Zoo Keeper's Log- Mommy Fail

Miles playing cars in the village

Well, this week ended on kind of a rough note. Ellis fell off the bed yesterday, head first onto the tile. Perhaps my worst mom fail yet. Thankfully the beds are really just box spring and mattress on the floor, so the fall was short, but something I could have lived without experiencing. Most frustrating because it was something I’ve been so overly cautious about since arriving here. Such is life. I guess I should mention she is fine. Well, as far as we can tell. She’s also been working on cutting a few more teeth and has been an angry little beast for the past few days… so not like her. We can still get her to give us her adorable smile, but the poor girl is hurting. Early life is rough.

How this is comfortable I will never know.

Miles, on the other hand, is back to his super awesome self. His vocab is beyond good these days and his imagination is taking off. He has started to tell stories that are quite complex. He refers to himself as “Mr. Miles”, the way I always refer to him when I tell him bedtime stories (and Ellis is Miss Ellis)… this is often the only tip off I have that he has started telling me a fictional story. They usually consist of a jumble of stories I’ve told him, shows he’s watched and the most random things pulled out of no where. He really is a funny kid.

My two favorite “Milesisms” of the week both happened today… I was asking him if he wanted to wear his Lightening McQueen shorts or gray shorts to bed. Two phrases he’s picked up from me are “tough choice” or “hard choice”. Tonight he said “Tough hard”, stopped and looked a little puzzled like he didn’t like the way it sounded then changed it to “tough and hard choice”. Wow kid, you are growing up too fast! But the best Milesism by far was this conversation:

Miles trying to give the peace sign
(Rach and Kylie, note the shirt...
yes, Ryan has a matching one)

Me: Miles, is a Stegasaurus an herbivore, omnivore or carnivore?

Miles: Omnivore! (I have no idea if he is right, but he seemed pretty certain so I’ll take his word on it)

Me: Are you an herbivore, omnivore or carnivore?

Miles: Ummm… carnivore!

Me: Well you do eat meat… do you eat plants too? Remember, herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat meat and omnivores eat both.

Miles: I eat vegetables. I like vegetables!

Me: You do eat vegetables… you also eat hotdog which is meat (kind of?). So, what does that make you?

Miles: Happy!

 Well, I guess I can’t argue with him there.

We’ve also been using the pool a lot more lately. I finally found out Miles was scared of the pool after our first swim session (day 1). I think its because there is no where he can touch the bottom. So, I finally told him that if he didn’t get in the pool people would come take it away. He believed me, so in he went. He loved it! Rather than worrying about him floating on his own with his float I just held him the entire time and he really had fun. He’s been getting in frequently since then…

You can tell I wasn’t home for this picture because I am crazy anal about not having the kids in the sun too much (I’m assuming he has on sunscreen… ask anyone, I am the sunscreen Nazi). But he was having a good time in the pool so that is good enough for me. Unfortunately, Kelsey (our nanny) had him try to float again today on his own (the same mistake I made during day 1) and now he is afraid again. Don’t worry, we’ll get back in before the men come take the pool away.

Play time before bed!

Ellis loves the pool still. She loves splashing and ‘swimming’. Today Ryan and I had her in and she was face planting on purpose! I’ve never seen a baby willingly stick their whole face in the water and keep pulling away for me to do it. She’d look shocked every time, but I think because Ryan and I were laughing she thought it would be a good idea to keep it up. I’m guessing she was taking notes when I was trying to show Miles how to blow bubbles and that’s what she was attempting… or she was thirsty. Either way, it was hilarious.

I believe that is all for this week. We are heading to a water park tomorrow so hopefully everyone has a good time. The kids are doing awesome with the heat… if it bothers them I can’t tell. So adaptable these little ones!

And Happy 1st Birthday to my totally awesome and handsome little nephew, Carter!!!