Switch Flip #2

Well, it seems this evening, Max's mobility switch #2 flipped. Tonight at dinner he began walking on his own.

*GULP*

First it started earlier in the week when Chris and I were practicing with him walking between us in the living room. He would take a couple steps before lunging toward one of us. Then he would take another, then another. Then, he stood still and balanced right there in the middle. The look on his face was pure joy - you could tell he had been puzzling about and finally the world was beginning to make sense. A couple more rounds and we were sufficiently impressed, and he, sufficiently tired.

Fast forward to tonight. Chris was getting something in the pantry and Max crawled in to "help". Chris came out of the pantry and Max was standing in the doorway, so Chris told him to "walk to Daddy". Well, walk he did! He took several steps out of the pantry and into the kitchen. A few minutes later, he stood up at my chair, held my hand for a quick moment, let go - and walked - and walked - and walked. He cleared the transition from linoleum to carpet like he had been born doing it, and made it all the way to Zooey's bed - a distance of a good 8-10 feet or so. He was smiling ear to ear and clapping his hands. I got a little teary.

Ma'x B-day Nanny Pics

Here are the pictures that Sue (Nanny) took from the weekend. We will publish Elaine's (Granma's) pictures as soon as she sends them to us.

Max's First Birthday

Well, it's hard to believe, but Max's 1st birthday has come and gone. The celebration began on Thursday when Nanny (Sue) and Granma (Elaine) came into town.

Friday we went to Kiddie Kandids to get "official" 1 yr pictures taken. We all piled into my car and zoomed up to Highland Mall to the place. We were really pleased with the staff there and the pictures came out great. No "freaky" child photographers like we experienced in the hospital, but ladies who were able to magically turn a very unhappy little boy into a smiling toddler with nothing more than a bottle of bubbles. We will post a few of the pictures here a little later.

Saturday Chris did all of the shopping and I stayed behind with "the moms" and Max to get ready for the party. They got to play with him, I got to play in the kitchen. All was well. 3pm meant party time. You know they say it takes a village to raise a child? It takes a village to pull off a 1st birthday party too - and we didn't even have a big one! The party turned out well though and of course we got the obligatory "icing face" pictures of Max (see the slideshow below). Incidentally, the recipe for the cake came from the back of the "What to Expect the First Year" book and is totally healthy. Made with wheat flour, wheat germ and no added sugar, it turned out tasty enough that even the adults liked it. Not sure I will ever make it again, but it was ok for a one time thing.

I thought it was really cool that Max enjoyed playing with his new toys. At Christmas when he got new stuff, he was still young enough that he didn't pay much attention to anything other than the wrapping and tissue paper. This time, though he didn't want to help unwrap anything, once it was unwrapped, he tested it out and started playing & is still playing with it today!

June part 2

Here's June part 2. One of the cool things we did this month was have an overnight trip to Houston. I was especially thrilled as the purpose of the trip was to see Tom Waits!!!!! Nanny was kind enough to agree to meet us there and to share a room and babysit while we went to the show. The concert was amazing. We also got to do some fun things with Max. We went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and hung at the butterfly environment. The next morning we took Max for his first train ride on the Herman Park train.

June Pics

Hi everyone, June was crazy. Apologies to all looking for new Max pics. Much like rain in a TX summer, it's either nothing or a flood. With that in mind here's June part 1.