Birthday Bash Adventure

What a night to remember! For Max's 2nd birthday celebration, we decided to take the little man to Benihana, a Japanese steakhouse that cooks the meal right in front of you. What entertainment for Max! To liven the evening up [and I do mean liven, wait until you hear the entire adventure] we invited our friends from New York, Jimmy, Chrissy, and daughters Alex and Samantha who have been in town visiting for the weekend.

As much fun as dinner was, watching Max pile white rice into his mouth, oooohing and awwwwing over the chef and his tricks, the entire restaurant singing him Happy Birthday, and proving he could eat every last bite of his strawberry ice cream, the evening adventure was only beginning.

Let me explain. The restaurant sits in a circular courtyard with the backsides of about 4 or 5 restaurant patios facing it. In the middle of the courtyard is a beautiful fountain [do you have any idea where this story is going now?]. It was a gorgeous night last night. Warm weather and of course an audience of people sitting on the patios dining for the evening.

Max started to get quite curious with the fountain. Stepping closer. Stepping back. Stepping even closer. Jumping back. Getting a little wet. Getting a LOT wet. By the end of the evening, he AND our friend Jimmy were BOTH running through the fountain. Max was giggling and laughing harder than I have ever seen before. It was priceless. Absolutely priceless.

So Jimmy, thanks for showing Max how to live life to the fullest and make the most of every opportunity. You are the man!

You have to watch this video to see how all the fun began:

Happy 2nd Birthday Maximus

Dear Max,

It is hard to believe you are two years old today. Our lives have been radically changed because you are in it.

Your smile, your giggle, your innocence, your joy, your independence, your determination, your drive, your personality, your voice, your hug, your kiss...it makes our hearts melt.

We are so grateful to your birthparents for choosing US to be your forever family. What an honor and a privilege to be your mommy and daddy. We simply cannot imagine life any other way. You were meant for us and we were meant for you.

Happy Birthday to you Maximus, our son.

Hugs, kisses [and hand pounds],

Mommy and Daddy

Updates +

Where has the month of April gone? I have apparently been in a bloggy daze and must apologize to my faithful blog followers [all 2 or 3 of you] for the lack of posts.

I am going to try to make it up to you in this single post. To keep said updates organized I am resorting to actually numbering my random posts, pictures and yes, videos. I don't think I have ever done that in my years of blogging.

1. Max has apparently taken up the game of golf in his spare time. He is quite pleased with himself every time his club makes contact with the golf ball. And just for the record, daddy is quite proud.

2. Max is very sweet on our neighbor and his friend, Brooke. Only two doors away from each other, the kids literally run down the sidewalk towards each other with their arms open, ready for hugs. It is quite a sight and incredibly adorable.

3. I am not sure why I get all sappy when Max learns to do something new, but, I do. It always includes two moments for me. First, I celebrate at what he has learned to accomplish on his own. Then, I choke back tears because I realize he doesn't need me anymore to help him with that task. On this particular day, Max mastered blowing bubbles on his own. This is really no small feat and he was quite proud of himself. Ok, and I was proud of him too. Sniff, sniff.

4. Oh how I love the zoo! It is perfect for all ages. Max and I recently had a zoo adventure where he could not get enough of the aquarium. Every fish that swam by [and there have to be thousands in the big tank] he would scream and say louder than the time before, "FISH, A FISH!" Take a look!

5. And last, I can hardly believe that Max will be 2 years old in 3 days. I am pretty sure I am in denial. On the other hand, Max is not. In fact, he has been celebrating for a couple of weeks. From gifts in the mail to a mini-birthday party, Max is in birthday heaven. And if you ask him what he wants for his birthday he shouts, "Cake, I want Cake!" Take a look at Max doing a little birthday dance to a card he got in the mail [thanks Auntie Marie and Uncle Joe].

I am sure I will re-enter the blog world in only a few short days as we celebrate Max's 2nd birthday. Keep you posted!

Celebration of Life

HAPPY EASTER!

"He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen."

Matthew 28:6

Max Greets the Ocean

Hello bloggy world! Max and I just returned from a four day vacation in Florida. We traveled with my mom [a.k.a. grandma] and visited my grandparents [a.k.a. GG & Papa].

We logged lots of hours at the pool and spent one glorious day at the Siesta Key Beach. It was beautiful, sugary sand. And Max enjoyed every second. His squeals and laughter by the ocean were priceless. Here's a glimpse!

