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Milo and Calder just returned from Cannon Beach, Oregon, where they had a blast playing with their cousins (Daddy's cousins and their children). The reason for our first family trip out West was a family reunion (Daddy's mother's family) in honor of Milo's and Calder's great-grandmother Gigi's 85th birthday. It didn't take long for Milo to feel at home with his cousins, running around, giving everyone big squeezy hugs, and laughing like a hyena. Some highlights from the trip are: Milo asking where the "off switch" was on his cousin Simon; Simon and Milo building a bonfire on the beach together; Milo eating his first toasted marshmallow from the bonfire, courtesy of cousin Brian; Lucia and Calder interacting; playing in the giant holes dug, and climbing the sand hills constructed, by Oom-Poppa, Daddy, and Daddy's cousins; Calder deciding that sand really is delicious; Calder napping on the beach with Gram; Milo flying a kite on the beach with Oom-Poppa; and Daddy reliving his youth, skim-boarding on the sand bar. Cannon Beach itself is absolutely beautiful, one of the loveliest, pristine beaches we've ever seen. We loved the views of "Haystack Rock" and the sunset into the Pacific Ocean. If only it didn't take a full day of travel to get there from South Carolina! Click here for the rest of our photos from the beach or here for cousin Stacy's.
Lately "What's in it?" has superceded "Why?" as Milo's most often used phrase. Examples include: "What's in pasta?"; "What's in sugar?"; "What's in chicken?"; "What's in yogurt?"; and "What's in your shirt?". After many such questions at dinner the other night, Daddy asked Milo "What's in Milo?" and Milo quickly replied, "Shelton." Contrary to what we once thought around last Halloween, "Shelton" is not an invisible friend that Milo conjured up. It's just "skeleton" a little garbled.
Milo awakes from his nap, during which I had primed a couple of walls in the playroom. "What are you doing?" I ask, as I see him wandering around the room, wide-eyed. His reply: "Looking at the mess you made."
We are trying to get used to our new city and once again get into a routine of doing fun stuff every week. As in Williamsburg, each week we visit the Columbia library (http://www.richland.lib.sc.us/kids/parent.htm) for storytime and to borrow fun books to read. Milo joined the library's summer book club and was awarded a medal for already reading many, many books this summer. Justin seems to think that the Iliad should be next on Milo's reading list. I personally enjoyed that the librarians played the music from the awards ceremony at the end of Star Wars Episode IV while giving Milo his medal.
At 10.5 months, Calder now crawls. Alas, it is the odd crab-like crawl that Milo also began when he was around 10 months old. But Calder can now get around quickly! Calder also, by the way, pulls himself up to standing rather well.
Now that the boys share a bedroom and playroom in our new house, rather than having two separate bedrooms, bedtime and naptime can be a little interesting. Yesterday's naptime proved less than restful. We put the boys down for their afternoon nap around 2 p.m. and neither seemed to fall asleep. We heard all sorts of chatting, singing, gurgles, etc., over the baby monitor. Finally, about 45 minutes after we tucked them into their respective bed and crib, we heard musical chimes. At this point Justin went upstairs to tuck Milo back into bed. He finds Milo out of bed playing the chimes and Calder standing up in his crib facing Milo. When asked what he was doing, Milo replied, "I'm just entertaining Calder."
