Cold, Car, and 18 months.

It's been an interesting week. I caught ANOTHER cold making it my 5th this year. I wasn't ill for nearly 2 years so I guess I am making up for it. But I feel that I have filled my cold quota. I hope I dont' get sick anymore.

Anyway, I have also been having car troubles. And even though my mechanic is great, we have had a lot of hiccups along the way. So after an entire week, my car is still not running properly. Hopefully it will be done by tomorrow because I need it to be working and registered before I go back to work on Wednesday!

 But it gave me the opportunity to drop it off 3 different times and walk back (it's about 4 blocks away). Which meant lots of days at the park with Max! (We were already out anyway). He loves the park! Going down the slides and climbing and crawling into other people's strollers.

He loves going down the slide all by himself!

He's 18 months now. Actually 18.5 months. He learns new words every day. Yesterday he learned the word cracker and Two. Today it was GO!

He is starting to become a little easier. He doesn't run 50 feet away and not look back. He runs like 20 feet and then see's if I'm following. It makes it easier for me to give him a little more freedom to wander without me feeling like I am going to lose him or he is going to get in trouble if I as much as blink. He plays by himself and will watch Baby Einstein or Sesame Street so I can clean my kitchen and organize my pantry. He no longer constantly needs my attention.

He has started throwing tantrums if he doesn't get what he wants. And he kicks his legs violently if you pick him up when he doesn't want to be picked up. He doesn't like his diaper changed and will run away and hide when I try to change him. He loves to play hide and seek as well!

His Vocabulary includes: Ball, car, kitty, bubble, momma, dada, hi dad, cracker, GO, blue, purple, banana, two, poo poo, cucca, star, dog, all done, key (for blankie or monkey), cheese, shoes, cookie, eye, ear, "O", what's that? (sounds like Widget?) and he has said Nigh Nigh. He barks and moo's. He can point to things when I ask him where it is even if he can't say the word. He signs: eat, milk, bath, baby, all done, and more.

He will give us a kiss whenever we ask. He waves Hi, Bye, and when we say Night Night. He is a pleasure to have and we love him very much!

The Difference a Few Days Makes

Well, just 2 days ago, I was excited if Max took 1 or 2 steps. Then he would take 3-4. Now he's walking across the room! And he tries whether I'm looking or not. He is starting to master his balance. He still stumbles and falls a lot. But it is crazy to think how much he has improved in just a few days!

1/9/2011

1/10/2011

First Haircut!

Max got his first haircut!

Well, technically his "first" haircut was back when he had his little newborn hairs that always stood on end until one day Chris finally had enough of his troll look and chopped them off.

That was his "first" haircut.

(See the little newborn hairs)

Lately I haven't had a clue what to do with Max's hair. It is so soft, and I am so grateful he has any! But I just don't know what to do with it. It looks like a mop top most of the time. Or that he has permanent bed head. I have tried combing it, but it still looks a mess.

When talking to Chris, he said he loved Max's long hair. So we compromised and decided to trim the back and leave the top length. Chris has cut his hair since he was on his mission. So he has all the stuff and he is quite good at it. He was willing to tackle Max's hair.

Max hated the noise of the clippers. He was so scared. So we did a quick trim of the back and then ended the torture session. Then Chris did a few snips with the scissors. All I kept thinking was that he would be a nightmare if he ever had to be a patient in the hospital!

A nice trim.... it's not perfect, but oh well!

 He starting to look more like a little boy than a baby!

(Profile)

So he (and I) survived the first trim session. Hopefully in the future he sits a little more still and isn't so scared of the razor!

Teefs

 So Max has entered into a new realm of development. He's getting teeth! I had noticed about a week ago that his gums were a little red on the bottom. But he had been drooling since he was 3 months, and he has been sticking EVERYTHING in his mouth since he was about 5 months. So I wasn't sure if anything was going to happen soon.

Then, after an incredibly fussy morning, I noticed little teeth trying to break through his gums on Wednesday. I text Chris to tell him since he was at work and he text back "Teefs!". So we have been laughing that Max is getting teefs. (Trust me he wasn't this happy most of the day)

 

 Today they have completely broke through the gums and are coming in well. It hasn't been too painful of a process. He has more mood swings and irritability during the day, but has actually been sleeping BETTER at night... go figure.

Now we get to enjoy the process of getting the rest of the Teefs.

Talking

Max loves to make noises. He squeals, yells, and even does a little devil groan that sounds like it would hurt his throat. But they are always one vowel sound. Ehhh Ehhhh Ehhh. Ahhhhhhhhh. And his cute laugh Eaha Eaha Eaha Eaha.

Tonight while I was giving him a bath he just started saying Ba Ba Ba Ba. So I yelled for Chris to come and bring the camera!

He's growing up so fast!

