The July 4 holiday was a long weekend, in more ways than one. We decided fairly last-minute to go camping, which left us with slim campsite pickings. We ended up at Stagecoach State Park, on a gorgeous reservoir near Steamboat Springs. While the setting was really lovely, the campground was not - it was basically a parking lot filled with RVs, with just a few feet of space between each campsite. That made Milo-wrangling incredibly challenging - he couldn't really go anywhere without ending up in someone else's campsite or the road. Plus, it rained. And rained, and rained. That meant a lot of long hours spent inside our tent, trying to keep Milo entertained with books, trucks, "yoga," and the portable DVD player.
Not surprisingly, Milo handled it all just fine, and had a great time, but his parents were completely exhausted. We did get some good pictures. Here's one of my favorites:
The harmonica was a huge hit!
Milo earned it by sleeping all night in his Big Boy Bed for four nights in a row! He seems to have finally mastered that skill, and he slept very well in his new sleeping bag, too.
When it wasn't raining, we went on short hikes around the lake.
Milo found his own little hiking trail in the campground. He went up and down this path about fifty times.
The complete set of photos from the weekend is here.
Milo and Steve shared one of the classic Father's Day activities this year: watching the U.S. Open together. Milo was inspired.
And so was Steve.
Steve's hopes aside, I don't expect golf to supplant the truck obsession any time soon.
Milo's just fine, thanks, although his parents are TIRED. About a month ago, right after "Milo ride airplane with Daddy" all the way to Wisconsin, to spend some quality time with Grandma Eileen and Grandpa Peter (where, as he continues to remind us, "Stela ate Milo graham crackers"), Milo stopped sleeping. And started climbing out of his crib, even in his sleep sack, which meant the end of the crib and the introduction of a whole new member of the household, the Big Boy Bed. This was by far the hardest transition of Milo's life to date, and involved tears, frustration, exhaustion, and despair on all our parts. But finally, after a week of steady improvement culminating in last night's almost perfect sleep-through, we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Milo's new sleep routine involves a much later and more drawn-out bedtime, eliminating most of the precious evening time I used to use for writing about him here. I'll try to catch you all up a little!
Back when he was still a crib-sleeper, we took Milo to touch some trucks, at an event clearly designed with him in mind. He and his buddy Geoffrey had a mind-blowing time getting up close and personal with a digger, a dump truck, a garbage truck, a horse trailer, a helicopter, a fire truck, and more.
I hope Touch-a-Truck comes back, because it was a pretty cool experience for all of us.
Milo has been such a patient, helpful kid through all the mess and frustration of our big kitchen remodel. He's tolerated all kinds of discomforts, such as having to eat breakfast on a stepstool "table."
Finally, however, we are almost done, and should be able to cook (and wash dishes!) by tomorrow night. This weekend, we spent a lot of time dealing with the little detail-y stuff. It wasn't much fun for MIlo to be stuck inside while we worked, but he made the most of it, and tried hard to help.
This was more helpful in spirit than in fact. He was doing a great job imitating his vacuuming-obsessed Grandma (whose help we really, really appreciated)!
How big is Milo? THIS big!
Once he got the hang of the tape measure, he was able to help Daddy install the drawer pulls.
Great work! Thanks, Milo.
Milo made my Mother's Day extra special this year by proclaiming "Happy Mother's Day," in almost perfect pronunciation, all day long. His grandmas were pretty tickled by the greeting, too.
We spent the morning shivering out at the Reservoir for the annual Title Nine Mother's Day 9+K race. It was cold and wet out - great for running, not so great for toddler spectating. Milo held up pretty well until the very end, when the cold got the best of him.
Before the race began, Milo got to try his very first Bouncy Structure. He loved it! Even our tall boy was no match for the tall, bouncy obstacles, but Daddy helped Milo over the high points, and protected him from the swarms of crazed 4-10 year olds as he crawled and rolled and climbed delightedly. It was chaos, but in a good way.
As most of you know, we're in the throes of remodeling our kitchen. This has turned our house into a truly terrible place for a roaming toddler, but Milo is taking it in stride and being incredibly cooperative and understanding. We haven't been able to let him help out much with the actual project, but he is learning some important tool-handling skills.
