Hippety Hoppety

The Kahls somehow celebrated Easter amidst the hubbub of Butler getting to the National Championship. Yes, I know how close that shot was -- I saw it 812 times after the fact.

Considering we were out until midnight watching the Bulldogs kick some Sparty behind, our 7:30 call to be at church came very early. We still managed to get in a couple minutes to check out the Bunny's stash before heading out.



Peter Cottontail brought just what Miles thought he would - lots and lots of suckers.



Not only did we have to sing both services at church, but Jason played his trumpet and I played my flute. Miles was generally a very good boy - not whining, but a little hopped up on sugar. To calm him down, Jason let Miles fiddle with his trumpet a little bit. He wasn't making noise, and it kept him quiet and out of trouble - that is, until it came time for Jason to actually play his trumpet. Of course, taking away Miles' "toy" led to the Grand Easter Tantrum. As I was carting Miles' butt out of the sanctuary, he screamed the whole way, "MY...DADDY'S...TRUMPET!!!!!!"

Luckily, his cuteness overpowered his orneriness, and everyone kept telling us how adorable he was at the breakfast afterward. I try to stay humble, but I have to admit that this just oozes cute:



Since it was just the three of us this year, we decided upon a delectable Easter lunch of Chinese takeout. Miles then decided to take a little time on the back nine to aid his digestion.




We then hunted down eggs that the Easter Bunny hid in the front yard. Miles still looks for eggs every time we go out to the car.



Finally, Miles got to enjoy some non-sugary treats as a reward for his excellent egg hunting skills:



It was a good day.

Butler Campus Tour Guide

Hi. My name is Kristin, and I'll be your tour guide for today's visit of Butler University. My assistant tour guide is Miles Joseph Kahl.

Let's start our tour today at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Its most notable feature is the original urinals...straight outta 1928.



Moving inside, Miles will demonstrate how to inbound a pass onto the original court. I guess Gene Hackman was born right here, in the middle of the basketball court.



Next, we'll move along Lake road, past the carillon and fountains. No need for a picture stop - nothin' to see here.

Here, we see Butler Observatory, home to Indiana's largest telescope and a multitude of nerds from across the Midwest.



Straight ahead, you'll see Robertson Hall. This building houses the Alumni, Admissions, and Financial Aid offices. They take cash, charge, or credit...payable over the next 20 years, in my case.



In the distance, you can see Lilly Hall, home to Butler's college of fine arts, and the Pharmacy building. Butler's doctor of pharmacy program requires most students to spend 6 years in that building. Not surprisingly, the music students also average a 6-year stint at Lilly before graduation as well.



We move throughout campus, past Atherton Union, and Indiana's first Starbucks. A $3 cup of coffee seems like a small price to pay - that's only 0.01% of the cost of annual tuition. [Lecture I've given 928 times for anyone who tells me Butler is too expensive - maybe I only had poor and talented friends, but I never knew of anyone who paid full price to attend.]

In front of Atherton, we have a collection of student-painted bulldogs, representing each of Butler's colleges. Miles' personal favorite is "Amadogus Mozart".



Miles demonstrates Butler's fourth most popular sport, soccer, which ranks behind basketball, water polo, and cricket. You'll also see Irwin Library behind him. Its architecture is known to represent a bookshelf, lined with books. Today's students have never cracked open a hard copy book, now that we have iPhones and the internet, so we've been instructed now to say that it was designed to look like the opening credits of the Muppet Show. Oh, wait, Butler students were not yet born when the Muppet Show aired. Let's just say it looks like Miley Cyrus' house.



Here we have Clowes Hall, home to arts and other public events serving the city of Indianapolis. Former U.S. Presidents have spoken on its stage, and famous performers have demonstrated their craft here. Its most famous performance happened in August 1996, when a then little-known Kristin Woodling first graced its stage as a Tina Turner impersonator in front of an audience of hundreds.



Finally, the crown jewel of Butler's campus, Jordan Hall. It was one of the first buildings built when Butler moved to Fairview in the 1920's. It was named after Jordan Sparks of American Idol fame.



Thanks for visiting Butler with us today. And remember, GO DAWGS!

R U a Bulldog...or an Easter Bunny?

