Valentines Day 2015 - Love notes!

Valentine's Day was on a Saturday so starting on the Monday of that week, I left little love notes for Maxwell in places I knew he would find them.  (It's awesome that he could read them when he found them!)

Love note #1 on the iPad

Love note #2 (on the shower door)

I love that his hands still look like baby hands with chubby fingers and dimples on his knuckles.

Note #3 on his swim suit for swimming lessons

After note 3, he had caught on and asked to write me a note, which he left for me on the dollhouse.  

He wrote the words "Mom" and "Max" and dictated to me what the rest of the note should say.  It says,

Dear Mom

I like to eat with you.  I like to play race cars with you.  I like you to play with me.  I love you!

Max

He is such a sweet boy and it sure made me feel good that he wanted to write me a love note.  I am so lucky to have this kid as mine.  I hope I can continue to nurture and develop that sweet little spirit into being just as great of a man as he is a kid today.  Cuz if he can keep going like this, watch out!  He'll be one standout man.

Note #4 on his bag of pullups

He was exchanging valentines in school so we got them all ready and Maxwell signed his name on all of them.

It was so hard for me to find Valentines that #1 - didn't have some sort of candy with them (Maxwell's school is a sugar free, nut free school) and #2 - I didn't hate.  We ended up finding some that were really cool and had a window cling animal as the "treat".

Note #5 on his lunch box

Pink shirt for Valentine's Day!

(I can't believe how long his hair is!)

I went to help out with his party and was so glad I did.  It is always fun to see him in this environment.

Distributing his valentines

"smile Maxwell" and this is what I get.  sheesh.

Maxwell and Alex

Another great "smile".  Why don't the other 3 year olds and 4 olds have a goofy cheese face?  Why is it just my son? 

Clockwise from top: Malia, Maxwell, Alex, Noya, Opal

Video - Have I mentioned how much Emmalyn loves Cheerios?  Yeah, they are her fav.

On Valentine's Day, Peter made a special breakfast of pink heart pancakes

Emmalyn liked them too

Handsome boy at Kindermusik, wearing the perfect red shirt, on Valentines Day

While I worked on some yard work in the beautiful weather, Maxwell did some coloring outside.

Later, we went over to our neighbor's house.  Emmalyn and I visited with Miss Melissa while Maxwell played with Owen and Avery.

Those cheeks!!!

Avery and Maxwell playing with chalk

He still doesn't do great a playing wih people.  Most of the time he wanted to do his own thing outside by all of us but didn't engage.  

That night we went next door with a bunch of other neighbors and hung out (I can't remember why at this point).  Maxwell had a really fun time playing with the legos (and sort of playing with the kids).

He also played a little fusball - this was a hit and he didn't want to go home.

How many times can I talk about how cute Emmalyn is?

Normal life with my cute family - - Mid October 2014

Maxwell enjoying the accessories when we were out shopping for Halloween costumes.  Sometimes he is such a "boy" it catches me off guard.

Hanging with Daddy at the library

Daddy trying to read to them both.

Perfection

He caught one of the bubbles he blew!

Enjoying the warm fall weather

Those cheeks are something else

One of those major baby milestones - eating your feet

Video - She's so good at sitting up and spitting up.  It's disgusting and amazing all at the same time.

Nighttime routine - reading stories

Video - Maxwell has been doing awesome at swimming lessons.  After class, his coach asked if she could take him into the bigger section to see how he'd do with it.  He did awesome at swimming far!  I was impressed.  

She is so smiley but still doesn't laugh very much

It's nice to have clients who make great snacky food but not always good when you find yourself hungry because there's usually something within reach.  I've got my Perfetti Van Melle Airheads Bites, my General Mills Chex Mix, and all I needed to complete the picture would have been some Kraft peanuts!

Video - She's just so happy, even after midnight.  It's hard when she's engaging and being cute like this to turn off the light and go to bed.

I was working from home so I got to be around when she got a bottle (which usually doesn't happen)

I'm sure she was like, "you aren't supposed to be here right now"

Updates:
Maxwell actually did his own glue at school on a project!  This is a big deal since he hates getting his hands dirty.

He still stays in his bed even when he wakes up.  He will just sit there and call for us until we come and get him.

Maxwell can almost to showers by himself, he just needs a little help with his hair.  This feels like a huge accomplishment, to me!

He has staying dry during his nap for 2 days in a row at home.  That hasn't happened for a long time.  He gets to choose a prize out of the "prize bucket" if he stays dry but we haven't had to give out many prizes lately.  (And that's why we still put him in pull-ups at home during nap time and nighttime.)  He stays dry most of the time during nap time at school, I don't know why he can't do it at home!  Lately he has been saying that he will keep his pull-up dry when he is 16.  I sure hope it's not that long!

Instead of saying the word "Disgusting" he says "Bisgusting" and instead of "Remember" he said "Demember"

He is really excited about going to school in the morning, which I love!

He is so polite!

Emmalyn used to suck my face (cheeks) when she was hungry and now she nose dives towards my boobs.  When Maxwell was nursing, he used to draw circles almost with his fists and then would punch my boobs.  Emmalyn however will grab them and squeeze.   I'm just a punching bag. :)

On Oct 17 Emmalyn really started getting up on her knees often and she does it a ton.  She ends up pushing forward a little and getting to what she wants but it's not full on crawling yet.

She has a horrendous mad scream.  It makes Peter nuts.

I gave Emmalyn some avocado to eat and she did NOT like it.  She DID like it when I gave her a little drink of water though.

She can finally take her vitamin drops without choking when they go in her mouth (which is nice because they smell like the iron in them and stain everything)

She's big enough that I gave her a bath in the baby bathtub without the infant sling.

She's not a cuddler unless she is really tired.

She's great at going to sleep at night and will sometimes roll to her belly when she's sleeping but not always.

Right now, she's not as talkative as she used to be.