11 month update

Max is very mature for his age. He acts much more like a two-year-old than an 11-month-old. Want proof? Let’s pull out the list…Tantrums– check. Biting– check. Hair pulling– check. Breaking things– check. Only one nap a day– check. Pinching, scratching, hitting– check, check, check. I could go on.

Max is very quick and I can’t take my eyes off of him. Not even for a second. He is very accident prone (he gets this from his dad) and has an injury rate of about 2 per hour. He is covered in scratches, bruises, bumps, blisters, and other battle wounds. All of this occurs while I am watching him, so you can imagine what happens when I take my eyes off of him. A few days ago I turned around for two seconds to put a dish in the sink. In that time Max was able to open the only cabinet without a child lock, pull out a stack of glass bowls, shatter them, and put a piece of glass in his mouth before I could get to him. I was only two feet away. Just one day earlier we were shopping. I glanced away to survey the canned tomatoes, and when I turned around to check on him he had eaten the top two inches of the macaroni and cheese box I gave him to play with. Last night I put him in his playpen so I could attempt to cook dinner. When he didn’t throw his normal playpen tantrum, I was ecstatic. I started cooking as fast as I could. A few minutes passed, still no crying. I was suspicious so I went to check on him. He was happily devouring his brown nerf football. Half of it was gone. I started crying (hormones), my face turned red in fury, and I yelled at my baby for the first time. He started to laugh at me, revealing a mouth chuck full of brown Styrofoam.

On the positive side, Max is usually a very happy kid. He laughs and sings (see photo for visual) all day long. His favorite song goes like this: “laaaaaaaaaaa (pause for air) laaaaaaaaa (pause for air) laaaaaaaa….” Call me if you want to hear it, he does it on command and he loves to perform. More positive news: Max gave me the best Mother’s Day present ever. He finally preferred me over J-P! He literally pushed J-P away and wrapped his arms around me as we were putting him down for his nap. This was a huge deal because Max NEVER prefers me. Every morning I go into his room hoping to get some snuggle time and he immediately pushes me away, reaches for the door, and says “da, da, da.” I take him to our room and as soon as he sees J-P he starts flapping his arms, squealing, and dives out of my arms onto his dad.

J-P and I are doing well. I am a little worried because I still have not gained any weight (despite the daily box of Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars I am eating) and am thoroughly convinced that I have a parasite or intestinal worms. J-P’s workload has increased and he is now managing accounts in Phoenix, San Diego, L.A., Palm Springs, and San Francisco, which means we will never see him. We are excited to find out the gender of baby #2 in a few more weeks. Any predictions?