Merry Christmas!

Merry (day after) Christmas! As per usual, our family's big day is Christmas Eve; my mom prepared a wonderful feast, and presents were opened after dinner. As long as I can remember, that has been our tradition. Good thing, too, because the power went out on Christmas Day from 11:45 AM until 8:15PM. Let me just say, "thank you Steve Jobs for the iPad" which was fully charged before the power went out.

Here's Miles, pre-outage, looting the stocking (Land of Nod, where else?). "Santa" had put in Cuties, raisins, and Annie's fruit treats, to which Miles's happily declared "snacks!" He also received a toy bus and other small things.

Sweet, sleepy boy

San Francisco!

Miles & I have just returned from a wonderful weekend in San Francisco. Before the trip, Miles's only request was to "see the Golden Gate Bridge" (and the Eiffel Tower). He got to see the Bridge up close, as Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Kathy squeezed in a boat ride under the Bridge, after taking the cable car to Fishermans Wharf. Happy kid! Happy grandparents! It was lovely to see Chuck & Kathy, and we celebrated by eating too much good food -- E & O Trading Company, Marnee Thai, JK & Sarah's, Yank Sing for dim sum. I ate too much, and am hitting the gym tomorrow and maybe the next ten days.

Here is Miles with his wonderful grandparents at the tree in Union Square (we stayed one block away at the Prescott Hotel).

Thanks for a GREAT weekend, Chuck & Kathy!

Santa Train

Second year in a row for a nostalgic train ride with Santa:

Almost Christmas

Last year at this time, we were looking forward to a Remmel family Christmas. Ethan's dad, sister Rachel and partner Linda, and their kids William and Benjamin were spending the holidays with us. And this year is well...kind of hard.

It's been a whirlwind December so far...WWU finals were this week; I'm in the midst of grading and prepping for next quarter's classes, and trying my best to not be a Scrooge. Miles wanted a tree this year, and I was not sure. But it *is* Christmas, and I'm determined to have at least a bit of holiday spirit, so we bought a 5' Noble fir this morning. I have to admit that it does look and smell nice! We don't have many ornaments -- a few from my days in Minnesota, a few hand-made ones from Miles's years at daycare, and a few from Ethan. I'll let Miles pick out a few at the local store this afternoon, and maybe the tree won't look so bedraggled. But you know what? It's beautiful no matter what.

Happy Holidays!

"Firetruck!"

Oh boy, Miles was a real piece of work last night. I need to tell myself that he's only four, but he was really pushing my buttons. At bedtime, he was full of vinegar:

M: "Mama, I love puppy more than you."
G: "Well, that's not very nice...we should work on kinder things to say."
M: "I wish you were on fire!!!"
G: "Hm, if you can't be nice, I'm just going to say 'good night' and leave." So I did.
M: SCREAMING, "no, no, Mama, come back!"
G: "Okay, let's try again with kinder words."
M: "FIRETRUCK!"
G: "I'm leaving for real. Good night, I love you."
More screaming, and softy that I am, I went in AGAIN...
M: "FIRETRUCK!"

Since a firetruck is one of his favorite things in the world, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Then he peed in his bed at 5:40 in the morning. Sigh.

Post-Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone,

Another month has passed...an uneventful month, which I suppose is a "good" thing. I'm bracing myself for the holidaze and all the related stress/sadness/joy/overeating that come with it. LOTS of socializing on our calendar recently and coming up, which I enjoy, and Miles seems to like as well. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with our dear friends the Bunns, and are looking forward to lots of other opportunities to hang out with friends and family.

Here's Miles wearing Huskie (Husky?) purple, on our way to dinner at Kristi & Mark's house to watch the Apple Cup. I rather like this photo because it looks like he's running onto the football field or something. (He *is* running away from getting his picture taken.) The Huskies won in an exciting game. Funny, I don't have an academic or professional affiliation with the UW, but root for them unless they are playing my Golden Bears.

