Max as Oliver Twist

I just want to start this post by saying, "Aagh. It's hard to live in a house with a noisy basement as night." For some reason our basement has been so noisy lately. It's probably just me though the critters do not help the situation - especially when my pirate cat runs up and down the stairs with his peg leg. =) Anyhow, said noises woke me up from a creepy crawly dream and come to think of it, that's not all bad. I dreamed that bugs were crawling all over me and now I can't shake the feeling even though I'm awake. It's those darn ANTS!

As long as I'm up I thought I'd share some photos of the little man and his quest for M&Ms.

Max had melty M&Ms this weekend and he LOVED them! He got so excited and kept asking for more. Finally, after 20 or so, I said no. At first this confused him and he looked at me like I had not heard him and then said again, "Mohr?" This is Max immediately post "Mohr?"



After another no he gave me his ol' but I'm so cute and they are so good look.



Then he seemed to think about it for a bit.



After a couple seconds there came a "Can I have some more please?" plea and he looked as if he might suddenly become the saddest boy in the whole wide world.



Then he just couldn't help himself and started giggling. Here's a sweet smile at some point in the giggles.



Finally, he decided it wasn't going to happen and proceeded to wipe his chocolately, melty M&M face all over the bed. I didn't get it on film as he'd opted for the whole let's see what happens if I give her a kiss and smear melty M&Ms all over her face move after that. He's a smart little bugger and darn adorable, too.

A Fun and Busy Day

What a great day! The only thing missing was Dan. He is in an undisclosed location for work and we missed him but we had so much fun on our first hot day of the year!

He did get a bit of a farmer's tan. Here's a peek:



Things Max learned today:

1. Max *hearts* M&Ms.
2. Max will do just about anything for an M&M.
3. Havers is part racoon and can slip through a 3 inch opening in the fence.
4. Toast and Jelly is good as long as you can wipe the jelly on your shirt and pants.
5. People will bargain you down from a quarter to a dime at a yard sale.
6. Max *hearts* nacho cheese flavored doritos almost as much as M&Ms.
7. Sunscreen is important for pale people like us.
8. Don't stop playing with your stuff 'cuz someone will steal it and sell it.
9. People love to hear Max's impressions of an elephant and a bird.
10. Anita delivers our mail and she is super nice.

Fun at the Front Door

Max is a busy boy! He goes a mile a minute and is very curious. He loves to explore and has become quite playful. It's really fun for the rest of us.

Dan is out of town and I took forever getting us ready to get out the door and on our evening walk. Two months ago this would have been so hard for Max but now he's more independent and able to explore a little on his own. He spent a good 5 minutes trying to put the car key in the front door lock. It was really amazing to watch. He was so focused and knew just where the key went into the door lock. He just wandered over to the "key table", picked up the key and tried to put it in the door. I was impressed by that but even more impressed by his determination to get the key in the lock despite the fact that it was a little too high AND his ability to keep calm even though it was the wrong key.



This is one of the reasons it takes me forever to get out of the house or get stuff done in the house. I can't help but watch him. I don't want to miss a minute and it all happens so fast. I guess I wouldn't mind missing a couple of the tantrums. I'll trust Dan's recap on those. =)

One of his favorite things to do right now is play window games. He's on one side and someone else is on the other. Once he knew I was watching him he stopped playing with the key and started making all these great faces. He smushed his face right up on the glass and had a ball. You should have heard his giggles coming through the door. Such a sweet sound. This, of course, is a reenactment a few minutes later but he's still having a blast.



He absolutely loves to hide and have you find him. His favorite spots are the bedroom closet, the blue bathroom shower and any closet/doorway. This evening he decided to try the front door. Turns out it's a pretty good hiding spot but not quite enough room for a growing boy.



You found me!


Let's do it again.


You found me again! How do you do that?


Look at that face.


Hoover did not want to be left out of the action. She was nosing her way into the door and I managed to get a couple of good pictures before Max decided it was his spot and tried to push her back. Methinks it will not be long until we begin to hear, "MINE" chirped over and over.

1st School Photo

Max's first school photo was the Friday before Easter - right after his haircut. He did a great job and loved playing with the GIANT crayon. Pretty cute, don't ya think?

