Getting Home

My baby boy is growing up fast. It seems like just yesterday he was taking his first steps. Now he is toddling around the house like a pro. The best thing about him being mobile is when I get home form work at night.

Our driveway curves around in front of our house. There is a big window in the library that looks out onto the driveway. Max spends a lot of his time in the library “reading” books and playing with toys. Most evenings when I pull into the driveway, I can see him through that big window. He is usually busy pulling books off the shelf and “stacking” them on the floor. As I slow down to pull in to the garage, I can see the big smile on his face when he notices my car. I watch as he points a chubby little finger in my direction and I can see him mouth the words “Da Da”.

By the time I park the car and make my way through the garage door into the back hallway, I can hear him squeal and see him waddle around the corner as fast as his little legs will carry him. He looks like a little version of Frankenstein as he ambles down the wood floor, arms outstretched in front of him.

“Hello Baby Boy!” I say, as I scoop him up in my arms. He giggles while he squirms to get down. When I let him down, he takes off in the direction of the living room rug. He is making a mad effort to get away and wants me to chase him. (chuckling the whole time) The ultimate goal is to get to the soft, comfort of the area rug so we can “wrestle”.

When I get to the living room, I flop down on the floor so he can jump on me. As he crashes down on my back I shout “oh, you got me”. He just laughs.

I have forgotten about the stresses of the day. The only thing that matters at that moment is me and my boy. What could be better?

There!

Max is growing fast and his personality has started to really blossom. He walks everywhere and jabbers the whole time. His vocabulary increases every day. One thing that makes me chuckle is his use of the word “there”. Out of the blue he started using the expression to mark his accomplishments.

The most common example is when he is struggling to move something heavy. For instance, he will grunt and groan trying to lift the lid off of one of our ottomans. All at once the lid will come free and fall away from the base. Max exclaims, “there!” to let us know he has succeeded.

It is not always limited to heavy things. If he puts a book on the shelf or removes the lid from a piece of Tupperware he will say “there” as if everything is now right with the world.

Like the period on the end of a sentence, the word “there” also marks the end of his task. Then it’s on to another important mission…

Sunday with Max

The day started out like any other day with Max...very early.

We had breakfast with our friends Nathalie, Jeff, Ian and Audrey at the Blue Plate restaurant in downtown Chattanooga at around nine o'clock this morning. It was very nice to see them. Max was excited to see his little friend Ian. (It didn't hurt that Ian had filled up the pockets of his jacket and cargo pants with matchbox cars and tractors.)

After breakfast we took Max for his first trip to the drive through car wash. It was all smiles while the machine squirted, scrubbed, slapped and swished daddy's car. (Until we got out, that is. Then daddy noticed he had paid $10 to have dirt just smeared around. He wasn't smiling anymore.)

In the afternoon we all got bundled up and went outside for a walk and to play on our swing set. Max had a great time swinging in the "toddler bucket" with Dad along side him. Then Dad put him up in the fort so he could stand like a big boy. It didn't take long for Max to see the big green slide. He marched right over to the top of it, threw one leg over, turned around backwards and then slid unassisted down the slippery, plastic tube. He doesn't seem to be afraid of anything. I hope he grows out of that because he sure makes me nervous.

He cleans up good.

I would say that Max is most comfortable in jammies or comfy clothes.

This is straight out of the JC Penney catalog.

Max's Happy Feet

Max gets more mobile every day. It really adds some excitement to spending time with him. He has always been a little ham, but now that he can stand and walk, Max is a real show off.

He also started doing this "Lord of the Dance" thing we have dubbed "happy feet". Then, of course, there is his obsession with moving our furniture around. Non-stop entertainment!

Max's Second Christmas

This year was Max's second Christmas. He enjoyed it much more this year. It was fun to have Grampie, GiGi and Granny here to watch him open presents.

Just a good ol’ boy…

I have traveled (and lived) all over this great country of ours. Each region of the United States has its benefits. Beauty can be found in every state. That being said, I am glad that Max was born in Tennessee.

“What’s so great about Tennessee?” you ask. Aside from things like the Smokey Mountains, southern BBQ, biscuits and gravy and SEC Football, I would have to say southern accents. I love the way people talk in the south.

I know that my son is only a year old but I can already detect the “twang” in his speech. For instance, we were watching Alabama play Florida in the SEC title game a couple of weeks ago. Max and I were sitting on the living room floor playing with some big Lego blocks and glancing at the television. I was trying to get the little fella to say football. He can’t quite get the “foot” part down, but he has mastered the word ball. Only when Max says it, it doesn’t come out “ball”. It is a full blown, southern “baawwl”. Like most Tennessee boys the word ball practically has two syllables. When he says "hi" or "bye" he sounds like Holly Hunter's character in the movie "Raising Arizona".

He won't be truly southern until he utters his first "Y'all". Nevertheless, I should probably start saving up to buy him a pickup truck.