Miles' Cabinet

Anyone need help organizing your kitchen? Miles is on it! He has claimed this cabinet in our kitchen. As we work busily in the kitchen, so does he - putting everything he can reach in this cabinet and closing the door after each item. He's getting better about shoving his arm in there, ducking his head, and then closing the door without losing the contents. Currently, it holds all Roxy's treats, paper plates, all the alphabet magnets from the fridge, bottle and sippy cup parts, sandbox toys, and the water bottles & tupperware that were in there to start. Dang, he's cute!

Miles' 1 Year Photos!

Curious

We are continuously amazed at how curious Miles is with all things mechanical. He is able to focus for long periods of time trying to put any 2 things together: clasps of his car set, high chair straps, the dog collar ends, nuk and snap-on cover, or any two things that he finds handy. He investigates the door knob watching both sides turn in his hands. While sitting at the piano, he is much more interested with how the music ledge hinges work than making loud sounds with the keys! When we were in Austria, my cousin's husband coined the term "engineer finger" because Miles thoroughly investigates anything new with his right index finger, poking and prodding. We're having so much fun watching his little mind grow and explore each day. I think he will constantly challenge us to keep his mind engaged!

Minnesota Children's Museum!

Today we took a break and headed to St. Paul for lunch at Cosetta's and our first visit to the Minnesota Children's Museum. Miles loved the Children's Museum and so did we! It was a great place to run around, learn, and explore, all within the comforts of AC since it's 90+ degrees outside today! Miles and Jason both went straight from the car to napping. More pics on the Picasa links to the right. You can be sure we'll be back there soon. We can't wait for our cousins to get bigger and visit us so that we can take them too!!

Traveling with a 1-year-old

We are back in the groove at home after returning from Austria on Sunday. The #1 question that people ask us is "how was Miles traveling, on the plane, switching schedules," etc. Overall, Miles (and we) did very well. I have to credit the very wise advice of so many friends, a theme in all of our parenting! We took a car seat on the plane and Miles never got out of it. (He didn't know he could.) He knows how to sleep and stay in a car seat and that worked to our advantage. We used the playgrounds in the airports to burn some energy and the family bathrooms to secure all of our stuff and take care of everyone's needs. Jason boarded each plane first to hook up the car seat and stow our gear. Miles and mommy boarded the plane last to take advantage of an extra 30-45 min of running laps around the gate area (and winning over other passengers in case he got crabby later!) We took lots and lots of food for Miles, old toys, and new toys that he'd never seen before. We also took his beloved blankie that Aunt Sara made for him so that when he got tired, he'd snuggle up with it!

In Austria, we toted lots of food and baby gear every day. Miles slept a lot in the car seat and the stroller thanks to my cousins who pushed him around a lot. We kept him to the same sleep schedule that we tried to keep, so he adjusted to the new schedule better than we did! To be honest, my Austrian family and their friends made it easy because everyone wanted to be with Miles and care for him. So, although it may have sounded crazy, we had a very successful cross-Atlantic trip with our one-year-old. The real bonus was watching him learn and grow every day!