Thursday, November 10, 2011

14 months old

What fun month 14 was!  Max really turned into a little boy and his personality just oozed out.  He's a character for sure!  He's silly and happy and determined and definitely has a touch of mischievousness added in for good measure.  He is all boy, just like his brother, though a lot less cautious than Jack, so he keeps us on our toes.  But his smile...it gets him most everything he wants and he's not afraid to flash it!
He still LOVES balls.  Maybe even more so than before.  It doesn't matter what kind.  If he spots one, he must have it and he must THROW it.  And go get it, and throw it again.  He is fairly good at entertaining himself.  At the moment his 3 favorite things are balls, the dinosaur popper that spits a ball out of his mouth when you squeeze his belly, and the electronic nasal aspirator because it plays music.  Last night he even insisted on taking that to bed with him.  Don't worry, it was clean!  I remember my Grandma telling me that my Uncle Harold went to bed with wires as a child, and he grew up to be an engineer.  Chemical, not electrical, but I guess it's a good thing he didn't get to go to bed with chemicals.  Anyway, perhaps Max will be a doctor...?  Or maybe a musician.  We'll see.  He does love music, just like Jack.  We often have dance parties after dinner.  It's the most fun ever!  Their favorite song is Hot Dog from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Max also LOVES his brother.  And his brother LOVES him.  
It's really crazy to me how much they like each other.  
Max watches every move Jack makes and tries to do it too.  He wants to sit in Jack's chair at the dinner table and eat from Jack's plate.  He usually won't drink his milk, but if you offer Jack's cup, he'll slurp it down.  Jack plays so nicely with him and always just wants to make Max happy.  If Max cries, Jack will tell me what Max needs.  "He just wants a snuggle from you Momma" or "I think he wants a cookie!"  Jack always comes in Max's room just before bed to give Max a kiss goodnight.  I often get teary because it's just that sweet.  Jack will rub his head and tell him night night.   He also likes to sniff Max and say he smells like a chipmunk, but in a sweet way!  And first thing in the morning when Jack gets up, he wants to know where Max is and get to him right away.  Max, you are very very lucky to have a big brother that is always watching out for you.  Two boys I'm sure will pose plenty of parenting challenges, but for now, watching their relationship grow is the most amazing thing we could ever ask for and I'm so very thankful that Max is part of our family.   I'm sure Jack is too!
This month brought a lot of independence for Max.  He's able to reach so many more toys and big enough to pull them out of the bins and baskets.  He's still not using many words, though he did master the use of uh-oh, even though he only says the oh part and it sounds more like owh.  But even without words, it's rare that you don't know what Max wants.  He'll point and squeal until you figure it out and then just grin and grin, like GOOD JOB, you listened so well, Momma!  His teachers also said that he said bye a time or two, but we've yet to hear that one.
He finally got his seat at the big boy table for breakfast.  He's using my old chair for now and it's tough for him to get into by himself, but he loves being able to sit there with Jack.  He even got his own bowl, just like Jack's because he'd wait until Jack turned his head for a minute and swipe Jack's bowl off the table and carry it around.  I'd try and take it back but much screaming would ensue, so we just scoured the internet for another to keep the peace.  

We worked on learning to feed himself with a spoon this month...
and it went well...
There may be room for improvement, but really, it did actually go fairly well.  He definitely needs a bath at the end, but he gets a fair bit of it in his mouth and he's so proud!
I think life settled a bit this month, mostly because Max became more of a kid and less of a baby.  He's able to do most of the things we want to do, with a little modification or assistance so life just seems a little bit easier.  I'm so very thankful for that.  It also helps that he and Jack can play together now, so there are times where we actually get a few minutes of peace after dinner while they giggle away in the other room.


In other record-keeping, sleep was pretty good this month, at least until he got an ear infection.  That made him get up a few times a night, and now, even though his ears are fine, he's kind of in the habit, but I'm sure we'll get back to normal here soon.  We also stopped taking Prevacid and then went back on it.  I'm not sure that was necessary, as his discomfort may have been from his ears...we'll never know.   He's still no fan of milk unless it's in a bottle.  I still let him have a bottle at night, but it needs to stop here soon.  He won't drink anything all day unless it's juice.  He's still in love with fruit but does well with veggies and meat and cheese too.  He's not as picky as Jack was at this age, though he is pickier now than he was just a few months ago, so who knows what the future holds on that front.  
I sure hope it holds lots more smiles and snuggles though...I can't quite get enough!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Halloween

It was a cold and rainy Halloween night here which didn't really make for great trick-or-treating weather at all, but we had fun anyway, and really enjoyed the weekend leading up to Halloween too!



We started off with the school Halloween party on Friday night.  I somehow didn't get a single picture that night, but as usual, it was a lot of fun.  Jack had a ball being with all his friends and playing all the cool games.  There were SO many super heros it was kind of funny.  This summer was "Super Hero Summer" at school, and it clearly stuck as I'd guess over half the kids were dressed up as super heros!  


Saturday it was a quick trip to see the Lion clan in NoVA on Saturday morning.  We didn't get to stay long but it's so hard to plan a good time to go with the little ones when we can stay a while that eventually we just decided to make the trip, if only for a few hours.   The boys did great in the car and we all enjoyed spending some time with them!





That night, Grams and Gramps came over to carve our pumpkins!  Or should I say Grams and Batman came over...
Gramps showed up in a Batman costume!  Jack saw him get out of his car and SQUEALED with delight!  He was so excited!   But it was soon time to get to work.  We had pumpkins that needed carving!  First, we needed a design...

Everyone helped and they sketched out a few designs...



and then Kenny found this...and we were all sure that was the way to go, at least with Jack's pumpkin!
So with that task behind us, it was time to clean out our pumpkins!  I actually kind of enjoy this task.  Jack, does not.

 Max thought the little scooper thing was pretty cool at least.

Now, for the fun part, the carving!  I say fun because I don't have to do it.  Gramps is the master carver around these parts!




 Max's was a little bit simpler, but still very cute with his M mouth.  Spidey turned out really really neat, I thought.  He was a lot of work and I never did get a good picture of him lit up in the dark, but take my word for it, he was cool!
Monday at school they had a Halloween parade and then Monday night we went to Grams and Gramps' neighborhood to trick-or-treat.  They always have a block party of sorts and a haunted house, which is a lot of fun, but it was so cold and rainy, it was hard to get too into it.  The super hero squad was ready for action though...
Jack decided he would be Spidey long ago and we just thought Super Max was too cute to pass up with Spidey and Batman!  They even invited Grams, the Good Witch to join them!
 We made it to the haunted house, but Jack was a bit scared of that, so we trick-or-treated a little instead, but he was even a little fearful of that.  I get it...it's strange walking up to a stranger's door and taking candy from them.  And in the dark, and rain, it was all a bit scarier than usual I think.  He did well though and I think next year will probably be all about it!  


Sure hope you all got more treats than tricks and that it wasn't a washout at your house!