Miles turns 8!

What a blessing it is to celebrate another birthday!  Raising Miles has honestly been a treat.  We kicked off the celebration a few days early with a pool party.  It was a sweet group of friends who have been in Miles’ life for many years.  I love watching them grow up together!

Ezra, Hampton, Miles, and Hazel

On Miles’ actual birthday, the family came over for dinner.  His birthday menu: blueberry scones (breakfast), grilled cheese (lunch), and refried beans tacos (dinner).  In case you haven’t noticed, blueberry scones are the breakfast of choice for every special occasion around here!

Miles requested a German chocolate cake with a musical theme.  I think we nailed it!

Miles told me first thing in the morning that he wanted Caleb to help him open his presents.

Miles’ birthday gifts were classic eight year old boy (Nerf guns, joke books, a high-powered flashlight) and also classic Miles (bowties and a Bluetooth speaker)!

It is so fun to look back and see the traits that continue to dominate Miles’ personality.  Children are who are they are from the beginning.  I wrote this post when he was 3 1/2 years old, and the description could be copy and pasted into this post today (this one, too!).  And he is still a Melter, especially when he has lost something.  (This is a regular occurrence.) 

Miles’ love of music and the dream of performing in a band continue to grow.  Although Miles does not always enjoy the discipline of practicing the piano (He would rather create his own music, thank you very much.), he is making real progress.  We are adding in drum lessons this year, and I am exploring options for him to practice with a band as he gets older.  He has been to the orchestra several times and sees our worship leaders at church, but last night he saw a real rock concert for the first time.  Talk about adding gasoline to a fire that already burns deep within him!  Watching his face during the performance was pure joy.  (You can get an idea of what we saw here.)

 

  

Miles is definitely our most sensitive child, still very attuned to the feelings of others and expressive about his own.  That meant that outwardly at least, he took my dad’s death the hardest.  He refers to my dad frequently, asks lots and lots of questions about the fire, and went through several months of intense fear about heat/steam/smoke.  It was hard to watch him become truly terrified every time I cooked.  After months of patiently reassuring him and explaining the science behind what he was seeing in the kitchen, the fears have dissipated for the most part. 

A new skill that is emerging makes Paul especially proud.  Miles feels quite comfortable exploring all of the settings on his electronic devices.  A few months ago, he somehow managed to connect  to our Alexa Dot via Bluetooth though his Kindle Fire, exposing a loophole of which even Amazon was unaware!  We have quite a few old computers in our garage (ahem), and Miles’ new hobby is trying to get them up and running again.  He’ll often complain of “broken servers” and all of the work he’s doing to repair them.  Wonder where he learned that language?  After enough conversations where we warned him that very few musicians support themselves through music alone, he has consented that IT work might be the perfect day job for him.

And now simply a taste of the fantastic observations and expressions that Miles provided this past year!

~  "When someone is getting a spanking, I feel the desire to defend them."

~  Studying my face: "I can tell you are getting older."

~  Looking in the mirror after a haircut: "I look even smarter than I did before!"

~  "I sure am glad I'm smart. I know I am smart because I am good at lots of things!"

~  Miles:  "I saw an ant in the bathroom. But don't worry! I killed it with a toothbrush."
    Me: “What?!  Whose toothbrush?”
    Miles:  "It doesn't matter whose it was because I wiped it off."

~  While cleaning his room: "Mama, I feel like I am working like a SLAVE."

~  "You know what I hate? When you tell me what to do!"

~  “I am really quiet in most of my classes. I think it must be allergies.”

~  Miles to me after I told him he could do a better job making his bed: “How did God make women to grow up and be so responsible? Maybe you could be a little less responsible!”

~  “I cannot believe that even though adults’ brains are very big, they forget things so quickly!”

~  After being asked to help Abby with something:  “No, I am not a good teacher. I am more of a ‘I want to do it myself’ person.”

~  “I don’t want to, but I’ll do it because you told me to.”

~  Miles: "I can't believe we're going to see an Asian in our house this morning!"
    Me: “No, no. I said ‘agent.’  An insurance AGENT is coming this morning."

~  “I have so many loose teeth! How will I ever have time to wiggle them all?”

~  To the garage door repairman: “I’m the musician of this family!”

~  “My pajama pants feel really loose. Oh! I know why. I’m not wearing any underwear!”

After the outdoor concert, Miles told me he made a wish on the first star he saw.  I asked him what the wish was, and he said very sincerely, “That God would lead me on the path that’s right for me.”  Yep.  That’s our prayer, too.