Super Max!

Girls' Day

The other day while having lunch with Katie and the kids, Mabel approached me to whisper something in my ear. She said we should have a Girls' Day. She told me she had to whisper because she didn't want the boys to hear (that would be 2-year-old Max and 3-year-old Weston). I agreed and then a few minutes later whispered something across the table to her about it. She whispered back very emphatically, "I think they heard you!" So we are planning a Girls' Day sometime before Valentine's Day so it will be a true "girls only" day and not a "girls' & newborn Sammy Day", which it will have to be if we wait much longer.

Last night when we were all out to dinner again together, I whispered across the table, "Are you ready for our 'GD'?" And she nodded very excitedly. When I asked her if she knew what "GD" meant, she cupped both hands on the side of her mouth and whispered "Girls' Day!!!!!"

Snippets

If I wait around for time to write a whole entry, I don't think it's ever going to happen. So I think I'll borrow an idea from one of my virtual friends, The Other Max Arthur's Mom, Kim. She posts cute & funny things her son Max says under the heading, "Snippets". So, with props to you, Kim, here is our first Snippet!

Max was playing with a plastic manatee from Nana and it was "talking" in his ear. We asked what the manatee was saying and he replied, "I eat ice cream.....all daaaaaaay!!!"

Random Thoughts in Search of Cohesion

I seriously cannot believe it's been almost a month since I last posted. every time I have a minute to post I determine that I would much rather lay down and watch TV for a few minutes or read someone else's blog. So now I have a month of thoughts that have been rattling around and are threatening to forever stay in my head - horrors! So I'm just going to post things as they come to mind and not worry about getting them in any kind of order.

• Christmas was great! Max loved everything and doesn't get the whole gift thing yet, so I tried to savor every moment of just getting to enjoy all the fun things about Christmas without the materialism that I'm sure he'll have developed by next year. Lights! Inflatable figures in yards! Snow! Santa at the mall! Wrapping paper! Christmas songs! Leaving cookies for Santa (and of course carrots for the reindeer and cheese for Santa Mouse)! It was perfect. Seriously. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Nana & Pappy came down and spent Christmas with us and my family came over for dinner on Christmas night. Max performed in the Children's Program on Christmas Eve and the term, "PK (preacher's kid)" came to mind. He loved being on stage and I was thankful the microphone was off as he looked like he was ready for his set at the comedy club the way he tried to eat the mic.! I was trapped between people in a pew and couldn't get out to get him in line, but at 2 it's still cute. Seeing him come down the aisle dressed at a shepherd with the rest of the 2 & 3 year old class made me teary. It was so darn adorable!
• Max & I left for our first car trip to Indiana with my dad a little over a week ago. I think the term "Trip From Hell" pretty much captures that experience - but not because of Max. He was actually really good. It unexpectedly snowed for 11 of 13 hours out there on Monday, then we found out that another storm was due to start midnight Thursday & we were planning on leaving to return home Thursday morning. So after much discussion and attempts to find out what was going on in the country east of mid-Ohio (that's as far as the news was showing out there and we didn't have access to weather.com), we decided to leave at 1 p.m. Wednesday. So we had about 20 hours of face time with the Indiana relatives and it was back on the road. Things were good until about 8 p.m. when we arrived in Morgantown, WV. I became very anxious about the icy road conditions and the knowledge that we'd be in them for at least 2-3 more hours and not get home until 2 a.m., IF we didn't die in a fiery crash first. Sooooo, much to my dad's chagrin, I insisted on pulling off at the next exit and staying at whatever hotel was there. Hello, Maple Leaf Motel. It looked like the kind of place you could rent by the hour, but was actually neat and clean and inexpensive. I got two rooms and we stayed there for the night. My dad didn't have much to say to me after that, but I felt like I made the right decision. I seriously was about to have a panic attack. So, it took me a few days, but I think I've almost recovered. I don't regret going out there, I just wish it had been a more pleasant travel experience.
• What Max is like these days: Max is almost 2 1/2 and is alternately the most fun he's ever been and the most challenging he's ever been. He is really starting to have conversations now and is very expressive. I need Matt to help me translate much of the time, but I do okay on my own too. He's been potty training since just before Thanksgiving and it has been a relatively easy transition (knock on wood!). He hasn't had very many accidents. He's still in diapers for naps and night time and will be until he's old enough to change his own sheets and make his own bed. No, kidding. But it'll be a while before I go there. I just don't see the need for it and he still wakes up really wet most of the time, so I don't think he's ready for that step.

