First, A few pics from the days leading up to Max's big day...turning 18 months old!
More fun with play dough
This is my side yard. The spot in the middle that's all green? Yeah, that's not grass. It's weeds. We have had lots of problems with weeds in our new lawn. I don't know if that's normal with new laws but it's the norm around my neighborhood. The lot next to us is still open which just makes the weed problem worse. If it's a sunny day and I have any free time, I LOVE to weed. I am working hard to get them all from my lawn in the front and backyard but it's a major task. The bag is filled with all the weeds I had pulled so far.
I want to have a weed free lawn and take a lot of pride in the state of my lawn when driving around my neighborhood and seeing that my lawn is one of the most weed free lawns out there. I can spend hours out there at a time and usually only stop when my hands are raw, my back hurts, or Peter's ready for me to be done.
I find weeding extremely rewarding because you have immediate result to enjoy after your hard work. I remember growing up when my dad would pay me 5 cents a weed to go into the backyard and pulls some weeds. I wish someone would give me that deal now!
Max didn't want to take a nap but I got him to fall asleep next to me. Pure happiness for this Momma!
Here's a few videos to catch up on some of the things he's doing lately.
Video - Have I mentioned how cute I think it is when Max calls his daddy, "Peter"? It's usually when he wants something.
Video - I let Max enjoy a little bit of heaven. Homemade raspberry jam on white bread. He has had a slice of white bread maybe 3 times in his life. He LOVED the jam. I thought the way he was enjoying it was pretty funny.
Video - Max can now blow kisses.
Bath time
CUUUUUUUUTE!!! His big smile with my favorite dimple on display.
This is the day he turned 1 1/2.
Dumping everything out. Joy.
Max loves bubble time during his gym class.
Unfortunately he's not always happy and I seem to be getting this face more often. I can tell he's whining at this moment just by looking at that expression. Oh well, I guess that comes with the territory when you have an 18 month old!!!
This bush by my door has starting blooming with these vibrant pink flowers. I love it and it makes me yearn for spring to get here!!
Here's a recap of Max at 18 months:
What a fun little boy. He's happy, playful, curious, sweet, shy, with a little bit of feisty thrown in.
He sleeps until somewhere between 6:30 and 7 am. Lately he's been waking up with either a wet diaper that's leaked or a dirty diaper that's leaked. No fun! So we will be moving up to the next size of diapers as soon as Amazon delivers them. When he wakes up he usually stays in his bed for awhile tossing and drifting back to sleep and then walking up and talking and then drifting back to sleep... once he's up for good then he stands up the pack-n-play, holding on to his blanket (the brown one Aja knit for him) and calls out for Peter or I. Yes, he's still in a pack-n-play. We still haven't made the switch to his crib. I just don't like the idea of him being so far away from me. I want to be able to hear him stir in the night and be able to immediately check on him. I want to wake up to his sweet babbling. I want to be able to walk 5 steps at night and put my hand on his back to feel his breathing. He's a sweet sleeper and typically is on his belly with his bum in the air and one arm wrapped around his brown blanket, his blue blanket, or both.
Max really likes to have things wrapped around the back of his neck and hanging down the front of him, like a Doctor would do with a stethoscope - for example a scarf. He really likes to do it with headphones from Peter's ipad but typically when I catch him doing that with those, I take them away. I worry about them getting wrapped all the way around his neck and choking him. A few times I have caught him sleeping with his blanket wrapped around the back of his neck while he is sleeping on his belly. It makes me nervous so I will remove it if I see him sleeping like that.
In the morning Max is addicted to the iPad. He wants to play with it immediately when we get him out of bed. He gets so excited over it. I wish he wasn't so attached to it but allow it because it keeps him busy and out of trouble while we get ready in the morning. He's amazing with the iPad and knows how to get to games he likes to play, his Baby Einstein Farm video, listen to music, etc. Most of the time he hops from one thing to another without staying on anything too long.
A typical snack before going to Brittany's would be some dry Quaker Oatmeal Squares and some Organic Whole Milk in a sippy cup.
