Max has grown up so much in the last couple of months.  I wish I had been more on top of the blog to give updates, so I would have them in the future, but life got busy and I just didn’t have the time.  So I am just going to combine two months into one and give a quick (or perhaps not so quick) update.

First and foremost, Max is Mr. Independent!  Mikayla has always been independent, but Max is even more so.  Must be a second child thing.  He wants to do everything himself and prefers playing on his own.  When it comes to eating, he is always trying to do it himself.  He even started using a spoon on his own this week.  You can see the video here.  And because he is so independent he is into everything!  Always exploring and moving quickly from one object to the next.  One of his favorite things to do is to climb into the fruit and potato basket and start throwing them.  We have found oranges in some pretty interesting places!  He also really likes putting objects into containers and then dumping out to repeat. 

He also really likes to climb.  We have had to move from keeping the chairs under the kitchen table to putting them in the middle of the house because he has become so good at climbing.  He will regularly climb onto the chair and then the table.  Check it out here.  He can even now move the chairs around and position them in such a way that he can climb on things.  He really is quite the trouble maker!

He still loves being outside and would choose to be playing in the grass barefoot rather than in the house playing with toys.  He loves the wheelbarrow our maintenance staff uses and tries really hard to move it around (and can actually scoot it a little).  He will even "help" by picking up sticks and berries and putting them in the wheelbarrow.

Overall, Max is a very happy boy.  He smile and laugh are very contagious and leave you eager for more.  One staff member told me last week that his joy lights up the whole room.  He has started a new thing where when he "talks" his voice is high pitched and almost squealing.  It is really precious.  He also does this thing that we refer to as "happy feet" when he really wants something.  He will bounce back and forth from foot to foot really quickly and get a big grin on his face.

He has not picked up many signs, but every so often he will make a "sign" that is pretty close to the real thing.  We are getting there, slowly but surely.

Max still loves food and when the pantry opens he comes running.  If he hears the crinkle of a bag he comes running.  If someone is eating something he comes running.  Can you see a pattern here?  This boy LOVES his food!  He is definitely a Swazi man in that aspect.

Max is also very good at letting you know when he is unhappy about something.  If you try to give him the wrong thing he will grunt at you.  He is also really good at shaking his head no if he doesn’t want to do something.  And the kid can throw a tantrum!  I am thinking he learned that from his older sister. 

Speaking of Mikayla, Max will follow her everywhere!  He really does love and adore his big sister.  Sometimes she just wants to play on her own in her room, and he gets so upset when she shuts the door and leaves him alone.  Pitiful really.

One of my favorite things that Max does now is waving.  He will wave to anyone and everyone.  The grocery store is the best because the Swazi staff are so enthralled by his waving.  The cutest thing about it though is that most of the time it is backwards and he is waving to himself!  I wish we had a video of it.  Other things he does that are cute are pointing to things he wants and shaking his head no.

Our toothless boy is now up to four teeth.  He actually cut three of them while Ben was in Australia for two weeks, that was fun! 

At Christmas, my brother had made Max a Where the Wild Things Are blanket that he sleeps with every day.  We call it is lovie and he knows exactly what it means.  When you tell him it is time to go "Night Night" and to go get his lovie, he will run to the bedroom, grab the blanket and start to climb into the rocking chair to start his bedtime ritual (either reading a book or nursing depending on time of day).  When he gets really tired he will go get the lovie and let you know he is ready for sleep.  I hate that he is so attached to an object, but it works really well for him.  He is taking two naps a day, anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.  He is also going to bed between 7 and 7:30, and sleeps until around 3 or 4.  At which point he wakes up, wants to nurse and then goes back to sleep until 6 or 6:30.  It isn’t sleeping through the night, but it is SO MUCH BETTER!

And there you have it.  My independent, very active, loving, smiling, laughing 13 month old boy!

You can see more of his one year shots on Ben’s FB page, here.

Seriously, 11 months already?  In less than a month we will be celebrating our spunky little monkey’s first birthday (in Dr. Seuss style!)!  CRAZY!!  This last year has been a roller coaster of sleepless nights, and most recently chasing after an almost running little boy. 

When I say boy, I mean BOY!  He is every bit of 100% boy!  Into everything, loves dirt and bugs, climbing on things (and falling off of them too), wrestling with his daddy and big sister and eating everything in sight (and I mean EVERYTHING).

Let me just break down that last paragraph a bit and give you a picture of what our almost one year old is into these days.  Max loves being outside.  As a matter of fact, he is much happier playing in the dirt and with sticks and bugs than he is playing with his toys.  If we aren’t careful he will sneak outside and down the sidewalk.  Just the other day he was in the house and I turned around to do something.  I looked up and he was all the way at the neighbors house.  Man can he fly!

Speaking of "flying", he moves very quickly.  At 11 months, he is practically running.  He took his first steps at 9.5 months and never looked back.  It is amazing to me just how quickly he can get from Point A to Point B. He almost never crawls anymore.

I mentioned he liked to climb on things.  He can easily climb into his special chair and MLK size chairs.  And he can climb off of almost anything with no problem.  He can also regularly be found climbing out of his high chair!  This is one of his favorite things to do at mealtime, even if he is buckled in.  Quite the Houdini this kid!