Lots of people say things like, "Wow, he's really active." or "He certainly is busy!" and it makes me wonder if he's any different than any other 2 1/2 year old boy. It makes me a little nervous because I wonder if they are looking at me thinking, "Jeez, can't you control him?" or something similar. Honestly, my gut feeling is that he is a typical 2 year old - busy, active and testing his independence. I have heard that this is totally normal and that people should be more concerned if they have a child who is always perfectly compliant and calm as trying out their Independence is an important developmental stage. I do have to say that most people who say things like this are parents of girls who are mostly younger than Max. Just to paint you a picture of his typical M.O. - to get upstairs to go down for a nap he often attempts to lay on a stair and roll UP the stairs. Then when he gets upstairs he runs from his room to our room giggling and squealing and sometimes jumping on the bed. Then when he finally manages to get in his own bed, he MUST be allowed to get up on it himself. Anyone helping elicits cries of outrage and horror and he wants to get down and do it over ALL BY HIMSELF, thank you very much. When he finally makes it onto the bed, he does a somersault to end up at the top of the bed and then he's usually smiley and out of breath and proud of himself. Believe me, this is quite exhausting for me to deal with at almost 8 months pregnant, but I have to say that the somersault thing is pretty cute.

Max's current likes: Barney (that's a definite LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!), yogurt drinks in those little bottles, Kheer, reading - he'll sit for 30 minutes to an hour and let me read to him - love that! He always insists on getting a particular blanket we've now dubbed, "The Reading Blanket" and covering up with that, running, saying grace and prayers at night - which both go like this, "Grace. Amen! Good Job, Max!" , going to Sunday School and Toddler Time with Jesus on Wednesdays, playing with his fire truck and trains, pineapple & cottage cheese, using items that we've gotten out for Sammy and reliving his baby days: drinking from a bottle, taking a bath in the infant tub, being swaddled in the reading blanket and spoken to like a baby.

Dislikes: Dinner (esp. the meat portion of dinner), anyone doing anything for him that he wanted to do himself (carry him upstairs, put him in bed, put him in the van, take him out of the van, snap his car seat, put his dishes in the sink, choosing his placemats), not allowing him to get into the fridge at will, not allowing him to eat lollipops or vitamins whenever he asks - I guess these fall in the "being told 'no'" category.

• Sammy: Samuel is due in about 6 weeks! I am feeling good, but tired, and find it more difficult to move around. I am trying to enjoy every night of awesome sleep I'm getting right now and really wishing there was some way to bank that refreshed feeling you get after 8 hours of sleep in a row! I can't wait to see Max with him and to see what he looks like and what his personality is like.
• Okay, Max never did take a nap, so he's been up talking to himself in bed for a long time. I have to go get him. I hope to post more soon!

Away in A Manger

I'm going to keep attempting to get a better version of this, but here is Max's version of "Away in a Manger" as of today. He loves to see himself on camera, so he gets much more facinated by the actual camera than performing, as you will witness in the middle of the song when he sings the word "cheese" instead of the actual lyric. Merry Christmas!

First Snow

It's our first snow of the season! Here's a picture and video of Max from this morning. I'm still getting used to the idea of having to go outside in this weather now that I have a little one. He had to be forced back inside. He's wearing my mittens as both of his were soaking wet about five minutes after leaving the house. Let it snow!

Decisions, Decisions

On what to play with: "Beans!" "Rice!" "Beans!" Rice!" "No, BEAAAAAAAANNS!"

Or how 'bout this one on what sticker to choose after using the potty: "Red one" "No, blue one" "No, I wan red one", "Blue one!" "Blue ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Or at the some point during breakfast, lunch and dinner, "I done." Upon Mommy wiping hands and face to be excused, "No, I EAT!" Mommy: "Okay, there's the rest of your food, go ahead and eat it." Max: "No, I DONE!!!!!!" Mommy: "Okay, then get down and go play." Max: "No, I EAT! WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

OMG people! This child cannot make a decision and stick with it to save his life. He could before, but in the last few weeks this indecisiveness has invaded EVERY SINGLE decision he has to make. I try to be patient, giving room for toddler uncertainty and misunderstandings, but Lord have mercy, make a decision child!

"I'm Poopin'!"

Well, Max is. That's the announcement he makes to all within earshot whenever he's getting ready to, well, poop.

Like most things I do in life, I have great intentions, but then I kind of wait to act on them (e.g.starting solid food, weaning, big boy bed). Usually I think about it, research it, talk to people and then, BOOM, one day the spirit moves me and I feel "it's time". We got everything in place for potty training in early August and since then I have found every excuse in the book as to why the timing wasn't right. We've been reading books about big boy potties, occasionally wearing big boy underpants and even peeing on the potty before bath time every night, but I have been avoiding saying, "Look out world, we're potty training!" I guess the spirit hadn't moved me yet.

I think I can say as of today that we're potty training. I'm nervous about jumping right into that statement, because I always like to reserve the right to back peddle and choose to stick mostly with diapers, BUT.....why not? I have learned that as a parent I am willing to let things happen in their own time and I don't feel the need to proclaim to the world that I have potty-trained my toddler in less than an hour (or a day or whatever!). I think I have finally accepted that this is going to be an on-going process of learning and not a one day affair.

So check back soon, I'm sure we'll have some fun stories about this latest phase in growing up!

Halloween 2008 vs. 2009

2008 - 14 months old

2009 - 2 years old

Halloween

A fun time was had by all at the MST Trunk or Treat. My whole family came over as well as the Torres family (who I now realize I don't have any pictures of!!). We started with Tony's pizza at our house and then went to the church parking lot for treating. It was raining, but strangely warm for the end of October. The kids didn't seem to notice and the rain cleared up eventually. Max tried eating each piece of candy as it was handed to him and really enjoyed his first real trick or treating experience.

Where Does The Time Go?

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. The biggest thing that's happened is we were totally blown away to learn that Max is going to have a little brother! For some reason Matt and I were 99.9% convinced we were having a girl, to the point that I almost bought pink things and we were calling this little guy "Coco" (Corinne was our choice for a girl's name)! We're looking forward to life with two boys. I'm sure it will be full of adventure.

We've been very busy with doing lots of fun fall things like going to Cox Farms, going to Pennsylvania for a week, riding a restored train at Strasburg Railroad, carved pumpkins, learned to ride a tricycle, had a major language explosion and visited with one of my childhood friends, Loree, and her daughter,Tahli, who were here from Luxembourg. We even learned a new word, "Oopala!" - which is evidently used in place of "oops!" by some parents in Luxembourg. It's fun to say - you should try it!

Tomorrow is Halloween and Max is going to be a train engineer. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of all our fun adventures over the last month soon. Check back in a few days!

The Wheels on the Bus

Max got to live one of his dreams today - to get on a real school bus! Thanks to Heidi for letting us come up and look around - Max loved it!!!!!!!!!!

A Birthday Celebration

**I LOVE this idea from a blog I frequent, The Wonder Years. Click on the link to see a better version of this post or read below.**

http://mommyme-thewonderyears.blogspot.com/2009/09/birthday-celebration.html

We recently celebrated my daughter's 4 year birthday. It is so fun to celebrate now that she is aware and interested in celebrations and traditions. This year we started some new traditions. These traditions are inspired by Montessori and Waldorf birthday celebrations.I love the birthday ring, originating in Europe and used by Waldorf families. Each year another ornament is removed and a candle put in it's place.I added a bit of Montessori to this, with the telling of my daughter's life story. Before any candle was lit, I started by saying: "______ was born September 16, 2005 in (city, state). It was a warm evening, around dinner time when you were born in the hospital. Mommy and daddy had waited all day and Grandma had arrived to see your birth. At 5:16 you were born. You had lots of dark hair on your head and you were so small. You had to be held and taken care of all the time. You couldn't talk to tell us what you needed, you slept a lot, you had to wear diapers and drank only milk. By 6 months you could sit up, laugh and hold things. (Then I lit a candle) Then you turned one. When you were 1, you learned to___, you liked to___ . I continued to her present age and said: "And now, you turn 4 years old! You can ____ . Your favorite food is___, and you love to _____. Happy 4th Birthday."The telling of the life story is part of the Montessori celebration. Parents write it with their child and then come into the class to share it while the child does the "birthday walk." The life story is a tradition they look forward to hearing each year . The birthday ring is a beautiful way to celebrate years of life, past and future, but even if you don't have a birthday ring, you can just as easily use the candles on the birthday cake to light and tell your child his/her life story.Another tradition we started was the personal time-line. The time-line is part of the Montessori birthday celebration. The child (with the help of the parent) puts the photos in order to make a personal time-line. We will keep ours and add to it each year.Our other traditions include a birthday place mat, a birthday crown, and a special morning surprise waiting at the child's seat at the kitchen table.I would love to hear what birthday traditions you use!

