growing up

In the words of everyone's very favorite English lady Adele...hello from the other side.

I have such lofty goals to blog...and really, what is it about having a blog that makes me think I've got to catch you up on everything??  I know the blog is a running narrative of our mundane little life but for the sake of our posterity having some record of our life I'll hold on tight to those lofty goals.

The past months have been flying by, and week by week what to my wondering eyes does appear, but my boys are growing UP.  For a long, long time I think I've sort of felt like I've been firmly planted in the baby and toddler trenches and while Beck isn't even into the wilds of toddlerhood yet I have to admit that the two older boys are most definitely not toddlers and they are growing up.

So even though I know I'm perpetually blogging about the trivial details around here, I thought I'd pound out a little behind-the-scenes post. I don't know. I thought and now I'm doing. Let's roll.

Ahem. I feel like I'm starting a Christmas card letter.

Beck:

Not that he really has much of a choice, but our resident butter ball is the most laid back Miller baby...well ever.

Sometimes he gets so overcome with happiness that he throws his head back and then flings it forward full force to hit usually nothing but air but the other day it happened to be my lip...that is now extra fat.

Forgiven this time, Mr. B.

Beck is minutes? days? weeks? months? away from crawling. With his adjusted premie age he's closer to 9 months than 11 months old so it's anyone's guess when he'll fully mobilize himself. For now he just does his planks and then transitions down to his hands and knees for long periods of time. When he sits, he's quite adept at rocking back and forth and lunging for whatever his mean mom has put just of out his reach.

Until he finds his groove his is mostly content to sit and observe, but his favorite is to be carried on my hip all the live long day. No matter how engrossed he is at pulling the wipes out of the package, when he sees a care provider, he will flap and kick and and rock and screech till his demands are met. He tries to keep the conversation riveting, but his linguistic skills fall closer to that of a cute kola bear.

He's pretty much the best. Usually. And if any other Miller kids are reading this...you're the best to. ;)

PS: Yes, he really is still mostly bald and his sumo physique comes from large quantities of peanut butter and copious amounts of shredded chicken.

And now Rad:

The other night Jake randomly said, "I don't know why, but Rad is just extra endearing to me right now." And I had to agree. But!! He's also that crazyhorse age that can drive you insane with all of the demands and strong opinions that he still can't quite fully articulate. Yet somehow despite his always dirty hands and his myriad of hourly frustrating moments...our ginormous three year old spitfire still manages to make a mother laugh. And a father too, of course.

Rad's language has vastly improved past the monosyllabic grunts of a few months ago. When he get's really into a story he wants to share, his native tongue of whisper-to-yell-back-to-whisper-jibberish still makes an apperance from time to time and his pronunciation can still hard to follow for those who don't spend 24 hours a day with him. But! Definitely more and more he is clearer and clearer and says full thoughts and ideas that make me want to hug him indefinitely. Although I would like to think his rapid progress is because of my aptitude as a tiger mom, but really the credit goes to Rad starting to go to play school two mornings a week. His little squad of fellow three year olds have really helped him express his fine self.

 A few more details about sweet Rad.

- He sings every hymn at church with gusto. And by sing I mean belt out "Hmmmms!" and "Oooooo!" and "NAAAAHHHH!" in a incredibly nasal pitch. Thankfully we are always late so we end up sitting in the very very back with everyone else with young crazies.

- He can't live with or without Rhett as evidenced by their hourly fights and eventual but inevitable makeups.

- When I tell Rad I love him he responds "I wuve you too momma" with such sincerity that I can't even handle it. It just might be his most endearing quality to date.

And lastly Rhett:

- An exciting development is that Rhett has become a serious lover of the written word. He pours over passages of the books we bring home from the library. He often reads out loud, which is a combo of the actual words he knows on the page and his own literary interpretation. His favorite books are any kids encyclopedia versions of animals facts. Nothing screams bedtime story like everything you could ever want to know about Anacondas.

- He has started calling me "mommycakes" when it becomes blatantly obvious he has crossed one too many lines. Like the other morning when he grabbed my upper arm and said "Well someone's arm is getting cute and chubby!" We do tell Beck that...but I'm not Beck.

- I count on Rhett maybe more than I should for his age to help with his younger brothers, but he is a true baby whisperer and loves to be "in charge". He says things like, "Now, don't get carried away!" to Rad when he starts splashing like a lunatic in the bath. He furrows his brow and gets all up in Beck's face and asks, "What's wrong, Beckster?" when Beck cries/whines and with Rad he sets up elaborate toy scenerios with him that Rad plays with all afternoon when Rhett's at school.

- He declares most fun situations (like swimming in the backyard plastic pool) to be, "the best day of my LIFE!!!" and is a total night owl and would happily stay up till midnight nightly if we let him.

And one more...Ben, the puppy, the saint.

I'm not sure if Ben enjoys the boys antics as much as they love him, but I'm loving the little surrogate sibling role that Ben selflessly plays on a daily basis. I owe him hugely.

Ben is my constant shadow. He follows me all day with complete devotion. He's a smart little fire cracker and has learned to come, sit, lay down and stay. He's a tug of war enthusiast and doesn't run. He prances. Remind me to get a video.

And I'm done. Next week they'll all be a little bit different than they were before and that one kid's crazy habit that drove the parental units insane will probably fade out of our memory banks forever just as another happy habit surfaces. ;)