When Ben and Mikayla wrestle with him he just laughs and laughs.  I can only imagine what things are going to be like a few years down the road :-/

Max loves to eat, everything!  He doesn’t turn very many foods down.  He still loves fruits and any form of carbs.  He also goes crazy for puffs and Mum Mums (baby rice crackers).  If he sees you eating something or hears the crinkle of a bag (like chips or candies) he comes running and will cry and cry until you give him something to eat.  At times it is funny, but when you are trying to prepare a meal or sneak an unhealthy snack, it isn’t so funny.

Max’s sleeping patterns are starting to get better.  This past month we really dove into the sleep training thing and weaning him from nursing at night.  After a few nights with lots of tears and screaming, I am proud to say he is sleeping much better and not nursing at night any longer!  He is not sleeping through the night yet, but when he wakes up he is back to sleep in less than five minutes!  And most nights he only wakes up once and will sleep until 6:30 or 7:00 (which is quite the change from up 3-4 times for long stretches and waking for the day at 5:30 or 6:00).  Change and progress!  Naps are still fairly short (at most an hour twice a day), but at least he is sleeping some.

Max is "talking" more and more each day.  In the mornings he will say "dada" because Ben is usually the one who gets up with him.  He can also say "mama" and a few other words.  He will point directly at what he wants too.  We are working on baby sign language with him, but so far he hasn’t picked any of it up yet.

Max still does not have any teeth!  Although, one is starting to work its way through on the top right (when facing him).  It sure is taking its sweet time though.  Maybe he will have a tooth by his first birthday.

And that is my little monkey at 11 months!

10 months!  What in the world, how has our baby gotten so big.  In only two short months he will be a year old.  Yikes!  Guess I had better start planning his birthday party!

I feel like a broken record, but Max is still not sleeping great.  I know when he is a teenager and we are trying to get him to wake up at noon I will look back at these days and laugh, but for now no one is laughing!  I wish I could say his sleeping habits have gotten better as he has gotten older, but that is just not the case.  He is still getting up multiple times at night and naps throughout the day are hit or miss.  We are lucky if he takes two, 1-hour naps! On a positive though he is starting to put himself to sleep better, at least during nap time.  So I guess we are getting there.  Slow and steady wins the race, right?!

Last month I mentioned that Max was thinking about walking.  Well, at 9.5 months he took his first steps (over Easter weekend actually).  You can see the video here.  In the last week he has really improved with his walking and is starting to master it.  He will actually start crawling some place and then halfway there stop and start to walk.  It really is quite different from Mikayla.  She took her first steps at 10 months and then didn’t really try again until she turned a year old.  At which point she started walking no problem.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Max is running in the next month!  We joke that he looks like Frankenstein when he is walking, and call him Frankenbaby!  He is still a little unstable and holds his hands and arms out to balance himself, which makes him look just like a baby version of Frankenstein!

Max has started to hold his own with Mikayla.  If she does something that he doesn’t approve of, he lets his voice be known and gives her a look that says don’t mess with me sister!  She is in trouble when he can really speak his mind!  But he still loves and adores her very much and will go out of his way to find her in the house and play with her.

Speaking of playing, Max has taken a liking to one of the local dogs on the mission.  He is a little tiny dog, the perfect size for Max.  He will also go out of his way to follow after him and play with him. 

He is 100% boy and loves being outside.  If the door is unlocked we have to really watch him because he is a quick one!  The other morning he was in his walker playing contently.  We stepped out of the room for just a second and when we came back he had climbed out of his walker and crawled out on the front porch!  This boy is going to be trouble!!  He loves playing in the dirt and eating rocks.  And he is perfectly content sitting on the front porch looking around at everything and everyone. 

We are still working on waving and clapping with Max.  Shaking hands is something that one of the staff members has really been encouraging with Max and he almost has it!  When she sticks out her hand he will grab it to shake about 50% of the time.

Max has become quite the jabbering boy and you can often find him playing in a corner talking to himself. 

I am starting to think that teeth will never arrive for our blue eyed, smiling boy!  It doesn’t seem to bother him though because he is still eating great and even tackling things he shouldn’t be able to master without teeth.

Max is still a momma’s boy, especially when he is tired or when I am trying to cook dinner!  Between him crying throughout dinner and dinner prep and trying to coax Mikayla into eating her dinner, I must say that dinner is not a pleasant place in our house right now!  If we can manage to eat early, say by 5:30, it isn’t nearly as stressful.  However, if we have a week like we did last week and aren’t eating dinner until 6:30 or so it is insane in our house!

Happy half birthday little boy!  It is hard to believe that six months ago Max joined our family.  He has added so much (and taken away a little sleep 😉 ) to our family.  Here is what he is up to these days.

Max has become an independent sitter. He still occasionally topples over, but for the most part he is sitting up firmly on his own.  He loves to sit in the middle of his toys and play and throw them across the floor.

Max adores his sister.  Seriously, he lights up whenever she is near.  She is also one of the few people that can get a belly laugh out of Max.  Mikayla can do this simplest thing, like blow raspberries at him and he is rolling!  It is so precious.  And everyone comments on how much he loves her.

