Milestones: Month Three

Last Tuesday began the third month in our life with Miles! We cannot believe that we have only known this little chap for going on ten weeks. I'm staggered when I imagine us a few years down the road with a toddler, a preschooler, a kindergardener... and sometimes I am overwhelmed, but most of the time, I can't wait. It will be such a joy to watch his personality emerge. So far, we've made the following observations:

1. Miles has a gorgeous smile and a good attitude. When fed and rested, he is an affable, affectionate, curious and attentive little fellow.

2. Miles has inherited his mother's disinclination to nap, or really to sleep, at all. Not that he doesn't do these things (I wouldn't be writing this right now if I hadn't finally started to get more sleep :-) ). He just is rather disinclined to lose consciousness, a propensity which worsens the more tired he is. Many people have witnessed Miles' valiant struggle against the downward pull of his eyelids. Watching this makes me realize my own pathology... I'd insert some profound insight here, but I'm really too tired :-)

Fortunately, Miles' cousin Abigail has recently come to the rescue and taught Miles how to nap: on his side. He is MUCH more willing to fall asleep in this position. Hallelujah! (Abby has also slyly taught Miles the art of spit-up, but we won't dwell on this).

Miles had his last week appointment. New data: 11 lbs, 4 oz, and 24 inches tall. He is now dead average in head size and weight and in the 75th percentile for height... I must say, not what I expected to come from my short, big-headed stock. He also had his second round of shots (ouch) and spent 24 hours with a mild case of what seemed like everything (double ouch). He recovered speedily, however.

Jon has all but recovered from a nasty cold which hit him hard last weekend. He is now enjoying good health and a fairly good start to the school year. Here he is enjoying some evening quality time with Miles (the Moby Dick readings continue, by the way) while grading at the same time. We are learning the true meaning of multitasking...

I... I am doing rather better for many reasons. One, I have made a new friend, another teacher taking a leave of absence to care for her newborn (just a month younger than Miles!). She and I have had one daytime coffee and stroller-walking date in which we talked ceaselessly. She is a Godsend, who came, from God, by way of Prague. I love learning about the various cultural and social differences between Czech Republic and the U.S. I was bored at home all day, but I was also lonesome, and it's good to start to befriend other homebodies.

I won't call myself a stay at home mom, because as of tomorrow, I am not. I Work tomorrow, home-teaching for a 13-year-old who's had surgery in his feet. We begin with Algebra and Social Studies tomorrow. Miles will be babysat for five-six hour sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays by his grandmother. Once we get used to it, I think we'll all be very, very pleased with the arrangement. It will be REALLY good even to take a little break, even if it is just to do a different kind of work. I think I'll be a better parent for it.

And really, I work hard (and clean up a lot of poo and spitup and cat poo and cat vomit and pee and drool and hairballs and so on), but this little guy has the advantage of being unable to talk back and and being way, way cuter than my students were. Check him out:

The little Captain Shrimp has also endeared himself lately by sleeping more and better at night. It's over a week now that he's slept in his crib without problems, and twice in the past week he's slept the night only waking up ONCE. BIG improvement, little buddy. Bravo!