Category: Max

This Modern World could not be more brilliant this fine Monday morning.

And completely unrelated to that other than the fact that’s it’s not a phantom of lost anything, Max is too great. His little self slept in this morning and didn’t make a peep until I was getting ready to leave. He usually wakes up and plays in his room for a while (somewhere between 20 – 45 minutes depending on whimsy, I think). So, I walked out the door and looked up. What did I see, but my little boy looking out the window. I waved. He waved. I smiled. He smiled around his pacifier with his curly hair sticking out at all angles. He pointed at the clouds and then waved again.

They’re a myth, I swear. Whenever people ask me how old Max is, I always tell them the truth and with pride say, “He’s TWO.” Every single time, they say, “Oh yeah, the terrible twos.” I have to correct them every time. Max isn’t terrible at two. He’s great. He had two rough weeks right after his birthday, but Jen worked some magic and he’s back to adorable.

He’s well behaved. He’s talking now and telling us what he wants in almost discernable words. He’s funny and loves to play. He’s not terrible, not even at bed time. He has his little routine for bedtime. One of us stands up (usually Jen) and says, “Ok, bed time!” We change a diaper, find a pacifier, Max grabs his lamb, and we head upstairs. He goes down without a fuss, and we get to listen to him talk to himself for a little while before he goes to sleep.

I know every kid is different. If we have another one, I’m sure they’ll be different in many ways, and maybe not so easy. Maybe they will, just because Jen’s such a great parent (she won’t admit it, but she’s a natural).

Last night, we made a gingerbread house. It turned out spiffy.

Things are really good…

Max is two. He’s my son. So, use that information however you need to in order to process this story.

Max has been singing a lot lately. Jen got him this little music set with a tambourine, two maracas and a little clapper thing. Max has taken to beating on the tambourine and singing a little song. He’s also started singing this song whenever he doesn’t have anything better to do. I was taking him home from the fam’s house last night and Max started singing in his carseat. I turned off the radio and tried to figure out if he was doing a song he’d heard before. I didn’t recognize the tune, but I did notice the structure. There are verses, a little chorus and a definite melody, which just amazes me. He’s TWO! He doesn’t talk much yet. Still, he knows the alphabet (and if forced, or thinks no one is looking) will say letters. He knows the planets and can point them out. He knows the difference between the moon and the stars. He can draw shapes and some objects (like a house, a bird, etc). And, if the little guy weren’t amazing enough, he composes little songs in his head!! And better yet, if he’s at home with his instruments, he’ll finish a verse, yell “Yay!” and do a little Max bow/courtsy.

How did I get so lucky?

Max went trick-or-treating for the first time last night, and had a ball. Jen took him around our block and hit a dozen or so houses. Then, I took him over to my family’s house, and he hit a few more. He was more interested in handing out candy and playing with his Uncle Steve. He’s a cutie… check out his pre-trick-or-treat pic I took right before they got bundled up and headed out.

Max is the coolest kid ever. While he’s having trouble speaking, he’s finally catching on the to whole sign language thing. He was sitting at the window watching the rain. When I asked him what he was doing, he turned around and did the sign for rain. He’s been doing the signs for mine and “more” (“mine” is a lot cuter as a sign than it is as a scream, let me tell you). When I woke up from my nap, he signed “daddy sleeps”, like a question. It was so cool! He’s a genius, I tell you, a genius.

Oh, and I posted pics of Max’s biggest birthday present, the mural his Aunt Heather and I painted.

Max’s birthday pics will be online Monday. Grandparents have been alerted.

I took Thursday and Friday off for Max’s birthday. What fun! Max is the coolest kid ever. No, really. I got to see a speech therapy appointment Friday morning, and take Jen to a nice restaurant last night. Max is over at my fam’s having a sleep over (that’s to make me feel better so I’m not calling it baby-sitting). It was nice being able to sleep in and not have to worry about Max waking up early.

I’m still not awake yet, so this’ll be short… and that’s it.

Max is two!! Today’s his birthday. So, what did we do? He went over to my mom’s (after going to the pet store, which is more fun for him than the zoo). Me? What did I do? I took the day off and, with my little sister, painted a mural on his bedroom wall. We did a monkey, a dog, two birds, a bi-plane, a kid on a bike, a hot air balloon and a box kite, plus almost a dozen clouds. I’m pooped, and we haven’t even had the party yet!! There will be many pictures for grandparents up tomorrow (I hope).

In the spirit of what I said yesterday, here’s something I noticed yesterday.

I let Max run around outside without his shoes on. There’s just something idyllic about little boys with bare feet running in the grass. The problem with this is our neighborhood is filled with large pet dogs who crap in the grass. So, in order to maintain the shoeless state of my toddler, I run around after him scanning the ground for turd-mines. Once they’re spotting, I mentally plot them on the map in my brain. Once I know where they are, it’s pretty easy to steer Max clear of them.

I’m grateful we don’t have a lot of trees in the lawn he runs around, or I’d be dead. Running around with your head down is a good way to get brained.

And how are you doing?