I try not to have a negative tone in this blog; mostly it's an opportunity to update my faithful readers (all 3 of you!) on Miles and his milestones. Little, random stuff and the occasional picture are sometimes posted on Facebook, but when I get the chance I like to write with a bit more length on how Miles is doing. And I'm not sure what to say lately, but there are two things worth noting:
1. Miles is particularly tantrum-prone lately, and I don't know if that's an outgrowth of grieving, or if it's just a preschool phase. His temperament has never been particularly clingy; he's rather laid back actually, so it's frustrating to both of us when he's having a moment. I try to comfort him, but sometimes I'm wary that he just wants attention. How do I know the difference?
1a. He'll be seeing a "play therapist" in a few weeks. I'm not sure what to expect, but it can't hurt.
2. This past weekend was indicative of some of the issues I'm having. We basically were inseparable for five days. Not my choice...I had a few breaks here and there, but for the most part, Miles was within shouting distance of me for about 96 hours straight. I really needed a break, and got one this morning. Whew.

He's blissfully (for me) asleep as I write. I wish everyone a happy holiday season. I will update more often as I take more photos during the next few weeks.

Love,
~Grace

Love that smile

Miles's Preschool had a "pumpkin patch" today (I went to help out). All the kids got to pick out their own pumpkin, then consumed donuts and hot cider. He's happy here!

This morning, Miles was playing in the office as I was getting ready to get us out the door, when he said to me, "Mama, Daddy is living on a cloud right now." (I don't know where this came from, but it's kind of a nice image.) So I told him that "Daddy is watching us play and snuggle right now," and that made Miles smile and me kind of cry just a little. Miles is kind of having a rough time at pre-school...he currently attends all day Monday through Thursday, and I'm home with him on most Fridays. I had been considering putting him there all week, but I think I'll hold off for a few more months...

October Update

Wow, mid-October! Things are okay...I feel like Miles & I are in a rhythm of sorts, with my working full-time and Miles in Pre-K four days a week. The worst of the "terrible threes" are over, and though I wouldn't describe four as fantastic, it's pretty fair. :-) Miles is having occasional bouts of separation anxiety, but seems emotionally pretty stable these days (for being four). Grandma Kathy was here this week, and that gave both of them extra time to spend together; Kathy accompanied his class on a field trip to an apple orchard on Wednesday, and I think they both had fun.

I'm super happy about Miles's new bedroom set (the Walden Collection from Land of Nod). I absolutely love it; the bed and armoire are both very solidly designed and beautiful. We're still in need of a bookcase/shelving unit, and it will be located under the white shelves on the wall.

Vehicle decals...

Bedding also from Land of Nod

Miles calls this his "burrow" and he likes to nap here. Cozy! Good thing he's small...

Miles-isms

A few Miles-isms that he has been using lately:

"whentil" = until, as in "let's wait when-til we get home..."
Tonight we were playing a game with plastic magnifying glasses, which Miles calls "magnet-fying glasses"

At bedtime tonight when I told him he had to go to sleep: "But Mama, I want to be nocturnal so I can be awake at night."

Lots more, but this was all I could think of right now.

Photos!

If one were a neat-freak, Play-Doh would not be my friend (ha!). But Miles received a Play-Doh "Pizza Maker" for his birthday, which I HAPPILY got out:


His final creation!

More HOT weather = more days at the beach. He wears his life jacket and off he goes "swimming." Relief on the way.

Puzzles (and crazy-making)

With no help from me, Miles has been completing jigsaw puzzles (24 pieces):

Here he is, hard at work on another:

On another note, Miles has been driving me CRAZY lately. I know that I have written before that I don't know whether it's (a) grieving, or (b) being four. It's likely a combination of both. The 4 hours between school pick-up (4:30) and bedtime (8:30ish) are sometimes dreadful...lots of defiance, whining, and unpleasantness. And of course it coincides with the time that I have to prepare dinner, clean (wish I could give him that chore!), and bedtime routine...AAAAAHHHH! However, I would like to say that the vast majority of time, Miles is absolutely a joy...but it's these occasional times of defiance that I really, really miss having a partner. :-(

And then there's the other 90% of the time when Miles is snuggly and happy...today, he LEAPT into my arms at pick-up and said, "Mama, I'm sooooooo happy to see you!"

At least he's proportinately sized

Miles's 4-year well check numbers:
Weight = 35.5 pounds, which puts him in the 30th percentile.
Height = 39", which puts him in the 25th percentile. (He sprouted about an inch this summer!)
Cuteness = 99th percentile

The pediatrician didn't have any concerns at all. :-)

Happy Birthday!

My sweet, wonderful, smart, funny boy is FOUR today:

Miles the Waiter

Miles was taking my order for dinner...
G: "I'll have sesame noodles and salad."
M: "What about dessert?"
G: "What do you have?"
M: "I have marshmallows, pies, and strawberries!"

