100 days old

Miles is one hundred days old today! I only know this because some friends gave us a great book, Baby's First Year Journal; A Day-to-day Guide to Your Baby's Development During the First Twelve Months, that allows us to learn about his progress daily. It is the companion to The Pregnancy Journal; A Day-to-day Guide to a Healthy and Happy Pregnancy (also a very thoughtful gift) that we loved reading each day to learn about what our baby was doing in utero. Now it is fun to know who this person is that we were learning about, and along with the typical baby benchmarks we love to look for all those special things that make him uniquely Miles. He is changing daily and sometimes I just find myself staring at him, waiting to see what he will do next.


Just as quickly as he changes in front of our eyes the world outside is bursting with life and changing too. This is the same Silver Maple branch I photographed on our walk three weeks ago. The buds have exploded, blossomed, and even begun to wilt already. This epic tree is right outside the Blandford School where I spent last year student teaching.

Last week I had the pleasure of working with this years BEEPS (Blandford Environmental Education Program Students). These students spend a very special year learning how to observe and appreciate the wonders of the world around them. We were rewarded with a beautiful treat as we lined up before school last Tuesday. A rare, low flying, solo Sandhill Crane blew past blaring it's distinct woody cackle! If you are not familiar with this sound I suggest you take a listen at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - All About Birds website. I think that Janine Benyus, in her book Northwoods Wildlife, describes this bird perfectly. "The sandhill crane - wildness incarnate - looks and sounds for all the world like a pterodactyl come to life."

The bird we saw flew by way too fast, and I did not have a camera with me, so to capture the event I "borrowed" this photo taken by Sally King from the NPS.gov website.

Wonders like this, and many more, are the kinds of things I hope to share with this little man! Soon his carrot rattle will be replaced by the real thing as we begin our garden here at home. Just as our garden grows, I can't wait to watch him grow before our eyes.

This little person that we love so much will inevitably teach us more than we know. The world he is destined to inherit is sometimes unimaginable to me. He will hear the same call of this ancient crane as it appears on the horizon each spring, and at the same time he will have the awesome ability to recall this sound, no matter the season, on a computer (or phone) whenever he wants to. As much as this technology astounds and bewilders me, occasionally there are moments that I am eternally grateful for it!
Such as moments like this one - when Miles got to meet his "Aunt Vanessa" in South Africa via Skype this weekend. Vanessa was surfing the cool green waves of Muizenberg when Miles was born and has been busy on safari ever since. I must admit it was terribly strange to introduce such a dear friend to our newest family member on a computer screen, but given the distance it was a delightful alternative to the real thing. There was a moment as "V" made silly faces that Miles smiled, and I believe they even made eye contact for a second. I cannot wait for the real thing... when they can hold on to each other and laugh like old friends! Anyone for a reunion in Santa Fe?

By the way - the book that Vanessa gave us on animal guides says that when a crane appears in your life "This is a time of great abundance and plenty, one in which you won't want for anything." I must say this has certainly been true of the last one hundred days with Miles in our lives.