Miles

A while ago I did an update on Eli. Now I want to do an update on Miles.

Miles is my buddy. Other than the 45-50 mins he's in quiet time every day and the 3 hours every other week that he goes to "pre-school" ( a little mommy co-op I'm doing)....oh and two hours of primary on Sunday and an occasional 30 min walk after dinner he is by my side talk-talk-talkin'. I remember my brother said once he was so excited when his oldest son Jackson started to talk but the excitement wore off when he realized that now he won't stop talking. I'm not going to lie, sometimes it wears on me. But mostly it fascinates me, the things he says. He is so thoughtful about things, and creative. I'll have to jot them down on the blog on a regular basis so I can remember what he says and document it for when he gets older.

He is such a good big brother to Eli. Other than the occasional push, shove, hit, take his toy (which I'm sure is normal) he is so caring and concerned about it. Eli is usually a good eater but he is going through a phase right now where we practically have to force vegetables in his mouth etc. Well, the other night at dinner Eli was not eating and we said that he couldn't have ice cream if he didn't eat his dinner. Miles chimed in and said, "Please Eli, Please eat your dinner. Try your broccoli so you can have some ice cream." He really didn't want Eli to miss out on that yummy treat.

Every night we ask the boys what their favorite part of their day was. With Eli we usually just re cap all the things we did and then ask him, "Did you like that part?" Eli says, "Yes." Sometimes Eli will say more like, "play, or book store or Ferrari" (The boys saw one on an outing and Eli was so excited to tell me about it) and I'll say, "Oh, your favorite part of the day was going to the book store or seeing the Ferrari." and he'll say "Yes". With Miles it's a whole different story. This is my absolute favorite 5 min of the day because Miles is laying in his bed and I'm kneeling beside him and we're talking. I mean we're having a real conversation. He's telling me details about his day that I may have missed because I was busy cleaning or doing something else. He's telling me about how he felt when this or that happened. And he's really insightful. Sometimes it's not just the big things like going to the Everglades to look for alligators, or the beach, or the train museum. Sometimes like tonight, it was playing with Eli, and we did some fun things today. Sometimes he says, "My favorite part of the day was cuddling with you mom." Or, " My favorite part of the day was when dad came home and we went swimming, the whole family and we were all together." And then there are those days when we've had a REALLY rough time . I still kneel down by his bed and ask him what his favorite part was, to which he'll reply, "No favorite part." Believe me kid, I'm right there with you. But then I'll say to him that we should get a good night sleep and try to have a better day tomorrow and kiss him on his head. And no matter what he always says, "I sure love you and I'll sure miss you mom." and I say it back to him. It really is magic having that 5 min conversation with Miles.

Miles loves books. All kinds of books. We read superhero books, books from the library, moms books like "The Giving Tree" and "I wish I were a Butterfly." (books I don't want ripped) Oh, so many. Last night he and dad were taking turns reading. Miles would "read" a page in his book (really tell about the picture or tell the story from memory) and dad would read a couple paragraphs in one of his law books. John said Miles really listened while he read, and waited patiently for his turn to read again. And Every night we read the Book of Mormon. It's a big heavy family edition with lost of pictures. He'll pick a picture and we'll talk about it. Then I'll read a couple verses. I never know if he's listening or not, but the other day I said to Miles, "Let's read the Book of Mormon. And he said, "OK, and it came to pass." Which made me laugh a little because now I know he's listening.

I am so glad I have Miles for my buddy. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'll take him just as he is. Besides, he has to take me just as I am and that's pretty imperfect.

I'm so grateful for my two wonderful boys.

Next I'll do an update about John, my oh so wonderful husband. Don't hold your breath, it may be a month or more.