My Turn to Babysit

We headed back to the pediatrician to check on the status of Max's ear infections.  Because this was the first time he'd been on antibiotics, the doctor put him on a mild antibiotic.  But because we also didn't know how he responded to antibiotics, she wanted to check and make sure it worked.  Max had done a great job of taking the medicine.  He never once threw a fit.  Sucked it down each time.  He's always been awesome about taking his liquid vitamins too.

Checking out the wall (I think this was the first time we were in this room)

He wasn't too happy to be here so I distracted him with a book.

The bad news was that the antibiotics didn't seem to work.  So we left with a prescription for another kind of antibiotics and ANOTHER appointment to come back and check him out again.  I was nervous because the Dr talked about how she is seeing a lot of ear infections that don't respond to antibiotics and the kids have to get tubes.  I REALLY hoped this next round would work.  (I was super diligent at also rubbing Meleleuca oil around his ear because that is supposed to work on ear infections as well.  I DID not want this to continue.)

He weighed in at a whopping 24.15 lbs. 

It was "pi(e) day"...March 14th...3/14... 3.14 which is also the mathematical equivalent of pi!

So I made a frozen pie and enjoyed it with some ice cream to celebrate! 

Pi Day is also my Grandpa's birthday so I called him to wish him a happy birthday.  He is a great grandpa!  I love him dearly.  I wish that we didn't live so far apart so that I could spend more time with him.  He's getting older and you can tell he's getting older.  :(  I appreciate his love, prayers, letters, emails, and advice on gardening.

Look who the big boy is who finally graduated out of the infant car seat!  This car seat is so huge!

Bath time with his cousins.

Britt and Joe were going to donate plasma so I offered to watch the boys.  We had a fun day together!

First, the boys rode bikes on the patio

Then we had lunch

We played in the water table

We drew with sidewalk chalk

We went on a walk

We played with toys...

As you can see we did a LOT.  I was completely wiped out.  The boys did awesome.  But MAN!  It was hard keeping 3 energetic boys entertained for a day.  I have no idea how Brittany does it every day.  I am so grateful to have her!

Video - I think Max's run is quite cute.  He wanted to go on a walk but didn't want to ride in the stroller.

Learning his letters and numbers

Max is such a little smartie.  We have been working with him on learning his letters and numbers and he is doing a GREAT job.  We use a book with the number 1-10 and pictures of kids (You'll see it in one of the videos below).  And then we have been reading Dr. Seuss's ABCs to him every night.  I hated this book.  Seriously, I thought it was the dumbest book ever but Peter started reading it to him and Max has started learning his alphabet!  The below videos are from 3-9-13.


Video - Reading his number book with Daddy.  I'm proud of him!!  Watch him recognize some of his numbers and letters. (He calls "x" "max" because I have been writing M-A-X and then saying "Max" right after I say the X. I didn't mean for him to think that "x" was "max", but it's pretty cute.)

Another thing that Max says ... when he wants help, he says "help you" rather than saying "help me".


Video - Reading "Bubbles, Bubbles" with Daddy.  Peter is really good at turning books into interactive experiences.

This is how Max snuggles with us at night before bedtime.  He rolls from being snuggled up to his dad over to snuggling with me.

We took Max to dinner and it was NOT a relaxing experience.  He didn't want to sit still.  He didn't want to focus on the distractions we had for him - even the book that I don't usually bring in with us!

So then we played with the phone.  He likes touching our noses when his face is by ours.

We finally caved and let him hold and play with the phone.  He captured this self-portrait.

And took this picture of me...pretty good considering most of the time he doesn't hold the phone still enough for anything to be in focus.

Laying on the bench playing with Peter's phone.

He is starting to look so long to me! He's big enough that we finally moved from size 3 diapers unto the size 4.

Assume the sleep position - arms tucked under, bum in the air

Landen climbed into the pack-n-play to play with Max.  Max wasn't happy about sharing his blanket.

Of course, he still wanted to play in the swing.

At the park

Our last class at the kids gym.  Max played in the ball pit.

Climbed all over

Played some basketball

And had fun swinging.

Even though he had fun, I have decided not to continue.  It's just too hectic to be enjoyable.  There are SOOOO many kids there, I don't really like the structure to the classes or the way the teachers baby-talk when the toddlers are circled around them.  Plus, I have to prod Max to do things OR he wants to do things that make me nervous and take extreme diligence (and thus I stress over them) to ensure he doesn't fall off the ladder bridge or something like that.  AND it is 20 min away.  All in all, I am glad we did it for 8 weeks, but 8 weeks is enough.

Playing with his cousins

Max and his Works of Art

Spring is starting...the new leaves are growing and so is Max!!!

He's been reaching in his pants lately.  I'm not sure why, I think he's scratching.  I have made more efforts to keep a onesie on him to keep him reaching in there after he'd done his business... 

Mischievous eyes

One of the regions on my team sent me flowers to thank me for a great team meeting - it was extremely thoughtful and appreciated.

Buddies

Video - Max loves looking at the photobook his awesome Aunt Tawny gave him with pictures of their family.  He's becoming familiar with their names and pictures.

I had to build a fence for an object lesson at work.  Sometimes you still get to do arts and crafts as an adult!  I made the fence and then as my finishing touch, I painted Max's hands and put his hand prints on the fence.  It was a way to have a part of Max with me at work.

The finished product - can you tell where his hand prints are?  You have to look closely.  He had a lot of fun doing it.

I was goofing around with Max one day during my lunch visit.

Max is thinking, "my mom is bonkers".

He's cracking up at me.  Isn't it great when you can make your kids laugh?

The gate project for work inspired me to have Max do more painting.  We had bought paints for a project during Christmas to keep all the kids busy but we hadn't used them yet.  So I got them out on and let him paint for the first time.  He had fun!

Video - My little Picasso

He tried a little finger painting too...

...but as I have said, he doesn't like his hands to be dirty.

Finished work of art #1

Finished work of art #2

I displayed these works of art just like a good mom (they weren't on my fridge but I did put them up in the kitchen).

March 8th update on what Max has learned lately...

• He recognizes (and can say) the letters m, a, x, w, and o
• Sometimes he knows j, s, d, n, and f
• He recognizes (and says) the numbers 2-10 (he can't seem to get 1 yet)
• On one of the children's apps on the ipad, Max can pick the item that matches most of the colors the program says out loud
• He knows the shape diamond
• He says new words every day that we had no idea that he knew!
• For example, he said "stop it" this morning