{this moment (with special thanks to Darah)} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

I love these guys.

Thanks to Carrie and Brendan for having a wedding in such a gorgeous spot.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

Copying Darah, who was inspired by another.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

Miles first relayed this composition to Beanie, but he’s been singing it frequently for days now.  He originally came up with it while pounding on the piano with a rubber ball in each hand.

M: Mary had two little balls
Little balls
Little balls.

Mary had two little balls…

And she pooped.

For those who haven’t seen them elsewhere (each video is about 1:30)…

Miles has fun with various California-based relatives, notably Cousin Lisa (puppet show auteur):

Adventures in San Francisco, including a mildly offensive hat for Miles and a whap in the face for Mubby:

Our trip to Monterey:

Denny and Aprille and lots of whales:

Sorry, sorry—there will be a Monthly Miles Memo soon, we’ve just been traveling for what seems like eight years. As soon as things quiet down and we’re back home I’ll be all over that.

I’m sorry to say I must interrupt my usual goofiness with a sadder story.

A high school classmate of mine, Emily, is married to Pedro.  They have a super-adorable little boy, Logan.  Pedro came to this country when he was eight years old.   Excepting a couple of minor issues in his teen years, he has been a productive, contributing member of our society.  Through a series of technicalities, errors, and judicial ridiculousness, Pedro has been held in custody since September 2009, deemed an illegal immigrant and denied opportunities to communicate his situation.

Worst of all, he has been separated from his little boy.

You can read the whole story on the website Emily has set up:  http://www.logansdad.com

Father’s Day is coming up.  There are a lot of crappy dads in the world.  Don’t we owe it to our kids to let the good dads be in their lives?

Around the end of February, we got a new treadmill, and a guy from the store came to our house to set it up.  Last night, we were hanging out downstairs, and Miles got to thinking about it.

—

M (looking at treadmill):  Guy come help.

A:  Yeah, a guy came and helped us with our treadmill, didn’t he?

M:  Guy name called Kyle.

A:  (puzzled look)  That does sound right, actually.

—

I asked Denny about it later, and yes, the guy’s name was in fact Kyle.  I don’t think we’d mentioned that since February when he was out our house.

Miles was standing on his little chair by the window.

M:  Good afternoon.

A:  That was really good, sweetie!  You said that very well.

M:  (looking outside and noticing that it was dark out) Good after-night.

—

I do appreciate that kid’s attention to accuracy.

Last night we had panini for dinner, and Denny cleaned up and left the panini maker out to dry.  It’s the hinged kind, like this:

Miles got out to the kitchen this morning and saw it on the counter.

—

M:  Uh-oh, computer.

—

I guess it does look kind of like a computer, and a crappy uh-oh computer at that.  Maybe a Gateway?

A couple of nights ago,  I was putting Miles to bed, which happens in our guest room—he generally falls asleep there and then I move him to his big-boy bed.   We were relaxing pleasantly when all of a sudden he pulled the pillow out from under my head.

M:  Yoink!

Scene.

This happened last weekend on a drive back home through rural Iowa.

–

A:  [as a deer ran out and crossed the highway in front of our car---never fear, it was light out and we had plenty of time to stop]  Careful, Denny.

M:  More horse!

A:  That’s not a horse, sweetie.  That’s a deer.

M:  More John Deere!

–

I think we need to expose this kid to more fauna.

Dear Miles,

I’m writing this early, because we’re going to be busy on Wednesday, which is your actual 27-month birthday.  What will we be doing?  We’re going to visit your probable preschool.  Preschool, good lord.  I hope it goes okay.  You’ve been having a really difficult time with strangers lately.  I talked to your dad on the phone this morning, and he said you freaked out when a guy came to the house to disconnect our wood-burning stove.  We spent yesterday at a family event, and you had numerous negative reactions to relatives, some of whom you normally like just fine.  I hope it’s just a phase.  We’ve got plenty of time before you actually go to preschool—it won’t be before January, and maybe not even until the fall—but that could be a serious issue if you’re not over it by then.

