Max is definitely becoming his own (somewhat) independent little self these days. He's finally trying to crawl around a little, and his new favorite thing is standing. He's still working on pulling himself up without holding on to us. If we're lucky, it'll take another week or so before he masters that - to give us time to babyproof a few things! Though, I don't think we'll have that long. Friday, he "cruised" the length of one sofa cushion. Today, he made it the entire length of the sofa. This time next week, who knows where he'll be!

I don't know if I'm ready to have a "little boy", but I'm working on it. Until then, I'll share some of my favorite (and not so favorite) things about Max right now.

Favorite things:

1. I love his "Good morning, Mommy" smile! It's the great way to start a day.


2. I love hearing him cackle when his daddy tickles him. I can make him giggle, but Jon makes him absolutely howl with laughter


3. I love the way he holds Jon's arm during storytime before bedtime. He sits on my lap as Jon and I read him his stories, but he almost always rests one hand on Jon's arm. It's like he's saying "Don't worry, Daddy. I'm sitting with Mommy, but I still love you."

Not so favorite things (they aren't bad, just stuff we need to work on):

1. We must teach Max that it is impolite to point using his middle finger. If we lived in England, it might be OK, but here, people will think we taught him to do it!


2. Max has inherited his father's love of electronics. He's only nine months (coming up on Wednesday), and already his favorite toys BY FAR are the remote control and the cell phones. The child doesn't watch television, but he'll play with the remote for hours. We have to use it as bait to lure him to crawl. Otherwise, he'd be content to just sit and stare at his other toys from across the room. I just can't imagine how expensive holidays are going to be for me in the future, trying to come up with suitable toys for both boys in the house!


3. Max is starting to test out his new teeth (he has three lowers, one upper, and two more uppers on the way soon) on me! He's been gnawing my shoulders for quite some time, but now he's starting to test the waters during feeding time. Let me tell you, I will nip that one in the bud superquick.

Despite us both having stressful weeks at work, we managed to take a few photos and some great videos this week. Enjoy, and have a great week!

I think he's happy about bathtime.

Um, what are you doing with my water bottle?

That's better.

It's okay, Max. Daddy doesn't like watermelon either.

What are you looking at? Is there something in my teeth?

I think Max wants to get up on the couch.

You can see the rest of the photos from this week by clicking here. Surprisingly enough, we didn't get a whole lot of them this round. We did, however, get a bunch of video for you.

Floor Max 1

Check out my spin move and some chit-chat with daddy.

Floor Max 2

Sort of kind of crawling...

Max Demo

Here are some of the new features of Max 8.5 (months).

Have a good week, everyone!