Hi Auntie Fari

Max asked us to give a special shout out to his Auntie Fari. He misses her so much and wanted to say hi and show her some of the great stuff he's doing. Mostly, he wanted to say that he loves her and misses her and sends many big, wet, sloppy kisses!


Just pulled up on Daddy's legs. I can take a few steps - with help - now too. Can you believe I'm getting to be such a big boy!

Pestilence

Poor Max. He's been sick for almost a month and a half. I suppose he had about a 4 day break in between illness but it wasn't much. Things seemed to have peaked for him on Thursday. I had scheduled a follow-up doctor's appointment being as he had a hacking cough that sounded as if he'd smoked 3 packs a day for the past 25 years. As fate would have it I got a call from the child care center around 11 on Thursday to come pick up the little guy with a suspected case of pink eye. Yup. Suspicians confirmed and more. Pink eye, ear infection, yeast infection (who knew?) and the persistent cough/runny nose. I snapped a couple of photos in the attempt to convey the misery but none REALLY convey the MISERY. The one below where he actually looks like a zombie comes close. Poor little man.


The zombie tries to break free to do his zombie thing but is thwarted by a quality storm door.


I feel like Max has this whole Elton John thing going in the photo. I may be about to pass out but I'm here for my fans. He *loves* his piano. I wonder if he'll be some sort of musician.


Amazing what one dose of antibiotics and a bath will do for a boy. Isn't he cute with his hair all combed and styled?


These two photos were from yesterday when Max turned 11 months. It's so hard to believe that he's almost a year. Anyhow, he is beginning to really like his sock moneky from Grandma Z. Here he is kissing the monkey and he was so enthusiastic that they both moved about a foot in the process as you can see in the second photo where he is coming up for air. Too funny!



Max early on Saturday morning. He's feeling so much better. Still snotty and coughing but the eyes are better and so, I hope, is the ear infection. As a side note, he has the cutest late 60s, early 70s hair. Very Monkees. Max is very happy because Dan came home for a few days. An unexpected visit and we're thrilled to see him. Max didn't get more than a couple of feet away from Dan for the rest of the day. So sweet.

The Make-out King

It appears that flirting and kissing yourself in the mirror is an actual developmental milestone. Huh! Apparently, this is a social development in the 12 month range. Go figure, our little guy is ahead in making out with himself. Not sure what that says about the future...

To his credit, he is an enthusiastic kisser and he's not just interested in kissing himself. He just loves kissing. He'll kiss just about any thing you hold up to him and say, "Kiss?" or "Boos Boos?" It is actually quite adorable. Now if we can only get him to refine his technique so that it's a little less wet...

Bye Bye Grandma

It's official. Grandma's gone back to Seattle. Max and I took her to the airport on Sunday afternoon. It was wonderful to have Mom for such a long visit. Max will never be the same. He loves, loves, loves his Grandma and they had so very much fun together!



Chubber also loves his Grandma and isn't about to let go of all those great pets without at least trying to go back to Seattle. On Saturday, he said "Take me with you." He was shooed out of the suitcase but wasn't easily deterred.


If I can't go in the checked baggage then you can mail me flat rate.


Mom tried to pull a fast one on Sunday morning. I came in to check my email and there she was just tucking Max in the bag to go carry-on. She can be a sneaky lady...


Saturday was Mom's last full day in town and we did a bunch of running around. We had a photo shoot in the morning to try to get some nice family photos. There seem to be a few good ones. There's an amazing picture of Mom and that on its own makes the whole shoot worth it. After the shoot, we ran a couple errands here and there and did some shopping. By the time we got home, ate and gave a bath, our little Max was the tiredest puppy you ever did see!


Well, maybe Haver's was the tiredst puppy you ever saw.


Mama & Max - Check out my new hair. Short and so much better. I still haven't quite figured out how to style it but I'm still me and that's not going to change any time soon.

The house doesn't exactly seem quiet since it is still our house and Chubber still yowls for food and Havers still clicks around on her toes through the hallway trying to sneak into the back bedroom. However, it is more empty and that's a bit sad. There's no Grandma peeking around the corner. Max now takes a "steam" in the morning while I take a shower. Hoover just wants to go for a walk. Chubber - well, he's just plain lazy and forlorn. He sits there on the edge of Mom's bed and look pitiful. Poor guy.

