Happy Halloween!

We celebrated by taking Max to a few places to show him off. First we were off to Nonna's house. She thought Max looked too cute in his little scarecrow costume. After visiting with Nonna for a while we were off to see Great Aunt Carm and Great Uncle Mike. Max did a pretty good job posing for pictures! Then we were headed home to pass out candy. So far we haven't had too many trick or treaters. We have had one pretty cute joke - What is a cat's favorite street? Pernod - what makes this so cute is that we live on Pernod. We hope everyone is enjoying their Halloween evening!

Boo at the Zoo

We were off to the zoo tonight to get into the holiday spirit. We went last year, and Max just kind of hung out in his stroller. He was much more into things this year. He thought the penguins were too fun, and he showed his excitement by doing lots of pointing and letting out an ear piercing shriek. I may be partial, but I think he had the cutest costume there. He even wore his hat without complaint. Some of the noises seemed to scare him and at one point he tried to climb back into his stroller to get away. We tried the carousel and he was less than thrilled with it. He was fine until it started moving then he made the sign for 'all done'. When that didn't work he showed me the sign for 'help' along with a "p" sound. I quickly rescued him from the animal, but we were pretty much stuck until the ride ended. He seemed to be okay as long as I held him. I can't wait to put him in his costume again tomorrow night!

Ms. Gina

Max loves his speech therapist, Ms. Gina. She comes to visit him once a week and he gets all excited when she pulls up in her Jeep. He sits in front of her on his little bottom and she can do no wrong. Everything Ms. Gina asks of him, he does. She has a bag full of fun that changes every week. Tonight there were farm animals, the bean tub, and his all time favorite the bubbles. These are not just any bubbles. These are the most amazing bubbles ever made - the last forever, but they don't leave any ickyness behind. Max kept asking for more and more bubbles. He has been making more and more sounds since he began therapy. I think today he was trying to say 'buckle'. Every time we go shopping he wants to be buckled into the cart. Tonight we went to Sam's on our way home and as I put him in the cart he grabbed the ends and said 'gugkle'. I asked if he wanted to be buckled and he kept repeating his word over and over. I am so happy with the progress he is making!

19 Months

Wow . . . we have been busy. I can't believe that Max is 19 months old. The fact that he is closer to two than one is just crazy. It goes so quickly! I haven't posted in forever - I have been too busy attempting to make Max a Halloween costume. Here he is modeling his scarecrow hat with daddy this morning. It only took me four tries to get a hat that looked decent and based on how quickly he took it off this morning I don't think he will wear it long at all!

We had his 18 month check up a couple weeks ago. He weighed in at 28lb 2oz and was 36in long - although we're not sold on that height measurement. I don't' think he is quite that tall. He is in the 95th percentile for height and 75th for weight. The doctor thought everything else looked great. The ear tubes are really doing their job, he hasn't had an infection since May.

Max has also qualified for services through the MO First Steps program. He now receives an hour a week of speech and an hour a week of OT. We are seeing progress in his communication skills. He has totally mastered the sign for 'help' and this is making life much less frustrating for all involved. I'm sure before we know it he will be talking up a storm. . . and I can't wait!

Today we met Brian's sister Kathy and her family at the pumpkin patch. A great time was had by all. The kids looked so cute in the wagon together. Max was much more interested in the pumpkins this year and even picked one our for us to take home. Max was very excited about the ponies, but after we paid our money and he sat on one, he lost all interest. I guess it was a bit scarier up close. Dad was just happy that they gave us our money back. All in all it was a very fun day spent with wonderful family. We are very lucky!