Max 21-22 months

He'll be two before we know it but I just have to write down a few things about this little guy:
Long, documentation purposes post ahead!
He is talking up a storm, every day he seems to say a couple words that I've never heard him say. Buttons, Tiger (instead of just "rawr"), ride (for the car cart at the grocery store), pretzel, and watch (as in a movie) are new lately and also his own name! Today we were singing the song from the Music Makers class we go to. You put in the child's name, "If your name is Max, do a trick!" and then the kid does some sort of trick or just looks around and is shy, which is what Max usually does. But at home when it's just mom and dad he'll run around and then fall on the floor when we sing it. It's really hilarious. But he wanted us to sing it again so he'd point and said "Max? Max?" It was crazy! He says a few of his friends names now but it was sweet to hear him say his own.

Some other favorites:

- Mommy! Yes, he says Mommy, it used to be "Mem-Mem" then it was "Ma-eee" but he says the whole thing clearly now and it is the sweetest thing.

- Da-eee. Occaisionally he'll get the second d and say "Daddy". He loves to point to things and tell me they are "Da-ee's". When he sees soda in the fridge he knows he can't have any because it's "Da-ee's" and he is ok with that! The other day he pulled out a huge two liter and carried it over to Jared saying "Da-ee, Da-ee"

- Mess! Clear as day. It's either "mess" or "may-a mess" for "made a mess". He does NOT like spills or messy hands and face! If they get messy he just says, "may-a mess" over and over until we wipe him off!

- "OH, Duce!" This means "Oh, Juice". But this is just an example of how he uses the word "Oh". When he says a word or points out an object he'll usually say it to me over and over until I say it back. He wants to make sure I understand what he's saying, or what he's asking for and when I say it back I think it makes him feel good that I understand him. So he'll be asking for juice by saying "Duce! Duce! Duce!" and I say, "Do you want some juice?" and he says "Oh Duce!". Also when he get's excited about something he'll add the "oh" like when we saw a train the other day, he spotted it before me and said "oh choo choo! Oh Choo choo!" or when he saw his uncle Chase and didn't know he was at our house, "Oh! Chaase!"

- Whed-a-go? for "Where'd it go?" He came up with this all by himself. We hadn't really been playing hiding games or anything and he started hiding his magnets under the kitchen mat and saying to me "Whed-a-go?" while shaking his head and putting his palms up. So funny. Just today I was holding him at the store and he was holding a blue car. He said "Whed-a-go?" and I looked at him and it was gone! Turns out he'd put it down my shirt!

- He likes to name animals. Ki-ki (kitty), dog (always with the sign), Monkey or "Bunkey", "Daff" for Giraffe, Hippo, "Deek" for snake, mouse, "Way-well" (whale), "oh-as" (horse, usually with the sign), "neek" for Snake, "Beh" sounds pretty much the same for Bear and Bird but he does the sign for bird, "Eh-pant" for Elephant. We sat by an elephant at the Rain Forest cafe and his life has never quite been the same. He likes to do the animal sounds too and we always throw in "what does the fire truck say?" (wOOooo wOOoo). Rooster is a favorite, "A ca ca ca!"

- Balk is Milk, with the sign. "Moo" is not only the sound a cow makes but is what he says for Chocolate Milk because there is a cow on the bottle of Chocolate Syrup (Organic from Trader Joe's, highly recommend!)

- "Why, Two, Why, Why, Two Two" this is him counting. He lines up all his cars and then counts. After he gets to two he starts over. I think I've heard him make it to three one time. He can also get to "C" in the ABC's.

- "num num, deh?" means "food, there" and he points to his plate. He likes to point and say "deh" to tell me where to put something.

-"uh oh" or "oh no" means something is not going how I want it, i dropped something that is out of reach or this toy is coming apart, please fix it!

- still signs and says "please". He even signs and says "thank you" more and more these days. Yesterday he wanted something that was out of reach while in his high chair. When I got it for him he said "Thank You" with out me even asking him to!

- "Night Night" or "Na-Night". He likes it when the characters in his books go night night. He makes his toys go night night. We get him in his jammies on our bed and he thinks it's so funny to lay on our pillows, close his eyes half way and say "night night". Along with this, every time I lay him down in bed he says "bikt" for blanket and he always wants another blanket for his stuffed animals.
- He loves his stuffed animals lately. For a long time I wondered if he'd ever like them. He never really played with them until around 20 months. But now he usually wants his stuffed Woody or "Woo-ee", his Curious George and his Corduroy Bear. He took all three to the grocery store yesterday, he held them all the way there, then they sat in the cart with him.

- "Ca-Cah" I know this sounds funny but this is cracker and he'll do the sign. "Wa" is water. He's also good at saying "apple". "Bada" is Banana. He also says and signs cereal, "ce-al".

- He does the sign for Grandma but says "Pa" and this could mean either Grandma or Grandpa.

- He plays with phones and says, "heh-whoa" and "bye bye". If he hears a phone ring somewhere he'll also say, "hehe-whoa"

- He can tell me when things are scary, he says "scah!" and runs to me. He can also tell me when things are funny, he says something like "why-ee" and points, like when the big kids are all piled on the trike at the playground or when he throws his fork at the dinner table (I remind him this is not funny!).

- Wow, there are probably more things I can't remember. It is hard to keep up with all he is saying lately. It's really fun.

As far as physical skills he is getting better at running, still not jumping with two feet yet. He loves to swing on the bars over the slides at the playground and tries to climb up the ladders.

He loves his "big trucks", "choo-choos", disney's "cars" and "people" (Little People). He also likes to watch Jungle Book, Baby Einstein, Little People, Elmo ("Elba") and parts of Toy Story and Cars. He loves books. I try to stop whatever I'm doing when he wants to read a book. We go to the Newport Beach library weekly. This week we got a book called "Dig Dig Digging". We've gotten it before. Max basically reads it to me! It says what all the different trucks do. We're working on the Alphabet, numbers and colors so I try to focus on those when we read.

He can be sweet to his friends. We're working on sharing of course and he needs the occasional time out when we're on the playground. But the other day we had a little friend over, she's three months younger than Max. She was kind of missing her mommy and Max gave her a big hug and just kept bringing her toys and snacks to cheer her up. I hope he is this giving with his baby brother!

One last thing, I love watching him pretend and play with his toys. It was especially fun with the kitchen my mom has. He'd cook me things, "wash" his hands, put Woody in the high chair and feed him. He shakes the food out on his plate from the pretend boxes of food. He asks me to change Woody's diaper sometimes too. My mom also has a little playmobile doll-house and Barbie Castle. He'd make the little guys go up the stairs (he's good at saying "stairs" when he wants to go up or down), he'd put them to bed. He'd have the mom change the babies diaper, or even the dad sometimes(!) He made the mom kiss the baby before putting it in his bed to go "night night". He made the mommy and daddy kiss each other . . . too cute.
I love you so much Max! Your smile brightens my every day. You are my sweet little buddy. I look forward to playing with you every day. I love watching you learn and grown and discover the world. I love being your Mommy.