Max is 29 months old.

Amy and I sat here trying to figure out exactly how old Max is. I tell everyone he's two and half because I don't want to go through the hassle of counting months anymore. So here Amy and I were counting with out fingers to verify that Max is now 29 months old--I'm sticking with two and half and after he turns three, no more month counting.

Max is more curious now but not so curious that he breaks thingsm he's more cautious now. If he does it is usually an accident that could have happened to anyone or something that he just wasn't familiar with. His motor skills are really sharp now as he can do many things carefully using his hands. He still falls a lot though. Max is very eager to do things and seems to be in a hurry to get from one place to another, he runs everywhere. My mother calls him a "busy little squirrel". He is not napping as much anymore so I am seeing a transition from a baby schedule to a curious little boy's schedule.

I am a little confused by what Max is ready to learn. There are some things that he seems to understand the first time I tell him and other things that he does not appear to understand. I can tell when he understands what I tell him because he will take over whatever I just showed him and do it himself. When he does not understand something, he leaves--probably to do something he can do or more fun. Or, he understands and does not feel like listening to me. Obviously, teacher(parent)-student(son) relationship will improve as he learns to communicate.

Max had a difficult time at the barber shop, last week. He has a melt-down whenever I take him and kicks, screams and appears very, very sad and then gives me a dirty look, "how could you let them do this to me dad?". His barber is extremely talented because she can cut his hair in sections as he shakes his head. I think he's simply curious about why he needs this done and absolutely fascinated by the all the gadgets his hairdresser uses. Every time she switched clippers, Max would swing his head wildly to see what else she was going to do. He tracked her every move. I need to let him hold on to our clippers and run them so that he gets used to getting his haircut without being restrained by several adults. In the end, he walked out with a neat and short haircut and a brand, new lollipop.

Speech:

Max is putting simple two-three word sentences together. I think that he knows more than what he can say. He is very specific about his needs and if you cannot produce what he is requesting, he will push or pull you in the general direction of what he wants. Luckily it is mostly things like a DVD, cocoa or a snack. He is officially bilingual (English and Spanish) but he knows where to use the words. He never speaks Spanish to Amy in fact, if I saw something to him in Spanish, he will ignore me.

Toys:

We are doing everything we can to keep him well rounded in terms of his interests. I did not wan him to only be aware of toys for boys, (e.g., guns, lasers, grenades, robots, etc...) and gave him legos, chalk, a nice wooden train set. But it does not seem to matter. He likes robots (refers to them as "ahbahts"), jets, rockets ("ahket"). He frequently uses his robot to destroy the wooden train set. Yes, that's probably all my fault(daddy) for showing him things that I thought were cool when I was a little boy. But I also showed Max other things, he just seemed attracted to the rockets and robots. He understands what batteries are and what they do. So, I may as well say it now that I am probably going to get him mostly science related toys.

Knowledge and memory:

Max can identify most of the letters in the alphabet and even some numbers but I don't think that he understands what order these things fit in. When he does rocket countdowns, he'll say, "2-9 blah blah!". He knows what some of the planets are and seems understands that you need a vehicle of some sort to get from one planet to another although I don't think that he understands what planets are, but he understands the concept of a vehicle. He appears to have an amazing memory but obviously selective. Sometimes I will forget where I parked the car, or approach another car that looks like mine and he will correct me immediately, "no, no, no". Location of certain people and things he needs are important to him now and he will ask by saying, "where is he?" or, "where is she?". Also, he can remember certain expressions made on movies and tv programs that he watches a lot.

Generally:

I can tell that Max is going to enjoy teasing people although I do not know how much he is going to enjoy being teased back. It is difficult to say what his personality is going to be like because I see new and wonderful developments every week.

Until next month...

28 months -- yes, this is correct!

Ok, it's been a while. I was asked to update this blog so here it goes. Max's personality is developing now and whe're starting to see what kind of a person he might be. I say that because he's only two and a half and many, many things can change in his behavior. But the one thing that stands out to me is that he seems to be a very resilient little person that knows what he wants and appears to understand what he needs to do to get it. He's extremely resourceful. I've seen him solve problems and improves objects.

