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!

Apple PIcking

Max had a big day today! We went apple picking at Eckert's farm. Nonna joined us for the trek to Illinois. It was a fun time. We started off at the petting zoo area. Max treated the animals as if they were big cats. He wasn't scared at all and we even heard a real cow moo. The cow makes a better moo sound than I do.

Once he had his fill of the animals we headed to the tractor for our ride out to the orchard. Max thought that the ride was a lot of fun. He couldn't take his eyes off the driver the entire time.

I have never been apple picking before, and I was surprised at how cute the little apple trees were. Max didn't quite get the idea of picking the apples off the tree, but he loved putting them into the bags.

After we filled our apple bags, we rode the tractor back to the farm. Max sat with his Nonna and enjoyed the view.

Max was determined to take one look at the animals. This time he wanted to get even closer - he actually stuck his head through the fence. It was too cute!

Our Little Reader

Our little man loves to read. When I brought him home from the sitters he must have brought me five different books to read. We sit in the rocker and read story after story. Max doesn’t say much about his books he just sits and listens. I think his favorites are the How Does a Dinosaur books. I don’t think they are too bad either. Max has even learned which way the book goes. If I hand it to him upside down he turns it right side up.

We also had our intake with a representative from Missouri’s First Steps program. She asked us lots of questions about what Max can do and what he cannot. She felt that his language skills were delayed enough that it warrants a screening from a speech and language specialist. They should be contacting me within the next few days to complete a formal evaluation of Max’s skills. Based on what the specialist finds, Max may or may not receive services. We will just have to wait and see. We just want to make sure that if Max needs help we get it for him!

Hair Cut/Cards Game

What a busy day we have had. Max has been looking pretty shaggy lately. His hair is still pretty thin, but it was getting long! This morning Max had his first appointment with Great-Aunt Carmelina. Nonno even came up to watch. Max was excited to climb up in the big chair.

He was not as excited when Aunt Carm tried to put on the cape. He wanted nothing to do with it. So we compromised, he sat there showing his belly to the world while Aunt Carm cut his hair. We had to bribe him with a Tootsie pop to get him to sit still. He didn't eat it afterward, though. I don't think he even realized it was candy. But it did the trick and kept him occupied while Aunt Carm did her job. He did a pretty good job, all in all. The finished product was worth it. He really does look like my little 'man' now! No more mullet - yea!

This afternoon Max had another fun first. I had the opportunity to get free baseball tickets through work, so we took Max to the game. We got there just as things were beginning. Max had lots of fun people watching for the first 20 minutes or so, then it began to go down hill. We were able to keep him entertained until the beginning of the fourth inning. We then said good bye to my coworkers and headed over the family area. Max had more fun running around there than he did watching the game. No big surprise there. All in all it was great day for everyone!