Max's Blog

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It's A RAT!!

Almost 21 Months

At 18 months, Max knew his colors – red, green, blue, orange, red, purple, white, black. He also knows pink and brown.

At 19 months - Max started counting 1 - 10. He counts out of order - but understands the concept quite well. When we ask him "how many ...?" he says "one, two, four, seven, eight, nine, ten".

During his 20th month, Maxwell's dad spent 2+ weeks in India. We spent time each day "skyping" online - a video chatting program. Max had fun skyping with Dad - and would point to the computer and say "DaDa" while he was away. It was a long two weeks for the entire family - and we were all happy when Brendan came home. Max squealed when he saw his Papa.

Less than a week after Brendan's return, there was a very significant terrorist attack in Mumbai at the hotel Brendan stayed at - and at several others. We are very fortunate that Brendan was home. During, and after the attacks, it has been a very emotional time, especially for Brendan.

At 20 months - Max knew all of his letters. He doesn't sing the ABC's - but he can cite each letter independently. He enjoys matching numbers - and is quite proud of himself when doing so. We also spend time playing a game we call "ABC Freeze". Max has an alphabet singing/phonetics toy that attaches to the fridge. When he hits a certain button, the ABC song starts, and when he flips another switch - the song stops. Max recently started a game with his Daddy in which he starts the ABC song - and Daddy starts dancing. Max then switches the "off" button: Daddy freezes his "dance move". Then Max switches the button back on and we all start dancing again. If you are in the room and not playing - Max will let you know!

The time is going by so quick. I am challenged on a daily basis with juggling priorities - and spend extra energy to make sure that I enjoy each moment of Maxwell's life. Max grows and changes each day and week and month. We are so entertained by this child.

Each evening, I still give Max a bottle. It's one of my favorite times of the day. We snuggle up in the living room chair. With blanket, doggie (Trammel) and pillow to rest his head - Max spends his time suckling his bottle - I rub his feet. Sometimes he caresses my face or hand - and mostly I kiss his little face and snuggle him. He usually falls asleep and it is just so precious.

Yesterday - during naptime Max crawled out of his crib. We put him down as usual - he cried and we were steadfast and did not go to him. Then – we heard the pitter patter of his feet, a knock on the door and a cry of “Mama! Mama!” Hence, we converted the crib into a “big boy bed”. The world changed yesterday for Brendan and Mysti.

ABC Matching

Midway through the week

Today was Maxwell's third day at school - and it proved to be a little tougher. Drop off is hard because he cries when I leave (however it's way different than the experience over the summer!). Pick up is great because he is so so happy to see me - and he is not in tears when I get there.

Max was tired today - and I can imagine he is quite exhausted given all the extra stimulation that comes with his new environment.

Overall - he is happy and engaged. I feel really good about where he is at. I wish it didn't cost so much money - however.

Wednesday's Report:

Day 2 of "school"

There are many reasons that Maxwell's parents decided to enroll Max in his new school (we prefer to call it "school" - as opposed to "daycare" because we're hoping they are providing more than child care!).

As with any change - there are challenges In this case - there are many positives. At the same time - I must recognize the challenges. To be more specific: The Car.

Max hates riding in the car. He's good for a few miles or so - but in the long-run he prefers to not be in the car. This is a consistant trait in our child. With the new "school", Maxwell commutes with me 20+ miles in the Bay Area traffic. For me - this cuts my commute almost in half. For Max - this means 60-90 minutes more time in the car per day. In two days, these commutes have been unnerving at times. I love having that extra time with Max, but he hates being in the car. It's tough.

At the same time, I am happy to report that the car ride is the toughest - because I think that this can be overcome. Max will get used to spending time strapped in his seat, and I will come up with better ways to entertain him until he can start talking to me about his day, thoughts and feelings.

On the upside, Maxwell's second day at CCLC was great! See the report for yourself:

    

New Daycare

Today - Max started a new daycare. After 18-months on the waiting list, Max got into the daycare center at Stanford across the street from where I work. It was a difficult decision to pull him out of Rabija's after the terrible experience with the daycare "center" we had over the summer - but we had to think long term (thanks for that advice Amanda! - and thanks to all my other friends and family who patiently listened to me rattle off the pro's and con's over and over!).

After day one - I am immensely satisfied with our choice. I scanned a few documents to share that happiness - starting with this email I recieved from the director of the center:

The next document I want to share is the daily summary report which summarizes Maxwell's day (click to enlarge):

  

The last is this drawing that he did. It warms my heart:

Bye Brows

The other day, Maxwell and I were reviewing body parts. You know – I was having Max point to his nose, ears, eyes, knees etc. He’s got everything down pat. Then I realized that he probably didn’t know what eye brows were – so I pointed to mine and said “Eye Brows”. He touched mine and said “Bye Brows”. Then I touched his and we repeated the same thing. We then looked in the mirror so he could see his eye brows. Then we went about playing.

 

Fast forward 8 hours. It’s the middle of the night around 3am and Max awoke crying. I went to his room to rock him back to sleep. While we are rocking (it’s dark in the room), Max feels for my face and moves his hands from my chin, to my nose and eyes until he finds my eye brows – and he says “Bye Brows”. Then he went to sleep.

Catch Up

In late June, the Smith-Bentley’s took another wonderful and luxurious vacation to Mexico. This time, instead of Cancun, we went to Puerto Vallarta. Brendan and Mysti have been to PV, and thought it would be a great place to take Maxwell for a get-away for the threesome.

