I took the day off on Tuesday to take Lucy to the dentist at 8:30. She still absolutely loves her dentist (and if you knew Dr. Rider, you'd love him, too!) and she did wonderfully. No cavities or issues and most importantly, she got a new Cinderella toothbrush!
After that, we dropped the little lady off at school and got to Max's 9:45 appointment right on time. He was a happy dude and enjoyed the waiting area - playing and looking at the fish:
He was such a good boy for the nurse and doctor. He cooperated with the nurse when she measured and weighed him:
Height - 31.75 inches (69%) vs. Lucy at 30.5 inches
Weight - 24.50 pounds (49%) vs. Lucy at 23.44 pounds
He laughed and played with Dr. Brokaw and let him hold him and cracked up when "Dr. Barry" rubbed his balding head on his big belly.
The nurse had asked her list of standard questions including "Does he say 5-10 words?"
Yikes.
He does not say many words...and today when I looked back at all of the words Lucy was saying at this age, I freaked out a tiny bit. I remembered that she had a lot more than the recommended and even mentioned it to Dr. Brokaw who said, "Lucy was not typical...Max is...remember that when doing the inevitable comparisons."
He said in just observing Max for 15 minutes, he's obviously a very social baby. He said most second+ kids are a little slower with the speech considering they have an older sibling to speak for them. He could see that Max understands the things I say to him and we discussed the fact that he does communicate...he points and makes plenty of different sounds and changes his inflection. He predicts that all of a sudden within the next few months, Max will be talking up a storm.
His first word was "ball" but he hasn't said that one in quite awhile.
Primarily, he says "whoa" and a version of "uh oh" (though he doesn't use that one correctly...when one throws their cup off of their tray, "uh oh" does not apply...) and barks when he sees or hears a dog...
But yesterday when we were playing, I said, "Say 'yay,"" trying to get him to clap and he did clap - but he also verbally said 'yay!'" And Wednesday night at dinner, I asked him if he was all done and he repeated back, "All done!" I did a double take and so did Dave...we both heard it.
At the end of his appointment, he got two shots - one in each arm. The nurse moved quickly and he didn't start crying until after the second one but even then, it was more of a screechy yell and that was it. He was mad, though, and ripped one of the Band-Aids off of his arm and threw it down to the floor as hard as he could...temper much??
His arms didn't swell up like Lucy's did with the vaccinations and he had no noticeable side effects...in fact, one of the side effects listed on the sheet was "decreased appetite" which always makes Max laugh...he scarfed down an entire burger, several helpings of pasta salad and whatever else he could get his little hands on...and this guy has become a ketchup monster like his sister!
 |
| Post hair cut |
After his appointment, we went home for lunch and a nap but then we went to get his hair cut (he looks like such a big boy now!) and then to the library to play...he had so much fun! When I read Lucy's 15 month stats, I saw I also took her to the library after her appointment but it wasn't planned to repeat that with my baby boy.
He doesn't know as many animal sounds as Lucy did at this age but he knows what a dog says and what an owl says...and at the library, they have a bin of large plastic animal figures (a giraffe, a zebra, a tiger, a lion and an elephant) and when I ask him which one is the giraffe, he can pull it out!
Things he loves:
He's a lot like his sister regarding this list:
*He likes water - swimming, the water table, the tub, washing his hands...he loves splashing!
*He also likes being outside. He especially loves riding in his bike he got from Auntie Ema, Uncle Jeff and Lukey and he loves Lucy's old pink car. He likes to swing at the park (or in the backyard) but not for very long. Lucy used to love being in the swing and could sit in there forever but the curious Maxy needs to explore!
*He loves going to Daddy's softball games which usually means a wagon ride and definitely means playing outside.
*Dogs! He's obsessed! He got to pet and hug and chase Uncle Craig's dog Nala the other night and he was in heaven!
 |
| Lucy took this picture! |
One day, Dave text me these pics and said, "We'd better have top-notch insurance for this little idiot!" He is definitely a climbing fool!
Really, I think climbing might be his favorite thing...
Sleeping babies are SO CUTE!
*He also really likes peek-a-boo and loves playing it with Lucy in the car...and with Ms. Shelly (she took these next couple of pics):
Cuteness overload:
 |
| Max and his best buddy Leo playing with cars |
He likes to eat and when he gets hungry, he grabs a bib and brings it to us so we can put it on him and then he leads us to his high chair. If he brings us a bib and we say, "It's not time to eat right now," he gets pretty mad! His go-to for relieving frustrations is to throw things so he always throws his bib down but then reaches around to grab anything he can then throw...
He recently tried PB&J for the first time and loved it so that's in his rotation. He's always loved peanut butter but Lucy thinks it "smells deee-scusting!"
He recently tried PB&J for the first time and loved it so that's in his rotation. He's always loved peanut butter but Lucy thinks it "smells deee-scusting!"
 |
| Splashing makes him so happy! |
 |
| He is a very cuddly baby! He likes hugs! |
Actually, I don't think it will be too hard to wean him as long as he doesn't see it...often, if we take it from him and remove it from his eyesight, he's just fine without it. We shall see!
He's had quite a few ear infections in his little lifetime (and still to this day, at nearly 4 and a half years old, Lucy has never had one). He got another one in mid-June and the pediatrician suggested we meet with an ENT once it cleared up. He finished his antibiotic right before we left for Gatlinburg but I was scared it wasn't fully gone and with going 5 hours away and up in the mountains, we wanted to be sure. I'd heard a little bit about chiropractic care helping with babies and ear infections and GranJan talked to her chiro (Dr. Hogue in Edgewood) about Max and he suggested we bring him right in (before we left for Gburg). I also took him to the pedi that day just for that peace of mind - and the infection had in fact cleared up. But we met with and loved Dr. Hogue! He talked with us about Max and his history for a long time and then he did an adjustment on him. First, he had Max lay on the table while he massaged the back of his neck. He said the right side was pretty tight and that's the side he always gets his infections on. Next, he had me hold Max while he applied pressure at a few points - he had what looked like a pen with a foam ball on the end. He "clicked" it on my arm first so I could feel it - just a little click of pressure - nothing even remotely painful. He gave Max several "clicks" and we were on our way. Max may have been a little confused but nothing hurt him and he didn't cry once.
Dave was skeptical and kept saying "Max is going to get his back cracked" and I'll admit, I was skeptical, too. But Max has had several adjustments since then. We decided to hold off on consulting with an ENT and he hasn't had one ear infection since. And after every adjustment, Max sleeps better than ever! The night before his first visit, he woke up every 30 minutes all night long and needed to be held and consoled back to sleep...after his first visit with Dr. Hogue, he went to bed easily and didn't make a peep until we got him out of bed the next morning! Hopefully we're DONE with ear infections!
