“Hire-Hurks”

Although we decided against the morning craziness of downtown DC, we did venture out at around 5pm to check out the music and the National Mall madness. We went with the intentions of staying for a couple of hours and seeing how Milo handled the crowds and the late night… and decided last minute to stay for the fireworks! It was amazing, beautiful, and so much fun to see the delight on Milo’s face as he watched for the very first time a real fireworks show. He kept saying “Whoa! Hire-hurks! Look at that one! Swimmin’ away, dawg!”

Long before the festivities began, though, Milo, Andrew, and I set up camp in front of the Washington Monument to enjoy the unseasonably cool weather and people-watching. Milo made friends with all who surrounded us, young and old alike. He certainly feels the need to inform everyone of his expanding knowledge and vocabulary. He has a constant running commentary on everything he is doing at any given time: “I runnin’,” “I fall down,” “I cartwheel,” “I jump,” “Watch dis,” “Runnin’ around now,” “Look at dis!” along with naming everything he sees, “Look! Airplane sky! Whoa!” or “grass, flower, dirt, Washing Momumempt.” It never ends. He never stops talking! Or moving… here is a video of our pre-fireworks fun and Milo running around with his 4th of July pinwheel:

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And about an hour before fireworks began, aka Milo’s bedtime:

We also got a preview of Milo’s skills with the ladies, which I must say do not need too much work at this point, other than not letting one lady see him flirt with another. Milo gave out numerous flowers to numerous ladies and young girls last night. He would spot his target, choose a clover flower to pick, then present a nice-looking female with the prize, along with a winning smile and simple pick-up line, “hi.” Works every time.  And this kid does not discriminate age-wise, other than the fact that he’s not that into younger women.

Cat and Garriy met up with us later, bringing along some much-needed snack food and company.

As the night drew on, I became a little worried that Milo would be totally freaked out by the sound of the fireworks, so we all prepped him by explaining what would happen. After this, Milo just stared wide-eyed at the Washington Monument in inticipation of the “loud booms.” When they did start, I was pleasantly surprised by Milo’s awe, enthusiasm, and total lack of fear. He LOVED every second of it! And even though it was waaaaaay past his bedtime by the time the display ended, Milo kept asking for “more hire-hurks, peeaaase!” while looking and pointing at the sky. He also talked about the colors and the whole experience the whole metro ride home. As expected, we didn’t get home until past 11:00 because of the crowds, but I think it was totally worth it. Milo has been recovering today with a nice long nap and actually sleeping in past 5:30am. Next year we will have an almost-3-year-old and an almost-1-year old in tow, so I’m not sure we will brave the crowds again, but who knows… it was a pretty good time.

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