Toys for Max

Max is in his Intellitainer right now and he is having a great time. His feet touch the ground enough so that he can turn himself from one side of the toy to the other. And he has better control of his hands so that he can play with the various things. Sadly the music part seems to be fading although I am foolishly optimistic that new batteries will solve the problem.

Another toy that Max LOVED earlier in the week was the spin ball. Here's a link: http://www.tinylove.com/toy.aspx?toyId=58 He must have spent 20 minutes playing with it while sitting on my bed while I was folding laundry. I don't know that I could say anything more to recommend it. :)

Much as it sucked to have been a memory-challenged loser who left part of the pump at home, requiring me to leave work to come home and feed Max, it was very nice to be home and to get to spend some time with him and Mark. It was also nice that he took a 2 hour nap and then spent another hour hanging out with his Daddy. I was able to get a lot of work done. Yay Max!

Photos Soon

Meanwhile, news...

Max is still loving standing up, and is quite content to stand in his playpen and hold on to the sides. Sometimes this is the only way to eat a meal with two hands. He falls down but doesn't seem phased by it. So that is good news.

Yesterday he saw Mark and waved at him while saying "hi da da" which could be a coincidence or could be real. It's kinda hard to tell. I'm still hopeful that he will one day say "ma ma" but I'm not holding my breath...

I made him a new sweater and finished it up last night. I made it and tried to put it on him but his giant head wouldn't fit through the neck, so last night I ripped out the neck and did it again and now it fits just fine. I took a few photos last night and I'll post them as soon as my computer is up and running and working at a reasonable speed.

In possible TMI news, we had the first sighting of "pooping face" which was immediately after I changed a poopy diaper. Turns out I was too fast. And Mark got to change a poopy diaper almost immediately. It was kinda cute. :)

A few more milestones...

Max is really loving standing up in his pack and play. Over the weekend Nik had some balloons (my boss's day balloons -- thanks team!) and he was playing with them just outside the playpen. Max was having a ball! He was able to hit the balloons with one hand while hanging on to the edge of the pack and play with the other hand. And then he'd fall down. But he didn't seem to mind in the slightest. :)

Max has been working on learning how to wave. This weekend we had a new milestone -- Matt waved at Max and Max waved back!

On Saturday we went to a playdate to Melissa's house so that our 3 boys could play with her 3 boys. Her middle son was loving on Max the whole time. He was so sweet and so cute. He wanted to hug Max and kiss Max. He and his big brother kept telling Max that he was cute. They are really great kids (and I'd say that even if they weren't so admiring of Max). Max spent some of his time at their house working on walking. He can't walk by himself, but he's really mastering how to move his feet while we hold his hands and keep him steady. He seems very proud of himself for being able to alternate moving his feet. I think he might just skip right over that boring crawling step. He has a long way to go on balance tho. Although I think standing in the playpen is really helping him with that. I think he likes being able to see more stuff.

Hopefully I can get my computer up and running again so that I can load up some of the new photos from the weekend. Max had on an "I love my mummy" shirt this weekend...

Waving...

I don't have a photo yet, but Max has started waving this week. Yesterday morning he waved to the crossing guard when he and Daddy walked Nik to school.

I got a little video of him in the Jump Jump last night. I'll try to load it up over the weekend for your viewing pleasure. He is a bouncing baby boy for sure!

Lots of Updates!

My view in the rear view mirror after picking Nik up from school. Nik and Max.

And here's Max, looking at me from his seat. He's wearing the little cardigan Auntie made for him.

Max is not a future democrat. He's already one, as his diaper shows. :)

Max playing with his Mozart cube. He's really figured it out now and can make the music play.

Max standing up in his playpen.

Max in his snuggly warm sleeper from Stacia. Thanks Stacia! You can't see it in this photo but there are little dalmations all over the outfit in a burnout kind of technique. He's got another outfit just like this in green. It's fantastic for keeping him warm at night since he can't have any blankets. And it will keep him warm in the morning when he walks Nik to school with Daddy.

In one of his outfits from Kathy B from my office. The onesie says Handsome. :)

Max is giving his new boots a taste test. Thanks to his WorkDaddy, MitreBob for helping to find them in Vegas.

Fatty McFatterson got stuck in his bumbo seat...

Max with one of his new friends. He's 2 days younger...

Max getting a bottle from Erma while being adored by one of his many fans, Little Miss.

This is a photo of Max laughing at Nik's antics, but I wasn't able to get both of them in the photo at the same time.
Here Max is modeling his new outfit. This was one of the many little outfits from Shelley. I'm loving it. It is like little baby pajamas! And the octopus on his shirt is slightly fuzzy. Baby clothes are just so cute and so soft! Why can't they make more grownup clothes like this?