Goose Egg

Poor Max! He had a hard day on Wednesday (April 22). He took two big falls at daycare and they were within a couple hours of each other. The serious bummer is that he hit the same spot on his head each time.



We were pretty concerned but he seems to be fine. That was quite a knot on his forehead! It's finally going down and the bruise seems to be coming in now. Auntie Bex offered to bubble wrap him. That might not be such a bad idea!

Crazy Hair Day

Today is crazy hair day at Max's school. We gelled up his hair pretty good. At first he wasn't too keen on the idea but once we had him look in the mirror he thought it was pretty funny and offered his head for more.

Maybe next year we can put some color in and get a really good stick 'em up hair product.

Pretty cute guy! I also love Dan's expression.

It's My Haircut and I'll Cry If I Want To

Nax finally got a real offical haircut! It goes without saying that he LOVED it. Hahahaha. Good to see I haven't lost my humor even after 35 minutes of crying, squirming and general death wailing.

Technically, Max did have a haircut a few months ago. I managed to shear a few of his longest locks while he was sleeping. Yes - sleeping. We had tried to cut his hair while he was awake and it was not pretty. We opted to forgo the haircut and give him a trim while he was racked out. The cut was a little jagged but it worked for a few months. As Easter approached, I realized that I had to suck it up and take him for a do.

Where to go? Where to go? A couple gals at work suggested the barber shop up the street - Gentlemen's Choice. I NEVER would have gone here on my own or even thought they cut kids hair so I'm really glad for the suggestion. I only wish I had a photo of the exterior to share with you. You'd see what I mean.

Anyhow, I scheduled the appointment for the Friday before Easter. It was picture day at school so the timing ended up being pretty good. I also really wanted to get his haircut before he saw his Auntie Bex at Easter.

I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. I should add that the woman was AWESOME and very patient. She even tried giving Foxy a haircut. Max thought that was hilarious but it did nothing to endear him to his own haircut experience. The barber working the chair next to us was pretty great, too. They didn't bat an eyelash at all that hollerin'. Thanks to my mom for taking all of the action photos.




He was squiggling so much that I finally had to pin him in my arms. That worked for about 1 minute of calm and then the storm hit again.




As you can see we tried bribing him with cookies and while he held on to said cookie with a death grip, it did not distract him from his misery.





Suddenly, we're all done. The brush was more interesting than the scissors but still not something Max was interested in.


Finally, Grandma Christie rescued me. Whew!



Mama forgot to bring a second shirt to change into. He was bare chested at the end.



One thing I failed to catch on film is the charm of the barbershop. Taxidermy all around. Two bucks in the waiting room. Max was really interested in those handsome fellas. There was a squirrel jumping off the wall while smoking a cigarette above the chair Max was sitting in. I'd say there was a pretty decent man-room vibe going on.

Shoot! I forgot to bring his certificate to scan. Ah well. Thank goodness we made it through the experience. Let's hope his hair grows really slowly!

First Swim

Whew! It's been such a long time since I posted. We've had a very busy 5 weeks and I can't begin to get caught up on just one post. I'll start with an easy one...Max's 1st swim.

We met up with the Zander Clan in Pittsburgh for Easter Weekend. We had a great visit with everyone and I'll tell ya all about it later. We've been meaning to get Max in the water for quite some time but it hasn't worked out. Dan was determined that he'd at least get him in the pool while we were on our Easter trip. We woke up bright and early Saturday mornig. (Gosh, what a surprise.) We headed right down to the pool. Dan in his swimsuit and me with camera in hand.

Max spent most of his swim sitting on the top step and that wasn't an instant success. Thank goodness for the kid-friendly life guard who handed us a little fish for Max to play with. It was just what he needed. He chewed on his fish and wiggled it in the water.



After a while he felt like splashing a little and then he let Dan take him for a little swim. He floats surprisingly well for a little guy that seems to have 0 body fat. At first he seemed to enjoy his swim.



Then he wasn't so sure.



But by the end he seemed ready to go again. This is his facial expression when we asked if he wanted to swim again. If you don't spend a lot of time with him you probably wouldn't know that he is actually saying "Yah!" in his photo.



We'll have to get him back in the water again soon. Looks like I might need to get a bathing suit. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!