Max lately

Max will be three in less than 2 months.  That is crazy.  Completely crazy.  Life has been happening lately and we've been enjoying it immensely.  I have captured bits and pieces of it with my trusty iPhone, mostly via instagram, and a few videos here and there.  Here is a rundown on Max lately:

Max's vocabulary amazes us.  Most times when I am talking with him, I forget that he is a two year old.  We have never used any real baby talk with him and it shows.  He speaks well and knows his letters and numbers so any kind of word games are fun for him right now.  His favorite iPad game is endless alphabet.  It's awesome, super cute graphics and really well done.  He loves reading books and I love listening to him "read" to himself.  The stories he tells crack me up.

Sometimes he comes up with things and I have to stop myself from bursting out in laughter, not because it is necessarily funny but because I can't believe he is saying it.  Some of his best have been:

One night at dinner:  "Mommy, I love you back to the moon."

One morning while we were getting ready:  "Mommy, daddy, come quick, it's an emergency!"

After a quick trip to the grocery store while he was helping me unload the groceries:  "Mommy, you got all of the food!  I can't believe it!"

One night while helping Damien make dinner:  "Daddy, we can't eat jellybeans" (while pointing at the jellybeans in the bowl).  Damien went back to cooking and then heard him say "We can't eat these jellybeans" (which he was now holding in his hand).

This one is sad and I have no idea why he has started saying it.  Every once in a while he will make a sad face and say:  "No one will come over to my house to play."  For the record, this is not true.

Max has two grammies and when he wants to know which one we are talking about he says "Which kind of grammy?  "Bev grammy or Irish grammy?"

Me: "Max, do you know what cooperation is?"
Max: "Spanish"

Me: "Max, do you know what kind of doctor a dentist is?"
Max: "A Massachusetts doctor"

I could seriously just listen to him talk for hours.  He loves to retell what happened each day, and he remembers some of the craziest little details.

His eating habits are hit or miss.  Max's best meal of the day is breakfast, by far, and he eats the same one nearly everyday...Weetabix.  I think it is hilarious because I feel like he is an 80 year old man eating it but he loves it.  No sugar, just Weetabix and milk.  He loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and eats one everyday for lunch.  He loves fruit but it seems to vary from day to day which fruit he wants.  His go-to fruits are bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and grapes.  We make a lot of smoothies and he LOVES them.  He drinks whole milk like a champ and water.  That's it.  He does like cranberry juice (and orange juice too) but we limit it to usually once a week when we go out to breakfast on Sunday mornings.  I am a water drinker 100% and think it's the best drink there is.  I want to instill a love of water in him as well. He will still eat the veggie/fruit/grain packets here and there and they have been a saving grace at times.  He likes yogurt and has it as a snack most days.  And jellybeans,  he is a sucker for jellybellies.  But who isn't.

He loves to play with his Batman car set and pretty much any cars.  He has names for all of them (and they change depending on which ones he is using).  There is always a Lucy (always) and usually an Uncle Diggy and an Uncle Johnny.  He also loves playing any kind of ball games (which we have limited when indoors) and loves homemade bowling at his Bev grammy's house using 3 Tropicana orange juice containers and tennis balls.  He also loves playing with his food set and his Buzz Lightyear toy.  One of his favorite things to play is I spy but of course he has his own version.  He tells you exactly what to say, down to the color and you have to say "I spy with my little blue eyes something..."  And he LOVES hide and seek.  He could play that for hours.

We have limited his television viewing to only on the weekends.  We struggle with this sometimes since it would be easier at times to just let him watch a show in the evenings.  We have stuck to it though.  We never have the TV on at home unless it is after he goes to bed and we are watching something.  He LOVES watching shows and sometimes I wonder if limiting his tv viewing will backfire on us.  But we still think it is a good idea to have him play more and watch less.  When he does get to watch shows, he has spurts of loving different things.  Lately it's been Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Team Umizoomi, Little Einsteins, Justin Time and of course, Diego.  He is still not much of a movie watcher. Twenty-five minutes or so is his limit on length of a show.  I am completely okay with that.

He has become the BEST sleeper.  I mean, the best.  It's funny because sleeping was such a struggle for us for so long.  Then one day, it all just seemed to change.  We have a very set nighttime routine which we hardly stray from (unless we are out and about; then he just passes out and we skip everything else and put him right into his crib).  He is still in a crib and until he tries to get out (which he hasn't) he will be staying in one.  Each night, we put him in his pjs, give him his vitamin, he gets his stool from his room, carries it to the bathroom and brushes his teeth.  Then he has to carry it back (his job), turn off his light, turn on his fan and then he comes to sit with me in his chair.  We read a story, normally from one of 2 Curious George books, and then I sing him You Are My Sunshine and Hush Little Baby.  Finally, I carry him to his crib, give him his three stuffed animals that sleep right next to him Fox, Wolf and Lucy and put his blanket on him and say goodnight.  And that's it.  He goes to bed on his own and usually sleeps until 7:30.  I can hardly believe that I am typing this as I never thought I would.  During the school year, it's a little tougher because we have to wake him at 6:00am but for the summer, we are loving our new schedule.  LOVING IT.

Max still has very little interest in using the potty.  He has twice but that's it.  We are letting him take the lead on this, for now.  He likes to talk about it, a lot, but is not ready for it.  Hopefully that will come soon enough.

We have had some struggles lately as well.  The first is very recent and is the hardest to deal with.  Max has started having tantrums.  Full blown tantrums in which he is hardly himself.  He screams no, stamps his foot and cries unconsolably.  It has only happened three times so far but the first one was this past Saturday so you can do the math....  It seems to come with heat, lack of sleep and us wanting him to do something that he doesn't want to do.  I am struggling with the best approach to dealing with them.  They last about 5 minutes or so (although they seem like an eternity) and once they are done, he is completely back to normal.  We are just trying to be consistent and not let them dictate our reaction (i.e. giving in and letting him get what he wants).  Not going to lie, they suck and I hope that they are short lived.

Max also wants to do everything himself.  I mean everything.  While this can be a positive, it can also make any and every task a much longer and bigger ordeal than they need to be.  But, as long as it is within reason, we are letting him do things on his own, letting him have his independence.  I did have to draw the line when he asked me to drive the car the other day.  Although I did tell him I would teach him how to drive a stick as soon as possible.

So that's where we are, 2 years, 10 months and 5 days after that Saturday evening in early September 2010 when Max Joseph Gaudet first made an appearance in our lives.  We have come far as parents and he is everything we could have ever hoped for.  He is healthy, smart, kind, funny, independent, and outgoing.  He makes us smile everyday and we are thankful to spend our lives together.