forensic diapering

1. Max swallowed one green bean chunk whole.
2. The transit time through his digestive tract is 28.5 hours.

1, 2, skip stage 2

Max will never be a Gerber baby. I'm coming to understand that. Sure, he may be cute as a Gerber baby, but I have a feeling he finds jarred baby food kind of ridiculous, and the brightly colored infant spoons a little condescending. I thought he was just a milk-o-holic, but now I see that he just doesn't want to be treated any differently than the rest of the toothed population. Case in point: I took him to the Indian buffet for lunch, and he happily fed himself green beans and lima beans. Baby food is pretty nasty anyway. I mean, come on. Sweet potatoes and Turkey? Blended together and eaten with a spoon? Yeah right. I feel you, Max. Table food it is.

B is for...

...Baba -- I may not be a world-class entomologist*, but I get why little Arab kids call their daddies Baba. It's as aribitrary as Dada as a first syllable.

...Battles with the Bulb syringe. You would think there would be a market for baby straitjackets, because Max knows what it the blue wonder is, and as much as I try to convince him that he will feel better with all the snot sucked out of his nose (not to mention the amazing sound it makes), he still gets very, very mad.


*I apologize for the nerd humor. But I'm not sorry enough to change it!

Happy Hannukah!

Why else would Max be opening his Christmas presents so early? Well, because the fam is off to New Haven on the 24th and I am not bringing any presents up there! Thanks Tante Jo, Max loves the tools!

like heroin withdrawal without the methadone

more on sleep training in the a.m. let's just say my arms are aching and i almost rocked my own self to sleep.

That is the question

To Wean (oh, the poops!) or Not To Wean (oh, the biting!)?

upward mobility

Max pulled himself to standing yesterday. Our young hero is about to discover a whole universe that existed just above his head.

more conversations with max

who is teaching whom? Max and mom are shouting out Dada who is working in Miami. Mom especially is excited to go visit and get her pasty behind to the beach!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Max vs. the Gorilla

today in Bioinformatics class, (aka nerdfest 2007), the professor confessed that his ultimate dream was to see if one could train a man to fight a lion barehanded. He allowed for multi-generational breeding and all human knowledge to be employed, but the only thing is that the man must not be armed. How he got from systems biology to that digression is way beyond me. But I bet Max would be a great candidate!

234 days

That's how long Max has been a resident of this planet. It doesn't seem like a very long time, but then again it feels like forever ago.

Conversations with Max

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Breaking News

I see a TOOTH!!!! Max's first tooth is breaking through his gums as we speak. Updates as we get them folks, but a whole new world is about to open up for our young protagonist.

"Say hi Max"

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10,000 words

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back in action

i have a truckload of pics coming this weekend!

Max's first halloween was uneventful. After all the hoopla over potential costumes, he was dressed as.... Ty. He looked adorable in his grown man Mecca outfit. By far the freshest member of the fam. xo

first sounds/ walmart

Max is definitely getting his voice. Among his favorite syllables: ga, da, ya, na, ha.

Two things I never thought I would see at walmart last night: a fro-hawk more impressive than Max's, and a mullet on a black woman. Sorry I didn't take pictures, but a) taking pictures of other people's babies is creepy and b) that woman was skinny but she looked like she could fight.

solids

Slowly and not too surely we are working on getting Max to people food. The sweet potatoes were a spectacular failure, but peas are promising. After a fleeting rejection, Max grabbed the spoon and chowed down. But now I wonder if the little rash on his face means he's allergic. Sigh. On the menu to try: avocado, mashed potatoes, add carrots. And for the record, the poop hasn't turned terrible yet. Not really looking forward to that, but hey, one day little Maxi will wipe his own behind. In the meantime, I still laugh when I think of the America's Funniest Home Video (secretly my favorite show on television, even though we don't have one) where the new dad can't change his infant's diaper because every time he gets close he starts gagging uncontrollably.

The Nucleus

Grandpa's night

Max's new friend

This picture was taken when we went to go meet little Laila, born to my friend and classmate Danielle on Sept. 17th.

18.6 pounds

and more adorable every day. Max laughs so much and it cracks me up every time. Apparently, one of those yapping teacup dogs was the funniest thing he has ever seen. And this morning, Ty swears Max said "dada!" I'm not jealous. It's a guy thing, I guess. Meanwhile, everything within reach is fair game for Max's mouth, except for the sweet potatoes I made for him yesterday, which were reappropriated as fingerpaint for his onesie. Anyway, life is good.

zzzzzzzzzzzz

self portraits with Max

"You don't want it with us"

missed milestones

The blog, like the basil in the backyard, is shriveling in the August heat. Sorry! I will do better. Pictures to follow.

Max sits up! For a little while at least, until he loses balance and topples onto his back.

Max holds his bottle! As I don't feed him from one, I missed this completely.

Max weighs almost 17 pounds! This seemed really huge to me until I realized that I still outweigh him by about 9 times. And he still fits on a changing table. And whereas he holds my finger with his whole hand, I hold his whole forearm with mine. So in perspective, he's still a pretty tiny creature. And more adorable everyday.

Sorry for the delay...

Florida!

Max had his first plane ride this weekend. He did great! On the way there and back, we had a whole row to ourselves. Three sisters, grandmothers themselves, played with him until he was sleepy. He slept a little, then screamed at the top of his lungs as his ears popped on the way down. We touched down in FL, ran into some old friends, and hitched a ride with Grandpa and Uncle Philippe down to my cousins' joint graduation party. My grandmother was so surprised to see us (we had originally cancelled the trip) that she squealed a little. Max was so delighted to meet his great grandma that he pooped a little -- past his diaper all over her skirt. After a quick cleanup on both sides (note the change in outfits), the partying continued. Max met about 30 relatives, including his godmother Tasha. He loved looking at all these strangers who, strangely, look like him. He also, like his mother, loves swimming pools. He just looked this time though. The real fun will come when we figure out swim diapers. After a whirlwind 24 hours, we came home. Ty met us at the airport, and Max fell asleep. We met some friends for lunch at a Mexican joint and I had a Margarita, very slowly, to avoid intoxicating my dear boy. A trip to CT is in the works!