Swim Fan

Max and I are getting ready for summertime by going to a weekly swim lesson. Little did I know how much the Mister would LOVE swim class. To be real with you, the only thing he doesn't love is putting his swim trunks on in the locker room. I practically have to pin him down to put on his swim diaper and trunks. I think he thinks it's tubby time and the trunks are just too constricting!

Just to prove how much he loves this new swim thing, he asks me EVERYDAY, "we going to pool? we going to pool? we going to pool?"

He also loves to throw himself on the wet, cold, tile floor of the indoor swim pool after lessons are over and give everyone a show with a full-blown temper tantrum. The first day, I had another mom walk by me and say, "well, at least you know he likes it!"

And like it Max does. I have a feeling we will be logging some serious hours in the pool this summer. Which is just fine by me. ;)

The trunks are on, Max is ready to go!

Enjoying our pool time together.

The BIG slide, which Max simply points at and says, "wee...wee!"

Loving this pool thing!

One of Max's favorite buddies, our neighbor Brooke.

Max and cousin Shayden.

Let's get going down this slide!

This is the life!

The Toddler Bed Update

Can I start out by saying that SuperNanny would be so proud? We have successfully trained Max to sleep in his big boy toddler bed!

However, not without challenges. So let me recap.

Let me start out by sharing THE PLAN:

After much talk and debate, Sam and I settled on the teach-Max-bed-is-for-night-night program. We went into said plan realizing this could be a lot of grueling work on our part. It entailed us literally playing guard dog by his bedroom door and everytime Max hopped out of bed, we gently scooped him up, placed him in his bed, and enforced "Night Night." As SuperNanny would instruct: no eye contact, no cuddle time, just a stern "Night Night." The goal was for him to realize his bed was a safe place for, whelp you guessed it, Night Night.

Night #1 -
Sam, one of the most amazing daddy's I know, was on his own this night. [I realize this was not kind of me to have a Girl's Night Out on our first night of putting the Mister in his toddler bed]. But, Sam was a trooper and up for the challenge.

After more than an hour of back-and-forth [scooping Max up, putting him in bed, saying "Night Night"], Sam started to grow weary. Thankfully, I walked in the door about this time. Max was struggling, so we opted to rock him to sleep and place him in bed. [Sorry SuperNanny, we derailed in a weak moment]. The night was a long one considering Max woke up around 4:30am and, to get him back to sleep, Sam ended up sleeping on the floor in his room. When Sam woke up, Max was cuddled up next to him on the floor. What a sweet sight, yet not the result we were hoping for.

Night #2
I was up for the challenge and ready to teach Max that I was in charge. My SIL, Kristen's, pep talk that day sounded something like this:
"Buckle down. These small battles set the stage for the relationship. Avoid confrontation whenever possible, but when it occurs you MUST win."
Ok, I was ready. And an hour and twenty minutes later...I was exhausted. In fact, I was sweating and getting a work-out from the in-and-out and back-and-forth and out-of-bed-in-bed routine. Sam was great moral support, but we were realizing quickly that Max is one determined child. And he had apparently decided that he MUST win.
Instead of rocking him to sleep, we ended up patting his back, while he dozed into dreamland in his new bed. Unfornately, he woke up again in the middle of the night and Sam spent a second night cuddled up on the floor in Max's room. Improvement [just thought I'd mention in case SuperNanny is reading this blog]: Max slept in his bed, while Sam curled up on the floor. That certainly counts for something, right?

Night #3
Right. New Plan. Said plan was NOT working. We discovered, in two short nights, that Max is extremely strong willed. We knew this, but were convinced even more. So strategy had to be changed. We stuck to the same nighttime routine. Bath, books, prayers, hugs and kisses. However, this time we explained we were not coming back until morning. We calmly explained that Jesus was going to give Mister peace and the Holy Spirit would provide comfort. We would be back to get him when it was time to start our day together.
It took ten minutes. Yep, that's right. TEN minutes. And Max gave up the fight. He hopped into bed and slept through the night. WOO HOO. What an accomplishment. For all of us!

Night #4
Sticking to the same plan! We put him in bed. Said our goodnights and prayers and left the room. Down to only TWO minutes of crying. Max, in his defiance, slammed his bedroom door, and climbed into bed. [I find this just hilarious. I mean really, slamming the door?]. Again, another successful night. He even woke up happy and played in his room for twenty minutes before we started the day. Progress, sweet progess.

So it seems the trick for us was four nights. Maybe we still have a few kinks to work out. But, I have to say, this is one of my proudest parent moments.

If SuperNanny ever needs to take a leave-of-absence from her show, maybe ABC would consider hiring us to take her place?