Um, in case you haven't heard...THE BUTLER BULLDOGS ARE IN THE FINAL FOUR! I wish I could say Miles has watched every minute of every game, but he's been much more interested in his sandbox, legos, and golf lessons from Uncle David. He'll have the rest of his life to be obsessed with basketball! Jason and I spent a load on tickets (that haven't arrived yet BTW), so Miles will be spending Saturday with Grammy. He can't wait!



We can't leave out the good ol' Buckeyes, though. We cheered for them too. Miles is finally saying "Go Dawgs!" instead of "Go Bucks!"



Miles also spent his first time away from Mommy and Daddy for more than a night. He had fun hanging out with his cousin Lyla, Nana, and Papa while we escaped to Las Vegas with Aunt KK and Uncle Davy. Here's Miles giving Nana her thank you flowers:




We've finally been blessed with spring weather, which means playground time and trips to the Frosty Boy. Here's Miles on his new favorite - the monkey bars! Amazingly, he wasn't turned off to them after getting kicked in the face by a big boy going across the monkey bars the other day! All was fine, but it was our first semi-major playground incident.



We prepared for Easter tonight by dying eggs. Miles had lots of fun and stuck his hand all the way in the blue dye! Needless to say, it was also bath night tonight.



We dropped a couple eggs, which Miles enjoyed because he actually got to eat a hard boiled egg tonight. He wolfed it down in about 30 seconds - glad we don't have to worry about what to do with the other 11 next week. He also decorated them with stickers, and I'm sure that the Easter Bunny will love admiring them before he hides them on Sunday. Here's Miles preparing for the big day. In case you need the transcript, he's saying "Hop" ad nauseum, then "Bunny" as the finale:

And here is Miles after dying eggs, proclaiming "I did it!"

Final Miles moment...the look I get when I tell Miles to say "Cheese!" for the camera. I think I'll stick with candid shots from now on.

Messy Guy

One of Miles' (and my) favorite new phrases is "messy guy". As you can naturally assume with a 21-month old, being a "messy guy" happens pretty often.

Of course, meal time is a Messy Guy's swan song. Here's a typical day of Miles eating pizza.



Notice something different? Yep, no high chair. He still sits in his high chair about half the time, but we've started to phase in the "big boy" chair. Part of this is his general desire to be a "big boy" - the other part is just because he's literally getting too big for the chair. I can't believe how big he already is - and how many clothes he's outgrown, piling up in box after box in his closet.

Snacks can also offer a mess, and there's not too much messier than a popsicle...or, in Miles' case, a "Papa"-sicle. We thought it was just a cute toddler mispronunciation until Miles began to muse about his delicious "Lyla"-sicle. Then, it was a "Mommy"-sicle, a "Daddy"-sicle, "Miles"-sicle, and a "Kee-o"-sicle.

Thankfully, it has been warm enough to get a little messy in the mud. We've been out a couple times, testing out the new wagon around the neighborhood... Miles loves it! The playground is naturally a swamp after being under a foot and a half of melted snow, but that doesn't stop Miles. He shows a slight interest in the slide, but got really excited about the Monkey Bars tonight after watching the big boys do it.


In other news, Miles is saying...well, pretty much everything. He can repeat anything we say, but he also knows what he's saying most of the time. Some new favorites:

• "Um" when he's thinking...tonight he used it a lot when we played "I Spy".
• "Not nice" - usually when Daddy tickles too long
• "Good one, Mommy!"
• "Wipeout" and "Fall Down" - guess we'll have to buy a Three Stooges video pretty soon.
• "Bob the Builder...MOVE THAT BUS!" (I know...Mommy's horrible lyrics strike again).

I particularly enjoyed this scene at communion on Sunday:

Pastor: The body of Christ, given for you.
Miles: Eat it!
Pastor: The blood of Christ, shed for you.
[Mommy drinks from the small communion cup]
Miles: All gone!

Such a good little Lutheran boy...

Ice Disco...And Other Stuff

Miles has three hobbies right now: the Olympics, Dancing, and Poop. Yes, you would naturally assume these three items follow an Ice Dancing theme, but Daddy won't let Miles come near Figure Skating or anything like it. I personally think Miles would look fabulous in sequins and a salchow. (Yes, I did have to look up that spelling...I knew it couldn't be spelled "sow cow".)