Interests:
Max is developing interests typical of a little boy. I often forget that he's only two and will get him a toy that's designed for an older kid. He still plays with it--it's a toy, something new--but he obviously doesn't understand the concept of certain games yet. I don't mind getting him toys like this because it gives me an opportunity to play with Max and the toy, we have fun. Things he likes right now are trains (choo-choo), all manner of aircraft, robots, playing in the kitchen helping momma mix things--when it's possible and yelling at Spike--he's two and we're working on this. He's developed an interest in mimicking the sounds that some of these vehicles make like jet and rocket blasts, rocket launch countdowns and vehicle sounds.

Behavior:
Max is fairly even tempered little boy with the expected ups and dows of any toddler. He listens and watches everything we do, carefully. I know that he's watching because sometimes he'll request something unexpected and calls it by name using max-only words. For example, he was moody last Friday afternoon and we didn't know why. He pointed to the pancake mix and called it, "bah-beek?". Amy knew immediately that Max wanted "Pancakes", that was "Bah-Beek". I was shocked because I didn't think he knew what pancakes were much less what they're called. Amy makes pancakes for breakfast and he obviously enjoys them but I didn't think he was aware enough to ask for them. Because he's two there are many tantrums as one would expect. But the cool thing is that they don't last that long. But when Max does throw a tantrum, he throws himself on the ground, gently eases his head to the floor--apparently so that it doesn't hurt--and starts wailing. After a minute into this tirade, he produces crocodile-tears and then about 15 minutes later gets up and does something else, it's over. There have been times when it has lasted longer than that but it's rare. He seems to be able to switch gears on his own. The only difference is that if there is something he really wants (or needs) he will not quit until he gets it, it's interesting to watch. Max is starting to understand a few rules of conduct like, "thank you", "bless-you", "you're welcome". If we ask him how he's doing, he'll say, "ah fine, ah-q" (I'm fine, thank you). He might be a teaser, a trickster as he likes to tease Amy. He seems to get a kick out of saying, "Momma?". When Amy responds, he'll gigle and won't say anything and then do it again--"Momma?". I think this goes on for several rounds until either Amy or Max get tired of this game.

Development:
We work on numbers and letters regularly. I think Amy spent some time with Max and his letter puzzle and can identify 90% of the letters. He can also indentify many animals at this point and mimic their sounds(he snorts when he sees a pig--it's cute). Max also identifies and finds a few important household items like shoes, keys, cell phones and wallets. These are things that we look for before leaving the house and he's used seeing us run around the house looking for these items. What I don't understand about Max is how is it that he seems to be able to learn how to play with a with a toys designed for older kids and can follow a few instructions but I can't get him to identify numbers. What's the difference between that objects that we show him and the symbols we use to identify numbers, "one", "two", "three", etc. We're not harsh parents that are forcing him to learn these things, not at all. In fact, we encourage Max to spend time playing with his toys and watch him make up situations that involve helicopters, trains and other toys he's familiar with. I simply don't understand what the difference is between a letter(symbol) and a number(symbol). We're not even expecting him to count yet. Aside from all this though, Max spends a lot of time making up new games seemingly using his imagination.

Speech:

Max is learning two languages by default, English and Spanish. His grandparents speak to him in Spanish and Max is able to comprehend and follow instruction in Spanish. If I ask him a few things in Spanish at my parents house, he'll oblige. But he will not respond to Spanish commands commands outside my parent's house--it's the weirdest thing. It seems that Spanish is something that is only spoken to my parents and their house--and that's it. If I ask him anything in Spanish, he'll ignore it. A large portion of what Max says is still baby-gibberish but we can tell that he's going to have the gift of gab. He seems to have a lot of questions because he'll launch into a bunch of gibberish with the tone of a question (ksalfkj klfjlskjd jlkjsdlfj??). I just say, "yes, I was just thinking about that, Max." I wish I had a better handle of what he's asking because it's an observation that he's making about a situation. I wish I could communicate better with him.

Below is a list of the words that I can think of:

• milk == "yup[k]"
• playdoh == "bay-boh"
• cocoa == "coco"
• to get anyone's attention == "Ey! Ey!"
• apple == "Appo"
• Juice == "joos"
• cell phone = "seh-bo"
• robot == "ah-baht"
• Oh Man... == "oh man..."
• ice cream == "aee-kee"
• Spike = "sigh"
• light == "why"
• pancake = "bah-beek"
• space == "faish"
• space shuttle = "faish"
• moon == "moo"

There are a few more words that he's developed into his own language but I can't remember them right now.
Ok, I'll make a better attempt of updating this blog. I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep this going. It's an interesting log of his activities that he can visit as there is a lot of information about the pregnancy. If he's as curious of his origins as I am about everything, he'll love reading this blog. I'll keep writing stuff in this blog until I stop.

