Miles' Journal

Miles ate brown rice and ate raisins for breakfast. For lunch he ate chicken, no whole wheat dinner roll, ate cauliflower, and ate fruit cocktail.  I'm including two pictures from yesterday afternoon at "Three Hills by the College." What's so attractive about this place?!? So far they've not grown tired of it and ask to go frequently!! First, there is LOTS of activity (like you see in the first picture) and the kids wave at everyone. Secondly, they love collecting the rocks, leaves, and sticks. Maybe best of all there is room to run run run. Second picture: And Miles has his favorite bush!! Haha. He stands right in the middle of it and looks around with wonder and amazement - judging by his expression.  Next picture; Svea had not been here very long and she was highly offended by Cal not wanting her to "hover" over him as he was doing puzzles again. She went to the cozy corner to regroup and Miles moved right over and was repeating over and over, "...

Miles ate whole wheat English muffin and two servings of mandarin oranges for breakfast. For lunch he ate a large serving of ground beef, ate most of his whole wheat elbow noodles, most of his peas/carrot mix, and ate applesauce.  The boys were running to the window to wave bye at Emily and Miles' number one concern was making sure that Cal knew it was "Me Mom! Me Mom! Me Mom!" Haha. It cracks me up and they ALL do that!! I remember one little Boy at the window looking at his waving competitor and said, "That's my Stinking Dad!!" Oops, I think that was most likely a "Gary-ism!" First picture: Cal and Miles were on each side of me on the couch and the entire time we were doing selfies both boys were playing with wooden "pizza cutters" that they frequently use as lollipops!! Haha. Goofy kids. Second picture: Cal asked if her could play with some sunglasses - which I keep on the shelf - and I took this picture shortly after. I can't beli...

Miles ate three large servings of French toast topped with three large servings of strawberries for breakfast. (The boys love it that way! And they remember every time! "Put this on top of that!") For lunch Miles ate a large serving of Hearty Paleo Stew with meat, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, and carrots. He ate saltines and mangoes/pineapple.  During diaper change before Lunch Miles kept saying the same word over and over and over; "nipple, nipple, nipple..." I finally figured out it was two words: "no poop, no poop, no poop." Haha. Oops. (If you say it really fast it sounds the same!! Ha!) Then he was saying, "poop at home, poop at home, poop at home." Perfect. I told him that was the best idea I'd heard all morning. (I know he was talking past-tense, but I ignored that fact.) First picture - Svea is taking a picture of the boys this morning. She told Cal where to stand and Miles joined them. At lea...

Miles ate half of his waffle and ate grapes for breakfast. For lunch he ate chicken, whole wheat tortillas, corn, and apple slices. I've told you about this silly game we play: I was washing my hands at the sink in the entrance room and when Miles poked his head around the corner I splashed water in his direction; "It's raining!! It's raining!! It's raining!!" He was laughing and giggling and for the first time I heard him saying, "Mo rain, mo rain, mo rain!!" Haha. First picture; The boys were on the couch just being goofy and covering their eyes for Lauralea. Over and over of course. Following picture: Miles doing some art! I'm glad I took this picture when I did because when you see the finished product tonight it will be difficult to imagine the picture at this stage. :) Lauralea asked me; "Is he really drawing people?" He's definitely in the beginning stages of "representational" drawing. And he was pointing to his pi...

Miles ate kix cereal and two servings of fruit cocktail for breakfast. For lunch he ate ground turkey topped with avocado, ate whole wheat sandwich thin, tomatoes, and two servings of cherries.  First picture - We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange and the first thing Miles looked for were the cars. This exchange is more focused on animals and food, but he managed to find 3 cars!! Ha. Second picture; We were singing "The wheels on the Bus" and Miles was doing lots of words and actions. As you can probably guess from the picture this verse is "the babies on the bus go waaaah waaaah waaaah...." good job Miles. As you know he loves to sing and it's wonderful for language development as well. :) Next picture: When Svea arrived I don't think she noticed the Toy Exchange for several minutes. She was busy laying out goodies from home and showing them to Miles. :) Following picture: Svea asked, "Can Lulu visit us today?" We haven't been visited by Lu...

Miles ate cream of wheat cereal and raisins for breakfast. For lunch he ate most of his hamburger stew with meat, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and potatoes. He ate toasted whole wheat hamburger bun and fruit cocktail.   First two pictures left over from yesterday. Miles is not in the first picture, but Nora is there top right!! This is what it looked like after we'd mixed up the ingredients for the brownies. They were all begging to "Sniff" the wonderful smells!! Haha. Second picture: Nora, Miles, and Svea were having lots of fun in the tunnels covered with the parachutes. Meanwhile Avi was practicing soccer kicks off the side of the garage. Next picture; Miles busy at the car garage and ramp - with his little train engine. Ha. He does amazingly well self-entertaining. Always exploring and experimenting. Love your curiosity Miles!!  Last two pictures: Avi spent time hanging out with Miles this morning and he sure enjoyed that!! Thank you Avi. She was spinning him fast ...

