Sleeping: Nick does Milo's evening routine completely now (up until a few months after Henry was born, Nick got him bathed and dressed and I read the stories). So usually it's a bath with Nick for both boys around 6:45, then I take Henry and Nick takes Milo. It's a good 45 minutes of getting into pyjamas (or 'bed clothes' as Milo calls them) and story reading/telling. At the moment it's pretty much all Ben 10 related and Nick is reading the same mini-bios about the characters over and over - and then having to make up his own story after lights out about the Ben 10 universe (which sometimes intermingles with the Star Wars/Scooby Doo/Octonauts universe) as Milo insists on one last story. Sometimes he goes straight to sleep, sometimes he gets up once or twice for the toilet/one more story and every so often he gets up 3/4/5 times before he finally goes to sleep. He usually wakes between 5 and 6am - which is generally later than Henry so not really a problem. We had a great few weeks recently where we were regularly getting 6-7am wake ups, but that seems to have passed. He rarely wakes during the night unless he is not well.
Eating: Favourite foods are olives, parma ham/prosciutto, cheese, mushrooms, pasta, popcorn, grapes, yoghurt/fromage frais, raisins. As indicated by his favourite foods, he doesn't really have a sweet tooth so while he enjoys cakes, biscuits, chocolate etc., he's not really fussed about having them. I wouldn't say he's fussy but sometimes he's not interested in food so will turn down whatever you try to give him. Breakfast is usually toast, sometimes pancakes, sometimes eggs (omelette). Until recently his favourite snacks were pouches but he's not had them so much recently. Perhaps his favourite thing of all is hot milk in a sippy cup which he has for breakfast and dinner (and lunch on weekends).
Playing: Milo is very into Ben 10 at the moment which is not particularly age-appropriate but he is committed. It started with his friend, Tomas, at nursery and now I think all the kids (well, the boys at least) in the pre-school room are all Ben 10 mad (even though I don't think any of them had actually ever watched the programme). We got him a Ben 10 'watch' for Christmas (actually the Ultimatrix) and now Nick has been finding all the mini-figures, like this one, Azmuth -
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| Milo took this picture of the Upchuck mini-figure. |
I've been in licensing for 10 years and yet until I experienced this with my own child, I never understood how much kids buy into licensed properties. Milo claims all the following as his 'favourites' so, in no particular order, he loves (in addition to Ben 10), Star Wars (Nick somewhat responsible for that one), the Octonauts, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, Scooby Doo, Toy Story, Charlie & Lola, The Wiggles, Chuggington, Rastamouse, Spiderman, Yo Gabba Gabba, Peppa Pig... Not forgetting The Beatles - although not quite as much as he used to.
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| Spiderman |
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| Reading the CBeebies magazine |
He loves puzzles and is quite good at them, being able to complete (with some guidance) quite large and difficult puzzles (like the 100-piece Yellow Submarine puzzle below). He loves books and Lego (although Lego has waned a bit recently). However most of his imaginative play at home is based around mini-figures.
I wanted to take some video of Milo to include in the update and it was intended to be more of a general chat however Milo was keen to so more of a Ben 10 product review (he's been watching them on YouTube). Here's part 1 -
and part 2 -
Other: Milo is really enjoying Little Gym at the moment. He loves TV and the iPad and these probably feature a little too much in his daily life. We need to work on that. He still travels mostly in the pram and isn't too interested in walking unless one of his friends is walking too. His thought processes are getting increasingly complex and he can negotiate: this is an exchange between Nick and Milo when we were getting ready to go to nursery the other day:
Nick: Please hop in the pram, Milo.
Milo: No, carry me.
Nick: No, I can't carry you, I have to carry my bag and push the pram.
Milo: Mummy can push the pram.
Nick: But I still have to carry my bag.
Milo: Put your bag in my seat and carry me.
Result: Milo 1 - Nick 0
Favourite things: He tells us (usually at quite random times, like when he's on the toilet...) 'I love you, Daddy/Mummy' and 'You're my best friend'. Just awesome.