22 months, I think...

It's been a while since I've blogged anything about Max. Work and a class I'm taking has been distracting me from my baby blogging duties. I document a lot of details about Max's daily adventures on a Google calendar and I thought about sharing that calendar with anyone who's interested but then I thought that maybe it's not such a good idea as there are medical exam details and diaper results from failed food experiments. So... I'm going to stick to blogged summaries.

Ok, Max is almost two, I lost count of the months now and I don't think he's into the whole month-by-month thing anymore so, Max is almost two. He runs everywhere--everywhere. He has battle scars to prove it too, I like to think of them as toddler merit badges. He has several dents on his head that he earned while scaling a wall outside and being introduced to gravity. Then there was the time when he climbed on my back and I didn't know he'd lost his grip, I stood up and "thump". Good thing Amy was there to hug him because he scowled at me. The scorch on his arm from a barbecue, the scratch on his other arm from a rosebush, the scratch on his left nostril from a fingernail, the road-rash on his forehead and chubby cheek from chasing a ball and tripping, and not to mention his knees, the list goes on. It's a good thing that babies bounce.

I know, I'm probably making Max sound uncoordinated but really it's exactly the opposite. He can dribble a tiny jawbraker down a driveway with amazing focus and can pick up rice using chop-sticks--with a little clenched fist! I can't do that. Amy and I watched him and asked, "how's he doing that?" I think that the fact that he's gained so many merit badges is due to his high level of curiosity and not really understanding how basic laws of Newtonian physics apply to him. Things that we take for granted like momentum, gravity, inertia, mass versus mass, things like that. But when he does understand it or at least suffers its consequence, he's very careful. He doesn't barrel down dirt hills anymore nor does he climb on or in the wheelbarrow either without looking up at me first--long story...

Potty training hasn't officially started yet. We have the equipment but haven't put much effort to getting Max trained yet. I can't speak for Amy but I'm sad about it because that means I can't change him as he's not a baby anymore, he's a toddler, then little boy and then--sigh--a man. I promise I'll have him trained by then, at least before his first date.

Words! So far, still not that many--at least, not words that we would recognize. He talks a lot and appears to even negotiate at times by pointing at the item and then what he wants to do with it. This means that he likes to argue but for now, we'll call it strategic negotiation. It's funny to watch because you know that he's trying to get a specific point across and that it looks like has an end result. I don't remember if I've written this before but so far the recognizable words are; "doe-doe" (JoJo his big sister), "Dah-kee" (Sami, his little big sister), "Dah-dee"(me), "Mah-mah"(mama). "Doe-Doe-dah-kee!!"- he mimics Amy yelling, "JoJo, Sami!!", "Oh-kee" - ok. He also says "thank you" and "you're welcome" but I can't even begin to spell the way he pronounces it. He understands about the same number of words in Spanish and can follow simple instructions in both languages.

Let's see, other words that he's starting to say are; Spike = "Sa-ee", ma-ma-ma-ma = "c'mon-c'mon-c'mon-c'mon", good night = "nigh" and a few other words that I probably don't recognize.

We still don't know what "Dah-Doo" means. But that was his first word.

We can already tell that drawing and scibbling are going to be big on his list of things he likes to do. He can spend a long time doodling on his chalkboard, erasing it and repeating. Max seems to be able to remember certain things overnight. I drew a picture of Elmo on the chalkboard and told him what it was. He tried to draw his own version of Elmo but Amy described it as a Picasso inspired rendering of Elmo. Still, he draws something that looks like the caricature and then yells, "Me-moh!". So evidently he can tell that it's Elmo and he's trying to work on it.

We're probably going to plan his second birthday soon. I'm not sure what we're going to do for Max or where we'll celebrate it. I can't believe he's almost two, so, so fast...

19 months.

The image above shows Max checking out a finance page, he's not. I put the image together because I thought it looked funny. He's actually watching one of his favorite YouTube videos, Pocoyo. Much like Max, Pocoyo is a mischievous little toddler who ends up in trouble because he's either discovering things with his friends or getting in over his head, exactly like Max. Pocoyo always gets out of trouble end learns something new.