Hawaiian Chieftan

Miles and I went on a sunset sail last night aboard the Hawaiian Chieftan, one of the tall ships that tours the Puget Sound during the summer. The crew was decked out in pirate costumes, so Miles calls it the "pirate ship."

Summer, finally!

I know that most of the country is sweltering, but it's the opposite in the Pacific Northwest, where it has been downright...spring-like. In fact, Bellingham hasn't reached 80 degrees yet!
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/07/23/2112576/if-seattle-has-had-78-minutes.html

But...today was a gorgeous day, low 70s and sunny, hooray! Miles & I spent time at the park, the Farmers Market, then helped Grandma Kathy plant poppies (from Ethan's service). It will be lovely to have the poppies in the space leading up to the door.

Sadly, Kathy left to return to Maine tonight. Miles & I dropped her off at the shuttle bus; many tears were shed. But, we look forward to seeing her again next month!!!!

(A picture from earlier this year.)

First theater movie

Miles & I had a movie date with EB (Elizabeth) and her parents, my friends Chris and Susan: "Winnie the Pooh" with cel animation. Too many previews, and lots of popcorn, as evidenced below, but both kiddos sat through the movie with minimal interuption. (And I enjoyed it too.)

(Thanks Chris for being so patient with Miles.)

Riding training wheels!

Full set of photos here: http://gracesadventures.shutterfly.com/310

Some random things

Is there any doubt that Miles is my kid?


Miles has been getting a lot more screen time than usual lately. Here he is watching The Letter Factory, which he loves. (He's also drinking a juice box, a rare treat.) BUT, sometimes I just need a few moments to myself -- checking e-mail, blogging (!), doing laundry, napping -- and the screen is a reliable babysitter. Sigh.

I'm back in the classroom on Tuesday, midway through the six-week summer session. Colleagues were kind enough to sub for me in my absence, but I'm looking forward to getting into some sort of routine.

BGFB

Something cheerful...here's Miles with "Big Giant Fluff Bear" that I got for him at Costco. As you can see, the bear is enormous, the tag says 53" which is 15" taller than Miles.

So, how is Miles? Hard to say...he cried when I told him that Ethan died. He has been asking "why do some people get sick and die?" which is a hard question to answer, even for grown-ups! And Miles says that he "misses Daddy" but it's hard to get a sense of what exactly he's feeling. I've done a ton of reading of how to help children grieve, and the most important messages are: (1) allow your child to be sad/mad/neutral/happy; (2) use age-appropriate language, and definitely don't say "Daddy's sleeping" and such; (3) allow for some regression in behavior. With that said, Miles has wet his pants four days in a row, thought he has been fully potty-trained since September, with very few accidents. But if that's the worst of it, I can live with it.

On a more fun note, I brought Miles to a local "All-Comer's" Track Meet sponsored by Bellingham Parks yesterday. In his first race ever, Miles placed third in the 50m hurdles! That kid can fly! It was so fun to watch, and Miles was SO proud of himself. I'll try to post video next time, but it's super entertaining. In case you're wondering, the hurdles are about 3" off the ground. Miles also competed in the "long jump" and jumped 3'7" (taller than him!). Yay Miles!

~Grace

Madison: Children's Museum & Ella's

This morning, I went to a session at the conference, then met Claudia and the kiddos at the Madison Children's Museum. In the afternoon, we met Seth's Grandpa Dave at Ella's for ice cream (and a carousel ride):

Thanks Grandpa Dave for a nice treat on a sweltering day.

Here's Miles climbing the rock wall:

Madison!

Miles and I are in Madison, WI. I am presenting a paper at my big interdisciplinary conference: the International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM, "Izz-rim"). We flew into MSP, and stayed with Claudia for a day; and today we -- Claudia, Abby (her 5 y.o. daughter), Miles, and I -- drove to Madison. We met up with old friends and colleagues, and I present my paper at 8:00AM tomorrow!

A full set of photos can be found at: http://gracesadventures.shutterfly.com/221 but here's a sneak preview:

Grace as kid

I found this picture of me in a jewelry box I have (I don't wear much jewelry, so it's storage for knick-knacks). I think it's a school photo, either kindergarten or first grade.

Sunny!

It's sunny and warmish (high 60s) in Bellingham. Miles fell asleep on Ethan's easy chair on the deck:

Burrito

Miles wanted me to wrap him up as a burrito (with Elmo). Doesn't it make you want to gobble him up?