But there’s plenty of good stuff going on with you too.  You just had your first really active Easter experience.  Last year we skipped it since you were too young to eat candy or appreciate the fun of an egg hunt.  This year, though, you really took off.  We colored eggs the previous week, which you liked doing okay.  Hunting for the plastic eggs with M&Ms inside was way better.   You did a pretty good job finding them, though you’re still distractable.  The Easter Bunny hid one on your toy elephant, which was sitting on the hearth next to the globe.  I suggested that you go look by the globe for it, and you quickly found and identified China and Brazil, but you missed the egg.  That’s okay.  You figured it out eventually, and you had lots of fun shaking the eggs like maracas and opening and closing them.

Your favorite game these days is a variation on peek-a-boo or hide-and-seek.  Sometimes you hide in your closet, sometimes in your bed with all your stuffed animals piled on top of you, and sometimes you just behind your hands.  The cue is always the same.  You say, “Oh, Miiiiiles” in a singsong voice, which your playmate is supposed to say during the process of hunting for you.  Your playmate then has to look various places, and sometimes you even make suggestions about where the person ought to look.  Recently, as I searched for you, a little voice from the closet said, “high chair.”  You tricked me, though.  You weren’t in your high chair at all.

The nice spring weather has gotten you hooked once again on the playground and other outdoor activities.  We go to the playground just about every day, and you’re now confident at scrambling around the play structure and going down the slides, even the big twirly slide, all by yourself.  After you accomplish that task, you proudly say, “No help!”

The warm weather has also increased your interest in nudity.  Over the course of one warm day, you went from insisting on wearing your fleece footie pajamas (”pengies”) to preferring nude legs at night.  It can be tough to get clothes on you, and sometimes you stay in a semi-nude state until the day’s activities legally require you to wear clothes.  All the same, sometimes you get upset if those around you aren’t sufficiently dressed.  I woke you up one morning wearing a tank top, and you got grumpy with me and said “Too nude!  Too nude!” until I put on a sweater.

You love singing songs now, especially ones that have fill-in-the-blank aspects.  You sing, “Old MacDoggal had farm.  E I E I OOOOOOO!” and delight in furnishing the animal names and noises.  You do your own spin on “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” by adding other stops, such as tummy and diaper.  You like to have me replace the word Elmo with various things in Elmo’s theme song, and a recent favorite involves me singing, “La la la la, la la la la, Mommy-Daddy-Miles-Nana-Papa-Mubby-Skittergramps song.”  You don’t want to leave anyone out, and sometimes the lists get even longer.

We spent time with Nana as well as Mubby and Skittergramps this month.  You and Mubby made cookies, and you had your usual favorite morning time with Skittergramps.  You’re getting good at knowing what each person’s favorite beverage is, and Skittergramps is looking forward to you ordering an IPA for him when we go to California this summer.  I’m not sure you fully comprehend California, but you like to say it, and we look at it on the globe.  You’re going to have a great time, especially with the easy access to Uncle Larry’s swimming pool.

You’re finally getting a little more hair, too.  I swore I would never inflict hair gel on a child, but I don’t know what else could tame those fluffy-yet-tenacious cowlicks.  That’s okay.   I think they’re cute, just like the rest of you.

Love,

Mommy

First, first, there is NOTHING hinty you should gather from this post. I am not pregnant, nor do I plan to be for a while. Miles has just been really interested in other kids lately, so we’ve been talking about families and kids of different ages.

–

A: Miles, if Daddy and I have another baby, should it be a boy or a girl?

M: Girl.

A: So would you like a sister or a brother?

M: Sister.

A: What should your sister’s name be?

M: Dah Bay-da.

A: [pause] … Darth Vader?

M: Yeah.

–

I told Denny about that conversation, and he asked where Miles had ever heard of Darth Vader. I told him about how last week or so, he kept putting this shiny black box on his head, and Skittergramps called him Darth Vader. So there we go.

Hey, if anybody still reads this blog besides my parents, who already know about it, come see me this weekend in All in the Timing.

It’s a collection of short plays by David Ives, most of them very funny and all of them very well-written.  It got a good review, and in particular the short play I’m in, “The Universal Language” was well-received by critic and non-critic alike.

See the ICCT website for details.