** In order to keep things manageable, this page now contains all the blogs from Miles third year of life. All new bi-weekly updates will still be kept here. **

Bring on the Terrible Two's! - 12/10/10
Busy busy busy.... Miles got a haircut for Thanksgiving and his big birthday. We need a bigger house due to all the presents, but sure was fun watching him open them and play with them all, non-stop. He's been playing doctor and checking our ears for potatoes, looking at everything with a magnifying glass, riding (walking) around on his bike, watching Toy Story every night, and riding around in his new ATV. Too much fun! Thanks so much everyone!!!! After Jean put together the ATV, Miles stood back and said "Mommy made Miles a carrrrrr!" At his 2yr doctors appointment he weighed in at 25.5lbs (22nd percentile), has rocketed up in height to 35.2" (80th percentile), and his heads remains giant (77th percentile). Spitting out food and milk apparently is entertaining to him these days. We had a ton of fun at the chilly Parade of Lights and Miles was singing Frosty the Snowman while we put up the X-mas tree. He threw the X-mas balls around the house, but helped by stuffing ornaments in the same spot on the tree. Hysterical!

Beach Bum - 12/24/10
Not much to report except our super awesome vacation to Hawaii! Tons of fun.... Miles had a blast playing in the waves, digging holes in the sand, and seeing whales. He was very upset when we did not see them from a view-point at first, and cried saying "whales, WAKE UPPPPPPP!". He also did a face plant on the beach and looked like a raccoon when he got up with a face-full of sand and big white eyes. A quick splash in the ocean cleaned him up. He did great on the plane both ways while watching movies, taking walks, coloring, and playing with stickers. *whew*

Santa! - 1/7/11
Our third X-mas and this one was as exciting as ever! We've been telling Miles about Santa for months now, and even convinced him that I had a meeting with Santa one night in the office. Since he was a good boy all year, Santa brought him lots of toys.... we had to clean out a bunch of old toys to make room for the new ones. We played at our house for a couple hours then headed to Baba and Pop-pop's for the day. Over New Years w/end, a cold front and snow had us playing in the front yard, sledding, and even went to Breckenridge for Miles first time on skis! It was fun, but challenging... hah a ha. He loved it, and my back still hurts from carrying him up and down the slope. Miles has also started in the two's classroom at school. It takes some adjusting, but he's getting into the swing of things and doing much better with sharing... no more 'm-m-m-m-m-m-m-MINE!', and no more biting incidents. *whew*.

Monthly cold - 1/20/11
Miles has been getting a big laugh out of telling us whether we have a "big bottom" or a "little bottom". He's been taking showers since we got him a dolphin shower-head that shoots water out of its mouth. Water has been a big hit lately as he can't get enough of playing in the bathtub and/or sinks. While at Lowe's last weekend we killed some time by shouting "echo!" into every washer and dryer. And, he's got his monthly cold... a nasty one with lots of snot, coughing, and sneezing. Instead of tissues, he prefers to wipe his nose on our pants and shirts. I guess they're softer?! Baba made Miles some "pocket blankies" so he can carry one around school with him. And Miles now has his first pet..... some fish and a couple frogs... he named them all "blue". Not too many new pictures, so some more from X-mas.

Snow fun! - 2/4/11
After getting beat up by that nasty cold and leaking gallons of snot, Miles (actually, Jean and I) were ready for a w/end in Keystone to play in the snow. We towed Miles on his sled while XC skiing.... that lasted about 20mins, then we did some sledding, then Miles decided he wanted Jean to carry him back to the car. It's exhausting getting him in all his layers and layers of warm clothes! He got to sleep in a big-boy bed, (aka, bottom of the bunk bed) at our hotel so we draped a blanket over the side like a tent. Miles only rolled out of the bed twice, but didn't seem to the mind since it was a soft landing onto the futon on the floor. The gondola ride was a big hit, and Miles thought that people on the ski lift were riding flying chairs. At the top there was a giant "kids castle" made of snow/ice with a slide in the middle. Miles charged up the hill over and over to go down the slide until he was tired. On the way home we checked out the snow sculpture contest in Breckenridge, of course his favorite part was watching a front-end loaded dump snow into a dump truck. A cold week at home so not too much venturing out besides school, Baba's house, and his 2nd hair cut.

