Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Red-letter Day

Miles loves trains. He
points out the tank cars, hopper cars, and "hmoke" in train picture books,
spends hours laying on the floor moving his engine, car, and caboose along their tracks,
knows where to spot train bridges when we drive down the freeway,
watches library DVDs about trains,
asks me to sing train songs (I know 3 and will make up more on request),
asks me to build trains in the sand and draw them on the sidewalk, and
rides TRAX and goes with Alvin to watch freight trains.

I get the biggest kick when Miles asks to color. That means he wants to hand me markers and tell me to draw the engine, cars, wheels, "cup-lahs" (couplers), and caboose. Then he carries the completed illustration around - in the car, to bed, next to his plate at the table.

How can we help but feed his fascination by finding iPod apps with trains, taking him to play with the train toys at Grandma's house, and ...
visiting Golden Spike National Historic Site? The two-hour drive was worth it - he saw two old steam engines coming down the tracks, whistling, clanging their bells, and puffing steam and smoke.
Miles clings to his souvenir postcards, and he even found a page in a library book featuring one of the trains we saw. He points it out with great pride.
On the way home from Promontory Point, we stopped at the International Peace Gardens at Jordan Park. Miles found a little house just his size in the Swiss garden, and he wasted no time hopping around plants and bushes to make his way up the little stairs.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

You'll Never Know, Dear . . .

Alvin has been putting Miles to bed lately. Lucky Miles gets a good long bedtime routine:


  • brush teeth
  • practice sitting on the potty
  • diaper and jammies on
  • story
  • recite the First Article of Faith
  • prayer
  • song

Miles asked Alvin to sing the train song, which Alvin doesn't know, so he made one up: You Are My Sunshine with a few key words like train, coming down the tracks, and honk. I love listening to Alvin improvise! This is the best part of my day.

Last night, Alvin went to the grocery store to pick up some things for his Ragnar Relay this weekend. (Good luck on those 15 uphill miles!) So I put Miles to bed. When it came time to sing a song, I told him I'd sing the train song. He asked for something, and had to repeat it four or five times before I finally understood: "Train Sunshine." He wanted me to sing Alvin's Train Sunshine song! I had a great time trying to make up my own version.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Spring Recap

April 29: We drove to St. George and Las Vegas. Here's a clip of the Bellagio fountains.





May 7: My sister got married. She had a 40's-themed reception with an ice cream bar, photo booth, and bridesmaids in period dresses.

Once Miles discovered the old loader parked outside, not even the ice cream could bring him back in to the reception.

May 18: Went outside on a sunny day to enjoy the Royal Farms pond and ate dinner at a park.

Will he go for it?

Of course!


May 28: Alvin's BYU roommate Logan was in town with his family. Brennan, 2 1/2, and Miles hit it off immediately. We went on a 2 year old-paced hike in Ferguson Canyon.