Miles. What an incredible boy.
He is a thinker. A processor. A detail-guy. He is very literal (yet loves idioms - thinks they are hilarious). He is a visual learner (he'll watch a movie once and be able to discuss minute details about it months later). He loves to dance (note to self - buy this visual learner some break-dancing videos!) He loves to draw, loves art projects (I can totally see him wearing "customized" chuck taylors someday -- covered with his doodling). He loves to build and creates amazing contraptions with his legos. I can see him as a great swimmer or skate boarder or runner someday. He's really spunky and fast, so he might even be a wrestler (hoping they come up with hipper suits over the next 10 years). He loves Mario Brothers and Lego Batman (2 Wii games), Star Wars (movies, figures, books), playing on our playset and jumpy slide, and reading in bed after lights out (Dana & Brad - checkmate on the hat w/ the light!). He is a phenomenal older brother (a playmate, a helper, a teacher). He is s-i-l-l-y.
Miles loves to swim and loves karate. He's been taking karate every Thursday afternoon for the past seven months. He was so excited a few weeks ago when he was named the "Star Student" of the week. Every once in awhile I ask Miles if he is still liking karate...if he wants to continue. He always answers the same way: "mom, I'll be ready to stop as soon as I earn a black belt." Love the enthusiasm and the confidence.
We signed Miles up for soccer at the Y just after he turned 4. He lasted about 2 weeks. There were (literally) hundreds of kids on the fields and all he wanted to do was sit on the sidelines and avoid the action. He'd perk up as soon as it was time to head to the playground to play with Noah, so we ultimately decided to take him out of his misery and just wait until he expressed interest in a team sport. A month or so, he finally mentioned that he'd be up for trying t-ball, so I signed him (and Noah) up for a Saturday team/clinic at the Y. Their friends Jack & Ella will be doing it too, which will definitely add to the fun. We've started "practicing" in the backyard (I use the word very loosely). :)
Let's be honest. If Miles is anything, he is silly. Its just his thing.
Being silly makes him laugh, and of course, he's aiming to get everyone else to laugh too. I asked him the other day who the funniest kid in his class was. He thought for a second, as if scrolling through the class list, and then announced, "Me!" I found it hilarious and awesome that he finds himself to be the funniest one, whether others would rank him the same or not. Mostly, because it shows me that he has self-confidence, which is so important.
He did follow that up with, "but if you're going to be the funniest one, you're going to get in trouble a lot." Miles is big on the "one liners" and funny/goofy faces - most suitable for the playground, verses the classroom (he's also at the age where an accidental burp is hilarious). But, to his defense, his teacher has assured me he's very good (so I'm assuming that he's not getting "in trouble" anymore than every other student). I guess it just also highlights that he's a "rule follower" - so when he isn't following every rule to a "t", he's aware of it and its probably magnified to him.
Speaking of school, he's doing really well. He gets quarterly progress reports and is always "consistently meeting expectations" (which unfortunately, if the highest mark you can get). On his March report his teacher also commented, "Miles continues doing well in first grade. He excels in math and is a good worker and an attentive listener." Miles definitely takes after Mike in the math department. He'll probably pass my skills in a few years and I'll be googling left and right trying to figure out how to help him with his homework. Spelling is not his strong suit, so we have to work really hard studying his spelling words each week (1st grade is the big time w/ a spelling test every Friday!), but as long as he puts in the time, he does well. Here's an example of something that he wrote in school today. The assignment was to write things about yourself. (It kills me/I love that he wrote "I am cool")
Here is another assignment THAT-I-LOVE that he brought home today. According to Miles, the kids had a ton of adjectives to describe themselves and they had to cut out/paste together the ones that best described them.
**Again, I love that he considers himself hilarious. He cracks me up, too.
**It touches my heart that he described himself as good. I see the word "good" and I read as a compilation of "pure, honest, gentle and kind." Yes, Miles is certainly good.
**And, he is shy in some situations. He articulates that so well now. He'll tell me if he's feeling nervous or shy about something - but that rarely stops him from participating. He's learned how to be brave and he's proud of himself after he's been brave.
**I'm proud of Mike and I that he thinks he is tall, because frankly, he's not (proud of us b/c we don't make height an issue with him and if he ever mentions something about size, we deflect it with something like, "you're fast!"). In fact, Miles is a peanut, measuring in at about the 5th percentile. Each year, his height percentile has decreased. Given my/my families' size, I don't expect him to be a giant, but Mike and I have been cautiously noting his "decreasing velocity". At my request, his pediatrician referred us to a pediatric endocrinologist, who did 10 zillion tests on him (it all started with Miles having to fill 5 vials with blood - ugh - and again, we explained it to Miles as 'a check up to make sure he's healthy' - we never mentioned size). All came back negative except for a hand/wrist bone x-ray. Apparently, Miles' bone age is that of a child that has just turned 6 - so his bones are 11 months behind his chronological age. Given that all of Miles' other tests came back negative, the endocrinologist described Miles as a 'late bloomer' (to use layman's terms). Given his young age, its unknown whether he will catch up before puberty; but assuming he doesn't, he'll likely be one of those kids that stays small for a long time and then goes through puberty late in HS/continuing growth through college. Miles probably won't view this as an ideal set-up, but I can think of a zillion worse things. And, hey, he does have that 'hilarious' thing going for him. :)
L.o.v.e this kid. So very much. (And I'm over-the-moon crazy about his toothless smile.)
