Max Report

Mr. Max is into everything these days. Below I have highlighted some of his most significant moments of the past few months.

NO MORE BOTTLES (Big Kid Now - Phase 1) - We have gotten rid of the bottles. It's been about 3 weeks since I took the bottles cold turkey. The first night was a nightmare; about 1 hour total crying and he ended up in my bed. He woke up the next morning still crying for the bottle. Now we are down to less than five (5) minutes of crying and a body toss into the crib mattress. (Yes, he still sleeps in his crib; Phase 3 of the "Big Kid Now" plan is sleeping in a regular bed.)

POTTY TRAINING (Big Kid Now - Phase 2) - Potty Training is going very slow. We were making some progress, but then one day last week I picked him up at daycare with a dirty shirt, dirty face, wet socks and shoes (from urine), and no pants. Since then they have been putting pull ups under his real undies after his real teacher leaves at 4:30; totally defeating the purpose. They are consistent during the day, but after that it goes to hell. We are bad at home also; the pregnancy makes me lazy and really I don't guess I have to even make a comment about Mama, Markisha, and Rodney.

POISON CONTROL (Ummmmm, Christmas Ornament!) - Last weekend we had to make our first call to the Poison Control Hot line. While I was on a ladder in the kitchen hanging Christmas ornaments on the garland, Max was playing and watching television in the sun room. Or so I thought . . . . actually he was enjoying the lights on the Christmas tree and experiencing the taste of the glass Christmas ornaments. As I was getting down off the ladder to move to the next section, Max came into the kitchen with his hands in the air, and a puzzled look on his face, accompanied by a crunching noise. Upon further investigation I discovered that he was feverishly chewing a broken piece of glass from the purple Christmas ornaments. After I washed the debris from his hands and arms and flushed his mouth, I contemplated my next move. I had no idea what to do, so we went upstairs to consult with a very sleepy Daddy. After I calmly convinced Daddy to wake up because I had something important to discuss, I proceeded to tell him what I thought had happened. He chastised Max for eating the ornament, never once asked me why I was on a ladder, and then suggested that we call Poison Control. For fear that I would become hysterical, I convinced him to make the call. Apparently this is not an unusual circumstance; it happens all the time they said. I have never heard of such. Early in the day a call had come in with a child taking the ornament off they tree and biting into it. That child had to go to the ER because of the cuts and blood. We were very fortunate that there was no bleeding, choking, or cuts. They told us to monitor him and to watch his stool for blood. He didn't have any problems and has been his usual self ever since.

TATTLE TELL - A couple of Mondays ago, after a very busy weekend, I discovered that my wedding rings were missing. After manically searching for about 30 minutes and asking everyone in the house if they had seen them, Rodney suggested that maybe Max had moved them. I replied that I always put them in one of the same two spots and that although Max could reach them he never bothered them. Well, when he walked into the room, I asked him if he had seen Mommy's rings. The little boy started pointing and talking. I thought he was just rambling, but I did make out the words mommy, rings, and over there. It turns out that the places he was pointing were the new home of my rings (the humidifier) and the place where they had been (my bedside table). He was telling on himself. I lifted the top of the humidifier and there in the bottom were my rings and a missing earring from the same table. The rings now go on top of my very tall jewelry box!

As you can see the boy is really busy!