2 Months Young

Miles turned 2 months old today. We foolishly marked the occasion by allowing our pediatrician to administer a whole slew of vaccinations to our poor little boy.

Miles was much braver in response to the onslaught of needles than his papa would have been, but he wrestled with general pain and a slight fever the rest of the day. We now understand why cake, candles, and presents are a better tradition for such milestones.



As a disclaimer, this cake was not for our Miles, bit it's nice to know that another Miles enjoyed such a cool cake on his 15th birthday, or Quinceañera.

For those keeping track of such things, Miles now weighs in at 12 pounds with a height of nearly 24 inches. We're quite proud.

The big event of the last three weeks was Brothers' Night, a long-standing tradition for Peter and his three brothers to get together for a few days of poker and brotherly banter.



We're somewhat tethered to Santa Monica until Miles gets a little bigger, so we played host this year. As a result, Dave again won the prize for longest distance traveled, blazing a path from London to LA for Posh and Becks.

Here is Uncle Dave making Miles looking extremely small.



After seeing Uncle Dave's shaved head for the first time, Miles mistakenly thought that Dave was also a baby, albeit a gigantic one.

Miles also appreciated the teddy bear that Dave brought from a magical place called Harrod's. The resemblance of bear and baby is uncanny.



If you read the most recent NorCalAllens' post [see link to right], which we highly recommend for its visual and poetic superiority to our sham of a blog, you learn that the "climax of the annual Brother's event is a poker game, the winner of which gets to take home the ancient silver chalice, Little Momo."

Here is Miles' cousin Daphne meeting Little Momo for the first time.



A key piece of information missing from the NorCalAllens' blog is that Little Momo will spend at least a year in Santa Monica after Peter and his Full House pictured above proved that playing at home certainly has its advantages.

When we were not preoccupied with poker, we explored Santa Monica despite some chilly temperatures, which actually produced a freak snowfall in Malibu.

All of our guests gave us a great excuse to ride the Ferris Wheel. Here is Uncle Fred, Jill, and Miles enjoying one of the nicest views in Santa Monica.



Uncle Dave and Peter then explored some alternative modes of transportation.



After hearing Dave's story about how he started his successful career in finance by driving a cab in Boston, we decided to rent a few bikes and tour the strand along the beach.

Here is Uncle Dave and Uncle Fred biking to their hearts content.



Our bike ride through Santa Monica and Venice gave us an opportunity to see some good friends.



Back on the Santa Monica Pier, a friendly seven-foot shrimp stood in for brother Ben until he arrived the next day.



Our full day at the beach was capped by a nice dinner at The Lobster, which Miles enjoyed as his first dinner out at a restaurant.



The next morning the NorCalAllens arrived from Berkeley. Here is Uncle Ben, Aunt Cortney, and cousin Daphne with Miles.



The cousins then spent some quality time together comparing notes about the trials and tribulations of babyhood in a postmodern post-industrial age.



We later introduced Daphne to a favorite hangout, Wahoo's Fish Taco.



Daphne offered enthusiastic marks for the restaurant, awarding Wahoo's her patented spoon up and fist in the mouth.

We must also mention that Dave deserves special recognition for his near mastery of darts as demonstrated at Ye Olde King's Head over the weekend.



So that's all for now.

Our plan is to follow the capable lead of the NorCalAllens and post once a month, on or around the 22nd, in honor of Miles' monthiversaries.

Bonus supplement posts will be added if pictures are just too cute not to share.

In the meantime, here are two final photos of Miles to tide you over until our next post.