Monday, March 5, 2007

Big Changes

Ok, maybe they're not "big" changes, but nonetheless, Miles
has crossed some new bridges lately. He is now 21 pounds and 31 inches, which means he finally got a big boy car seat the other day. After spending Saturday in Denver house hunting and stuffing our much too large son in and out of his tiny baby seat, we decided that night we would go make the necessary purchase. We headed off to the store, big boy in tow.

After finding the baby seat isle, we perused our options. A few feet away was another couple with a 4-5 year boy and an infant girl. The little boy was insisting on everything pink. In fact another couple we assumed were shopping for their unborn baby girl, were checking out a very pink, very girlie stroller. The little boy kept eying their potential purchase and when they left without it, he dashed toward his reward. A few moments later the mom was walking up and down the aisles yelling his name, "Jack!". Across the way in the shoe department was young Jack pushing his pink, ruffle covered stroller with much delight. Mom grabbed him by the arm, pulled him safely into sight and discarded the stroller much to his dismay. Not before glaring at me and uttering, "You just wait. This will be you someday!"

They too were trying to decide on a booster for Jack and mimicked us by staring blankly at the choices on display. We were trying to decide between an Eddie Bauer and a Graco, and much further down toward the less expensive seats was the girlie boy family checking us out to see what we might pick. We tried Miles in both seats and chose the higher rated of the two options. After waiting decades for a sales lady to bring us an unopened box, we moved out of the aisle and Chris left to get a second cart. (We still needed groceries as well.)

While waiting, I watched Jacks family move up toward our purchase section and start trying on seats. Without hesitation, Jack pointed toward the right and whined, "I want the pink one." As if programmed to respond, "Much Too Manly Dad" mumbled, "You're not getting the pink one. Pink is for girls." Chris finally returned and we loaded up Miles new seat and headed toward groceries, leaving Jack's family to make their gender driven decision in private.

Usually babies face backwards in an infant seat until they are a year old and at least 2o pounds. We did some research and finally chose a fancy, comfortable forward facing car seat. It has cup holders and toy holders and matches our black interior pretty well. Unfortunately it is for kids 20 to 100 pounds (it converts to a booster seat for older kids) and when we put Miles in it to go for a ride, he looked so tiny. He was spilling out of his old infant seat and now he's this itty bitty baby again. But he is finally facing forward and couldn't be happier. On the drive home from Sam's Club yesterday, we were reassured of our decision when we glanced back and found our little boy sleeping peacefully, through the winter pothole ridden ride, without a care in the world.

The next big change really has no story, but it is a milestone anyway. Miles finally walks with his arms down. When babies first learn to walk, they spend several months with their little chubby arms bent up toward their shoulders for balance. Miles had been walking like this forever, prompting me to nervously ask if he will ever walk with his arms down and Chris to respond, "No honey, he will be forty and still walk like that." Anyway within the last few weeks he finally relaxed his arms and still falls down just as much. Good to know!

Lastly, Miles drinks milk. At his one year check-up, we got the "OK" to give him whole milk, and luckily he is doing great with it. He has had milk in his bottle, yogurt, cheese and best of all, ice cream. Yesterday at Sam's we bought a dish of vanilla soft serve and Miles got his first taste of ice cream heaven. Of course he loved every bite and even responded with a "yes" head shake when daddy asked him if it was good. The wide eyes and yummy noises really clued us in and we finally found something that might help our super skinny baby's pants stay on better......if he ate it at every meal. Although, if he ever chows down like his daddy, his pants will eventually fit just fine. No worries!

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