Sharing with cousin Tess! - 2/18/11
We had another great w/end playing in the snow up at Breckenridge when we rented a giant house with a bunch of friends. Tons of snow and Miles got to ski and sled up/down the street, and get stuck in snow up to his waist. Though his favorite thing seemed to be walking on the top of the pool table and putting the balls in the pockets. Aunt Lori, Uncle Cody, and cousin Tess were in town for a week too! They were house hunting while Miles attempted to share with Tess. His sharing consisted of wanting whatever Tess was near and saying "no no no" and "mine" constantly. He took a swing at her when she crawled across "blue debbie" and head-butted her under the table once. A few time-outs were needed, but for the most part he did great and loved the visitors. We're all so excited to have them living in the same town soon! By the end of the week he was saying "thank you for sharing my mommy". After a little bit of an adjustment to his new room at school, Miles now loves going to school! He even grabs his coat and shoes on school morning, though he's favorite still is going to Baba's house on Wednesday. Its been a long time since any new teeth have popped through (up to 12 now) but we think one is coming since he often says "owww, mine new tooth hurt."

Big Boy Bed! - 3/4/11
Miles was starting to out-grow his crib so we converted it to a full-sized bed. He LOVES it, and as all good boys do.... first thing he did was jump up and down on it! He can get out on his own, but doesn't.... lucky for us he doesn't show up in our room in the middle of the night (yet). Other fun things have been hopping like a bunny and going to the dentist. We've been practicing "dentist" at home and he did great! Jean taught him our names (so much for getting him a tattoo with our names and address) and he's been quite a polite young man, saying "please", "thank you", "your welcome", and "excuse me". Lately he also understands when and how to say "yes" and "no". He's been potty training at his own pace and its always a big celebration after a successful trip to the froggy potty chair. He's also been back to the zoo and visited some horses. Miles came back from the zoo with a big bag of plastic animals, that night he washed their feet in a bowl of water then drank out of the bowl like Denali and laughed as water splashed everywhere.

Testing the limits - 3/18/11
Miles has discovered the deliciousness of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies! He calls them "daddy cookies" and I had to hide them from him so he doesn't eat them all. To get a little more rest in the morning, when Miles wakes up early now I give him a flashlight and a couple books. That keeps him occupied for another hour. Lately he has named all of his cars after his teachers and friends at school. Testing the limits to see what he can or cannot get has been a game lately. It's easy to give in, but we've been good about sticking to the rules.... so far. And the funniest part of the week... he has locked Jean in the backyard twice! After she has gone outside to put something on the grill he flips the lock on the patio door, then Jean tries to convince him to flip the lock the other way. HA! Racing cars down the driveway has been another recent favorite activity. Oh yeah, and teeth #13 and #14 have popped through!

Faster and faster - 4/1/11
Miles no longer just hops along at one speed, he's seemed to have acquired a hyper-speed that really gets him going fast. He still loves running around naked after using his froggy-potty! We've made a couple trips to the zoo lately and Miles knows where all the animals are and which ones he wants to see. He figured out how to open the gate at the playground at school and made a break-for-it one day. With cousin Tess in town now, Miles has been a good older cousin and loves to drop toys from their second floor then run down and get them, and repeat. One morning Miles came up to me with his blue debbie wrapped around him and said "look daddy, I'm Mommy. Time to make dinner!" Drawing and painting are still favorite past-times and Miles is recognizing more and more words. He brought his Toy Story bike helmet over to me and said "that spells toy, 'y' 'o' 'n'". Backwards and one wrong letter... but close! With all the windy days lately, Jean got Miles a kite also and some new bubble toys, and we've been spending as much time outside as possible. The big-boy bed is still a popular item and Miles will spend time in his room just jumping up and down on it or reading books.

Tricycles and bunnies and castles, oh my! - 4/15/11
Miles had so much fun on David and Sarah's tricycles that we had to get him one of his own. A giant castle is in our backyard now also, lots of good times on/in/around it already. His monthly cold surfaced with lots of coughing and boogers. And instead of biting, Miles has discovered hitting.... it only happens occasionally but nobody is off limits, including myself, his teacher, and friends at school. At the zoo Miles got to pet a dragon (aka, lizard) and talked about it for days. We also visited a bunny show where Miles took a likin' to a big white bunny and kept going back to him to stick his fingers through the cage to pet him. Lots of fun to be had in Denali's water bowl also, whether standing in it or pretending to fish in it. Favorite movie of the month: Fireman Sam. Favorite toy of the month: anything that Tess is holding. Favorite hat of the month: new Lightning McQueen hat.

