we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

that is a line from our favorite raffi song. my aunt judy came for a visit last week so that is exactly where we decided to go, to the zoo, zoo, zoo. this trip he did not want to leave the meerkats and this weird little canine relation animal. still loved the rides and the petting zoo very much. had fun climbing in the the tunnels on the playground. aunt sarah came with us too. he LOVES aunt sarah and he formed a close relationship with aunt judy while she was here too. he wondered where she was on the days she stayed with josh and sarah and everytime we left their house after hanging by the pool he would be so sad that aunt judy wasn't riding in the backseat beside him taking his toes and putting them back on (she taught him that sweet game). jarrod also came into town for a quick visit after finishing his fabulous work designing britney spears' outfits for her north america tour (max has the coolest uncle). max loved uncle jarrod, of course, who doesn't? they enjoyed munching on fresh herbs together, basil and mint. i am so sad that i never got my camera out while jarrod was here. no pictures of my adorable brother and baby together, that is terrible.

notice the tacky orange sunglasses on his head.

this is how he always wears them.

of course my child chooses the free pampers shades over any of the other

choices we have at our house.

lately he talks alot about mamas and babies.

he kept hugging and saying hi to this baby and mama gorilla statue.

hey bear

he loved these ugly naked mole rats

asking where they went when they traveled to the top tunnels

where he could no longer see them.

so excited when he saw the merry-go-round. wow he said.

signing thank you mama for taking him to the zoo and buying him train tickets

so sweet

loved the baby goats

ouch

this happened over a month ago...max loves to ride his retro rocket down our sloping driveway. one afternoon when we got home from school he had his rocket out riding it down the drive his feet in the air going full speed ahead. there is a bump at the bottom that i typically stand waiting for him to ride over so i can catch him if he goes head first. this day he had been riding it down so many times that i went ahead and sat down as he rode. sure enough he started to go down diagonally and when he hit the bump at the bottom he went head first into the concrete (without ever letting go of the handlebars to catch himself). i quickly picked him up, told him he would be okay, and held his boo-boo bunny icepack over is wounds. he cried for just a minute and got right back on the rocket to go down again. that's my brave little boy. this is what he looked like a couple of days later. poor little guy. on that note...max is very intersted in boo boo's right now. he points to his bumps, bruises, and scratches and says "bo bo, owww" all.the.time. it is precious. scott cut his finger with a knife a few days ago and was wearing band-aids. one of them must have fallen off in the driveway because max found it and picked it up. he must have said 1,000 times, "bo bo, dada, oww" while playing with the band-aid.

bounce house

our neighbors have an adorable little boy, luke, who is 4 months older than max. we attended his 2nd birthday party on june 11th. max had so much fun in the elmo bounce house. he had no fear bouncing around with all the kids, going down the slide (always on his belly), and shooting hoops. it is so nice having neighbors who understand everything we go through with max because they have been there just a short time before. i am sorry that i didn't get pictures of scott and robbie (luke's dad) trying to land backflips in the bounce house when we headed back over after naptime. we were sure one of them would end up in the hospital. luke and max were in there cheering them on.

sweaty with red cheeks (just like mommy when she works out)

no elmo cake for this little boy, but melissa (luke's mom) had a back-up plan

he loves popsicles

good game, good music, good company

max attended his first baseball game, go braves. he also attended his first concert. he will be one of few babies who grow up and say no, my first concert was not barney or the wiggles, my first concert was the avett brothers (who performed at the grammys with bob dylan). scott and i love this band and when we heard they were playing a free concert after the braves game we got tickets right away. josh and sarah love them too so we asked them to join us (jac came too). we had a great time. max did so well even though he only napped about 40 minutes in the car on the way to the stadium.

he loved the music more than the game.



pigtails and crewcuts

that was the name of the place we took max to get his first official haircut. let me say that it was traumatizing for max and for me. i had been trimming max's sides and back since about christmas (jarrod cut it the first time). yes, it was long and shaggy, but i like the justin beiber look he had going on and i knew the minute i took him to one of these places they would take away my baby and replace him with a big boy. that is exactly what happened. i was so sad for the first few days after the haircut. it grew back pretty quickly (this time without so many straggly long hairs) and now i love his new do. i think it was when she pulled out the buzzers, what? that i knew she was not listening to my wish of just a little off the sides and front. oh well, it's just hair, right? like i said, it grew back and he looks like my precious baby again.

