Max Addison Corson

Wow, what a summer! In the last post, we saw the second of Max’s major summer accidents, his fall on his face, which scared him, scratched up his face, and moved one of his front teeth down and back. Max’s doctor declared his tooth and face o.k., though she said to keep an eye on it, and that if it had been any worse she would be recommending a pediatric oral surgeon. Yikes!
The first of Max’s summer accidents came a few weeks earlier when he picked up a hot coal that had just fallen on the ground and burned his finger. Now he’s wary of the ‘hot burn,’ though he hasn’t slowed his running. No accidents recently, so all is good. Let’s catch up a little.
Max is about 2 ¾ years old. He is definitely not a baby anymore. In fact he says he’s a big boy now. He’s got a wide-ranging vocabulary, and works very hard to pronounce words and be understood. He continues to make us laugh with his earnestness and creativity. Though we’re still working on potty training, he does all kinds of big boy stuff, like pouring his own milk and taking off his shoes (he’s working real hard at putting them on too). He’s more argumentative and demanding than he used to be, so right on schedule he’s starting to push back. But we always marvel at his sweet nature. He’s mostly happy and helpful, sweet and polite. There are more tantrums than before, but they move on quickly most of the time.
Max is tall and thin! He’s hit 40 pounds by midsummer, though his weight has leveled out…it took him almost a year to gain 4 pounds. What a change from 6 to 18 months, when he gained lots of weight! And he’s over three feet tall now. Pictures from a year ago show a much shorter, plumper Max. Lately he’s become less and less interested in eating unless he’s hungry, which is good but also difficult to make sure he’s getting a balanced diet. Still, he’s healthy and happy and he does eat when he is ready, so o.k. Sometimes I let myself think about when he was a tiny baby and struggled so much just to eat. Go Max, go.
Max rides his bike all the time, and is very good. It has no pedals, he just pushes it along. He likes obstacles and puddles. When we go someplace too far for him to ride his own bike, he rides with one of us. This summer he outgrew his green Ibert bike seat:

And we got a new Yepp seat on the back of a Surly Big Dummy (it can also go on Garn's bike). With the Big Dummy, we can bring Max's bike along with us. That has been pretty fun.

Recently our daycare was out for 2 weeks, as their daughter got married. Garnette and I each arranged to take a week off work.
The first week was Garn and Max had a couple days off at home, then drove up with Karen to visit Floyd and Nettie, Grandma and Grandpa Kuznia. It was Nettie’s birthday while they were there, and Max got to sing happy birthday, help blow out the candles with Grandma, and even got a piece of cake with frosting flowers on it.

Max also rode the lawn mower and got to sit on the big tractor.

His cousin Derek came with Garn’s sister Etta. Max and Derek are great friends since Max’s last visit up north earlier this year.

And of course they all got eaten up by mosquitoes. Max came back covered in itchy bumps! He scratched and scratched.
They were up north for 5 days, then they drove back and Max spent about 24 hours at home before he and Andy got in the car and drove south a couple hours. We (Max and Andy)went camping –Max’s first time- with Craig and Diane, Max’s Grandma and Grandpa Corson. We slept in a tent, played with toys, read books, went for bike rides, and played at the playground. Grandpa Corson was always up for playing at the playground and taught Max how to climb things he couldn’t before. We also made smores, Max’s first.

When we finally got home we were tired and dirty. We put everything away and took a bath. But all the time away from our normal routine meant Max hadn’t eaten or slept like normal. At Kuznia’s, he was going to bed sometimes as late as 10:30! His normal bedtime is about 8 or 8:30. He did a little better camping but still went to bed later than usual. And on both trips his naps were much shorter than usual. For the final three days we got back on schedule, had some long naps, and spent a lot of time together.
Today Max went back to daycare. He was excited but nervous, and asked about his friends. Had everyone been at daycare the whole time? He woke up early this morning, already talking about going to Bobbi and Ralph’s. Tonight he was a bit overwhelmed…happy to be back in his familiar surroundings, happy to be with his friends, but also missing his mom and me. We know just how he feels.

Here we are again. Max is 14 months old. He began walking in earnest a couple weeks ago. He's a climber, having figured out that if he wants something up high he can push something shorter near where he wants to be and climb up. He chatters and dances and loves to be read to. He is long done with a bottle and formula. He eats lots of different stuff now and his biggest recurring problem now is teething. He throws an occasional tantrum when he doesn't want to go to bed or put on his coat (or other clothes), but all in all he's a super happy kid. Life is so much different than it was a year ago at this time. We're still stressed, but better rested and calmer. Thank God.

Here's an update shot of Max In The Tub from a couple weeks ago:

New sneakers! No new hair. Yet.

Grandma knitted him a sweater. It matches the sweater for the teddy bear she also knitted for him.

Max likes to play guitar.

'Uncle' Zito came over to visit. Here's Max telling Zito what's what.

And playing:

Kim and Todd and the kids are now all settled in their new hometown, Bern, Switzerland. Here are a couple shots from their going away party. We miss them a lot. Garn and Izzi and Auntie Karen: