Milo, Milo, and more Milo

Six minute abs.

Milo has pretty well mastered the roll and is working hard on stabilizing his sitting. Towards that goal, he spends a lot of time doing "baby crunches" and looking pleased with himself, as you can see here.

This clip also demonstrates Milo's stupendous kicking abilities. He has already kicked through the heels of at least one pair of shoes, and has kicked a hole clear through the padding on the changing table. Hopefully, he won't wear his heels down to the bone before he's old enough to start playing soccer.

This one is for Aunt Laura.

Although Milo's weirdo mother is not much of a chocolate lover, he inherited chocoholic genes from both sides of the family. It seems the trait is already manifesting itself in him:

Chag sameach Purim!

Milo had a GREAT week with his Grandma Eileen and Grandpa Peter, who visited us from Wisconsin. They had not seen Milo since Christmas, and he dazzled them with all his new skills (and his every-day cuteness, too). For much of the week, Milo was Very Busy, and could not take time away from learning, seeing, and playing for anything so boring as napping. Where once a long walk or a ride in the car was a surefire soporific, now Milo has Things! To! See! And! Do! Sleeping is off the agenda.

Grandma E. and Grandpa P. managed to keep up with our busy little guy, and the three of them had lots of fun together. But by the time the weekend rolled around, we were all pretty tired.

Milo also attended his very first Purim Carnival on Sunday. He dressed up in his baseball-player costume (a/k/a the only remotely "costumey" thing in his current wardrobe) and watched the megillah-reading/play with reasonably rapt attention. As you can see, he is standing up on Mommy's legs, practicing one of his cool new tricks, known as "I Will NOT Bend At The Waist And You Can't Make Me."

Milo saw lots of his friends at the carnival, including the lovely Sophia, whose hands (and noise-maker) he immediately reached out to grab.These two cuties are less than two weeks apart in age. Their mommies are already planning the wedding (or at least the prom date).

Splish splash!

Milo is really starting to love his bath time! Here he is, doing his best to get the entire bathroom soaked clean.

Nordic baby!

Milo lived up to his Wisconsin heritage yesterday, taking to his first cross-country ski expedition like a fish to water. We bundled him up in lots of layers, although it was a relatively warm and sunny day. Here he is, ready for the workout. He even has his own Gatorade!

Milo rode happily on Daddy's back in the Beco carrier, gazing about happily for the first 20 minutes or so, then sleeping contentedly for another hour.

When he woke again, just before we returned to the lodge, he was STILL content. What's not to like, when you get to go fast like this:

Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy were proud and thrilled, and we can't wait to take him again. Milo discovered the joy of XC skiing just in time for Grandma Eileen and Grandpa Peter to come visit - hooray!

Raspberry Tart.

Milo likes to tell us stories, although we can't understand them yet. I think this one has something to do with motorboats. It's all in the delivery.

Updated to report that on Wednesday, Milo finally rolled over (and over, and over, and over!). Both directions, repeatedly! Grandma S-J and Grandpa Bill were the lucky witnesses of most of this milestone activity, but Milo treated Mommy to a show, too. Daddy has yet to see it happen and is still skeptical. We hope to have video proof soon, but Mommy was too excited to hold the camera steady.

Sharing Daddy's obsession?

During our leisurely breakfast on Saturday morning, Milo began paging through a bike-gear catalog. Just as his father does, he found it irresistible.

Dozing.

When Milo blew out his diaper during his morning feeding yesterday, I didn't have time to get him dressed after I cleaned up the poopsplotion. Instead, I tucked him into bed with his Daddy, who was sneaking in a few more winks. When I got out of the shower, this is what I found:

Halfway to cake!

Milo turned six months old this past week. He now weighs just over 17 pounds and is 28.75 inches long, give or take. Those numbers correspond to the 97th percentile for height and the 50th for weight, which means that Milo is staying on his Long & Lean growth curve. His half-year doctor's visit went very well, and he barely even squawked when he got his shots this time (and Mommy forgot to give him Tylenol either before or after the injections - what a trouper!).

 

Milo spends a lot of time babbling these days, saying "mmmm" and "gagagagaga" and blowing extremely wet and vocal raspberries. Today, he was intoning "ommmmmm" like an experienced Yogini, and we thought we heard him exclaim "Caramba!" in the car the other day. We really should get some video of these early language efforts before they evolve, but for now, here's a still shot of Milo expressing himself.

Our adventures in eating continue, with much success. Milo says "yum!" to sweet potatoes, peas, applesauce, and pears, and "double yum" to yogurt with pears mixed in.

He really enjoys chewing on spears of mango, but still hasn't quite gotten the hang of the mesh feeder. He gnaws on the handle and squeezes the food out into his hands - not quite the intended use. 

Uncle Matt is visiting this weekend, and Milo is completely enthralled by him. We didn't get a good picture of Milo gazing at Matt with adoration, but we did snap one that shows what a wonderful influence Matt is on our future gaming nerd:

We've had gorgeous weather here for the past week or so, and Milo is loving all the new activities the warmth and sunshine permit. We've started taking him to the playground, and he'evaluating whether he's too cool for baby swings.

Today, it was nearly 70 degrees out, and Milo and Mommy went downtown to play with Daphne and Erica. Milo had a great time rock-climbing, although he didn't believe it when we told him that his Uncle Gideon used to climb on the very same rocks, lo these many years ago. He wore his new sunhat from Grandma Eileen and Grandpa Peter, grabbed his first handful of grass and dirt, and lay in the sun giggling during an en plein air diaper change. It's supposed to snow tomorrow, so we tried to soak up as much pre-Spring sunshine as we could today!

Lounging.

As active as he is, Milo has lately discovered the pleasure of kicking back and relaxing. His new favorite thing to do is to lounge, with his legs out and his ankles casually crossed:

When he's not chillin', Milo has been having lots of play dates and adventures, hanging out with big kids, like Daphne and Julian, and little kids, like Leo and Gabriel. He's been going to the pool and the park, and is much more aware of all these new people and places he encounters.

We've continued our adventures in solids, back-tracking a bit to actual baby food. While we'd hoped to start Milo off with "real" food as soon as possible, he has demonstrated a surprising unwillingness to pick up pieces of banana, sweet potato, or avocado with his own hands. Non-food items are quickly grasped and gobbled, but food? Meh. Happily, he'll accept a spoonful of Earth's Best puree, both plain or mixed with some oatmeal. He also loves his sippy cup of water, though he's better at banging it against his high chair than drinking from its spout.

We have also had moderate success with the mesh feeder, a fun plastic feeding gizmo. Milo loves to chew on plastic, and seems pleasantly surprised when this familiar action produces unfamiliar tastes - particularly avocado. Given that Mommy pretty much lived on avocado sandwiches and burritos with guacamole while Milo was in utero, his enjoyment of this delicious food comes as no surprise.

(Note that Milo is wearing  his "Crusher" shirt! This was an eagle-eyed shopping find by our friends Jay and Angy, and, along with the avocado-love, a sweet reminder of Milo's inside-baby days).