Max 100

Hey everybody! Well, it's been a little while between posts... and what do you know. MADDOX IS WALKING!!! WTF? I miss some posts because of work/life/whatever and in the mean time, my son finds it convenient to start walking. Him and I will need to discuss this once he can formulate words a little better. Our talks are currently a little one-sided. He doesn't speak much English and I don't speak much man-baby. We'll work it out though.

So, yes, he is walking. You have to coax him a little sometimes. Sure, you have to downright hold him above the ground enough so that he can't physically crawl, and has no choice but to walk, but he does do it. He also makes all the turns, and can even turn around and go in the complete opposite direction. A couple of observations from watching not only Max walk, but watching a lot of kids his age walk:

1. The walks are really much more of a march, with the way they stomp their feet.
2. All babies walk a little top heavy, and with the appearance of drunkeness.
3. Every baby is just as surprised they are walking as you are.

So other than walking, baby Maddox also suffered his first bloody nose 2 Sundays ago. He's got this hippo piano (don't we all) with ears that stick up on the back. He was standing, leaning over with his hands down on the ears... sure 'nough... the whole piano flipped over backwards and baby face planted onto the floor. And by face plant, I mean still on his feet with his face buried in the floor. He wasn't so much hurt as he was pissed! He was real mad! And, after some consoling, while pushing around another toy, we noticed some blood coming from his nose. Poor little tough guy. He took it like a champ though.

Something I've noticed in the blogs around the family is something called a bucket list, which is a list of things you want to accomplish in your life. I know Maddox would want to get involved, so here's some of his "Pre-Toddler" 100 things to do. We may not make it to 100, actually, I feel pretty confident we won't make it to 25, but here's a start.

0 - 10:

1. Keep choking hazards in mouth for longer periods of time.
2. Graham crackers and Vanilla wafers for lunch and dinner.
3. Keep convenience of diaper without losing play time to change said diaper.
4. Replace dada with another mama.
5. Be completely independent by this time next week.
6. Feel as good as when you wake up from a nap, without actually taking a nap.
7. Make snow angels in the ivy garden in our driveway.
8. Eat all dinners from "food" found on the floor.
9. Learn to communicate by just pointing.
10. Become pen-pals with either the Cookie Monster or Elmo.

That's all for now everybody. I'll try to get some video of Maddox's march. I also will try to capture a little something we call "The Billy Goat". I won't say anything other than that... just keep an eye out for it. Love you guys.

That's Max-tastic

Man it's been fun to be a dad lately. Max is really at a fun age. I know Nicole has been keeping you guys posted while I get slammed with work, but I'm back now, and I'm ready to set the record straight... just incase there were any lies out there.

First of all, Maddox can definitely walk upwards of 8 feet. It's not necessarily fundamentally sound, (given that he has a serious left foot-out-front-lean to him), but that's okay. It gets him there. Plus, in the event he always walks by putting his left foot out front, this can fall into the growing catagory of things that his future significant-other will find endearing. Others on the list are as follows:

• He still throws his food/drink to the floor when done, rather than putting it back on the table. And really, he does this with everything that he is "done" with. Red ball plus 5 seconds... floor. Blue car plus 5 seconds... floor. Dada's glasses plus 1 second... floor!
• He does still poop his pants, but most endearing is that when he does, he prefers it to stay in there rather than deal with the diaper change. Can't say I blame him though... it is kind of a drag.
• He's great at pointing out ne'er-d0-wells (i.e. the homeless). Especially on the subway, when they are in close proximity. So close you can smell them, some might say.

Max has also lately discovered how to shake his head no. It's really funny, although he doesn't quite understand it completely. He may shake his head no, when really he means, yes, I would like some milk. It's a bit confusing for us all, but he'll get it down soon. Maybe I'll get some video of this for you guys.

Other than these tid-bits, he's talking a lot and pointing a lot. Lately, this is my favorite thing he does. He's really good at spotting lights, trucks, cars, the aforementioned ne'er-do-well, ducks and dogs. If there happens to be a lot of lights, he's also been known to wave his pointer finger around to signify "look at all that". It's priceless. I really love that he's asking us what things are. While we were in NYC, and while Nicole was shopping, Maddox and I passed the time by him pushing his own stroller around the store, down all the isles. He'd stop occasionally to grab a low hanging price-tag or shirt sleeve, point at it, look at me, make a noise and move on. He really looked like he was shopping. We did this for hours and it was really fun. I've never had more fun shopping in my life. Maddox is my new shopping buddy.

Here's a revised list of Maddox's likes/dis-likes:

Likes:

1. Riding the subway in NYC with all the people close-by. It's better for him if they are within grabbing distance.
2. His new shoes... which he prefers to wear all the time now.
3. Reading books, preferably in somebody's lap.
4. Pointing at things and having mom and dad answer what it is.
5. Cars/trains of all kinds.
6. Construction equipment of all kinds.
7. He's in love with his momma lately.
8. Papa.
9. Stair climbing.
10. Grandpappy's cane.
11. Drake and Gordon (Aunt Jessi's dogs)

Dislikes:

1. Sleep, this will be number 1 for awhile, if not forever.
2. Diaper changes.
3. Hunger.
4. Falls resulting in head trama.
5. Working as hard as possible to find a choking hazard, only to have it taken away before he really knew what it was all about.
6. Not enough time in the bath-tub.
7. Waking up alone at night.
8. Having someone other than Papa (my dad), momma, or Miss Jackie (his daycare worker) hold him.
9. Mom and dad trying to make him walk when he'd really rather crawl, if that's okay with everyone.
10. Over-cooked pasta in his mouth.

Hope everybody is doing well. Here's an updated slideshow for those interested: