Deflating the spare tire

On my gut, that is!! I've been noticing lately that my low-rider pants have really been riding lower than usual. When I was yanking a belt through the loops of one pair of jeans, I realized I've inadvertantly developed a spare tire, and that's what's been making my pants droopy. UGH. My relationship with food has apparently been getting a little too intense. Soooo...I asked Corey to get my bike out of cobwebs and get it ready for using again.

Believe it or not, I used to bike a lot, before Milo and the dogs came into my life. I fell out of the habit of biking when Quinn was a puppy, and he needed looooooong walks everyday to get his ya-yas out. (I entertained the thought of getting one of those leashes that hook to the bike for Quinn, but then realized that would probably be a very bad idea.) When Milo was wee, I would load him in the stroller and tie Quinn to the handle, and we would all get our ya-yas out with a long walk. And then Lily joined us, so I was really getting a workout, between manhandling the two dogs and the stroller for three or four miles almost every day. Then this past summer, Milo and I stopped going for walks with the dogs. Now that Lily is all grown up, between the two of them, Quinn and Lily are just too strong for me. Between Quinn being ferocious to strangers and Lily just being unruly, I am really scared that we'll have an unfortunate accident of some kind. So I got no exercise whatsoever this summer, and all the muscles I had evidently melted.

Back to point of story: Milo and I have been going for a bike ride every day that we're home, for the past week or so. He really enjoys riding in the bike trailer, and he's figured out how to put his helmet on all by himself. (It's usually backwards, but at least he tries. I do fix it before we go anywhere.) Milo thinks hanging out in the trailer is great. He can eat a snack, and have a drink, all while Mommy is breaking her legs trying to get up a hill. Sometimes I feel like a rickshaw driver!

Yesterday the highlight of our ride was stopping at the high school to watch the band practice. We can always hear the marching band all the way at our house, but we've never seen them before. Milo was thrilled to watch the kids; he was especially enthralled by the drums and cymbals. And then he spotted the flag twirler girls, and he was smitten. We had to get back on the bike and ride straight home, so we could practice being a marching band and flag twirlers in the backyard. I'll bet our neighbors loved that spectacle. Milo was twirling the flag that goes on his bike trailer, and honking on his kazoo at the same time, and I had to march behind him with the tambourine. The dogs of course were going bananas and barking at us, so all in all, we were quite an off-key chorus.

It's quite a different experience riding a bike with a little kid in tow. For one thing, my legs hurt like hell! That 40 pounds of extra weight on the back is the world's best resistance training. For another thing, I notice a lot more stuff than I ever would if I was alone, because Milo is constantly saying "Wow, Mommy, look at that!!" I've also noticed that there are a heck of a lot of hills around here, and I never seem to find the downhill side of them.....

Plus, I'm turning into a bike nerd! I actually wear a helmet, because I have to set an example for Milo, and just yesterday I ordered a rearview mirror for my bike, so I can keep an eye on what Milo is doing back there in the trailer. Next thing you know, I'll be going along honking on an oogah horn :)

By the way, Quinn and Lily still need loads of exercise every day to get their ya-yas out. Thank goodness for our fenced in yard and the never-ending supply of golf balls from the driving range behind us. All I have to do is let the dogs out back, throw Lily a golf ball, and the two of them are off and running. They'll chase each other and fight over the golf ball until they're both completely exhausted. A quick rest, and then they're busy chasing Milo, or birds, or the sprinkler. I wish I could harness their energy; I bet I would make millions!!

Already With the Big Question

Warning: This post contains adult content, as in grown up words for pee-pees and hoo-hoos :)

Milo and I had our first conversation about where he comes from tonight. It started out with this question, as he was sitting on the potty. “Mommy, why do boys stand up to pee sometimes and girls sit down to pee all the time?” So I had to tell him that boys have penises and girls don’t. He said, “I saw Sarah’s peenie once, and it was broken off.” I said, that’s right, girls only have a pee hole, nothing sticks out. He immediately asked “Can I see yours?” to which I said no. Then he wanted to know what girl peenies are called, so I told him that girl peenies are called vaginas. I felt like I was in a scene from Kindergarten Cop, because Milo promptly replied “Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. Okay!!"

