Feelin’ Sporty

Miles is on a winning streak. His preferred team is unbeaten in every sporting event he’s attended so far. For sports fans keeping track at home, here’s the rundown:

Yale-Harvard ice hockey (Miles’ first sporting event and first overnight trip, which prompted this hilarious post from my wife) – 6-3 (Feb. 6, 2010)

Mets-Astros at Citi Field – 5-1 (Aug. 29, 2010)

Yale-Georgetown football – 40-35 (Sept. 18, 2010)

Stanford-Virginia Tech football at the Orange Bowl – 42-12 (Jan. 4, 2011)

Yale-St. Lawrence ice hockey – 4-1 (Jan. 22, 2011)

Yale-St. Lawrence game.

This weekend’s trip also offered the opportunity to play in a couple of feet of untouched snow in Lindsay’s backyard.

Bundling up.

Let’s just say Miles was unimpressed. Sledding on the “hill” prompted a whimper, and when I set him down in the snow he leaned back on my leg to secure his perch. We weren’t going anywhere. Apparently for now Miles prefers the view from the sideline.

I'm only doing this to make you happy, mom.

How am I supposed to move in this outfit?

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Sweet Home Tennessee

I know Christmas seems like centuries ago to everyone else; you’re probably already making reservations for Valentine’s Day dinner and planning your St. Paddy’s pub crawl.  But we’re on Baby Time over here, and it’s finally time to post some photos from our holidays.

We spent Christmas with family in Tennessee — specifically Miles’ Nana, Pah, Aunt Heather, Uncle Benji and cousins Evan and Cash.  I haven’t spent many Christmases in the last decade with my dad, so being there was especially sweet for me.   Miles was instantly at home.  And why wouldn’t he be?  He was surrounded by loving adults, a kid-sized electric train, a bajillion toys, and two very entertaining and exuberant cousins.  He greeted every day with a smile and played until he dropped in exhaustion.   Somewhere in there, he opened presents, walked in falling snow on Christmas, rode on a golf cart, chased an electric train and ate 5,902 graham crackers.

Toward the end of the trip, up on a forested hill, my father and Miles and I saw a herd of deer. Just a quick glimpse, and then their tufted tails vanished with swift silence until it was hard to say for sure that they had been there.  We stared into the variegated brown of the trees, searching.  Returning to the house, my dad and I jabbered, trying to capture the excitement for everyone else.  “Miles saw deer!” we exclaimed.  “There were six or eight of them!  Really!”  The vision was fading already as we described where they had been and how we had watched them go. 

Describing an instant of vanishing beauty.  That’s kind of what parenting Miles, and then writing about it, is like.

Choo choo!

 

Cash's famous smile.

 

Chicken wings at the Christmas Eve potluck.

 

Booty.

 

Doing puzzles with Uncle Benji.

 

A matching set.

 

White Christmas.

 

Cousin rodeo. Yeehaw!

 

Chillin' with Pah.

 

Playing chase with Evan.

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Orange You a Super Fan

Miles has officially attained college football fan status. When? Where? How? He’s only 15 months old, you might say. Trust me when I tell you the kid has this drill down pat.

On New Year’s Day we flew to Miami, where we met up with a handful of my college friends and their families to watch my beloved Stanford Cardinal play in the Orange Bowl. In our first 24 hours, we ate Cuban food, watched Miles and his pal Diego play, enjoyed the warm weather, and headed to South Beach for a pep rally and dinner with the whole gang. (Shout out to Clem: “Say Ay-Yo!”)

Hangin' with D.

We had decided to take Miles to the game despite the late start time, figuring we could survive the repercussions from one night of lost sleep to bring him to an event I was so excited to attend. The alternative would have been for Melissa to stay at the hotel by herself; plus several other wonderful kids (Jenna, Maya and Diego) would be at the game as well.

Getting love from Jenna at South Beach.

Six hours of tailgating (thanks to Becky, Kelly and Katrina for the delicious spread), $100 worth of souvenirs and a whole lot of fun with buckets later, we headed into the stadium. We figured Miles would sleep through some of the game, and we used ear plugs to reduce the noise. But the kid didn’t miss a play. This secretly thrilled me.

Putting his game face on.

The long explanation for why I wanted to take Miles to the game has a lot to do with shared experiences with family and friends, childhood memories of games in the front yard or the driveway, and a whole lot of other ramblings that only sports fans really care about and which are too long for blog posts.

The gang.

The short version is this: Halfway through the first quarter, when Stanford broke through the middle for a 60-yard touchdown run, I started jumping up and down and yelling. Suddenly remembering that Miles was strapped to my chest, I looked down to make sure he was OK. He met my gaze with a huge, toothy smile. Without even understanding what was happening, he was having as much fun as I was. I got weepy-eyed.

Go Stanford!

Miles seemed to enjoy the rest of the night too, including the fireworks, the french fries and the band. He actually seemed to be paying attention to the game at times, and Stanford got the huge win, leaving our whole crew in a celebratory mood.

Staying focused on the game.

On our way out of the stadium, a woman who must have sat near us declared, “He was an angel. It’s amazing how he lasted the whole game.” Thanks, lady. Of course, that’s what we expect from a true fan.

I'm beat.

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Miles Was Here

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