1.5

My baby is 1 and a half! As I started to think about this, I remembered that I had written this about Colsen a couple years ago. As I re-read about that little boy, I was struck by how similar these guys are -- and by how much I love this age!

Like his big brother, Milo has very strong opinions (he's decided he refuses to wear flip-flops anymore -- maybe they're too casual?), and we see many face-down pathetic crying displays when we don't go along with what he suggests. (Give him water when he wants juice, and it takes 2 rooms for him to express how very wrong this is.) For a few weeks recently he was getting extremely upset if we tried to leave him in the church nursery. Then last week he went happily in, and when I came to pick him up, he threw himself on the floor crying because he wanted to stay. These strong opinions are moving targets.

Also like his big brother, he is very bold physically. He is always climbing up on things way too high for my comfort. He loves big slides, big pushes on swings, etc.

And, like Cole, he never wants to be left out if there's a chore to be done. Or cooking, or a craft project, or a game, or really anything. He is Mr. Me-Too, or Me-Four, I guess. He's a lot of "help" around the house.... I look forward to the day when his destructive energy is transformed into constructive energy.

Unlike Colsen, though, Miles has more than the 2 speeds of fast-forward and sleep. He also has a HUG mode, which I loooooove. Many times a day he runs at Pete or me, and just wants to rest on our shoulder for a long while, sucking his thumb. I definitely enjoy this cuddly baby. And we're thankful that he can intersperse mellow moments in the midst of the rest of his general loudness.

And loud he often is. He has a few words: mama, dada, baby, all-done, bye, hot, hello (only when he's on the phone), and something like "of course" that sounds rather close to "all-done," which sometimes makes things confusing. But the rest of the time, he uses sounds to communicate -- and, as my sister-in-law pointed out, he sounds an awful lot like Curious George! "Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh!" The key to translation is all in observing the inflection.

I have more pictures I wanted to post, but our regular computer is now broken (where the pictures are), so this will have to suffice. Here he is after playing in our costume box. (We think this is how he would look if he had Drescher genes instead of Frank genes. :) ) Our funny, intense, adventurous Milo-Q -- we love you!