A while later, Milo came out with the BIG question: “Mommy, where did I come from?”

I told him he started out in my belly, and then grew into a baby in my belly, and when he got big enough, he was born. Milo thought about that for awhile and asked me if everybody comes out of their mommy’s belly. I said yes. We had a long conversation about who came out of whose belly among our family and friends. Then he was quiet for a bit, thinking about all this new information. Finally, Milo said, “So when you say I came out of your belly, do you mean that I grew under your shirt, and when I got too big for your shirt, I popped out?” I just said “Yep, that about sums it up,” because he really doesn’t need to know any more details than that at this point. The whole time, while I was trying not to laugh, I was thinking “Why in the hell doesn’t he ask Corey about this stuff???”

Fun with Play-Dough

If you're ever at our house and you need something to do, just ask Milo if he wants to do Play-Dough. He was all crabby after his nap today, and I really wanted to get dinner made, so I plopped his play dough stuff on the kitchen table. Milo came in, said "YAY!! Playdough!!" and occupied himself for the next couple of hours! He made all sorts of cakes and cookies, and then employed me to help him make celery, of all things. Milo even ate his dinner while immersed in play dough fun. I don't think he even noticed what he ate, to be honest, because he was so busy.

By the way, we used to have a lot of different colors of playdough, but now it is just one giant green blob. So much for keeping it all separated!

A great big giant....well, whatever that is. At first, Milo said it was a cake, but then later on it was a meatball pancake.

Making celery, lots and lots of celery. It cracked me up when I realized that the playdough squisher he was using actually did make the tubes look like celery!

This kid has one of everything!

All you might see is a bunch of logs stacked on each other, and a hideous green sheet draped over the top. What Milo sees is a fort! We had to have a big old pine cut down over the summer, and the guys left the logs behind. We'll burn them eventually in the fire pit, but for now the bigger ones are serving as Milo's awesome new fort. This one was actually Grandma Carolynn's idea...she suggested it to Corey after watching Milo play outside by the log pile.

Milo is definitely suffering through a bit of a fort / camping obsession these days. We have to make forts out of everything from pillows to, well, logs.

Milo jumped in front of me right when I was taking this picture. He decided that he was Spiderman, and that the fort is his Spider-cave. Milo needed webs, so I cut some lengths of junky rope for him to play with. Milo spent at least an hour running around and shooting his webs at me, the dogs, and everything in his path.
Peeking out of the fort.
Inside the sacred Spider-cave. Someone even thoughtfully put chairs in there. Even Spiderman needs a place to sit!

Milo's first celebrity sighting

This is just a funny little story I thought worthy of passing along.

Last night our life insurance agent was here, to help us with some adjustments we're making in that department. He's not real tall, is bald on top with mostly gray fringe, and always looks like he has sunburn on his face and head, and the rest of him is real tan (from what we could see, anyway). Milo greeted him with a "Hi Barry, I'm Milo" and then went on about his business of watching Caillou. After negotiations were done, Barry and Corey were outside yakking about the Nova. Milo peeked out the front door at Barry and came sidling over to me with his eyes as big as saucers. I asked him what was up. Milo tugged on my shirt so I would lean over, and he whispered, "Mommy, is that...is that guy Jimmy Buffett?" I could tell he was totally thrilled with the very idea that the Buffett could actually be at our house. I had to burst his bubble, and said "No, it's not Jimmy Buffett, but Barry does look an awful lot like him! And anyway, if that was Jimmy Buffett, do you think I would be standing here calmly doing dishes?" Milo thought about that, and then wanted to go outside to tell Barry that he looked like Jimmy Buffett. Barry was unsure of what to say about that announcement. Corey and I both told him that it was a MAJOR compliment. That made him happy, and then he asked Milo if Milo likes Jimmy Buffett. Milo said "I love him!" and Corey added "So does Mommy!" at which point Barry was obviously thinking, "Oh crap, how can I get away from these nuts before it's too late??" and quickly made his exit.