I had to start a note to make sure I'd remember all the changes...


Max had a nice visit with his almost birthday buddies. :) Tammi is down from MA and brought Nick and Alex down. Max seemed a little confused by other tiny babies but he did ok with them. Many photos were taken. Many of which will be posted on Tammi's facebook page I am sure.


We all enjoyed a visit from Jack and Erma. Max was loving all the extra attention he got from them.


Max now eats cereal (rice and oatmeal), avocado, mango, sweet potato, and pumpkin. He is a big fan of the sweet potato and pumpkin. Thanks to Krista for offering up pumpkin as a food option. I hadn't considered pumpkins as a food, only as decoration. But Max was leaning forward with his mouth wide open when it was eating time.

As for milestones:

I put Max in his playpen standing up and put his hands on the edge. He stayed standing up for quite a while before falling to his butt. He seemed to like it.

I had Max sitting next to me on the couch and he decided that he wanted to sit up and that he would do so by dragging his way up my shirt. It worked. He got to his feet.

Max also improved his distance in his "crawling." He puts his feet down and his butt in the air and then shoves his face along the bed. He seems to appreciate the high thread count sheets since they help speed him on his way. He can move a fair bit through a combo approach of "crawling" and rolling. He's really doing a good job of getting his knees down, but he hasn't mastered how to work the front half of his body. He also is enjoying tummy time more and more now that he can push his head up and see around. He's also very very stable on sitting up. We made the bed this weekend with him sitting up by the pillows. He ended up sitting up with a lap full of blankets and a very content look on his face. It almost looked like he was ready to drive a little car, with the way he was holding his hands.

Max is making a lot more noises. He makes a noise that sounds a bit like static (or a hairball, your choice of descriptors). And he makes a noise like the noise Mark makes (without realizing it) when he is tickling Max's tummy with his beard. Max is totally mimicking Mark on that. And he also sometimes says "hi da da" and sometimes that is even when Mark is nearby. :)

Max also mimicked us today when he was sitting in front of me and put his face on my tummy. He didn't manage to blow a raspberry but he was definitely doing what we do to him.

Bobbing for Dummies and the Pumpkin Patch

Max is dressed ready to go to the Pumpkin Patch.

Julian was our guest photographer for this photo of Max in the Maya Wrap at the Pumpkin Patch. The Indiana Baby Hat was key to keeping his lily white skin safe.

Max crashed out in Daddy's lap. When it is nap time it is nap time. And no pumpkin patch was going to keep him from getting his nap! This was pretty soon after the Hayride which he really enjoyed. He planted his feet on the seat and bounced up and down happily.

Max's first experience with a swing that isn't battery powered. He was really enjoying it. And I promise his arms were not actually about to snap off.

Max and I went down the slide together.

This evening after I finished eating my dinner (mmm, meatloaf!) I was holding Max on my lap. I had hold of his hands. His pacifier (AKA Dummy in England) fell out of his mouth, and after a few tries Max managed to get it back into his mouth without using his hands. It was very funny!

A few more photos...

Max's WorkDaddy asked that some new happier photos be added to the blog since the new food photos could make you think Max is a grumpy baby. We can't have that. So here are some photos of Max wearing the brown fleece Bob and I picked out for him in Vegas at the outlet. Max wore this tonight to Julian's soccer practice. It worked out great. He was warm but not overheated and was still able to bounce around. Plus he looked super cute and felt super soft! I'm very happy with the way the outfit worked out. :)

Max also has been working on "feeding" himself. He isn't really helping with the solid food, but when it comes to the bottle he's being more and more helpful. I put the handle on his bottle for him earlier this week and he went to town. Too bad it doesn't come with a foot bar, since he opted to get his whole body involved in the process of getting milk into his belly. :)

Max had a few other little milestones this week. He and NannyJo came to have lunch with me and my team at work and Max sat in a highchair for the first time ever. He did ok but soon decided he would rather have one of his adoring fans hold him. He's also transitioned to a bigger carseat for in NannyJo's van. He's going to quickly outgrow his carseat in the mini and the minivan and we are not quite sure of our solution, but at least we have taken care of the problem of NannyJo's van. He seemed to enjoy his mango, although every now and then he seems to hit a sour spot because he makes a fantastically funny sour face. He's sleeping in his crib every night, although last night he wasn't doing so much of the sleeping part. He had me up more than once an hour until I gave up and had Mark take over. Then he slept just fine. Sigh.

Max is also now much more interested in the toys that are a part of his swing. He has two little toys that spin around and he is now batting at them and making them spin. He's very interested in everything he can see and tries to grab at everything. He's also honing his glasses-grabbing skill and can swipe my glasses off my face in seconds.

He's still a fantastically happy little boy and a total delight to me...