Miles ate whole wheat toast and three large servings of mangoes for breakfast. For lunch he ate ground beef with marinara sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, ate cauliflower, and two servings of fruit salad. "Mo mo mo mo mo!!" :) This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon when Miles joined Svea with sidewalk chalk. He was determined to draw wherever she was working. I'm sure he didn't even notice that the grass was a bit damp where he's laying!! Haha. Next picture: The happy couple!! Haha. Well if you look closer, maybe not real happy. Haha. (You can see Miles protesting with his elbow!!) Miles was laying there with his toy and Cal moved in and scooted closer and closer. And of course Cal knew Miles wasn't too thrilled. :) Following picture; More hide-n-seek similar to yesterday. And in the same location. Miles at the top of the picture and Cal at the bottom. Silly boys. It's a little crazy around here today - just in case you had any dou...

Miles ate French toast and half of dried plums for breakfast. For lunch he ate pulled pork, bites of whole wheat dinner roll, ate most of his peas/carrots, and ate strawberries.   I love stories about young children who are only capable of "concrete thinking." In our English language we use LOTS of phrases that I would call a "play on words." The phrase or word means something different than the original meaning. One obvious example; "raining cats and dogs." (That example is probably an old school phrase!!) Here's an example of concrete thinking, but with a twist. We were watching a man pedal a bicycle with no hands. I said, "Look Ma! No hands." (Old school again.) Cal was very serious when he pointed at my hands and said, "You DO have hands. Right there." I love that. This first picture is also from yesterday afternoon watching the neighbor girl walking their dog. Following picture: Here's how the boys were playing hide-n-seek ...

Miles ate blueberry bagel and three BIG servings of grapes for breakfast. (And still saying, "MO, MO, MO, MO!!!" Haha. "No, you've had LOTS!!") For lunch he ate shrimp, brown rice soaked in berry juice, ate broccoli, and three servings of mixed berries.  This is about Callahan and Svea, but I thought you might like to read this!! Cal asked me this morning if we could read books and I said, "As soon as  everybody  is here we'll read books." So you probably can guess what he kept asking me; "Is everybody here, Is everybody here?" Miles came; "Is everybody here?" Svea came; "Is everybody here?" Yes, but now it was breakfast time. (By the way we read LOTS of our "Special" books after breakfast!!) When Svea arrived she had no idea about the background of our discussion, BUT of course she had an opinion and it was a doozy!! She said, "Cal you are  not   everybody !! You are just one kid!!" And at breakfas...

Miles ate two servings of bran cereal and ate raisins for breakfast. For lunch he ate bites of chicken, bites of whole wheat pita bread, ate green beans, and ate his pears.  Cal and Svea were in a conflict over toys. I gave them my little speech - always short and to the point with this age group!! "There are LOTS of toys for everyone SO find a toy nobody is playing with!!" They've heard that sentence many times. Two seconds after I finished my sentence Miles - he'd been sitting and listening to the whole thing - yelled, " MINE!! " LOL!! Dang Toddlers!! :) So speaking of Toddlers here they are in the first picture: They were on hands and knees back and forth across the room as fast as they could go. They'd been running back and forth - diving into the couch face-first and then they decided to crawl. Lots of laughing and having fun. My favorite sounds!! Next picture: So here's Teacher Assistant Svea handling a situation!! Cal and Miles were squabbling...

Miles ate waffle and three servings of mangoes/strawberries for breakfast. For lunch he ate most of ground turkey, most of whole wheat tortillas, most of his sweet potatoes, and ate cherries. These first two pictures go together and were probably taken 20 minutes apart. Cal said, "I'm blocking Miles." Ha. Miles wasn't aware of that plan and didn't care. He was too busy doing "Face Plants" on the mattress. Haha. Silly kids. Svea was not an "active" participant here. Her position was strictly an "advisory" role. Haha. Check out her face in the second picture! She said, "Cal, that's not how you do it." Haha. By that time Miles was helping build his own barricade to keep him "out" or maybe "in." I never did figure out the initial plan!! Hahaha. Next picture; Miles was talking while playing with cars and this "garage." He moved his cars into the garage and kept saying, "Momma home, momma hom...