Amazingly, he's listening now! And I'm not just being optimistic or biased, he actually pays attention to what you tell him and makes an attempt at following through--as long you look at him, smile and use a lot of body language, finger pointing. Max has a habit of wandering off and he did so one day when we were outside working on a project. I quickly caught up to him and firmly told Max, "you can't be here without me. Go back and stay where I can watch you!". I spoke to him slowly, calmly. He pointed back in the direction that I wanted him to walk in and said something in baby-gibberish. It looked like he had a question or simply wanted to add commentary to what I asked him to do. Regardless, he collected himself and walked to where I wanted him to stay. It was cool!

So this only means one thing for us, the parents. Now we know that Max may not be talking or pronouncing words but he does understand and it seems like he understands a lot. He understands words in Spanish as well because he hears it with with his grandparents. Now that we know he understands, it's easier to sit and explain things to him. He won't turn away from you, he'll listen. It's really cute when he answers because I think that he actually feels like he's in a conversation.

But I learned something from watching Max mimic us. He sometimes holds the cell phone up to his ear and converses, like we do. But I notice that he says, "no" a lot but in a correcting tone of voice, not negative. It's as though someone said something and he's correcting them but the conversation continues. There he'll say, "umm..." then more words, then he'll politely laugh and continue his gibberish. I learned that Amy and I must do this when we talk on the cell. We correct callers and start by saying, "no, blah blah blah--oh, it's ok--ha ha ha". I guess I always knew that Max was watching but I didn't know that he was retaining everything we were doing even to mimic a mood.

He holds pencils, pens and crayons correctly but he's still at the scribble phase. I'm trying to teach him defined shapes like circles, squares, triangles--the basic shapes. Amy says that she's noticed Max be more deliberate about his scribbles, like he's actually trying to draw something. Amy and I scribble and write a lot, we both enjoy doodling. Maybe he'll catch this as well.

Sports! He can follow the soccer ball down the field more accurately now. I need to get him a T-ball set so he can start getting used to baseball. I don't think he understands what a football is for. I bought him one and we played catch for a little while but the fact that a football doesn't really roll the way a round ball normal does I think confuses him. I can't say that I blame him. Football to me has always been more of a social event rather than a sport. I know, I know, it's a sport. Max is going to be a big kid, it would be a shame if I didn't introduce the concept of football now so that he doesn't endure what I had to in jr. high--never getting picked for teams (long story).

Well, we're going to Wrightstown, Wisconsin this week, tomorrow in fact. The flight leaves too early, six am. I still have some things to pack and probably need to stop procrastinating and get Max's stuff ready as well. I'm excited about going, I always am. This will be Max's first time on a plane, two planes actually. One's a large jet and the other one's a puddle jumper. The last time I took one of these puddle jumpers was over Lake Michigan and it was, well... exciting's a good word for it. I'm looking forward to seeing how Max reacts to family in WI. The last time he was there was when he was four months old.

On to 20 months...

18 months.

This is the month where I think Max's lungs are fully developed, it has to be--geez... He's loud, really loud. If he's excited or being cheered at, he screams loudly, it sounds like a small wild animal. It's also the month where he seems to be expressing himself more in a way that everyone can tell.

He seems to be fairly coordinated which is surprising because, I can't speak for Amy but I was always one of the kids that was picked last when teams were being picked. I couldn't catch a ball to save my life and soccer was always, well--funny and with football, I couldn't understand why you'd want to slam in to someone on purpose, but I get it now! So maybe he's getting his athletic coordination from Amy. He can dribble a soccer ball for a while and follow it as though he were playing the game. In fact, sometimes it looks like he knows what he's doing! I haven't shown him the concept of basketball, baseball or football yet. Last week Max and I pretended we were sword fighting using two flexible, toy race car tracks. I tapped him on his shoulder a few times and he blocking my taps every time thereafter. We were soon swashbuckling with Max actually surprising me with strategy because he was trying to sneak up on me by scurrrying under the chair to tap my legs with the track. Of course climbing is one of his specialties as he's now very fast and doesn't appear to look back, it's move, move, move. Ladders, stairs, nets, rocks, walls--if it's there and can be climbed by a toddler, he'll probably be all over it with his little tongue poking out.

I think he's finally getting the concept of drawing and painting. Amy and I sit with him often to color and paint. We take out large sheets, his crayons or finger paint and let him scribble. We show him the proper way to hold a pencil and he'll do it for a while, then return to grabbing it with his fist.

