final stretch: holidaze

Yesterday we finally got some time to just chill out. No events. No plans. Just playing and enjoying each other. Miles loves his new toys. He loves whatever his father and I have in our hands even more. It's very exciting to watch the gears turning and watch him figuring things out and becoming excited and inspired.

New Year's Day we did our traditional feast--about 40 people came out to eat good food (all prepared by Guy with a bit of help from me and various friends), play music and start the year with some lovely energy. The coolest part was watching Miles.

Let me back up for a minute. We spent New Year's Eve as a family doing First Night. We popped Miles in his jester's hat, I put him in the baby Bjorn front carrier and off we went.

Columbia has a great celebration.The downtown area has all kinds of performances and activities going on and people float from place to place.This year one of the big attractions was St. Louis Osuwa Taiko. Wow. We took Miles and he LOVED it. He squealed and clapped his hands and moved around. It was very, very cool watching him watching them. At one point, he got a bit fussy, got tired, nursed and snoozed.

We ran into a very old, dear friend and finally introduced she and her partner to our little man. They were out with their puppies and Miles got to meet all three friendly pooches who loved up on him. He squealed more and had a fine time. Our dogs tend to be more cautious with him so having dogs so friendly delighted him to no end.

We trekked around more, saw lots of people, then ended up at Courthouse Square for a final Taiko performance and fireworks at midnight. We almost made it to midnight, but Miles got fussy, so we went back to the car, snuggled up, he nursed, and we watched the fireworks.

So, New Year's Day brings all kinds of folks to the house from the various parts of our lives. Miles, social creature that he is, charmed the daylights out of many of the guests. He didn't seem to meet a stranger and enjoyed the company of many folks who fed, carried, played with and otherwise entertained him.

Then, Aunt Toria took him in to see the big marching band bass drum. It mostly hangs out, unused, in our big music/junk room. I cleared out the biggest section of the room so folks could bring in drums, guitars, banjos, etc. Toria handed him the big mallet and he was playing in no time. (Folks photographed it and I'll upload to the baby blog when I have photos.) Amazing.

He danced, layed in the floor making sounds with his dad, flew, met another tiny baby (Jackson) and seemed highly intrigued and got to hang out with his Aunt Kas.

What a lucky bunch we are...Miles is healthy, happy and so easy. We're surrounded by good friends, music, lots of love, support...and we set the tone for 2006 with a great community in our house and welcoming our son into the world.

Blessed be.