We're looking forward to our next visit together and to when Grandma Della and Uncle Jefferson come. Great Grandma Della will be here for a whirlwind visit in just a week. We don't know when Jeff is coming but hopefully, it will be soon. Dan will be home sometime in October and hopefully, I'll get a facial or a massage.

The Botanical Garden

On Sunday we all headed in to DC to check out the Botanical Gardens. Max really enjoyed the experience. He was there before on Memorial Day but wasn't really into it. This time around he wanted to look at and touch many things. It's pretty amazing that he will sometimes look up or over when you point. He seems to love trees and flowers. I'm convinced that he makes the same sound every time he points to a tree. I can't exactly tell what the sound is but maybe one day...


Loved touching all the leaves and flowers. Below you can see him playing peek-a-boo with the enormous leaves on this jungle plant. I swear the leaf was almost as big as all of Max!




Max is also starting to have fun with water. He splashes in the bath from time to time and here you can see him splashing in the fountain which is part of the children's exhibit at the Botanical Gardens. He loved dangling his feet in the water and playing with the rubber garden tools. Those feet really started moving for a couple minutes and he got Mama pretty wet.




Here you can see Max all saddled up for one of our evening constitutionals. His arms are longer now and he can grab Dan's hair and shirt. He will also kick Dan with his little feet. Pretty funny.

Rain Rain Go Away

Hurricane Hanna (misspelled by the National Weather Service) has sent some run off up our way. Lots of rain which is kind of a bummer but it's certainly not devestating and so we count our blessings. And speaking of counting blessings, it would be good if we can all send our best thoughts and maybe some money to bring some relief to the hundreds of thousands now homeless in Haiti.

Lots of rain equals indoor fun and Max has been spending the day with both parents, Hoover, Chubber and Grandma. There was fun with the exersaucer...and here you can see one of his newer skills - pointing with the index finger. He doesn't do it all the time and usually only uses his finger when the object is close. Most of the time, he points with his whole hand, but the index finger is getting more regular as a pointing tool.



He seems to be enjoying himself quite a bit.

There is also lots of crawling around, which has only recently morphed into rather amusing games of chase. I must confess that I've been looking forward to this particular game. It's just so much fun to listen to the squeals of delight upon chasing and capture.




He's also having fun playing with Hoover.





Max's most recent fascination is with opening and closing doors. This used to be isolated to the kitchen and dining room but now he seems to be developing a fondness for the bathroom. Go figure.







Loves his Grandma!

ch, cH, CH CHANGES

When you have a kid everyone tells you how fast the time flies and how much they change. How much you'll miss if you even blink an eye and then they are born. That first 6 weeks feels like the movement of glaciers - so slow that you can't believe you'll ever have a minute to do anything but change diapers, feed, clean feeding stuff, change clothes, burp, feed, bath and soothe. You think, "Those people were crazy! What were they talking about?"

Then all of a sudden your little one can hold up their head, smile, laugh, move their arms, sit, crawl and you feel like it's all happening so fast. Now we get it. Seems like Max changes almost every day. Just when you think you've got him figured out. Surprise!

For example, from 7 - 9 and 1/2 months we could barely get him to eat more than 20 ounces a day and usually it was more like 12. Last two weeks - 36 or more ounces a day. 12 ounces in one feeding when he wakes up. A far cry from the 15 - 20 ml that he ate the first 3 days we had him. I remember thinking he was eating so much when he got through 1/2 an ounce let alone 36 of the suckers.


We call this the "Baby Goat".


So full and happy, which you can really see if you click on the photo and blow it up.

Now he's pulling up and taking a few tentative cruising steps on the furniture and a few practice steps when we hold his hands. It is amazing.


Pulling up.


Standing


He loves to stand on our bed in the morning. He also loves to grab things from the top of our headboard. He thinks it's so funny.


Did I mention that he's making phone calls now, too.


He seems so big now!


Very academic, don't you think?

That's all for now. Hopefully, I'll get some more pictures up later this weekend.