God is a boy

Miles: Mama, is God a boy or a girl?
Grace: Well, some people think He's a boy, some people think She's a girl, and some people don't believe in God. What do you think?
Miles: God is a boy...
Grace: Why?
Miles: Because I'm a boy!

So there you have it.

Sol Duc

Great weekend (mostly, see below) at Olympic National Forest here in Washington State. We -- Ethan, Kathy, Miles, Seth, and I -- went to Sol Duc Hot Springs for soaking, hiking, and relaxing. Miles is a great hiker! We hiked 1.6 miles round trip from the trailhead to the Sol Duc Falls...in the snow! We had beautiful weather, and the soaking pools were perfect...nice and HOT!
"Sol Duc" means sparkling water in the native Quileute language...Miles had fun throwing rocks and sticks into the river. I splurged for a massage (!) and read chick-lit. On the way home, Miles kept saying that he had a tummy ache, and I didn't take it too seriously until he threw up all over Seth. Poor kiddos! Seth was super nice about it, and Miles was okay, too.

More photos at http://gracesadventures.shutterfly.com/193

Hungry kid

Watching cookies bake...


Mad about something...


"Mama, I'm hungry..." resulted in a post-bedtime snack of tapioca pudding:


(Miles is sitting on a cooler because we -- Ethan, Kathy, Miles, Seth, and I-- are headed to the Sol Duc Hot Springs in Olympic National Park tomorrow.)

Egg hunting at the Zoo!

Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo had an egg hunt this morning. Utter chaos! The North Meadow of the zoo was strewn with hundreds (thousands?) of plastic eggs, and every half hour, staff opened the gates. I had Miles go to the older kids' -- ages 6-8 -- part of the field because the line up for the 3-5 group was too long. The eggs were empty (so the zoo wouldn't be littered with wrappers and also for the animals' health), and upon leaving the zoo, kids could trade in their eggs for candy. Miles did okay, but was very particular about his eggs...only orange made it into the bucket! Happy Easter!

Miles and his pet lion

Seth graciously brought Miles a marionette from Denver, which was received with much happiness. Here is Miles walking it:

Thanks Seth!

Auntie Lorraine comes to visit

My very good friend Lorraine came to visit us in Bellingham for the day. She is in Seattle for a conference, and took the train up. After a morning and lunch of catching up on old times and reminiscing about State College, we went to pick up Miles. They got along famously, and Lorraine bought him a cupcake (way to his heart is through his tummy) and then we dropped her off at the train station tonight.

We walked along the waterfront on the way back to our house, and Miles ventured up these stairs by himself, looking for bears (and found none).

Cloudy Sunday

The Bunns hosted the B'ham kids' crowd (Miles, Nora 1, Laoise, Nora 2, Eric, Callum, and Xavier) and their parents to a delicious brunch this morning. Highlight for Miles was John R. swinging him, Micah, Nora 1, and Laoise on the hammock (that's Crispin, Andy, and Rebecca without heads):

I'm the Dough Monster

Miles was making pizza with Eric, Ethan's best friend...Eric gave him the idea to eat dough. Miles is having a rough time lately; lots of crying (especially at bedtime) and needing extra snuggles.

Cheesy 80s music

Here's Miles listening to my iPad:

It's mostly cheesy 80s music (Erasure, Bonnie Tyler, Blondie), but when Miles heard REM's At my Most Beautiful he said "no more!!"

First full day of spring!

The boys and Grandma played in the backyard tonight after dinner; Miles frolicked in the daffodils and Kathy and Seth played baseball:

http://gracesadventures.shutterfly.com/

Welcome, Spring...

Singing the No Song

Miles loves his new Playmobil crane!

Mama, what's a "wife"?

Miles and I were singing "Farmer in the Dell" the other night, when he asked me, "Mama, what's a wife?" ("The farmer takes a wife...") Hm, how to answer?

Grace: A wife is a woman who's married to someone. Grandma Kathy is Grandpa Chuck's wife, Ah-Ma is Ah-Gong's wife, and I'm sort of Daddy's wife...
Miles: But *I* want a wife!
Grace: Well, maybe you'll have one when you're older.
Miles: But I want one now!
Grace: You'll have to wait 'til you're a grown-up.
Miles: The robot is my wife!!! (Referring to toy robot on windowsill.)