He's a Star!

We went to see an African storyteller at the library last weekend. After she told some traditional African stories, she talked about some notable African Americans and had kids come up to participate. It was pretty much all elementary school aged kids.... and two year old Max who wanted to be in the "show".  After he did his "presentation" about Langston Hughes, she had them do a little dance!


 

http://youtu.be/WWxvaeEqS_Q

                 

Reading at bedtime...

Playing with puppets after story time at the library!

Pants putting-on lesson with Dad.

We arrived at our destination and turned around to find that Max had gathered up his belongings and was ready to go!

Every morning we watch the sun rise while we eat breakfast. Caught a sweet father-son moment!

Max Says...

Max: La la la da da da! I singing a song!

Mommy: That's awesome! Can you sing it again?

Max: La la la da da da! I sing it one more time. La la la da da da! I all done.

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Riding in the car...

Max: Turn on the music.

Mommy turns on the radio and it happens to be on a country station

Max: No, Mommy. I need man music.

Mommy: Man music? Like this? Changes the station to rock.

Max: Yeah....

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Singing "Wheels on the Bus" and Max giving prompts for each verse...

Max: Babies on the bus go "wah wah wah" like the babies at school!

Mommy: That's right! What next?

Max: Daddy's on the bus say, "I love you" like MY DADDY say, "I love you!"

Max Says...

Max: Daddy, wrestle me!

Daddy wrestles/plays rough for a few minutes while Max squeals and laughs with delight...

Max: Breathless and stoic. Thank you, Daddy. Walks away calmly.


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Mommy dresses Max in pajamas with penguins...

Max: Whoa! I have penguins on my butt!

Life Lately

Trying on Daddy's new sneakers!

.... and his hoodie!

Baby hawk

Trying out his new step stool from Grandpa and Amma!

This kid is ready for summer! It may be cold and dreary, but Max has his beach hat and Mommy's sandals on.

Seriously... he's ready for summer. Here's a photo from a different day... beach hat and playing with "moon sand".  :-)

Max can almost pedal his tricycle, but still has a little trouble reaching the pedals well enough to push down. Solution? Embrace your inner redneck and tape his feet to the pedals! (Unfortunately this solution did not work...ha!)

http://youtu.be/ILJ_O9qdIzg





http://youtu.be/ydwPG-uCreY




http://youtu.be/w-E6Pl04bhE





http://youtu.be/mB1XKy--eSU

Max Says...

Looking in the back yard...

Max: There's a squirrel! I want him.

Mommy: You do? What will you name him?

Max: Paula.

Singing and Riding a Fish

Sorry these are filmed from a weird angle! Max usually stops "performing" the moment he notices the camera. Ben was able to catch some sweet songs while Max pretended to put Lucy (the little dog in my lap) to sleep; and then put me to sleep a few minutes later!



http://youtu.be/tY0vFODa_b0




http://youtu.be/_8qv_t6fraA


(I'm laying down in the next two videos because Max is rubbing my back and pretending to put me to bed.)



http://youtu.be/YUu2bsmFcDc



http://youtu.be/8eC4SoMJDpI


At Ben and Peggy's house there is a pillow that looks like a fish. One day while I was changing Max's messy clothes he grabbed it and took off running while "riding" the fish! hahaha I barely grabbed the camera in time so these photos are pretty blurry (but still a funny memory!).

... and this has nothing to do with Max... just wanted to share a beautiful Hiawassee sunrise. :-)

Christmas!

Christmas sure was fun this year! It was the first year he really "got" what was going on, and was excited about all the festivities!

On Christmas Eve we went to a children's service and then out to dinner.  The church did a great job catering to kids... lots of music, quick pace (I think the whole thing lasted 35 minutes), and the minister read a children's version of the Christmas story, and passed out copies afterward. Instead of lighting candles when we sang "Silent Night" at the end of the service, they gave glow sticks to all the kids! Great idea.

Once we got home, we changed Max in to his Christmas pajamas and started to try to get him excited about Santa's impending visit! We'd baked cookies earlier that day and Max put a few on a plate for Santa, and decided the reindeer would like an apple (versus a carrot).

Time to check out the tree one last time!

Family photo! (Excuse Mommy's crazy eyes... haha)

After Max was in bed we had a blast filling his stocking, putting gifts from our New England relatives under the tree, and setting up for Jesus' breakfast birthday party. We decided that being a parent on Christmas is almost as fun as being a kid on Christmas!

Pretty sunrise on Christmas morning!

On Christmas morning we got up early and got ourselves ready before greeting Max. We heard him starting to stir and crept in his room in the dark. As we hugged "good morning" and he started waking up more fully, we explained something special had happened! He had big eyes wanting to see evidence of Santa's visit; and also asked if Jesus was at our house after we told him it was Jesus' birthday. haha

(At the beginning of this video we think he is saying "Uh-oh!" because the stockings were on the floor and no longer hanging from the mantle.)

Excited that Santa left a school bus in his stocking!

Time for the party! Max LOVES birthday parties, and thought he'd get a kick out of having a birthday party for Jesus. Fun times!

"Cheeeeeese!"

We took down all the Christmas decorations one evening after Max went to bed. When he got up the next day and saw that everything was gone he seemed genuinely sad! All day he kept asking about very specific decorations, and even asks where Santa is a few times a day.

It's so sweet that he enjoyed Christmas so much, and we're excited to see how much he remembers when we celebrate Christmas 2015!