setting the record straight

Max is a know-it-all. Just like me. He is so much like me, in fact, that it's a little spooky. I had no clue these tendencies where genetic. Things like spouting off random facts, correcting people, getting the last word in, making up answers to questions (and delivering said answer as if it were an indisputable fact). He is not the apple that didn't fall far from the tree, he is the tree. Already.

We put up the Christmas tree while the boys were asleep. The next morning I said "Max, do you like the tree?" He looked at me with impatient eyes and said "that's not a tree mommy, that's a Christmas tree." All day long it's "that's not a truck mommy, that's a dump truck"..."that's not green mommy, that's blue"... "that's not a car mommy, that's a police car"...and so on.

It gets better. While walking past the lady behind the fabric counter at Joann's, he blatantly stated "that's not a witch mommy, that's just a lady." Maybe because they had a large witch by the counter during Halloween? So embarrassing.

The worst offense? A few days ago I had just put the baby down for a nap. As I quietly closed the door, Max came marching towards me, playing his drums as loudly as possible. "MAX!!! What are you..." He quickly cut me off with "I not waking up the baby mommy, i just playing the drums." There is no reasoning with him. He is right. End of story. The fact the I know exactly how he feels does not augment my patience level. Our little family will have to do some stretching to make room for two know-it-alls. Wish us luck.

family picture outtakes

My sister-in-law Sarah stopped by yesterday, so we dragged her to the park to take a few quick pictures. Max did not cooperate. Don't be surprised if you see a shot like this one in our Christmas card this year. And no, your eyes are not fooling you...Max is almost as big as I am.

Here are some candids of the boys. I couldn't get Max to look at the camera.Perhaps Max's bad attitude was a direct result of the fact that earlier that morning I FORCED him, against his will, to sit on Santa's lap at our church Christmas party. I've been prepping him for the santa photo op for months now. I've been reading him Christmas stories and talking up santa's good qualities. Every time he sees a picture of santa, he says "santa's really nice mommy." All my efforts did not pay off, as is evidenced by the picture below.

As we were walking out, I said "Max, you are supposed tell santa what you want for Christmas." He stopped crying, turned to face santa, sniffled twice and said "uh, I want a backhoe loader and some candy". Then we left.

p.s. max has an intense infatuation with backhoe loaders. i barely know what they are and had to reference his truck book to make sure i was buying him the right thing...