Putting the Sun in the Sky

Yesterday, Max picked a dandelion from the yard, brought it over to me and began talking (babbling!) quickly and trying to tell me something that was obviously very important. He was showing me the dandelion and holding it up to the sky. I said, "Does the flower look like the sun?" He eagerly said, "Yeah!' Then he got on his tippy toes and reached his hand up as high as he could as if to put it in the sky. He became frustrated because he couldn't do it and suggested, "Daddy?" I asked, "Can Daddy put the sun in the sky?" "Yeah!!" he replied enthusiastically.

The magic of childhood shines through again.

Birthday Parties!

Birthday Party Recaps!

(Pics are out of order!)

Train cake from party #2 with Sarah's side of the family.Train cake again




Pennsylvania Party

Max and Uncle Adam in matching red baseball caps.





Getting ready for a dip in the pool.

Waiting for the party guests to arrive.

The cake made by cousin-in-law Dani!!

Here are some pictures from Max's birthday parties. The first (above) was at Nana & Pappy's house in Pennsylvania. We had a great time celebrating with extended family and old friends. Of course all the pictures of the guests and present opening are not accessible for me to post at the moment! Some of the gifts he received were: a ukulele (we call it a guitar), books, clothes, Scotty Potty (or is it Potty Scotty - an anatomically correct doll that pees!). We had a cookout and pool party. Max LOVED getting to play with two new friends, Liam & Kiera!

Party #2 was at our house with my side of the family. I saw a train cake made by a friend from church and I decided I wanted to make one too. I had no idea how much anxiety I was going to experience from that. I even dreamed about it the night before putting it all together. I started baking the cakes on Friday and Matt and I decorated them during naptime on the day of the party on Sunday. The hour between the end of naptime and when the party started was filled with me finishing getting the food together and Matt protecting the cake from Max's lightening-quick fingers. We had a baked potato bar and LOTS of cake, candy & ice cream! I think his favorite gifts were the gigantic helium balloon that played "Happy Birthday" from Uncle Josh and the Crayola bath supplies (crayons, paints & water coloring tablets). It was a crazy and fun time!

Two Years Old

I haven't posted about Max's 2nd birthday yet because I wanted to be able to post pictures, tell about both parties and generally describe where he's at developmentally now as well as reflect on some of the things I love about him at this age. Well, life is busy and if I wait to get the perfect post up, he may be 3 by the time I do, so here's my best shot.

Overall, I was much more ready to get to Max's second birthday than his first. I recall feeling sentimental and sad before his first birthday because of how very much he had changed in that one year. He's changed a lot in the last year but it just didn't hit me as hard as the first birthday. From birth to age one he went from immobile to toddling slowly. From one to two he went from toddling to EXTREMELY mobile!!! I have never been as active in my life as I have been over the last year. This child NEVER STOPS. He even lost a pound or two since his 18 month check up.

One wonderful advance is that he no longer eats every speck of dirt, food, or all manner of disgusting items off the ground (okay, to be honest, he does still try to eat food off the floor if I don't intervene!) He put everything in his path in his mouth until he was more than a year old. Parents who have never had children who do that (I didn't know there was such a breed of child who DOESN'T do that until recently) should thank their lucky stars.

As I sit here envisioning what the last year was like for me, the image of Venus or Serena Williams comes to mind. The way they zip hither and yon on the court with outstretched arms to chase that little yellow ball around and not let it go out of bounds is exactly what my days look like! "Oh! He's over there - no wait - now he's over THERE! WOOOOAAAAAHHHHH he's almost out of bounds!" It's exhausting.

