what a smile!

prepping for the future

shirtless and hoarding the remote...i guess guys learn this young.

teething fun!

so i have never been the best at knowing when my kids have been getting teeth. with ethan, he'd get a pretty bad diaper rash (but he got those all the time, so it was hard to tell for sure) and nothing else. then suddenly teeth were there. and half the time someone else noticed them and said something to me.

with miles, his first 4 teeth came in at once, though the top came in before the bottom. he did get a TERRIBLE rash too, like his big brother and was a little cranky, but other than that, nothing else really. well, he has been a drool monster over the past few weeks and has been sleeping terribly (up usually 2 times between midnight and 5) and i thought it was becase he was about to walk. turns out he was getting his next tooth...how would i have known to look in the back though?? he isn't getting another front tooth, like what is normal. his crazy teeth are all out of order and he is getting one of his upper molars in. who would have guessed? but yes, it does explain the recent moodiness and sleeplessness. i only saw his tooth when he was screaming his head off during a diaper change last night. fun times! :) i will say that now that it has popped through, his sleep has returned to normal and i am very happy!

i should keep track on this handy little chart, but i printed one off for ethan a million years ago and i think it is still blank in my desk at work. good intentions! i'll keep track here. so far he has the #1 teeth on both the top and the bottom and now is getting the #4 tooth on his upper left side.

this is how we roll...

thanks to a gift certificate from mee-maw and gramps for miles' birthday, the boys have their very own little tykes car. they love it, but i think i should have bought 2. let's just say it is a VERY good lesson in sharing.

mr. miles at 13 months

miles at 13 months:

what a little cutie! he is definitely a handful though. he wants everything he doesn't have (who doesn't?) and he definitely makes it known when he doesn't get it. loud screeching seems to be the most used method, with full-on, throw down face forward (or flinging back) tantrums as runner-up. i know ethan would screech when he didn't get what he wanted, but the flinging backwards is definitely new to me and scary! the kid is pretty powerful. he makes up for it with the huge grin. and his snuggles. while he doesn't stay still long, he will come over and just lay his head on you for the shortest moment and it is so sweet. he does it pretty often if you're sitting on the floor with him, so you can easily get in lots of snuggles. and if he is tired he loves to cuddle into your shoulder. so you *almost* forget about the knock-down tantrum of about 30 seconds ago. he has lots of rapid mood swings.

sleeping: not that great these days, but definitely could be worse, so i'll try not to complain too much. he has been having problems adjusting to milk (first in formula and now in whole milk) and let's just say it is causing him tummy issues and some night waking. we're trying some different things and hopefully we'll have something that works soon! he is also so very close to walking and i think that is causing some of the wakings. he goes down between 7:30 and 8 depending on how tired he seems and wakes sometime between 7 and 8, with 1-2 wakings in between.

routine: i don't think we have one! other than nap from about noon-2:30 (and sometimes 3) and then play, play, play and go, go, go.

milestones: getting so, so close to walking. he has taken a few steps here and there...most in a row so far - 2. so definitely see this happening soon! chatting more. no words yet other than momma and dada, but he has started making different sounds and using other letters than before.

some of his favorites:

food: fruity cheerios, most any cereal and carb you can give him. thankfully a fan of the fiberone poptarts. his first taste of burger king chicken nuggets last week was a HUGE hit. he ate 2 - almost as many as ethan did.

fruit: he now loves watermelon, canteloupe, pears (but must be fresh cut ones, not from the can). still likes bananas though he rarely gets them due to his tummy issues. mandarin oranges were a big no, as were raspberries.

veggies: eh, he isn't a veggie fan at all. he doesn't eat any purees anymore so one way to get them is out. he will eat peas, but that is about all he likes lately.

drink: having issues with the transition to whole milk - they started with the transition to formula though i didn't know for about a month. i am switching to lactose-free milk, but only a few days into that transition so a little too early to tell if it is working yet. he does drink water well from a sippy cup, i think that is in part because he wants all the sippy cups that ethan has, so he figured them out pretty well. we still do milk in a bottle though.

toy: things he can push. he mostly uses them while kind of crawling behind, but he will sometimes pull up and try to walk behind things. we just got our first shopping cart and he likes to play with that quite a bit. a fan of the trains. he has been pretty interested in books. he likes when you read to him and he enjoy flipping through books too.

activity: just being mobile. he loves to crawl around and is pretty fast. climbing stairs. he gets very upset (throws the tantrums described above) each morning when i close the gate to the stairs after we get ethan. he likes to walk holding your hands, but then decides it is faster to just crawl where he needs to go. just starting to figure out how to navigate short level changes, not a full step, but changes like the sidewalk to the yard and the little ledge in the garage.

learning: waves regularly, but is now pretty good at doing it when you say "bye-bye" he also knows when we go out to wave in the mornings that as soon as he hears lance's truck start up the hand starts going. he is also pointing things out. very cute!

*and yes, the chair he is sitting in has ethan's name on it. poor second child doesn't have his own anywhere chair yet :) maybe this christmas.

just being ethan

he has turned into a little ham for the camera these days. definitely a fun change. he will even pose and often asks for me to take his picture. he doesn't have to ask twice!

brothers

sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero
-marc brown