He seems to be willing to learn and will hold attention for a while. He likes play-doh and has sat at his high-chair for a long time playing with it. He doesn't shape anything recognizable yet. I think he still just likes how it feels.

He didn't like finger painting when he first tried it. For some reason he doesn't like sticky, messy things on his hands and he doesn't like being obstructed by things like hats, smocks, gloves. He seems to panic when you put a little piece of tape on hand that he can't remove. I told Amy that we could let him finger paint naked but my request is as far as that went. But as you can tell by the picture, he eventually worked it out and got into finger painting.

Still not talking very much but he does seem to understand a lot of words. This is the first time I've seen him apply logic to his understanding. He's getting a bilingual education as he understands words in English and Spanish. One such bilingual question that he understands is to ask Max where the moon is in both English and Spanish. Amy and I will ask, "Max, where's the moon?", or in Spanish, "Max, donde esta la luna?". He'll point up and say some sort of baby-babble. But first he'll look up and actually look for it. He gets excited when he can find and point at it. If he's indoors and someone asks him where the moon is, he'll hesitate a bit and point up but he won't really look for it, he seems to know that it's up there but can't really see it. There are other words that understands in both languages. "Milk" and "Leche", "Stars" and "Estrellas". We spend a lot of time outside and I like pointing things out to him.

He doesn't seem to be attached to comfort objects like a favorite blanket, or a stuffed animal. In fact, it seems like he's not really interested in some of the stuffed animals that he has. He doesn't like blankets even when it's chilly. I know he doesn't like wearing long-sleeved shirts. Cuddling seems to be something that only Amy does with him at night. Sometimes I can hold him and he'll put his head down on my shoulders.

All in all, he just seems to be a cool little dude to hang out with. I can take him hiking, play soccer with him and explore things together. He seems eager to try everything.

17 months.

Here's Max at 16 well earned months. Still not talking much but he is turning out to be a good little helper. He enjoys playing in the dirt and crawling all over the wheel barrow while I'm trying to fill it. It's funny to watch. I don't know if he thinks he's helping or if this is how grown-ups play--he couldn't be more wrong. Still, it's fun to watch him do stuff with me.

He cheers a lot. He cheers when I fill the barrow with dirt and when I dump it, then he helps me unload the soil and return the wheel barrow for a refill. It seems strange that this 16 month old baby seems to be helping me and for a second or so, it'll feel like I'm working with a friend and not an infant. I can load and unload the wheelbarrow four times with Max's help then he'll sigh and lift his arms to get picked up showing me that he's done working for the day.

He also helps Amy vaccum and sweep the living room. I'm glad he thinks this is fun for now. I don't know how long we can continue the charade. At some point he'll understand that these chores aren't fun. Unfortunately Max will be talking and arguing by then and I'll long for the "goo-goo dah-doo" days.

Max's understanding of his surroundings is subtle, as far as I can tell. He seems to be very specific about his needs and I've come to the conclusion that I don't really know what he knows until he needs something.

Amy was preparing Max for bed as she usually does. She snuggles with him while watching TV and I can tell that he looks forward to his bed-time ritual with mom. I can tell because he pushes me away if I try to hold him during this time.

I went into the kitchen and told Amy that I was going to warm up some milk for his bed-time bottle. The moment I said, "bottle", Max squirmed out of Amy's arms, whined and ran after me as I walked into the kitchen. I repeated the word, "bottle!" and he yelled. Great! another word down, he understands what the word, bottle, is but why won't he say it? I'm assuming that it's probably because he doesn't need to, it'll come his way eventually. I'm sure that all Max hears is, "jjoiuouri bottle ljoiuiowe fjlskjfa bottle?". So he only needs to hear one word to get his attention. Amy says that his sister, Jojo behaved similarly when the word, "chocolate" entered her personal space.

So it seems that the words that get his attention are:

• vente (ven-tay) which is "come" in Spanish.
  
• Bottle - a recent discovery...
• helicopter - he's been hearing these all his life.
  
• Cell phone - there's one everywhere and he's very particular about cell phones. I gave him an old cell phone with a dingy black and white screen. He looked at it, closed it and went after mine. So any cell phone that he likes needs to have a full color screen. Cell phones are as common to him as the wheel was to me at his age.
• Moon - he can point to it on request. Again, this is one of those things that I've pointed out to him since he was weeks old.
  