Estes, Easter, Cincy - 4/29/11
We spent a long w/end up in Estes Park with the Hendler's and got to meet 7 month old Molly Frances. Miles loved playing with her toys and wanted to get into her door-jam swing. He really took to a little buddy named Hannah and loved playing tag with her in the cabin and sharing wasn't even an issue. We walked in the snow up at Bear Lake and played around near the alluvial fan. Next was Easter.... we dyed eggs, and the Easter Bunny was nice enough to visit and brought Miles a giraffe shirt, puzzles, some new cars, and plenty of "money's" (aka, coins) that he found during an Easter egg hunt at our house and Baba's house. He even wore bunny ears and his very own Peter-cotton-tail! He's been a great little Flyers fan wearing a jersey down to his ankles and cheering when necessary. New favorite game is "atomic knee" with Uncle Stinger. Then we were off to Cincinnati for a visit. He thinks that Gramma Haas's red Miata is Lightning McQueen and spent alot of time just sitting in there and pretending to drive. Grampa Haas taught Miles how to properly jump in puddles and took him to get a haircut to pass along the family tradition. Other fun times were spent playing near the flooded river, going to the zoo, and seeing the baby animals at the zoo.

Happy Camper - 5/27/11
A few more busy weeks, after Cincinnati we had surprise visitors (gramma and grandpa from Cincinnati) for Lori's 40th birthday, so we hung out for the day up at Lori, Cody, and Tess'. Miles spent most of the time in the sandbox and picking up grass to watch it fly away in the wind. He helped me plant our garden by removing the dinosaurs and carrying the plants by the tops, and raking/shoveling. A good little farmer. We spent a long w/end in Goblin Valley Utah, camping and hiking. Miles was covered in sand head to toe and loved climbing in and out of our tents and watching movies. He was so excited every morning to wake up in the tent and we practiced the "age old art of peeing outside". On the drive there he practiced gargling (soaking wet) and petting Denali, since it was a cramped ride. At home his favorite new toys are the floor puzzles that the Easter Bunny brought for him, he's getting quite good at putting them together himself. Each day he runs a bit faster and loves to give "full speed hugs". Story time at the library with Baba has been another favorite lately too. Bed time has been interesting lately, as Miles has been crawling out of bed and coming downstairs or standing at the top of the stairs no less then 2-6 times each night as we try to put him to bed. More potty training, and we've been bribing him to go with Lightning McQueen pull-ups.

More camping - 6/10/11
For the long Memorial Day w/end we went camping up at South Meadows campground, just north of Woodland Park. We got the car all packed up on Friday, picked up Miles from school, and headed right up for 3 nights of fun. We made campfires, built a dam, hiked up Mt Deception, pee'd outside, buried his toys in the dirt, had smores, and skipped between the trees. Lots of fun stuff! We've been teaching him how to "shake his butt", its hysterical because he shakes his whole body starting with his butt. With the nice weather we have been taking nightly walks down the bike path to run through the tunnel and yell "stay away spiders!" He got a booboo on his knee from running inside at school, he really milked it good by limping and having us carry him out of bed in the morning. Lightning McQueen band-aids have helped. Jean was out of town for a couple days so Miles and I got to eat pizza and tater tots for dinner while watching TV. I told him I had a surprise and gave him tater tots, after he finished them he said "daddy, I want more surprise!" And he has been going to story time and cooking with Baba.... cupcakes and pies for Poppop. YUM!

Fun in the water - 6/24/11
We went to the opening of the Uncle Wilber fountain and Kids Fun Fest at Acacia Park. Miles got to paint a turtle (blue, of course) and got to meet Curious George and Clifford the Big Red Dog. He didn't get in the water too much, and Pop pop got just as wet. The next day we went to the zoo where Miles got to ride the pony again (his new favorite thing) and he wanted to see the elephants and hippo's pink tummy's. He also got to help make the turtle's lunch. We got him a swimming vest and Jean took him to the pool. He liked the vest so much that he wore it all day, coincidentally, I squirted him with the hose out front. Miles was a big help planting grass seed in the backyard, and he still tries to find a way around the fence in the garden that I put up to keep him out! He still comes into our room in the middle of the night, he starts to walk fast at our door to get to Jean's side of the bed. I try to intercept him since he won't go back to sleep if he gets to Jean. Otherwise he comes into our room and crawls into bed with us around 5-5:30 most mornings, then wiggles around till we get up. We played on the playground and in the fountain at America the Beautiful park where Miles kept saying "daddy, get in here and get your piggy toes wet!" On Fathers Day we went to The North Pole with Lori, Cody, and Tess. Those rickety old rides are dangerous, but the kids had a blast. Miles enjoyed being a cowboy at the Range Riders Parade with Baba's. And the last bit of fun... I told Miles that Uncle Matt is an astronaut and took a rocket ship to the moon. The next morning Miles ran outside, pointed to the moon and said "look look, there's the moon! Hi Uncle Matt!" while he was waving.