The Mexican vacation was great, even despite a few bumps in the road including hotel jack-hammering (Not cool. Not cool.), a little Montezuma’s revenge (Brendan), and a little ibuprofen overdose scare (Maxwell). The highlights include amazing sunsets, para-sailing, a boat ride with some snorkeling along Los Arcos. We also spent days shopping in downtown, and general strolling along the Malecon. It was a relaxing time, even with a 14-month old. It was just nice to be away from the day-to-day lives that we lead.

Upon our return, it was decided that Maxwell would begin a new daycare on July 7. Rabija (Maxwell’s in-home provider) was set to spend 6-weeks in Montenegro, her country she hadn’t been home to visit in 6 or 7 years. Brendan and I had been thinking about starting Max in a pre-school type setting anyway – so it was good timing for us. Maxwell and Mommy spent a morning visiting Action Day Primary Plus just before Barb & Warren arrived from Brooklyn for a long weekend. During the weekend that Barb & Warren were visiting we went to several beaches in search of sea glass.

On Monday, July 7 Max was set to start his new daycare. I brought him in later than normal because he didn’t seem to be feeling so well. He was quite fussy, and felt a little warm. Barb thought he may be tugging at his ears. I was so hesitant to bring him to his first day of new daycare while feeling so under the weather. After weighing the options with Barb, I decided to bring him. He seemed fine when I dropped him off. This began the long journey of sickness and missing work, which I will outline in date format to spare the details (and get caught up on the blog!):

July 7: First day of daycare at Action Day Primary Plus

July 8: Maxwell is sent home with Pink Eye. We went to the doctor to learn that not only did he have Pink Eye, but also a nasty ear infection. He started on oral antibiotics and had to miss his next day of school.

July 9: Max gets an “ouch report” at school. He fell and hit his head.

July 15: Maxwell spikes a fever. We bring him back to the doctor to learn that the antibiotics are not working. He starts a different oral antibiotic.

July 16: Still having fevers. We summons Grandma Nancy to come down to San Jose earlier than planned to help care for Max.

July 18: Max is still febrile. We go back to the doctor to once again learn that the antibiotics are still not working – and one of the eardrums has ruptured. He needs to start inject-able antibiotics. At this point, he’s a sick puppy – just wanting to snuggle and be held. He gets his first shot – and subsequently his first doctor office visit lolli-pop (you know – the ones on the string).

July 19: Office visit #5 – another shot. Ears still not really improving.

July 20: Office visit #6 – the third and final shot.

July 21: Sweet Lou (Maxwell’s Lovey) gets lost on a walk.

July 23: Max gets another “ouch report”. He got bit by another kid

July 24: We think Max is doing a lot better, but need to see Dr. Dennis to confirm that the injections did the trick. Unfortunately, we learn that his ears are not any better and that he needs to have surgery to get tubes in his ears. Suck!

July 25: We see the Ear, Nose, Throat specialist who confirms that Max needs tubes. They schedule him for Monday.

July 28: Max has surgery – which went great. We were in and out of the clinic within 2 hours. Max slept most of the day, and was back to himself by the next day.

July 31: Max gets another “ouch report”. He gets bit and scratched by another kid! Our poor guy can’t get a break these days!

August 1: Action Day loses Trammel (the Sweet Lou “Lovey” replacement) and are apathetic to the situation – and reluctant to even search for him. Seriously?

August 7: Max wakes up covered in vomit – and proceeds with diarrhea every 15 minutes for the entire morning. We’re scheduled for a flight to MN in the morning…and worry that we won’t be able to make it.

The worst part about all of this, was that in between being sick, we had to bring him to Action Day for his care. He hated it the entire time. He cried when we pulled into the parking lot. It was one of the worst experiences we’ve had. It is simply heart-breaking to peal your crying child from your arms – and then expect to have a good day at work. It was awful.

August 8: Maxwell and Mysti flew to MN with success. No bumps in the road – Max was a gem! However, that night, Max vomited 6-8 times. We were so grateful that this didn’t happen on the airplane!!

August 8 – August 15: Max and Mama spend a week in MN visiting all of Maxwell’s cousins. We take a trip to Duluth to visit Amanda, Niika and Ruben. We visit Maxwell’s Great Grandma Margaret and Great Grandparents Gerri and Don.

August 20: Maxwell reunites with Rabija! He is so happy to be back at his old day care. Each morning, she makes him Chamomile tea - and he plays with his friends Fiona and Floren.

August 30: Max is tugging on his ears, so we bring him to urgent care to learn that the tubes are intact, but they’re not working. He doesn’t have an infection, but he still has fluid behind his ears. He started on eardrops, and we see Dr. Dennis later this week. Our guess is that we (Max mostly) is in for a lifetime of troubled ears.

On the upside:

Maxwell is growing into a little toddler right before our very eyes! He is such a happy, darling boy. He is talking like crazy, and will try to say any word that you ask.

He is starting to identify with himself. When he see’s a picture of himself, he says “Max!”, and he will point to himself when asked “Where’s Max?”. He also says “Mine!”.

Max enjoys Mattie, and likes to go on walks with her. He’s still fairly social – and has more and more energy all the time. It’s a lot of work keeping up with him – but we’re enjoying it very much!

Max & his cousins

Max took a trip to Portland to see Mira and meet his new cousin Xavier!