Max

Max is, of course, changing the fastest out of everyone right now. It all comes with being on the cusp of age two. He has lots of words and speaks in sentances, but usually needs me to translate. Although, I am very pleased at how much his articulation has improved in the last month. We are a little more aware of speech after having Ella in speech for so many years. (Two or three, I think.)

As of two weeks ago his preference was to sleep with a baby and a book. He is our best sleeper so far, by the way, in terms of independence and willingness :)

In the last week he has shifted to wanting a train or two to hold while he falls asleep. Tonight he was distressed because he could only find one train under his crib, so we walked around the house looking for his other train. Paul tried to give him a car. You should have seen the look of distain that was bestowed upon his father for offering such an inferior vehicle. We found the other train and as I write this he is laying happily with his two trains in the crib. Although I do think he might be asleep by now if all he had was a baby and a book. 

He likes to say family prayers, but still relies on us for the words. Occasionally he will say an independent prayer, but even I have no earthly idea what he is saying until he gets to "amen". 

Playtime generally consists of following his sisters around and doing (generally) whatever they say. He is often their puppy, or trained pet of some sort. Sometimes he plays the baby and Charlotte spends lots of time putting him to bed and waking him up again. Sometimes he just plays alone with trains or cars, or with his baby, or other little people. He does some kind of conversational play with little people or animals, but I have no idea what the people/animals are saying to each other. That is the perk of playing alone, no one else needs to know what's going on. 

Animals and animal noises are a favorite topic of conversation. And he is getting pretty good at names and noises. He also like to scare people and is actually pretty good at it. He sneaks up to a corner and waits quietly for a bit and then pops out and yells "Boo!"  Sometimes he just yells "boo" in your face, too. 

He is still 80% compliant when I ask for a kiss. But he has started refusing. It's always sad when that happens. I love it when they are young enough that a kiss always sounds like a great idea. Charlotte and Ella are to the point that they pretty much refuse to kiss me unless it is their idea.

He is shockingly obedient. He loves to play on my phone and will snag it whenever he gets the chance, but will usually turn it off the moment I ask him to. Not normal. But nice. I am certainly not complaining. 

Max wants to be carried around pretty much any time we are going somewhere that is not his idea. I am in the process of forcing him to walk on his own, because there will be another baby to carry before too long. This process has never been a favorite of mine and I am reminded of that frequently now that I'm doing it for the third time. But it is nice that both of his sisters are old enough to hold his hand safely and help him, and sometimes just the idea of holding their hand (instead of mine) and walking into the store is enough to quiet the protests. So that's a unique twist on the process.