He has just started sleeping in the pack-n-play at Brittany's rather than the swing. That means that he usually won't take a second nap nor is his first nap as long as it's been previously, but it's good to get him out of the swing. So now his naps last 1 1/2 - 2 hrs in the morning at around 10 or 10:30. If Britt's lucky enough to get him to take an afternoon nap, that one usually is a shorter nap like 30 minutes.
Max loves going to Brittany's. He loves Landen and Hayden so much, and Brittany too. He plays well with them but we are now needing to work on sharing. If he doesn't get what he wants his usual reaction is to start screaming - not a loud high-pitched scream but more of a grunt scream.
Max's favorite foods - plain yogurt, bananas, applesauce, wheat bread, pizza, scrambled eggs, Quaker Oatmeal Squares Cereal, Carrot/Apple Fiddlesticks. He is pretty much going to eat these whenever offered. He drinks only milk or water, we don't give him juice (I think juice isn't a good source of nutrition and typically too much sugar and calories.) Other foods that he will eat sometimes - tilapia with quinoa and broccoli, spaghetti, sweet potatoes, strawberries, apples, pickles, bean burrito, chicken, turkey, rice, hamburger, oatmeal. He doesn't like vegetables. If it's green he isn't going to touch it. He's really pretty picky and just because he ate something yesterday doesn't mean he will eat it today. That is super frustrating. I would like him to eat more protein and vegetables and less starches and fruits. I will keep trying and hopefully one day he will be open to eating things that he hasn't been lately.
Max is so short that he is still in his infant carrier car seat. Although I think it's time to move him up to a bigger (rear-facing still) car seat.
He LOVES to read books both on his own and have them read to him. Lately he loves "Animal Serenade" (A Kindermusik book that has both spoken word and songs), "Snuggle Puppy" (Valentine's present from mom - also is both words and singing), "123 Numbers", and Dr. Seuss's ABC book. These are staples at bedtime and it's common for Max to request them to be read multiple times each.
He isn't too interested in toys lately. He does like to play with his shape sorter, blocks, and his slide. He's getting good at the Melissa and Doug early puzzles (putting the specific shape where it goes) and has finally mastered how to rotate a piece until it fits. He likes playing with things that aren't traditional "toys" - like remotes or bottles in the bathroom, etc.
He can identify the letters "M" "A" and "X".
He's a boy...which means I have to keep his hands busy holding a toy during diaper changes or his hands are immediately reaching for his penis. This can be a really bad thing depending on the level of dirty diaper. He knows (and can say) his head, hair, ears, eyes, nose (eyes and nose are his favorite -he's always pointing them out on himself, us, pictures, toys, etc), cheeks, chin, mouth, teeth, tongue, chest, fingers, toes, belly, bellybutton, penis, knees, feet, hands, and elbow.
He loves being outside so I am looking forward to the weather being consistently warm so he can spend more time outside.
He is such a daddy's boy. He loves to be by daddy, sit by daddy, cuddle with daddy, follow daddy, have daddy read to him, etc. He gives me good hugs though. I will kneel down, throw my arms open, ask for a hug and he will run full-out in my arms and give me a hug.
He is a great listener and follows directions most of the time. He is polite and says please and thank you frequently. I try to let him help with tasks around the house whenever I can whether it's letting him push the wet clothes into the dryer when doing laundry, throwing diapers/tissues/etc away in the garbage, picking up his toys, wiping up spills on the floor, etc. He's a great kid!!!
He's gotten picky in the car with what music he wants to listen to. He now has started to scream if a song comes on he doesn't want to listen to so I have been working with him to say "change" instead of screaming. So we'll be listening to his Kindermusik C.D. and a new song will come on and I will quickly hear "change" from the backseat.
I am loving this age because he's so much fun to play with. He talks a lot and while you can't understand all of it, you can understand a bunch and so I feel like it's easy to communicate with him. He is really well behaved and listens. He has his moments where the attitude comes out but most of the time even that's cute. You'll ask him if he wants something and he'll go "nope" and shake his head. He picks up new words and skills every day it seems! I just cherish this boy and am so grateful to have him in our lives. I love him so much that there are times after he's gone to bed that I miss him and just want to go wake him back up again so I can spend more time with him.
I love my 18 month old Maxwell Charles!