happy easter

max awoke to find that the easter bunny had visted him and delivered some goodies inside his easter basket. he loved his hand-carved wooden train, three new balls,

and some sand tools to go with his new sand/water table.

easter eve day he hunted eggs at the annual easter egg hunt at pop and nana's. he was more interested in finding pop, playing ball, and picking up the enormous decorative plastic eggs laying around the yard and placing them in his easter basket (which is big enough to fit those large suckers).

he loved his easter basket from pop and nana.

this is max watching sesame street. so, this is the first time he has watched television. scott and i want max to grow up the way we did; playing outside, getting dirty,making his own fun, real playing with real people. so, when the pediatrician says no media until the age of 2 we were glad to have two reasons to keep him away from the tv. lately we have been watching about 20 minutes of sprout when we wake up on the weekends. he definitely enjoys the shows we watch and he always wants to snuggle up on our laps to watch and talk about what he sees. you can see how precious he is while he watches in this picture.

wills park

this has become our favorite place to take max on a sixty degree saturday morning in february. he loves this park. he explores every nook and cranny of this wooden playground. he walks around like he owns the place no matter how many big kids are running around. his favorite activity is sliding down the big slides all by himself, tunnels and all.

vday

we had a wonderful valentine's day. we celebrated as a family on sunday so that we could give max his gifts and watch him appreciate them. its the best feeling when i think of something to give him and he loves it and enjoys it more than i could have imagined. we gave max a lights/sounds fire engine, a big red ball, and a child-size broom. my mom knit him the most adorable red sweater,gifted him a 3 part geometrical stacker, and found the perfect dear zoo book. josh and sarah gave him a talking car he likes to fix and push around the house. all of these items have become his new favs. i hope you all had a meaningful and happy day of love.

outfit provided by jacquie

17 months

amazing. i haven't blogged since max was 15 months old. tuesday he turned 17 months old. we have been busy enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having (nothing like those pictures from my last post) for the past couple of weeks. max has been so happy to be outside playing with all the neighborhood kids. they are all so sweet and max loves when they come over to play. we have lots of new balls that max has insisted on having when we shop at target/toys r us. he is growing so much. he is growing out of all of his 12-18 month clothes already. he is so precious although he does have his fair share of head smacking, body throwing temper tantrums at times. he has been getting so many teeth. lots of molars are in or on their way. he is talking up a storm. mama, dada, ba ball (basketball), ball, bye-bye, rock, hot, ac (aunt jac), car, go, up, baba (banana), pop (scott's dad), and his all time favorites uh oh, wow, and whoa. he attempts to copy just about everything we say and do. he is even putting words together  like "go car" and others. i love hearing his sweet voice. there is nothing better than when i ask for a hug or a kiss and he gets so excited and wraps his arms around my neck and goes in for the open-mouthed drooly kiss. my heart melts. max is currently obsessed with his books about trucks, his first 300 words book, and dear zoo  with lift the flap boxes containing his favorite..zoo animals. each night after his bath he chooses one of us (mommy, daddy, or aunt jac) to read him the 300 words book. we say the words and he points to the correct picture. it is unbelievable to me how much he learns and retains and how quickly he does so. that's why his head is so big...all that brilliance. he can identify almost every vehicle, animal, object in that big book. he also does many sounds. ambulance/fire truck, helicopter, airplane, elephant, crocodile, camel, duck, cow, hippo. he can hear/spot an airplane in the sky before anyone and if he hears or sees a fire engine he copies the sound (or a tornado siren). on many occasions he has come home with scott to find mommy cooking at the stove and points and says so enthusiastically "wow". i love it when he says that. right now he loves bird watching, ball playing, drawing, geometrical stackers (in the correct order), fire engines, and hiding. i feel like i could tell max stories for a living. there are so many smart, funny, sweet, and adorable stories to tell. i love him more than any words could ever express. tuesday we were home together. we were up all night in the steamy bathroom with our wheezing baby. at our doctor's appointment he was diagnosed with croup (just like his mama) and was on a 3 day dose of steroids to help clear it up. poor little guy.

see next few posts for goings on in the smith household over the past month or so...