Adventures with Max

This past weekend was Halloween in Athens, so I decided to pack up Max and go to my parents house. It’s usually loud and crazy in town, and we live in town, so I thought it was a good opportunity to leave. It’s always nice to go visit my parents because while I’m there, they pretty much take care of me and it’s a nice change. I don’t have to worry about cleaning the house. I don’t have to worry about what to make for dinner. I can sleep in and my parents are always willing to help entertain Max, so I get time to myself. And if I’m lucky, my mom and I do a  little shopping. This weekend I decided it would be a good idea to clean out the inside of my car. And my dad decided he would do the same to his cars. It’s funny. I have fond memories of washing cars with my dad. For some reason, it’s a good way for us to spend time together. Just as I was about done wiping down all the dust from the inside surfaces, my dad asked me when was the last time I rotated my tires. I had no idea. He said that it was about time for him to rotate his tires, and thought maybe we could do mine too. That made me happy. It was good to have a chance to do some work on the car with my dad. So we both worked on rotating the tires on the cars. I helped him do his car and he helped me do mine. It was kind of fun. I even felt cpmpelled to drink a beer in the middle of the afternoon, since we were working on that cars and all. So this story really isn’t about Max, but in a way it is. It’s about me doing something that I would never have been able to get done if I had stayed home for Halloween with Max and Todd.

OK. Here we are. I love the fall. The weather has been wonderful the past few weeks; bright and sunny with a bit of breeze. We’ve been able to go outside everyday and do something. Now that Max is walking, he loves to go outside and walk up and down the sidewalk in front of our house and explore the trees, rocks, leaves and whatever else is around. His vocabulary is also taking off. I was looking at a list of things that babies should be able to do by the time they are 15 months old (Max is a bit over 16 months) and it said that they should know 4-6 words. Well Max’s list is longer than that. He saya doggie, bird, bubble, kitty, cheese, bread, grapes, mommy, daddy, flower, star, car, truck, nose, eye, beer, help, more, rock, baby, block, ball and book. There’s more I just can’t remember right now. Oh yeah, he can’t say grandma, so he’s been saying manga instead.

He has also decided that milk is bickie. I have no idea where he got this, but whenever he wants milk, he makes the ASL sign for milk, and says bickie. At first I wasn’t sure I wanted to encourage this nickname, but now I’ve been calling it bickie too. It’s kind of our own little code word.

I took a nap with Max this afternoon. We had Nanda and Audrey and their babies over in the morning and then when they left, Max and I laid down together. It was the first time I napped with him since the beginning of January. It was nice because he slept for a long time. The last week or two I haven’t been feeling rested when I wake up in the morning. And I wonder if it’s because I haven’t been taking naps during the day. I almost felt guilty for using up time in the day for napping, but maybe that’s just what I needed.

Max will be 8 months old tomorrow.