Camping and vacation - 7/8/11
We had a great time camping with the Eichmann's and Miles enjoyed having a couple of his little buddies along instead of just hangin' with Mom and Dad. Plenty of fun running around camp, playing in the creek, building a camp fire, digging, making tee-shirts, bubbles, and getting dirty. Sarah led Miles and David running between trees and hitting the leaves with sticks. Miles is really settling into "being two" and has quite his own agenda at times. He'll disagree with whatever we say, so we just have to trick him by saying the opposite of what he wants. No temper tantrums since he's able to use his words so well and tell us what he wants/thinks. He's got quite the imagination too and loves to count on his fingers. He has taken an interest in spelling too. We spent the rest of the week on vacation up in Glacier National Park! Miles was a great traveler despite spending tons of time in the car. Potty training is going okay, and we found creative ways to go potty while on vacation (aka. standing on the toilet seats).

Official Phillies Fan - 8/5/11
Miles helped us xeroscape the front yard by picking up rocks with his dump trucks and climbing the rock pile. He has found out that he can reach things one foot higher by carrying his stool around the house too! He is getting much better at riding his bike and followed Tess around on a tricycle while they stopped to call each other on phones. That was followed by a tug of war with Elmo, funny how Miles doesn't care about certain toys until Tess is playing with them! Another trip to the zoo and making lunch for the turtle again. He has been great at helping me eat ice cream cake too, good thing he likes vanilla because I like chocolate! And most important of all.... his first Phillies game! He was interested for about 3 minutes then spent the rest of the time playing with the seats and stepping on peanuts under the chairs. He had so much fun that he slept from 3pm till the following morning! Potty training is going great, as long as we remind him to pee, and many days he'll be dry all day.

Singing and drums - 8/19/11
Its been another busy couple of weeks.... Miles learned some sign language at the library and he no longer uses his cork! We warmed him up to the idea for a couple weeks, then had him paint a box and mail it to the "cork fairy" for other little baby boys and girls to use. Remarkably, it went quite well and now we give him a matchbox car to hold in his hand when he goes to sleep. *whew* His Uncle Tommy was in town for one night, but it was a day that Miles didn't take a nap and he fell asleep at 5:30pm, so he didn't get to see him but Tom poked him and took some pictures while he was sleeping. Miles has discovered how much fun it is to make hand shadows on the wall with a flashlight as we read a couple books in his bed at night with the lights out. He went to his first bbq contest in Dillon and spent most of the time in the blow-up bouncy house. We know when he gets out of bed now because he closes his own door (not quietly) as he leaves his room. And his new favorite thing... banging on pots and pans while singing the "ABC Song" and "Twinkle twinkle little star".

Full of energy - 9/2/11
You'd think that Miles was eating sugar for every meal with all the energy he has! He's been skipping naps and hopping around like a kangaroo for entire days at a time. When he isn't doing that, he's jumping off of his Lightning McQueen chair and purposely landing on the side of the couch. One day I said "no" to him for something and he responded back with "don't say no to me daddy or I give you a time out!" I was laughing so hard I couldn't discipline him. Baba took him to Miramount Castle and he insisted that they whisper so they don't wake up the dragon guarding the princess... just like in Shrek. Miles has been a big help with making dinner lately and helping to set the table. At school he's been telling alot of stories and its funny to hear what he tells the teachers when they ask us if its true or not. Counting to twenty is a new favorite past-time, though he usually skips 12, 15, and 18. And he's showing alot of interest in spelling words and pointing out the letters in words, "what dat spell daddy?". We camped for a couple nights up at NedFest, fortunately we were right next to a playground and Miles loved playing with the other kids and running circles around the festival grounds but always made his way back to our blanket.

Manitou Arcade - 9/16/11
Miles has been perfecting the art of jumping off of things, like from his toy box to the couch and from his train onto a pile of pillows. Booboo's will result, I'm sure. We have discovered the fun of going to the Manitou Arcade with a pocket full of quarters. Tons of rides and fun stuff there to fill up a couple hours. One nice day, Miles and I hiked up May's Peak, down in Cheyenne Canon. He hiked the entire way himself except for the steep/loose part at the end. We had fun on the top drawing in the dirt and watching (squishing) ladybugs. Miles then helped Poppop put together a fireplace with his construction helmet on and he made us a lovely piece of art with Baba that is now hanging in our kitchen. His frog was getting lonely in the fish tank all by himself, so we went to the pet store and got him a couple friends.... two guppies and two snails. While Jean and I went out backpacking for the night, Miles had a sleepover with cousin Tess. They had tons of fun wearing themselves out with just a couple time-outs needed.

