rounded a turn.  as we came off the curb, milo let's out a very pleasant, "oopsies!  you gotta be care-toh mom!"  i couldn't help but laugh and agree with him.
  • his friends at daycare will randomly give me reports on him: "milo had a really good day!"  "milo ate all his corn and prunes!"  "milo needs to bring his pajamas so he can come for a sleepover to my house, but only girls are allowed!"
  • i pointed out some deer in a field on the way home from daycare today, and milo shouted out "hi deer!"
  • one of the things we got for milo for his 3rd birthday was a helium-filled, yellow, smiley face balloon. (his favorite color is yellow, and he specifically asked for yellow balloons for his birthday.  how could we say no?)  i think it may be one of his favorite presents - he carries it everywhere throughout the house, will lay on it, and tries to bring it to bed with him, but we won't let him, 'cause of the string.  so he insists on tying it up to the little chair at his desk.
  • he calls pumpkins "puttin" and muffin is "mutton"- we made pumpkin muffins from a mix that he got from "gramma kacky"for his birthday, and at every meal we heard "i wanna puttin mutton!"
  • he can say his abc's and count to ten all on his own.  that's entirely thanks to daycare.
  • when he wants to do something that he can tell we might say no to (we're on our way someone, it's dinner time, etc.) he'll say, "i want to play cars/watch a show/go to park for a couple minute, mom."
  • the night my parents came into town for milo's birthday weekend, my mom had to run to the store for a few items.  she came back with some chinese food for me, since everyone else had eaten at daycare/work/on the road, but i hadn't had a chance to eat yet.  milo looked at me eating my dinner, then turned to my mom and said, "gake-oo dor getting my mom doood!" (thank you for getting my mom food.)  it's amazing how considerate and thoughtful he is.  i love it.
  • the other night we were picking up ben from work, and he was running late, so we were waiting in the car.  milo decided he was going to call out for him, "daaaaaad!"  i responded that daddy was inside the building, and we were outside in the car, and that he couldn't hear us.  milo decided to try harder by yelling louder, "DAAAAAAAD! CAN YOU HEAR ME DAAAAAAAAAD?"
  • we still sing him to sleep, and we tend to stick to the same playlist of songs.  milo now knows them too: "you are my dun-doiiiiine" (sunshine), "may the Wowrd bet you and keeeeep you" (may the Lord bless you and keep you), "twinkle twinkle liddoh staaaahr" and "Jesus loves me" are the ones he'll sing along to.  he'll also sing the little ditties he hears on "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" (a cartoon spin-off from Mister Roger's Neighborhood) - "you can take a turn, and then you get it back!"
  • he'll still let us cuddle him, and when we drop him off at daycare, he says "i give you biiiigggggg HUG!" and then proceeds to bear-squeeze my neck.
i think we hit the jackpot with this one.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

love lessons from our resident romeo

another maggie moment: they told me that maggie had been playing with a piece of paper, and when one of the workers went to throw it in the garbage, milo posted himself between the worker and the garbage, pointing his finger at the worker, he kept saying, "no, no, no!" until the worker returned the piece of paper to maggie.


the other night, milo patted my head and said, "wow, mom, your hair pretty!"  (although it sounded more like "wow mom, yoooh hayuh prih-eee!")  to which i replied, "thank you!" and he immediately responded, "you're welcome!" ("yoooh weldun!")


he knows how to woo the ladies!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

young love...

there's this adorable little girl at milo's daycare.  her name is maggie.  she also has blonde hair and blue eyes.  and she and milo are apparently gaga for each other...


  • they play together exclusively at free time
  • they sleep next to each other at nap time
  • they eat next to each other at meal time
  • milo will protect maggie if someone tries to take her toys
  • milo will also push the other kids out of the way (even if they're already sitting on a chair) just so he can stand or sit next to her


if you ask milo about her, he'll respond to you, "i like maaa-eeeee!"

and it just melts my little heart that milo has found his very own love.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

moooo!

two cow incidents came up recently.

the first is this:

the lady who lives above us sleeps above milo's room.  and she snores really loudly.  one night milo woke up, and was crying a little.  ben went in to see what was wrong, and milo pointed to the ceiling and asked "mooo?"

it was easier just to pretend that a cow lives upstairs who moos in the middle of the night.  much less scary than the snorey lady.


the second:

milo and i were visiting my parents up in door county, WI.  my mom and i were helping him settle down for bed.  we'd already read stories and said prayers and sung lullabies.  milo had a little toy cow that he wanted to sleep with, and he kept yelling out, "MOOOOO! MOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and i told milo, "honey, the cow needs to be quiet, he needs to sleep, too."

and milo quietly whispered, "moooooooooo, moooooooooo, moooooooooo."


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

daily affirmations

who needs a mirror when you have a two year old who's willing to on-demand repeat every.single.word. that you say?

in an effort to help milo continue improving his communication skills we have been having him repeat things after us. when he points to the fridge and does his half-whine/half-grunt, we'll ask him "Milo, do you want some juice?"  he'll nod and pitifully respond "uh-huh. djoo!"so we'll say "okay Milo, then you need to say" (and at this point, we pause so he can repeat each word individually) "mommy" "can" "you" "please" "get" "me" "some" "juice" ("mah-ee" "can" "ooh" "pee" "get" "me" "dum" "djoo!")

lately i've been throwing in some "mommy" "you" "are" "so" "pretty" "can" "you" "please" "get" "me" "some" "juice" type affirmations... i like to mix it up with "you are the best ever" "you are so smart" etc. etc.

it takes a little longer, but he's really been picking up a lot of new words this way.  and i, for one, am feeling great!