Love the week of Thanksgiving - - it's a short work week! Some people are already on vacation so it's quieter than normal. It's so nice!
Max woke up happy and back to his normal self but with some scabbing above his lip.
Happy! (Still crossing his feet all the time)
He really loves climbing into things.
REALLY loves it - even a basket full of toys won't deter him.
I am sure you may look at this picture and all you will see is the outlet that hasn't been childproofed right behind Max. Don't judge. Max has little interest in outlets. Every once in awhile he'll pay attention to one that has something plugged into it (usually it's when something NEW is plugged in that isn't usually plugged in there). But as far as empty plugs? Not interesting for him. I'm glad because there are 60 outlets in our house that would require plugs. We counted before we moved in. I decided that if they were something that he was drawn to, I'd make the investment in all those covers. However, if he didn't care about them (which he doesn't) then I wasn't going to spend the money. Maybe someday I'll buy them but for now, they'll remain unchildproofed.
Britt and her boys came over and Peter showed Hayden how to do some weight lifting with a side table.
Getting it up
STRONG!
Lesson from uncle Peter - make it look like you are working hard.
Doing it with one hand! (It's super light)
Fussy Max (with his wound) and happy Hayden
Maxwell waving
Max climbed into the chair himself and quite proud of himself. Isn't it great when it's the day before Thanksgiving and you can put your son in short sleeves and shorts?! :) LOVE that benefit of Texas!
Max turned 15 months old on November 19, 2012. I don't like getting further and further away from 1 year old (and further away from being a baby). :(
Here's the thoughts I wrote about Max at this age on November 23rd.
Eating - He is really picky with food, likes it one day doesn't the next. Still have to force one bite in on most things - loves fiddle sticks, bread, and pickles.
Nursing - He nurses usually between 4:30 - 6:00 am, at lunch, and in the evenings sometime between me getting home from work and going to bed.
Usual morning routine -
When he wakes up in the morning, Maxwell hangs with me reading in bed or playing on ipad while I try to get more sleep. Then once I am awake enough, I will take his sleep sack off and we will play peek-a-boo with the sleep sack.
Then when we get out of bed, Max goes and hangs with Peter in media room while he finishes working out and I start getting ready for the day.
While I am getting ready, Peter will make Max some milk (Formula - Enfamil Enfagrow for Toddlers. I know we could just do cows milk but I get the formula free from work so why not give him something with more nutrients?)
Then once Peter starts to get ready as well, Max will play usually by us in the bathroom or bedroom. He loves to have the radio on and bounces to the music.
Diapers - He's in size 3. Changing diapers is a struggle, have to keep him hanging onto something or his hands want to get involved with whats going on which can be a VERY bad thing. Gross.
If I hand him his diaper, he can take it and throw it away into the diaper pail. (I only let him do this with the wet diapers.)
He has had a bad diaper rash this past week that made him cry - it was so awful. I couldn't hurt him by putting the diaper on so eventually Peter got frustrated with me and came in and took over because I just couldn't do it. It was the worst rash he ever had. Up to this point we have used lavender oil to treat his diaper rashes and it works great. This rash was painful so I used diaper cream for the first time since it would help quickly with the pain (we were well stocked on diaper cream before Max was born between gifts and what we bought...what a waste).
In the car - Loves listening to his Kindermusik C.D's in the car, he grunts between songs almost as if to say, "play the next one!". He has a toy monkey that plays "twinkle, twinkle little star" if you push his belly. So we have a routine where if he can make his monkey "sing", then I will sing along with it.
Talking - He's really chatty lately but within the last few days has started saying mommy/daddy for everything. Mommy doesn't only refer to me anymore. Lately it seems to be used anytime he wants something from anyone.
He says "nana" for banana, "errow" for hello, says hi, bye, can make the sign for "more" and in a super sweet voice will say "moh momma" (which is how he has followed me prompting him to say "More Momma, Please" which I have said in a sweet sing song voice since he started eating solids).
He communicates also with lots of pointing and grunting.
Playing - It's fun to watch him play by himself - with tupperware, his little people airplane, a little people dump truck, a drum that has spaces on one side to hammer balls into, the walker Brittany got him for his B-day, or just getting into things
Walking/Feet - He's better at keeping his socks on for the most part, walks pretty good in shoes unless trying to go too fast or on inclines/declines or down steps.
He is walking really fast now and can also walk backwards.
He LOVES being outside
His wave is progressing from a wrist rotation to a wrist rotation with some closing of his fingers.
He enjoys baths and is starting to enjoy showers more with less melt downs when I rinse his hair.
He gets feisty too complete with screams and kicks.
On the flip side, he gives sweet kisses.
We LOVE to make him laugh, it's fun to see what he finds funny.
Sunday is Peter's food "free" day where he can eat whatever he wants and not stick to only healthy foods. Sunday is also Max's free day. During the week we give him healthy, organic food but on Sunday he gets all kinds of crap (thanks Costco for the free samples!)
He loves playing with his cousins Hayden and Landen, there is so much love there!
Bed time routine - Happens sometime between 7 and 8 pm. I turn on sound machine to white noise, give him vitamins (the poly-vi-sol drops with iron), brush his teeth, he sits in my lap while we read books, then it's snuggle time (I lay down and he lays down and rolls backwards into me so his back against me, puts his arm out to touch my face/arm. He likes one leg propped up on my side. Then after a few minutes, I put him in his sleep sack follow with our usually kisses from mommy routine. Lately there is little time for singing to him while I am rocking him with his head on my shoulder. Instead, as soon as I get him to my shoulder and start rocking, he's then leaning over towards his bed so that I will put him down. So I lay him down on his back, cover him with a blanket and walk out. And that's it. He goes to sleep. No crying or fussing. He's out!
