18 Month Checkup

We had Max's 18 month checkup and he's doing great. He's 20 lbs 13 oz., less than 3rd percentile and 30.75 inches, 9th percentile. I guess he'll always be our little peanut. He had follow up blook work that showed his white blood cell count is back to normal. We still have to see a genetist but so far everything seems fine.

First Lollipop, New Gate and New Float

Max had his first lollipop. He sure did enjoy it.

After his escape from the family room, we got a new gate. This one doesn't have any room under it to crawl and has a door. I'm sure he'll figure out how to open it soon enough but for now I think we're safe.

I love this picture. I think he got caught trying to figure out how to escape again.

He loved his new pool float that we tried out in Aunt Susann's pool.

He loves his Daddy!

Escape from the family room

We had this gate from when we would try to keep the cat out of the family room when the new floors went in and we decided to try to use it to keep Max in the family room. Well we were having a hard time making it work because of the area that we had to put it in. So our friend Karen suggested that we raise it a little because it would be on a more even surface and should work. Well it worked....We could get it to stay on the wall just fine. But not so much for keeping Max in the family room. It took him about two weeks to figure out how to do this.

18 Months

My little boy is growing up so fast. He celebrated his 18 month birthday on July 8th. He's keeping us very busy running all over the place. Some of his favorite things to do are:

• Pick up sticks outside
• Play with balls
• Push any toy that he's supposed to ride on
• Play in the dirt
• Play with the little people farm

He says at least 20 words by now. Some of the newest words are: grapes, please, Max, and yogurt (or gogurt). He signs more and all done very well. He blows kisses....only on his terms though. He recently learned to do "raspberries". One day I was laying on the floor playing with him and he lifted up my shirt and did a raspberry on my stomach. We had no idea he knew how to do them.

We've been working on teaching him to eat with a spoon and he's doing pretty good. Yesterday he had a baby ice cream cone and did okay with it too. At daycare they've been working on him sleeping on a mat and eating at a table instead of highchair - two of the things he needs to be doing to move to the next room - he's doing pretty good.

He's generally a very good toddler. Still sleeps really well at night and is very easy going for the most part. He's become very independent and even a little defiant. He gives us a hard time when we try to change his diaper or his clothes. When we take away something he's not supposed to have or try to get him to do something that he doesn't want to do (stop playing to eat, getting out of the bathtub, etc.) he screams and stiffens up. I'm hoping it's just a phase and that this too shall pass. Wish me luck on that one.

Still no teeth!!! It's crazy. The dentist took an x-ray and found a full set of teeth just waiting to erupt. Who knows when it will be but I hope he's not in too much pain when it happens. In the meantime he's become proficient at chewing just about everything with his gums. He's still a good eater and his favorite things are fruit and yogurt.

I still look at him and wonder how we got so lucky to have such a wonderful little boy. He has changed our lives in a way that I could never have imagined....the love I have for him is stronger than I knew existed.

A Way to Stay Cool

It was so hot today so after work we took Max to the town pool where they have a section called Splash Island. He had a blast.

He did get mad and decided to pick up one of the sprinklers though. He's so strong.

He kept pinching the water streams. It was so cute.

Fourth of July Fun

We spent this beautiful Fourth of July at Meme and Papa's camp with the Junco family. Yes, the Tadjbakhsh's are dorks and bought matching t-shirts to show our patriotism. Aren't we so cute?


Dada and Max just hanging out.


Ashley and Chris took Max on a golf cart ride.


Vincent and Max discuss baseball.


We spent some time in the baby pool and Max loved it.


Leah hangs with us in the baby pool.


Max loved being in the float that Aunt Tammy bought him.


We ended the day with Max eating yogurt with a spoon by himself. He does pretty good with it. Let's hope that he can master it by the end of the summer so I don't have to move the hose inside the house to clean up messes like this one.

Sprinklers

Max loved going under the sprinkler at our friends house.

Bike Riding is Exhausting

Todays bike ride to the farmer's market wore Max out. Evidently, riding on the back of a bike is exhausting.

First Family Bike Ride

I bought a new bike a couple of weeks ago and we've been wanting to take a family bike ride but we had trouble getting a seat for Max to fit on Roger's bike. So we finally got one and had it installed last weekend. Tonight we went on our first family bike ride. We rode to the town park and had a picnic. Max hasn't mastered the concept of sitting on a blanket to eat dinner but we managed. Then we ran around in the park chasing birds for a while before riding home again. Max also doesn't understand that he has to keep the helmet on so we need to work on that. On the way there he took it off but on the way home he kept it on. And it's such a cute helmet - it has ducks and a goose and says......yep, duck, duck, goose.

Fun with Annabel and Caroline

Recently, we spent some time with our friends Karen, Scott, Annabel and Caroline. They had a lot of fun at the park.

He loved the slide.




He never actually went through the tunnel





Caroline, Max and Annabel enjoy a moment in the train. I hope that weird rash goes away soon.

Caroline sitting in the tunnel.

Daddy's a little big for the train slide.

Max loved the pebbles the most.

Annabel and Max swing. Annabel is styling in her shades.

First Alive at Five 2010

We went to our first Alive at Five event of the year. Max had a great time running around and listening to the music. Aunt D introduced him to Mayor Jennings. He asked him where he got his tan.

Chocolate....yummy!

We were dipping strawberries in chocolate so we put some melted chocolate on Max's highchair tray. As you can see, he was very excited. At first he only put one finger at a time but by the end he had his whole hand and face a chocolate mess. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of that though.