• Belly, nose and ears - he can point these body parts out.
• Maaammm - I think that's mom.
  
• Dadoo - I think that's me. Ocasionally he'll say "Dahee!" but it's a crap shoot.
• Some family members like his sister "Jojo" and I don't know if he can say Sammy's name yet. He sort-of says his uncle Jerry's (yay-yay) and aunt Cristina's (kee-tee) names.
• He can talk to Grandma through the phone. I don't know if talk is the right word but there is an understanding.
  

Oh, If I leave the kitchen empty-handed and it's milk time? Cover your ears and put a bucket down to catch the alligator tears, it's quite a sad show.

Some of the things we're specifically focusing on with Max are art and music in the way of rhythm and availability. He's getting into using crayons but I don't think he understands the concept of drawing with one, it's just something these little colored sticks do, the leave a mark behind. There are several musical instruments available to him and someone around to show him what to do with the instruments. Like the crayons, instruments are just something that make an interesting noise when you either blow into them or bang on them. I don't think he understands what music is.

Right now he's experimenting with everything. He pushes, pulls, bends, throws--sometimes himself--into things. Plastic buckles and things that snap together get his attention.

When Max realized that he wasn't picking up as much dirt as I was, he ditched his little trenching tool and picked up my shovel

Happy New Year!! 16 months.

It's good to wave 2008 goodbye with a thank you and a firm handshake and accept 2009 with a great deal of optimism. All things in perspective, 2008 had some good times and as far as Max is concerned, it was an incredible year of discoveries. He's still not talking or saying anything that anyone would recognize as cognitive speech. But he is making a lot of interesting sounds and demonstrates a type of inflection that sounds like speech, it's really cute to listen to him carry on. Max has a distinct discovery sound. "Ahhhh", it's hard to describe and I'm going to try to record it and make it available. But it's a sound that he makes when he either sees something for the first time or revisits something like a toy that he's had for a while and forgot about or a flavor.

Christmas was interesting for him because he still doesn't get exactly what's happening or why we're making such a mess (wrapping paper everywhere) when he's told not to do it. Maintaining a decorated Christmas tree was a challenge. We weren't sure how this was going to work out and he maintained control with the decorations for a while but his curiosity proved too much and he made quick work dismantling the lower half of the tree. We pulled Max off the tree many times but he simply ran to the other side, grabbed a piece of garland and then watched what we'd do, it was trying. We dressed him up as one of Santa's helpers for Christmas eve but he didn't make it to midnight, it was just too late past his bedtime.

Santa was good to Max as he represented one of his assistants at the pole. He received some cool outfits and some toys like his "possessed" mechanical Elmo (without a volume control), an electric guitar with pre-recorded songs and a few other things.

Needless to say, I think that Max flicked the angel he was born with off one shoulder and became quick friends with the imp on the other. He's discovered the fine art of mischief and likes being chased, enjoys giggling and apparently how things change when they break, yea--it's been trying. The living room has now been converted to mostly an empty room except for one couch with a droopy cover, a sad little wooden table next to the door that's serving as our junk-holder and our mangled little Christmas tree. Everything has been taken out of the living room that is alternately Max's runway. We clean his room often and he re-decorates a few minutes later. He seems to like the way things sound when they fall on a nice clean floor. Honestly, I love it, I won't speak for Amy but I love his mischief.

He'll do something naughty, clap and look at us with a cute smile and cheer, "ayyyyyy". Then it starts, "Max, that is not yay...". I don't like telling him that because he melts down, he looks really sad and seems to understand that there are just some things that a little boy should not do. He whimpers for a little while and then rushes to you for instant approval and a hug. I love it!

He's still a dump truck when it comes to food but he is starting to show certain likes and dislikes. Surprisingly, citrus is one of the things he seems to not like anymore. I suppose that as he gets older his taste will become more discriminating. I think that as long as we don't introduce him to Happy Meals too soon and keep him on home cooking he'll be fine.

He's also starting to show more shyness in environments he's never seen before and cowers a little in front of strangers. I read somewhere that this is actually a sign of emotional maturity as he's starting discriminate and make his own decisions in regards to safety.

I can't think of anything else right now other than to report that he's a happy and rapidly growing little boy. It's tough though as I still call him "baby-max" and still has that baby-smell. No, not the poopy diaper and spit-up milk smell. It's that baby-smell that's hard to describe. Sort of like a new Jeep or a new computer... No, it's even better than those things.