I am so proud!

My little boy wrote his first letters yesterday. We have been learning all about the letter B for over a week now. Last night I cut some pictures of things that start with B out of magazines and taped them to paper. I asked him what each thing was, and as he named them, I wrote down the word next to the picture. I also asked him what sound he heard at the beginning of each word, which was B. Milo watched me writing for a minute, and then asked me if he could have the crayon. I asked him why and he said "Because I can write too, Mommy. I can make a big B." I said "No way, I bet you can't," thinking there is no way in heck he figured that out by watching me. Well, color me WRONG! That kid made a whole mess of capital B's. Then Milo asked me to show him how to make a small b, so I did, and he made a few of those, too, all the while singing "This is the letter b. Big b, little b." Unfortunately, he promptly scribbled over most of his masterpiece, but I was able to capture a little bit of it.

Our big day out

Yesterday was mine and Corey's sixth wedding anniversary, and our 17th anniversary of being "us." Corey surprised me and Milo with a trip to our old stomping grounds in and around New Hope. First we went to the tower at Bowman's Hill. Milo thought the tower was a magic castle, and that the elevator that took us to the top was a magic door. Milo asked if we would see a princess, and lo and behold, when the elevator opened there was a lady and a guy in there. Milo said "Look! There's the beautiful princess!" and of course we heartily agreed with him. He asked us who the guy was and we told him it was the princess's knight in shining armor. Milo's response was "No, it's just a man." The other couple was laughing at this whole exchange, thank goodness. Milo did not like the magic door so much. We think he might be a bit claustrophobic. He wasn't all that thrilled about being up so way high, either. The whole idea of the magic tower and the fact that we might see bears kept him interested, though.





Milo and Corey waiting for me to catch up to them. I had to go back to the car to get the camera.

Bowman's Tower is really, really tall.

The view!
And some more of the view. I would give you the directions I was looking in, but I don't know what is north or south, so just take it on faith that I was walking around the top of the tower.

And the Delaware in the distance.

After we got done at the Tower, we walked a little way down one of the trails in the park. Milo was looking for bears, and we were just enjoying the scenery. There is a family's grave off the main trail by the tower, so we stopped to read the marker. Milo was pointing out the letters to Corey and trying to sound out the words. I believe it was the Pidcock family, who were a big deal in Bucks County in the 1700s.

From Bowman's Hill, we went up route 32 through New Hope to the little town of Point Pleasant. It's just a bump in the road of a lil' town but there is a neat chatchke shop there that we used to go to a lot before Milo came along. We looked around in there for awhile, then headed back towards New Hope for lunch.

The big thrill of the day (for Milo) was after lunch, when we hopped on the New Hope-Ivyland Railroad for an hour long train ride. We didn't take any pictures, but here's a link to the website if you want to check it out: www.newhoperailroad.com

The steam engine was out of service, but Milo didn't care. The diesel was just as fun and noisy for him. Milo is now officially train-crazed. We bought him a wooden train whistle at the train station (as he referred to the gift shop area) and Milo gets a big kick out of blowing it. We have also had to have repeat viewings of his train video since then. I'm surprised he hasn't asked us to drag out his giant train set yet. I suppose that will happen tomorrow, since we'll be home all day.

I'm a whale, Mommy!

Milo found this bubble blower in his toy box and insisted on taking it in the tubby. He promised not to swallow any tub water, and spent a long time blasting water out the bubble pipe. Milo did keep his promise and didn't swallow any water (as far as I know, anyway) while he was pretending to be a whale.

Always with the camping!

On Saturday, it was too humid and buggy outside to do any outdoor camping, so Milo and I built a fort in the living room. A card table, a few blankets and pillows, and a flashlight, and he was all set for the afternoon. Milo took his lunch and drink in there and that was the last I saw of him for several hours!