Naps -
Has a morning nap at Brittany's from 10 am to 12:30 pm and sometimes will take an afternoon nap.
Naps are a huge struggle on the weekend. He just doesn't want to go down. He will act tired and give all the signs. He will yawn while I put him in his sleep sack but the minute I lay him in his bed he stands back up and starts crying. And he doesn't eventually fall asleep. He will cry an hour. UGH. Although, given the choice, I would rather have him go to sleep at night easily than go down for naps during the day easily.
He's starting to be a helper! He tries to sweep, will pick up a little bit if prompted, is starting to bring things to you. He will push wet laundry into dryer (at least a little bit). I can give him a cloth and ask him to wipe something off, which he will whether it's his mouth or some water he spilled on the floor.
Maxwell is good at climbing up stairs and sliding down them on his belly but doesn't do them often.
He doesn't like his hands dirty. If he is playing in the dirt, he will do it for a little bit then wipe hands off.
Good at chewing.
Will "brush" his hair (he holds brush to his head and moves it but it's usually the back of the brush).
He still crosses his feet all the time.
He crawls now with one fist one flat hand.
He is shy around strangers and turns his head when they try to engage him.
He can identify a dog, cow, frog, cat, snake, bee, if you ask him to point to their picture.
He loves the iPad app with sounds that animals and vehicles makes. He can make the police car sound.
I see a lot of Landen in him. Like he'll scream like Landen does or do something the way Landen does (like hold a phone up over his head and say "cheese" as if he was taking a picture of himself). I sometimes wonder what he'd be like if he wasn't babysat by Brittany and around Landen all day 5 days a week. What would Max be like without the Landen "influence"?
He knows where the snacks are kept and quickly heads for the pantry if he notices the door is open.
He likes to climb in things like boxes.
Tonight (Nov 23rd) he showed interest in coloring for the first time! This was exciting because I have been trying to color with him for months now.
Doesn't sit still for long unless he's tired.
I have to keep bathroom doors closed or else he'll want to play in the toilet water, with the toilet paper, or keep flushing the toilet.
He likes closing doors and will close himself in the dark and is not afraid of dark but doesn't want to be stuck.
He doesn't cry when I leave Brittany's after going there for lunch and to visit with Max.
We had been running at night but now that it's getting dark earlier, he does NOT like when we go running at night and it's dark. He ends up fussing a lot.
Max says no and shakes his head.
When you are dressing him and putting his arms through his sleeves, once the second hand makes it through the sleeve, he claps. It's pretty cute.
He thinks hitting daddy (and momma) and saying "ow" is funny.
He loves to point to your eyes and says "eyes" but his point are more like pokes and he will poke until it hurts.
If we are in a store and let him not be in a stroller/grocery cart, he is in heaven walking around by himself.
He has started to give daddy kisses! Up to this point he only gave kisses to Momma.
Long post, but I want to remember what he was like at this age!
On November 17 we went to the Dallas Arboretum to take some fun fall pictures. We went a couple times last year, one of which was quite an adventure. I LOVE the Arboretum.
Rosy cheeked Max doing what he loves to do in the morning - play with the iPad.
We finally made it to the Arboretum later that afternoon.
Nope, not going to hang out here until you get the perfect picture, Mom.
Wiggly kid.
Max wanted to take control of pushing the stroller.
Chasing the birds. He thought this was pretty fun!s
Snack break! Luckily I had some baby food in the diaper bag, I didn't plan on him being hungry for more a small snack of raisins.
Playing in the hay.
There were amazing Chihuly glass sculptures throughout the garden. I had been wanting to come see them all year. Each piece was so beautiful and unique! This was called the Dallas Star.
Video - Max had on his squeaky shoes (which got quite a few laughs from people around us throughout the day) which made walking around even more fun.
Finally! Some big smiles!
Escaping! He really didn't want to hang out for pictures at all.
Enjoying walking around on his own.
He was so happy. He was having a great time.
Then, a split second after I took this picture, he face planted...HARD... right on the ground. If you look at his feet in this picture you can see how his right foot is getting caught on his left foot, which leads to the face plant. It's hard for me to look at this picture because you see the pure joy in his face but the tragic moment is already starting to occur. I also feel guilt because if I hadn't been trying to snap a picture maybe I would have been able to catch him in time.
So he face planted and started screaming. When I picked him up his mouth was bleeding. I tried to comfort him but he didn't want me. He wanted his dad (ouch - that hurt my feelings a little). So Peter comforted him and I tried to clean up the blood and determine where it was coming from. I was so worried that when I looked in his mouth that I would find that he had knocked a tooth out.
He eventually stopped crying. We got him and the ground cleaned up. He didn't lose a tooth but he was scraped up and already had a fat lip. And, the fun was over.
After cleaning everything up, we were out of wipes which is a scary place to be in my book. Max was unhappy and not going to sit happily in the stroller anymore (and I certainly wasn't going to let him walk around). Peter was done. So, it was time to leave.
We didn't have the perfect family picture that I wanted to get for our Christmas cards. I didn't get to see even half of the Chihuly exhibits. GRRRRRRR!!!!
Phew, a little smile from Max. It helped ease my worries about Max.
I begged Peter to let us get 1 family picture. Here it is with my sad baby.
A quick shot of one of the exhibits as we were passing by to the exit.
Scraped up face and fat lip. Worst injury yet (knock on wood). Given how hard this was on me, I am in BIG TROUBLE if Maxwell is one of those boys that gets hurt frequently.
Recovering back at home...enjoying his milk while sitting IN his racetrack. Silly boy.
Wife, Mom, and Career Woman. Trying to succeed at all three. Enjoy cruising, time with friends and family, and sleeping. Busy life doesn't leave time for as much fun as in the past but that's okay, it's still a good life.
