Peebee! Peebee!

The fancy easter chick blog design was selected just for Miles (although I hope you enjoy it, too). Miles isn't exactly a blog reader, but he is a super fan of chicks these days. We have egg and chick gel clings sticking to most windows in our house, and every day we walk around and count the clings...then we go around and count them again...and again...and maybe just one more time... It's Miles' favorite way to spend the evenings.

Anyway, we decided we'd better teach him about eggs and chicks - not so much a lesson about eggs coming from chicks, but rather that eggs are eggs and chicks say "peep peep!" (The exclamation point is important. These are happy chicks!).

Miles quickly caught on and now he'll point to a chick and say "peebee! peebee!" very gently and in a high pitched voice. Suddenly egg and chick counting isn't so bad anymore :) He sure saves himself with cute stuff.

The weekend was busy and fun. Miles had a slumber party at Grandma Jill and Grandpappy's house on Saturday night. I don't know all the details, but I think Miles did a better job of painting the town (so to speak) than Tanner and I did with our friends that night... Just kidding. He was sound asleep by 7:30pm - a late night for him!

Speaking of painting, that's exactly what we did on Sunday afternoon. It was too windy to spend much time outside so we hunkered down with some water colors. Miles seemed to enjoy letting off some creative steam.

When it came time to put the brushes away, though, he reminded us that even 16 month olds can have spaz attacks. He was so so so so so sooooooo mad at us for not letting him run around with a paint brush.... What's so dangerous about that? Sharp ends, you say? Blah. Self-performed tracheotomy? Naaah. Poked eyeball? Don't be ridiculous.

After he collapsed and banged his head on the floor (intentionally) several times, he calmed down. Sigh. His temper only gets better from here, right?! I thought so.

p.s. Miles is transitioning over to the toddler room at daycare this week. He spent two hours with his new friends today and seemed to enjoy things. I just wish I could've been a fly on the wall - it's hard not knowing what he's up to every moment of the day. I'd give anything to spend a little time in his world! His new teacher is a Gustie grad, so obviously he'll be in good hands :)

Snip snip snip

Miles received his first hair cut on Wednesday, March 4th. In a matter of 8 minutes, he went from little boy to Mature Young Man. We miss the wild curls on the back of his head but admit that this cleaner look fits him pretty well. It seems as though he inherited my black-person-hair-mixed-on-a-white-person's-head kind of hair...thick sections of coarse, wiry hair that consume the thinner, finer strands of hair. Unfortunately that means Miles' hair will probably grow back frizzy instead of curly. Yes, laugh all you want Elisabeth and Charlie. I know you're having flashbacks to my awesome hair styles as a kid. Just promise me you won't pick on Miles as he learns to cope with unruly hair.

Anyway, we had a very nice lady down the street cut his hair. Don't worry, we didn't choose her because she happened to be outside that afternoon as we walked by. We put a lot of thought into this whole process (I really wanted to cut Miles' hair myself, but that didn't fly with Tanner) and brought Miles to the gal who cuts my hair. Her name is Sarah, but we call her "Styles" (not to her face, of course...it wouldn't be as funny) because her business is called Styles by Sarah.

Sarah has a cute little hair cutting shop attached to the back of her garage. Perfect place to bring a young new customer who might show some anxiety about getting a trimming. We packed up some toys and treats and headed on down the road. After exploring the hair shop, Miles decided it would be okay to sit on my lap and let Styles come at him with a pair of sharp scissors. He did incredibly well! His favorite part was at the end when Styles trimmed up his hair line with an electric buzzer thingamajig....sounds like someone's going to be a buzz cut kind of guy in a matter of years. Oh no!

Here's the final product (and Styles):

Styles was very sweet to our little man. We'll definitely be back for another visit before Miles grows another mullet!

The mall, a birthday, some grandpas, and an impending haircut

There's just no down time around here!

This past weekend we traveled to San Pedro to celebrate Uncle Will's 20th birthday. Before the party began, Miles had a party with a bunch of wild-n-crazy kids (none of whom he knew) at the little indoor play area in the Mankato mall.

(look how hard his tongue is working...)

THEN it was time to eat dinner and, more importantly, The Cake.

This whole college thing is doing something weird to Uncle Will... He waited patiently until after dinner and The Cake to open his presents. No begging to open just one present. No whining. No trying to sneak a peek. It was all very strange.

Here he is opening his fire-proof safe (hence the Fire Safe name) with an ice scraper. Will is planning to buy a car some time in the near future, so naturally we all got him important car accessories (except for the Fire Safe safe, which I suppose could be put in the car but I don't think Dave & Doreen bought it for that purpose). Anne was really hoping a car would be tucked inside the box, so she kept her eyes closed in anticipation...

After all of the eating and gift opening, Miles decided to relive his baby days in the arms of Grandpa Dave.

In need of some more grandpa time, we visited Great Grandpa Charlie in Spring Valley. Grandpa Larry came along for the ride (Grandma Jill, too, but she successfully avoided the camera). It was a fun day! Miles was a very good boy for GGC and showed him all of the tricks 15-month-old boys can possibly do...including sitting on the stairs with no pants while reading a book. Hey, it's not as easy as it looks!

Then it was time to relive the baby days again, but this time with Grandpa Larry.

This photo has nothing to do with any of the activities previously mentioned, but I thought it was a pretty dang good family self portrait. Miles sat still, Tanner told me where to aim, and I clicked the button. Voila!

Oh yes - the haircut teaser in the title? Check back later this week.