Awkward Crawl

Max is starting to move. He has figured out how to awkward army crawl his way to his favorite things (like remote controls). Why are babies so enamored by remote controls?

Max the Last Month

Wow. I knew I hadn't posted for a while, but has it really been a month?

Sorry. My Laptop is on the fritz. The screen barely works. The keyboard doesn't type every letter and it moves SUPER SLOW. I've spent much of my alone/computer time trying to back up everything on my external hard drive and not much time blogging. But here is a little sum up of he past month:

Max is getting used to his helmet. Some mom's I talked to said it didn't take long for their babies to "get used" to the helmet. I'd say, for Max, it took him a good 2 weeks. Now it wasn't like he would cry all the time... he was just fussier than normal. It is still funny to watch him look up at things, because it is like he has a visor on that he always has to look over. So he tilts his head way back to look up at things. I find myself crouching down so he can see my face.

 (His shirt says hard headed... ha ha ha)

Max has definitely learned to move this month. While he is not crawling, he has figured out that when he really wants something (like papers or cords) he will steam roll his way over or maneuver his body around to get to desired item. One morning I left him like this to play:

 And I found him like this:

He has also started doing these push ups. He gets up on his hands, but as soon as he bends one leg, he flips over onto his back. He'll get it eventually. It is fun watching him try. He even army crawled a little today!

 

Max has also progressed in his solid food consumption. I think feeding him solid foods is the LEAST favorite part of my day. He gets distracted very easy and turns his head, he sucks on his fingers as I try to spoon in the food, and he blows raspberries thus splattering food EVERYWHERE. I absolutely dread doing it, but I know he just needs the practice. He is already improving and it isn't quite such a battle every time anymore.

He takes rice cereal and has tried various fruits and a few veggies. Every time I give him something knew he pulls the funniest faces... like it is the worst thing in the world. He has eventually gotten used to most foods. Here he is trying a biter biscuit. He gnawed off the end, played with it in his mouth and then gagged a bunch instead of swallowing it. In fear that he would vomit all the food that I took 15 minutes getting into him the biter biscuit was taken away. Maybe we will try those a little later.

 Here's a few of my favorites:

 (Eating a Carters Tag)

Proof he isn't always happy. His "cry face" looks exactly like it did when he was a newborn.

He LOVES strings (and cords)! It reminds me of my cats. All he needs is a shoelace and some paper (maybe a dryer sheet) and he is happy! Who said kids need all the expensive toys!

And here is his most recent head picture taken 10/12/10 after 6 weeks of helmet therapy. It is so much more round, but still a little off set (meaning his right side is more foreword than the left). But it is improving! 3 more weeks and we get to see if he can go to night time use only. But that might be wishful thinking. Cross your fingers!



Here are some video's I took as well:

The Pushup

Trying Apple Juice (mixed with water)

Eating the Biter Biscuit

Half Birthday

When I was a little girl, my sister would always mention she had a "half birthday". It is the date 6 months after your birthday that you turn __(insert number of age here)___ and a half. Little did I know until a conversation I had with her on her birthday (3 days ago...Happy Birthday again Jill!) that the reason she celebrated her half birthday was because her birthday is in the summer and so she couldn't bring treats to school. So some of the kids brought treats on their half birthdays so that everyone was able to celebrate and bring treats on their birthdays. I never knew that until now.

If Max would have been born on his due date, it would have been on my sister's 1/2 birthday!

But here we are! MAX IS 6 Months!!! I can't even believe that it is all going by so fast, yet I can barely remember my life without him.

Here are a few fun facts about him:

1. He is sitting up. He still topples over and doesn't quit get the entire balancing thing, but he does pretty well.

2. He loves chewing on EVERYTHING.

3. He is grabby. He grabs my hair and pulls (hard). He grabs my glasses off my face when I wear them. He grabs toys and brings them to his mouth. He is Mr. Grabby.

4. He is in 12 month clothing... and some of the shorts are a little snug

5. He wears size 3 and 4 diapers, but mostly 4's... we are not going to be wasteful of the 3's I still have.

6. He is in his big boy car seat which isn't fitting very well in my small Mazda Protege. It doesn't like to recline and his poor head falls forward when he falls asleep. It will be the bane of my existence for the next 6 months until he can face forward.

7. He moves! But isn't crawling yet. He can scoot all over the floor.

8. He loves to giggle, especially in the evening.

9. He finally eats rice cereal, and we have tried a few other foods!

10. He melts my heart every single day

Chris put him in his University of Utah onesie today. Ironically Max's half birthday is on the first day of Fall semester at the U. Maybe there is some foreseeing in the future. (Watch, he grow up and goes to another college south of here)

We had a low key day. Just played a little, watched a little Baby Einstein, napped very little (typical) and ate some cereal. And of course we had a little photo session.

HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY MAX!!!