new year, new tricks

milo has added a "stepping" motion to the dance moves that he uses to bust a groove when there's music playing. (it started as a head bobble, and then moved into a full-body-bounce, and now it's a combo all three.)

both his eye teeth are coming in. at first i mistakenly thought that his eye teeth were the ones next to the two front teeth, but they weren't, and now they're coming in. at this rate, i think this kid is going to have all his permanent teeth by the time he's four.

he's also started making kissing noises, only it seems he's just sucking in his bottom lip. i guess it's really more of a lips smacking noise. in the old year (2011), he was accomplishing this feat with fish-face-lips. now it's the lower-lip-suction-trick. and of course, if we repeat the noise/action, he gets all smiley and giggly.

there's one thing that's been surprisingly consistent since the new year rang in... i don't want to talk about it too much just for it to go away, but suffice it to say that i haven't gotten out of bed before 6 am since 2011. i'm really hoping this lasts...

we did a clean sweep of his hoard of outgrown toys and clothes, and the whole house just feels so much cleaner and more spacious and better organized. with his closest cleaned out of all the old clothes that no longer fit, we finally got around to rearranging things so that his shirts, pajamas and onesies are actually hanging, his pants folded on a shelf, and his socks are in a bin next to the pants. two of his empty dresser drawers are now storage space for his puzzles and legos and some other miscellaneous toys, while the top holds our overflow of dvds. meanwhile, the bottom shelf of his closet holds stuffed animals, and on the floor of the closet we keep his wooden toys and weebles collection.

all in all it's been a good start to the new year.

sickity-doo-dah

Christmas part 1 (with my folks in illinois) has come and gone. it felt like an explosion of wrapping paper and milo squakings and "ooh, ahhh, thank you!"

and then i got the flu christmas night, and a new sense of explosion erupted. it's awful. i hate the flu and it's been years since i've had it... in fact, i haven't had a full-fledged, toilet-bowl hugging, steam-rolled aches & pains flu since college, 6 years ago. i suppose i'm due. and i have to count my blessings, if you're going to be sick anywhere, why not be at mom's? plus being on vacation and in chicago, it's not like i can just go home. so ben and my mom are watching after milo, and i'm in bed, growing restless and worn out at the same time. i have my own bathroom. i know i have to count my blessings and that there are far worse ailments to be burdened with...

so how 'bout we recount the festivities:

milo has loved the new activity course with all it's challenges and obstacles that is my parents' only slightly milo-proofed house. the stairs especially. we only have one gate, so we're able to section of portions of the house, but there are exciting forbidden treasures, nooks and crannies in every room, so we still have to keep a close eye on him no matter what area has been barricaded.

we eventually added bubblewrap to the marble table in they're "foyer" area, which is right above his line of vision, but still within well range of his cranial circumference. he still has a pretty bad goose egg with slight puncture mark from the corner of that one. whoops.

milo got a plethora of weebles, a few puzzles, a jack in the box, a spinning metal top that you pump a lever to make it go, some bigger clothes for the months ahead, and some other blinking/mooing/singing things.

he's enthralled. and we haven't even had Christmas part 2 with ben's parents' yet.

ben and i have decided it's time to do a clean sweep of all his toys - pack away the ones that are still good for future babies, throw out the broken ones, add to the garage-sale pile ones he never really seemed that interested in, and maybe keep out a few of the ones he still plays with.

over the past year, we'd received quite a number of hand-me-down stashes of toys (plus what he received last Christmas and for his birthday). if we don't clear out some of it soon, our house is going to be swallowed up by milo-stuff.

we'll let you know when the garage sale finally happens :P

randoms

• it's been several months (at least?) since i've taken a picture of milo... which is way too long.

• milo likes to squirrel away his "treasures" - the other day i found ben's flip-flops, a sippy cup, a few books, some of his magnetic letters, and a wooden spoon in our front loading washer. when his pack n play is open, he loves to help me "clean" by picking up whatever's strewn about (toys, the paper, the lint roller, more sippy cups, the remotes, etc) and dropping it in the giant cage. he's also recently hidden my nail polish; it's been several days and i still have no idea where he's put it.

