Three Years Old

Miles is THREE YEARS OLD!

This little boy is a firecracker. He's exuberant, determined, steadfast, interested, smart, sweet, happy, giggly, observant and has crazy mad motor skills.

Yes. That's him under our bed, hiding from Carson so Carson didn't take his toy. haha!

He loves playing "YAR", fire trucks, tractors, mud trucks, riding bikes, fishing, ice pops, frogs, lizards and ALL the bugs.

"Mama! Wach da sneiwl"

His interests are building as he's gotten older and he's wanting to try everything by himself before asking for help. With a little guidance, and a mission at hand, he's has a high rate of figuring things out.

He loves the water and would spend all day outside if he could.

Miles is such a sweet big brother and makes sure Carson is feeling included. He loves to play with him - especially if that includes pushing or pulling him around with toys.

He hums or sings when he's eating something he likes.

Still a little hard to understand speech-wise, but we're making great progress. Highlights recently? Alexa started listening to him AND we've got a K sound!! Big deals around here. He's even started signing again with Carson :)

Loves rolling around with blankets and pillows. "Seep Mama. Seep" A big pillow pile is a favorite in this house.

Dance parties on the daily with Jojo's "big song" (still figuring out which one it is...)

He's a great friend and seems to play with everyone pretty equally. He's a "floater" during gatherings and likes to see what everyone is up to. He's happy playing alone or in a crowd. He's still learning to be a little more gentle, and both Stephen and I are realizing just how different "boy play" is as compared to "girl play."

This was a big deal. Finley has been in the cross fire of some of Miles' more rough and tough moments so she's been more timid around him. But, to see them laying and playing together was so awesome.

 This is Miles. Miles in a nutshell @ 3. We love you buddy!!

Happy Birthday Nini & Halle!

Today was the day! The big SEVEN. Seriously? How are they so big?!

I helped Becky setup the night before with a super cute Panda & Bunny theme to surprise the girls - they loved it! This day was going to be full of surprises since COVID threw a wrench in their Frozen 2 party.

First up? We finally got to see Gramma and Grandpa after many months of practicing social distancing! My dad is done working and they had a chance to self isolate in order to join our bubble. The kids AND grandparents were SO excited. Hugs all around!

Another surprise? A blow up water slide! I knew this was coming but was pumped to see how Miles would react. Since the Ranch House, we were just itching to get him back in the water.

It didn't take long for Miles to see that huge blue slide in the backyard. Timing worked out perfectly, thank goodness, that Carson was due for his nap. So, I put him down, got Miles ready and out we went!

That afternoon some of our friends who are in our same pod came down to celebrate. It was hot. Like really hot. So the allure of the water slide was too much for some adults to handle :P

I was taking photos and up with this little dude. Ice? A kid's paradise.

LOTS of water slide (I don't think Miles ever got off to be honest), a custom magic show from Mr. Mike (nice job Mike!), gifts, cake and pizza! Couldn't ask for anything more!

Ranch House

Becky and Todd rented a ranch house with a pool a couple weeks ago and invited us to come play for the day. It was refreshing - both the water and getting out of the house!

Miles hadn't been swimming all summer and we were excited to get him in the water! Both of us were curious to see how he'd do.

This kid. He may have been a little nervous at first, but it took him no time at all to figure everything out. He was in and out, jumping jumping jumping. It was so fun to see him actually making strides in the water and using his body to get him places! We did swimming lessons last year, but I wasn't sure if any of that stuck with him. Maybe it did? Or maybe he's just so gross motor motivated that he figured it out. Regardless, he was having a blast.

Lia escaping for some alone time

It didn't take long for that to be interrupted haha

Carson also enjoyed the water but wasn't as interested in staying in for long periods of time

After the pool, the kids came in to watch a show. Miles was going going going out there and we knew he was pooped.

It didn't take long for him to pass out....

We let Miles rest a little - with no accident I might add! - before we packed up and headed home. It was a super fun day and we heard nothing but "Mama! Nini, Halle, Yaya BIIIIIG POOOO!" for multiple days following that. Thanks for the Gates for having us!

Let's Compare

As the boys have gotten bigger, it's becoming more and more clear:  Miles is way more Dada than he is me. However, Carson? More me. Sometimes it's freaky.

My mom sent me this photo - far left is me as a baby

Short Stop Barber Shop

So, because of COVID, I decided taking Miles to the hair "salon" (if that's even what you call it for kids.... lol) wasn't on the top of my priority list. However, his hair was looking a bit rough. It took a couple weeks and about 10 times watching a how-to video before I was semi-confident enough to give it a shot on my own. It's not like we're going anywhere where he needs to look presentable. But, I waited until after our family photos just in case it ended terribly.  I was just thinking, "how hard could this be, right?" Hm... we'll see.

So, I went to Amazon and found some fancy scissors because let's face it, my craft scissor just weren't going to cut it - literally. So, here we go!

Getting prepped - a cape wasn't something I thought to buy....

Only place we could keep him still. "Mama, Charchee chair!"

The final product! I have to say, I was quite surprised. It's not that bad!!