Riley Nerd and Scouty Pouty: July 2010

Happy 3 months Miles

3 Months old today

Mt. Lemmon Hike

Sara, Miles and I hiked Marshall Gulch today. We didn't do the whole loop but got a good workout. Here is our distance and altitude... Note that we were above 7000 ft!

Got the picture to prove we were there:

Made it into the stream...

Sara carried the baby the whole trip. I offered to carry Miles, but she was determined to make the whole trip solo. Remember that we were more than a mile above sea level!

Miles didn't break a sweat

Sara and I did...

I think Sara is somewhere in there...

Trip to Oregon

On Wednesday we returned from our week in Oregon celebrating my Dad's 60th birthday. All things considered Miles was a great little traveler. He only cried a little on the flights to and from Portland. This is amazing since our flight to Portland had 3 takeoffs and landings, which was a lot for his little ears. The high points of traveling with an infant were not having to worry about early check-in and getting to use family boarding. Also, on Southwest airlines when the flights were not full they let us keep the car seat in the seat next to us so we got an entire row to ourselves. The low points were having to change Miles in an airplane bathroom after a blowout in which Drew's jeans were the causality and all of stuff we had to travel with. It was not an easy endeavor. That aside, it was a great trip and for the first time in many years I feel like I want to move back to Portland. I miss my family and friends there deeply and feel guilty that Miles is not growing up closer to all of these wonderful people that love him. Here is a montage of pictures from the trip. Unfortunately, I do not have the pictures from my Dad's party, including the picture of 4 generations of Burkes. I have to get those off his camera.

Miles with his lovely and amazing Aunt Sarah.

Miles with his beloved Great Grandma Betty.

Zen Baby - he fits right in with the SE Portland demographic.

Nap time on the Oregon Coast

Miles sleeping through the stunning view at Cape Meares

Miles missing out on another view - we will remind him of this when he complains that we never take him anywhere.

Walking the beach at Happy Camp with Sophie. I wish our girls had been there. Scout and Riley love this beach.

Miles wearing his first hoodie at Happy Camp.

Miles getting baptized as an Oregonian. Yes, I put his feet in the cold Pacific Ocean, but mine are in there too and he didn't seem to mind.

Running his toes through the sand for the first time.

"Oh Mandy"

Miles is a lot of fun in the morning. As soon as he wakes up, he nurses and then our sweet baby is all smiles. This has led to a routine of playing in the nursery for an hour or so before I make coffee and start working. He loves to stare at the monkeys on his wall and coo back and forth. This morning I tried to capture this on camera. Unfortunately, Miles is very suspicious of the camera. It flashes, which he does not appreciate, and as soon as the camera appeared it was instantly the furrowed brow of 'Sara face'.

I did manage to sneak a few photos of some happy faces.

He is looking at his monkeys in this one. Good thing he likes them or the poor little guy would probably be traumatized by his room decor and half his wardrobe.

I also tend to sing to him a lot during our morning play sessions. There are not too many kids' songs in my musical repertoire so I sing Miles anything I know the lyrics to. In fact, I do not really believe in kids' music. When I was little, I just listened to the kid friendly music that my parents liked (don't worry Frank Zappa and the Mothers was reserved for my teenage years when my dad was trying to prove that hip hop did not invent crass lyrics). My favorites were Jonathan Richmond and the Modern Lovers, The Police, and the Rolling Stones. I will argue that "Hey there little insect" is a great song for both kids and adults. When I was 3, I even had a little fisher price record player that I used to play the song "Don't stand so close to me" on over and over and over again. I played this song until my dad's ears began to bleed and he changed the lyrics to "can't stand, can't stand, can't stand that redundancy". Anyway, I have been playing various music from my itunes library for Miles to figure out what he likes best. The answer so far is Barry Manilow's song "Mandy". He loves the "oh Mandy" part (please do not ask why Mandy is in my itunes library). If you don't believe me, check out this video that I took this morning.

Pride

Who knew that watching my son grasp and shake a toy around for the first time would fill me with so much pride. I used to have to publish something or run 20 miles to feel this way. We have the hug bug to thank for this development in Miles' behavioral repertoire. It is a toy that our neighbors Michelle and Chris have for their little boy Atticus. After seeing the joy that Atticus derives from playing with it last Saturday we had to get one for Miles. Thanks for discovering this Michelle.

Anyway, here are some recent pictures to keep the Oregon folks going until we get there next Wednesday!

Miles is now taking an interest in toys and he loves this activity mat, or at least he enjoys kicking and smacking the hanging toys around.