He is my little Monkey Boy. He can climb anything. Last year when I'd take him to the local playground, I was nervously hovering to make sure he didn't kill himself falling off the equipment. I'd see other kids climbing the chain ladder and arch-like thing to get up to the highest level and think that maybe when he was four or five he's be able to do that. He's been doing that for a couple months now! I still hover and he pushes my hands away and says, "Bots!" That's his version of "Max".

Verbally he is adding new words almost every day and starting to combine them into two word phrases. He has no problem making his desires known! He still uses some of his baby sign language rather than the words those signs represent (i.e. milk, thank you, sorry, listen, plane). He constantly surprises me with his receptive language. He'll be playing and apparently not paying any attention to the conversation of the adults in the room and then someone will say something that interests him and he's immediately injecting himself into the conversation.

He has a good memory for places and events. For example, when we're heading in the direction of Aunt Katie's house he squeals and gets excited when we get to her neighborhood and will cry if we happen to go there and not go to her house. If we head in the direction of Old Town Manassas, he automatically starts talking about the trains before we even see the tracks or gates.

At the age of 16 months he finally started sleeping through the night. He is such a good sleeper now, it's hard to believe I went 16 months without a full-night's sleep! He self-weaned at about 18 months. I tried weaning him around 15 or 16 months but he wasn't ready, but a few months later it just happened. As far as potty-training goes, my nature is to let him get to the stage when he's ready when he's maybe 2.5 or 3, but with the addition of his little brother or sister next winter I don't think I can handle potty-training AND being sleep deprived. So I'm going to be attempting that sometime in September. I have all the supplies, I just need to have a few focused days of working on it with him. He already uses the potty once or twice a day, so he has some concept of it. I would like to get him in a big boy bed before bro/sis arrives too, but one transition at a time is what I'm focusing on.

I'll save the party info for another post. For now this is "Bots". Every day is a new adventure!

Big Brother Max

Most of you know by now, but Max is going to be a big brother! Probably the only person who doesn't really know about this by now is Max. We've told him, but I think this is one of those things that he's probably going to have to experience to understand.

Thanks to his newest cousin Lucy, he now LOVES babies, but I've been told loving OTHER people's babies and one that comes home to live with him are two different things. We'll see. It'll be fun having two little ones in the house! I can't wait!

Our Place at Eastern Mennonite University

Now that we're home for good, I have a few minutes to upload the picture and videos I took of our "summer home". We were fortunate to be able to rent a 1 bedroom, 2 level apartment just off campus at EMU. It was furnished (barely, but enough) and fit our budget, so it worked. Max slept in a walk-in closet and we didn't have TV, internet or central air, so I felt like we were really roughing it!

Our apartment is on the right side of the building above.

Summer Fun

Yesterday I took Max to the Signal Bay Water Park for the second time - it's so much fun! It's like a gigantic baby pool with water slides. It's geared to the 6 and under set so there aren't many "big kids" there to trample the little ones. Josh really did the bulk of the work playing with Max and making sure he stayed safe while I chit-chatted with a friend from church. Katie, Nevin, Mabel, Weston & Lucy came too. The scariest part of the afternoon was when Max came within a foot of running full speed into the Lazy River. He saw Aunt Katie arriving on the bridge that goes over the Lazy River and before anyone could blink he was running to get to her. Thankfully Uncle Josh was hot on his heals and snapped him up just in time. All the kids cried when it was time to leave, so I'd say the outing was a success!

Eastern Mennonite University

Here are some pictures from our first couple of weeks in Harrisonburg. Sculpture outside the EMU library.

What we do for fun in our little apartment.

Fountain at EMU




EMU

We only have 3 more weeks left, but Max and I haven't been there for a while because of Max needing some stability and Matt's schedule being strange for the next couple weeks. It was fun in some respects (getting to go out to eat, having new sites to see, revisiting my alma mater, JMU, and seeing all that's changed), but we'll all be glad when it's over. Matt has had two days off since Memorial Day and doesn't expect to have another day off until August 6th. This is not good for him or us and he's getting very weary. Pray that the next few weeks move quickly!