• milo had his first major fever (at it's highest 104 - our pediatrician said he doesn't really start to get worried till 105 or 106). we could tell he was sick when he cuddled with ben for several hours on a saturday morning - this boy normally has too much to do to ever want to cuddle for more than a minute, with the exception of his "i just woke up, but i'm not really awake yet" morning/post-nap routine. even then, 20 minutes later and he's ready to hit the road.

• we had to barricade the tree from milo. so after a little rearranging, the tree is now in the corner of our living room, behind the couch. it's only decorated from the bottom half up.

• still in the land of fallen chairs, i had to put our nativity scene on the dining room table - it was the only other prominent safe-spot in our home out of his reach... i dream that some day we'll have fun setting it up together when milo isn't more interested in chewing off the turban of wise man #3.

the good, the bad and the ugly:

the good: milo is not allergic to nuts. on several occasions i've let him have a little of the scandinavian almond cake i make which uses real almond extract. the other day i let him have a sip of my morning peanut butter smoothie (one sip was not enough). and just now he got to try a butter shortbread cookie i baked earlier today that was topped with ground sugar and pecans.

the bad: he has started to assert his defiance. he gets whiney and cranky simply because i'm doing something other than holding him (like getting lunch ready for him so he can eat).

the ugly: in this new attitude-spurt he's entered, milo will often drop food onto the floor while sitting in his high chair. we consistently respond by grasping his hand and very firmly telling him, "no milo, we don't drop our food on the floor!" he will then proceed to grab another handful, look at us to make sure we're looking, and a devious little smile takes over his face as he extends his hand past the high chair tray and he drops the food on the floor once again.

for the sake of our sanity:

we now live in the land of fallen chairs.

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that's what happens when i leave the computer open on the couch....

anyhow, this "land of fallen chairs" business means that unless we're sitting in it, the chair stays on it's side... with all the clutter cleared from the table, milo saw opportunity for reaching new heights.

i'm glad to report that he has gotten very good at descending safely from the rocking chair and rubbermade tote which have remained upright.

,.

ummm.... little help please?

so who's got the anti-climbing serum for my child who has not only discovered how to climb chairs, but has also discovered that if the chair is next to the dining room table, he can now reach all the forbidden treasures (like pens and bubbles and the flower vase filled with water and tigerlillies - eep!)

i guess we're back to that ever-vigilant "i've got my eye on you!" (because ears aren't enough for the moment) patrol...

on the bright side, the vase he knocked over didn't fall to the ground and break, my flowers got fresh water (i've heard you're supposed to change it regularly to help them last longer), and this will be extra incentive to keep our table clutter free.

also on the up and up (pun intended), i've been working with milo over the past several days on teaching him how to get down safely - sit down, turn around, touch your toes, then your nose... oh wait, that's something else ;P

but for realsies, my neighbor friend encouraged me to teach him how rather than letting him get frustrated over being stuck up wherever he'd gotten himself to (i was hoping it would deter him, but obviously it hadn't), and just now, as he was up on the chair and i'm sitting next to him typing away, he went through the motions i'd been teaching him, and he got DOWN from the chair. way to go, milo!

currently he's babbling at the back door, my keys in hand, trying to reach the doorknob as he pushes the keys towards it. (what a smartypants!) i don't let him play with my keys often, but i figured he deserved some kind of reward for his newest trick. :)

watch out mount everest, he's coming for YOU!

milo's started exploring his climbing capabilities. i have not encouraged this one little bit. but i probably could have done more to prevent it, too.

he's figured out how to shift his weight to get his little torso fully on top of rubber-made totes (you know, those big blue plastic things you use when you're moving away to college), as well as the rocking chair. and while ben and i ate breakfast this morning, he somehow figured out how to get up onto one of our dining room chairs. i missed how he did it, all i know is that i looked over, and there he was, just sitting there, all proud of himself and checking out the new vantage point.

once he's up on whatever object he's most recently scaled, though, he freaks out, because he can't figure out how to get back down. i'm hoping this will be enough of a deterrent to get him to curb his climbing cravings.