No clothes fit - 9/30/11
Miles must be going through another growth spurt because he has grown out of most of his clothes again. Any long sleeve shirts and pants from the Spring certainly don't fit anymore. Its been awhile, but he had another cold. Thankfully nothing like the months of sinus infection like before. We spent a w/end up in Estes Park, but no bears to watch this year and he was quite un-agreeable and practicing his selective hearing. He has been counting up to 20 easily and continues to jump off of everything. Playing in the backyard has been a recent favorite, and A Bugs Life is his recent favorite movie. Miles still claims that a bear is trying to nibble his fingers as he comes into our room several times a night too. Potty training continues, yet at Miles good ole pace of his own.

Busy month and vacation - 10/28/11
Miles got his yearly flu shot and we took a drive out to Cripple Creek to see the aspens, afterwards he took a record-breaking 4hr nap. We visited Wishing Star Farm again, this time with Lori, Cody, and Tess. The kids had a great time in the barn, running around the pumpkin patch, and riding the train. Miles is going to be SpiderMan for Halloween... he kept the costume on for four days! Two of his buddies across the street have SpiderMan costume too, so they were running around all dressed up. At their birthday party, they all wore raccoon costume, and Miles insisted in going to bed with his raccoon mask and tail on, then putting them on again first thing in the morning. Wearing underwear has been going good, but one day he stood in the kitchen looking at Jean and I, got a big smile on his face, then pee'd on the floor! Right afterwards, he was splashing in the tub saying "dammit dammit dammit" then laughing hysterically. Along with that, in the grocery store one day he was yelling "get out of mine way duuuuuddddeee", that was right before looking at maxipads and saying "daddy, who wears those diapers?" After days of telling me that I wasn't his friend, one day he gave me a big hug and said "Daddy, you're my best friend and I love you." On vacation to Philly and a road trip, he loved playing with his Uncle Matt. He woke up Kermit the Parakeet, pretended to drive his Mustang, and went for a tractor ride. While getting off the plane he stood on his seat and said "Hi, my name is Miles and these are my friends, Mom and Dad." After making his own Hershey Bar he went to his first Penn State football game and loved cheering for everything and swinging around a pom-pom. Miles also played the piano in the house we rented and ran all around the campus in the leaves and sat on the Nittany Lion. He loved hiking and collecting acorns in Shenandoah National Park, then playing with cute lil' Molly Hendler in Richmond, VA. On the way back to Uncle Matt's he had fun throwing things from the backseat to the front (shoes, socks, lunchbox, etc). Uncle Matt found a huge castle playground to take him to, and a museum full of planes and helicopters. Back in the airport he pretended to fly all around and we rode the escalator up/down for hours. It snowed after we got back so we piled all his (too small this year) snow gear on and watched the snow fall. He was so happy to see Denali that he kept hugging his and saying "I love you Denali."

Spiderman Miles - 11/11/11
Miles really understands Halloween this year and was all about scoring some candy with his buddies across the street. He was Spiderman and is planning on wearing his costume until it falls off. He's learning about rough-housing too, its fun and we keep reminding him to only rough-house with Dad and Uncles.  We had a boys w/end while his Mom and Aunt Lori were out of town at a wedding, so we got to eat dinner while watching movies, went for bike rides through the tunnel, and played with Baby Tess and Uncle Cody during the Air Force/Army game. Miles and Tess tried on all of Tess' shoes and they tickled each other in a pile of babies. Potty training is going good (bribery with candy works), he's finally interested and told me the other day, "Daddy! I dropped a giant deuce in the toilet!" Though we still have the occasional wet pants or major clean-up up until the past weekend. Denali has taken a liking to sleeping in a corner or Miles room between his bed and wall.

Fully potty-trained! - 11/25/11
Whew, no more diapers/pull-ups! After pooping Miles describes to us what it looks like, funny! He got to make lunch for the lizards at the zoo again and he helped me with some plumbing recently. Sarah and David came over for dinner and Uncle Stinger spent a couple hours hiding in various closets and rooms then scaring the crap out of them when they found him. We also spent hours pretending to ice skate around the kitchen and dining room. Last weekend we went to see Happy Feet 2 at the movie theater, he loved it! We set up Uncle Matt with Skype (on the moon) and Miles got to talk to him over the computer. Fun times, until Miles threw a pillow at the computer and knocked it over and the battery fell out. D'oh! Gramma and Grampa Haas are here for a couple weeks and Miles is entertaining them non-stop. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner up at Baby-Tess' and those two played and ran around until they fell over exhausted.