Thanks to Nana, Miles was talking about hockey long before the Olympics started. Whenever Miles asked to watch "ockey", we struggled to find it in this non-NHL state. Once the Games started, he got his fix. We got a little interest out of "kee-ee" (skiing), but Miles' true passion is now "kur-ee" (curling). Considering Miles won't escape the bowling gene from both sides, it makes sense that he picks this sport. All they're missing is a glass of beer in a plastic cup and tri-colored shoes.

Whenever I hear the timpani start up for the Olympic theme, I can't help but get a little wistful. Miles and I spent a lot of time together watching the last round of the summer games in Beijing...but Miles was concentrating more on nursing, pooping, and sleeping than on Michael Phelps. It seems like it was just yesterday and -BLINK- here he is, handing me the remote and telling me to turn on Curling.

Miles is also especially adept at telling me something else...all about what's going on below his belt. I knew little boys were obsessed with bodily functions, but at this young of an age? He announces "more poop" while he does his business. He also likes to demonstrate how one applies "butt keem" to his "pee pee". Fantastic. I don't know what's worse - the fact that he does these things or that I just blogged about it.

Now, on to something cute that will only embarrass him slightly less when he grows up - disco dancing! We broke out my old Disco Mickey Mouse LP, and since then we've heard hits like "Macho Duck" about a thousand times. There isn't an hour in the day where Miles doesn't request "more tunes." Here's his talent...complete with the John Travolta point.

And yes - you heard right - that was Miles pointing out his butt at the very end. Sigh.

Snowy Surprises

Miles has had a bit of a break from his routine lately. Thanks to a foot and a half of snow, he has been spending lots of time at home with Daddy. He even got to take his second trip this month to the Children's Museum today. According to Daddy, it was slightly more successful that the last visit. Avoiding the dinosaurs at the start helped the freak outs, but he still didn't like the carousel. He had lots of fun at the water table and at Bob the Builder with his new friend Sophie.

Of course, we also got outside in the SSCCHNNNOW. Miles was hesitant at first, but he had much more fun once he realized he could make snowballs. We were hoping to get out in the snow again this week, but I'm pretty sure the boy would sink right up to his neck.


The biggest adjustment to his routine is the black hole...no football on Sundays. We went to a party for the first half of the Super Bowl, but Miles was asleep in his bed by the time the third quarter started. It was probably a good thing he didn't see the Colts lose...that, and the fact that he might have been frightened by his daddy yelling at the TV so loudly.


And, in the "surprise" category...one of the best surprises this Mommy has ever experienced. I had to go to a conference in San Francisco last week, and I was away from Miles for 5 days...the longest I've been without smooching his little cheeks. Even though I drove myself to the airport, Nana and Papa brought Miles to the airport to greet me. Surprise!! I was so intent on getting back home to see him, that I almost walked right past him! Best Valentine ever!!

Senor Mustachio

Miles is growing up so quickly! He's become quite the chatterbox lately. When I ask him how his day was at school, I almost feel like I'm having an actual conversation with him, even though half of what he's saying still sounds like jibberish to me. His latest vocabulary addition is "Yeah", which is a nice change from only hearing "No" for so long. When he starts his little tantrums we can usually get him to "use his words" now to tell us what's wrong, rather than just watching him flop and flail around the living room.

He also knows the number "two" now. Not necessarily identifying the character, but he uses it in practice a lot. Blue paci? White paci? TWO pacis! Eye? Eye? TWO eyes! He can identify more of his magnet letters by name now...O and Y are his current favorites. Oy. And he's getting better at colors. He's moved on from saying "Blue-Red" any time you ask him what color something is and will just choose one. If it's a blue or red object, he gets it right about 2/3s of the time. He gets green and yellow about half the time. We still need to work on orange and purple.

He's also getting the little whisps of a mustache...


OK, so that's a popcorn mustache. Here's his REAL mustache!!




BAHAHAHAHA! I still crack up just thinking about it. I turned around for literally 10 seconds to find that Miles got a hold of my brown eye liner pencil and did that little number on himself. It took some scrubbing, but it's nothing a bath can't cure!!




We're happy to have Daddy home with us this weekend. Thanks, Snow! He was supposed to have Pep Band last night and tonight, but the 8 inches of drifting snow cancelled that. We're looking forward to playing in the snow when Miles wakes up from his nap. We'll post pics soon...plus pics from the Super Bowl.

GO COLTS!!