Milo Firsts, November 27 206

Hey there. Howzitgoing? Its been awhile. Did you start to think I'd never return?

To state the obvious, I've not been "engaged" in this blog for some time now. Its been, what, several years since I lost posted? I haven't been writing much at all, but when I have, its been on the subject of religion on my other blog reconstructionofdisbelief.blogspot.com. Instead of writing, I've been engaged in the business of taking care of a house, chickens (no longer around), a baby, and a wife. I've also just become increasingly lazy, uninspired, worn out or all of the above.

I won't waste much more time to get to my point. The purpose of this blog will now be to record fun events and "firsts" in the life of Milo Sebastian Travis, my son (it still seems weird to think of myself as a father with a son).

Today, Milo, Jennifer, and I went to Jump Time in Meridian for the first time. (see how this works). This is an indoor trampoline/jumphouse/foam block/playground/party house type o' place. It has a big kid section and a Jump Time Jr room for youngsters under four feet tall.

We all had a good time. Milo walked across the small trampolines-he had quite a bounce in his step. He threw a ball from trampoline to trampoline, and through it to me a few times. Next, we took Milo to a big bouncy house. He enjoyed playing with us through the net windows. We also encouraged him to go up an inflatable stair and down the corresponding inflatable slide. Jennifer ended up just going up with him and taking him down. He wasn't as outgoing as he usually is, in part I think because it was a new place with big kids around, but he gradually warmed up to the experience. We took him to a foam pit and I through him in several times. I also had him hang onto my fingers and dangle over the foam pit, then drop. I think he really started enjoying it. He played in a plastic tree and a kiddy fort. And that's about it. We were there for an hour and a half or so.

Milo just turned 15 months, and he's a pretty talented guy when it comes to doing anything physical. He was energetic in the womb and has been a go-getter ever since he came out into the world. So, Jennifer and I have tried to tap into that energy and encourage his progress as much as possible. Once a week he goes to a "gymnastics" class at the Little Gym near Eagle. He runs circles around most of the other tikes.

He's been slow to vocalize, though, which does not surprise me considering all of his energy is going to being, well, energetic. A few days ago he started howling like a wolf and growling like a tiger. A couple of months ago he moo'ed like a cow for the first time. He also pants like a dog.

He has excellent comprehension-he seems to understand most of what we ask of him. He's good at pointing out different things in his picture books. Not perfect, but good. He doesn't have colors down yet, and like I said, he's not really using any actual words to communicate, though he we babble and make "silly sounds (on suggestion)."

Ok-here you have it. A quick update and a first "first" post.