Max has started to show a little separation anxiety from me.  If he is handed off to someone other than Ben when I am in the room he looks around for me and will often cry and lunge his body towards me.  I guess this is what happens when you spend 24/7 with a baby!

Max is also still rolling all over the floor and can pretty much get wherever he wants to at a pretty quick speed by doing so.  He isn’t crawling yet, but he arms and legs are pretty strong so I would say it wouldn’t be long before this happens.

Speaking of strong legs, Max has some serious strength.  He loves standing up when supported by your hands.  He has also started grabbing your hands and pushing up on his own.  I wouldn’t call it "pulling up yet", but that is mostly because he doesn’t have the control of his legs yet.  He definitely has the strength, but he can’t quite figure out how to maneuver his legs in the directions he wants them to go.

We started Max on solid foods at the beginning of this month.  It was a little early (we didn’t start Mikayla until after six months), but he was nursing so frequently and so active we felt that he was hungry and ready for it.  We were right too.  He took to eating solids very quickly, like a matter of days.  And now whenever he sees a spoon he starts opening his mouth like he wants to eat.  It is so funny.  So far he has had avocado (big fan), banana and butternut squash.  We have also snuck him a few bites of potatoes, hummus, and mango.  Right now he is only getting one meal a day, but he seems to love it!

Sleep still proves to be an issue with this boy.  He just doesn’t seem to like to sleep, no matter how tired he is!  He is still very much a cat napper and waking up frequently during the night.  He will typically take a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon and maybe a quick one around dinner time.  But none of the times are consistent and lengths vary!  I am not  a super schedule oriented person, but it would be nice to have a little more structure to his sleeping schedules so I can plan the day accordingly!

Max takes comfort in you standing and walking with him.  If you are sitting with him he cries, but as soon as you stand up he is A OK!  It is only a little annoying 😉 !

Max is also still chatty.  He loves to make noises and of course laugh and coo.  He has also started to blow bubbles on a more frequent basis.  Daddy also gave him a small hair trim this month too.

Max took his first trip out of Swaziland this month when we went to South Africa for a mini vacation before Christmas.  He also celebrated his first Christmas (he was not very impressed)! 

Max continues to grow and change everyday.  Just when we think we have him figured out, he throws us a curveball and we have to regroup! 

Mikayla still very much loves her brother and is always trying to love on him, hold him, kiss him, and blow raspberries on his belly.  She is so cute when she talks to him because she sounds just like Ben and I do when we converse with him.  So sweet.

Sleep still continues to be an issue for this big eyed boy!  Seriously, this past month has been a hot mess for us!  One week he is waking every hour and refusing to nap during the day.  One day he went the entire day, until 3:00, with only half an hour of sleep.  Needless to say we were both ready to be crying at that point because he was so grumpy.  Luckily, he took an hour nap at that point and was ready for bed by 7:00.  I guess he just doesn’t want to miss out on anything, even at night time!  One day maybe…

This kid is a mover and a shaker!  He is constantly rolling around and reaching for objects.  Once he grasps ahold of something it immediately goes into his mouth, no matter what it is!  The other day he got ahold of some paper and in it went.  We quickly scooped it out though, so no worries.  Mikayla has gotten really good at watching out for this and yelling at us if he is about to grab something he shouldn’t have.  His little legs are getting so strong too.  The other day we were at a meeting at the hostel and he was pushing his legs against a heavy wood table and actually pushing it forward.  The staff were cracking up at him.  One staff member even said, "He is active"!

He has this funny way of moving about on his back.  We refer to it as the reverse inchworm.  Mikayla used to inch along on her belly and look just like an inchworm.  Max chooses to complete this action on his back.  He arches his back and then pushes off with his feet in such a way that he is able to scoot along the floor fairly quickly.  You really have to watch this kid.  You can get a little glimpse of this movement in the picture below.  I am still trying to capture a good video of it.

Max has started to sit up on his own more and more.  You still have to really watch him because he can go very quickly from sitting to falling on his head!  And let’s just say he is not very happy when his head smashes on the floor!  He loves to be sitting up though.  We took a trip this month to a little play place that is in town.  He loved sitting in the ball pit and playing with the balls.  He actually got mad when I tried to take him out to play with another toy. 

Photo credit to Mikayla.

Max has also gotten extra chatty this month.  Once he gets going "talking" it is hard to stop him.  And he has also found his "voice", meaning he can get really loud when chatting.

I love the face he is making here!

Max with his "Grow With Me Owl".

Chilling with his big sis!  He seriously loves this girl!

Ben decided he had enough of Max’s crazy hair and trimmed it up a bit this past month.  He snipped a little off the top and around the bottom (most of the dark hair).  It has already grown back out though!  He keeps joking he wants to give him a buzz cut, but so far I have been able to persuade him otherwise!

We didn’t start Mikayla with solid foods until she was six months old, but as much as this boy eats I think we will be starting him sooner rather that later.  I am sure that will be a messy and fun adventure with this kid!

Photo credit to Mikayla.