For most people, mid-July is the height of the summer. For a band family, especially a Hoosier band family, it's the end of all free time. Jason started up his marching band rehearsals again, so he's back to being a working dad. He's only going three days a week now, so Miles and I are savoring our waning hours with him before band camp blows summer out of the water next week.While Jason was home this summer, he made the best stay-at-home dad. I have to admit, I was jealous of all the fun things they got to do together. I think I missed Miles less when he was at day care. When he was out cruising the town with Daddy, I just kept imagining all the cool things I was missing. They went to the Children's Museum and rode the carousel and played and played and played. They went to the zoo and Miles showed off his new-found animal noise-making skills. They rode the train, although, by this picture, it looked like he was thinking..."How banale..." I prefer to believe he was just wishing his mommy was there.
On the weekends, we did get to do some fun family activities. We brought a picnic to the Irvington Farmers' Market and were so pleased with what a happening gathering it turned out to be. Here we are, Miles goofing off as usual.
Miles makes this face often lately. He learned how to pant like a dog, and has been doing it for about half the animals he sees. For the other half, he bounces up and down, like he's riding a horse. He's been reading lots and lots of books, too. Grammy's alphabet books have been his favorite because he can do motions or make sounds for most of the objects in the book. He loves making an elephant noise for the E book, brushing his teeth when he sees the toothbrush in the T book, and making a "tick tock" sound when he sees the clock in the C book.
I'm a bit partial, but I think he's turning out to be a pretty smart kid. It's so exciting to see how jazzed he gets when he discovers something new. Here's a fun pic from this morning - Miles discovering his shadow.
Happy summer to all!
Thanks to the constant drizzle all of July 4th, we spent another Independence Day watching fireworks set to glorified elevator music on TV. I'm not sure it even reached 70 degrees that day - Miles was very confused when he had to wear pants for the first time since May.
To be honest, I was somewhat relieved that Miles would be missing the show...I was nervous about whether or not he'd be afraid of them. And what can you really do at a fireworks show when a kid freaks out? It's not like you can turn off the TV, shut the door, or, as we tend to do at church, take the kid out in the narthex. Nevertheless, we had a pleasant day hanging out around the house. We even went out to a fancy dinner with Jen and Eddie. Apparently, that was enough excitement for the evening for Miles:
We did manage to have a beautiful day on the 3rd, so we went up to our old stomping ground to Carmelfest. We listened to some bands, watched the big kids in the bouncy thingies, and, of course, ate horrible fair food. Miles even got a hat from the fire station:
Miles is growing into such a big boy! He's eating all kinds of foods (he discovered a love of black beans tonight), repeating words and noises (Ack! Vroom! Moo!), and even making up some new words (babonga...kind of like aloha, it means hello or good-bye). He's already getting pretty good at walking with just one hand on something or someone - he'll be an official toddler before we know it!
