As we were watching our morning episode of Chuck the Truck this morning, Chris suggested that it might be fun to take a trip to Happy Cow Creamery today. One of Chris's buddies at work had mentioned that he got some good jerkey there, and I think Chris wanted to make sure that his homemade jerkey tastes better. So, after lunch we loaded up and went to see the cows. Nevermind that the wind was blowing in gusts up to 50 MPH and with the wind chill it felt like it was approximately -10 degrees. The Ludwigs are intrepid. And love cows.
I think this is the closest Max has actually been to a cow in real life, but he perfected his moo-ing long ago. I was interested to see if he would make the connection to an actual, real-life cow. He was at first a wee bit timid with them.
But he quickly warmed up...
And before I knew it, he was feeding the cows, moo-ing his little heart out, and pretty much trying to do what this sign commanded him not to:
Sadly, Bessie never would eat directly out of the little tike's hand.
And Bertha rebuffed his request for a kiss...
But, given the opportunity, Max would have stood there and mooed at those girls all day. He even tried to make a fast break into their manure and mud covered pasture.
Once we finally lured him away from the cows, we managed to peruse the shop and came away with some yummy tomatoes, Key Lime barbecue sauce, some fresh whole milk for our milk connoisseur, and of course some jerkey (which for the record was pretty darn good, but I think Chris's has a better texture). We did have to, sadly, decline Max's request to take a cow home. Maybe one day when we get those 10+ acres that Chris dreams of owning.
Today was Max's 18 month check up. And, very exciting news, he is done with vaccines until he's 4!! Here he is , being brave (and being distracted by an episode of Chuck the Truck on Daddy's iPhone)on the exam table.
And while I've been a tad bit concerned lately about his roly-poly thighs and little boy boobies, his measurements did not prove him to be overweight.
Here are his stats:
Height: 34" which puts him in the 93rd percentile
Weight 25' 9oz which puts him in the 69th percentile
Holy mackerel, 93rd percent? The doc expressed shock that he still fits into 18 month clothes, and deemed him "as charming as he's always been" so I'd say that's a good report. After 2 shots that he took like a man, we were good to go. We rounded out the morning with a trip to Mother Goose on the Loose where Max exhibited that he was feeling no ill-effects from his shots by running crazy all over the room, chewing on a doorstop that he found somewhere, licking a couple of chairs, and escaping from the room through the double doors twice. All-in-all, a productive morning.
One of Max's newest obsessions is doggy doo. Sadly, our backyard is frequently littered with the stuff, compliments of our pal Bailey. I try to keep it all picked up so that Max can play in the yard, but sometimes a pile or two will escape my notice. We've had a couple of unfortunate circumstances where Max found a pile before I did and...let's just say he "investigated" it. (But no, he did not eat it). Anyway, I think I have finally convinced him that doggy doo is not for touching. Here he is, demonstrating the proper response to finding a pile of doggy doo. (Clearly I must have shaken my finger a time or two when telling him not to touch.)
I'm such a proud Mom that one of Max's first words (of which he should have 10-20 according to the Dr.) is Doo-Doo. Oh well; everyone has to start somewhere. And it's really kind of fitting, considering his interest in trash cans and toilets. Some of his other frequently used words include: hot (still used to describe any kind of temperature including freezing cold), truck, Chuck (as in Chuck the truck), this, hey, fish, light, dog, duck, night night (said like "da-dis"), and Bailey. He also says a form of Daddy, but when asked to say Mommy he says "moo"...not sure how I feel about that one.
Na-na; I have no idea what word this is, but he says it whenever he wants something.
Oh, he also just yesterday started saying PopPop, although he say "HaHa"
Some of his other favorites:
Favorite toys:
Daddy's flashlight
trucks
car keys
computers/iPhones
lawn mower (any type of push toy, including the toy vaccuum at Mimi and Pop Pop's house)
tooth brushes
Favorite foods:
This is a tough one since this is the only kid in the universe who does not like chicken nuggets, pb&j sandwiches, kid's ravioli, or mac and cheese (although I can sometimes get him to eat any of these, just not much)
Still obsessed with milk - we're trying to wean him off such large quantities
He would eat hot dogs happily every day for every meal...too bad they're so unhealthy
Bananas are good as long as he gets to hold the whole banana himself..which leads to quite a mess
Blueberries
Wow, that's about all I can think of that he definitely likes. He will eat most anything if Mimi feeds it to him though.
Cute things he does:
Blows kisses
Holds his feet to your face so you can smell them; he wants the appropriate response of "blech!"
Runs to our bedroom in the mornings where he'll snuggle into the pillows with his milk and watch an episode of Chuck on Daddy's iPad.
Gives lots of spontaneous hugs and kisses
Loves to teeter on the ege of chairs, beds, the couch and then slide off while making a very specific "oooohoooo" sound
Goes "swimming" in the bathtub by lying down in the water and moving his arms and legs
Not so cute things he does:
Plays in the trash/toilet/with the toilet brush/plunger
If allowed to walk to the car on his own, will take off running down the sidewalk
Doesn't want to eat in his highchair or ride in a shopping cart, or in general be contained in any way...and he NEEDS to be contained.
Bounces up and down on top of Bailey like she's his personal rodeo bull
But it's pretty hard to stay mad at this little creature:
Today is Valentine's Day; a day in which you are supposed to shower the one you love with gifts and kisses (or at least, as Hallmark and Nestle would have you believe, with cards and chocolate). I think Valentine's Day is a silly and annoying "holiday". When I was single I remember feeling especially sad and lonely and loser-ish on Valentine's Day and when I wasn't single I always felt like a big cheeseball buying a gift to demonstrate my love just because the calendar says so. For several years in my 20s, in fact, I celebrated Anti-Valentine's Day with my roommate...I cannot recall for the life of me what we did on that day, but I distinctly remember that we were especially crotchedy on Feb 14th.
In keeping with tradition, my tiniest Valentine (this guy)
picked up the reins in helping me to celebrate Anti-Valentine's Day. He started off by whining all morning, then he got really into it and accelerated his attempts when we went to the mall by shrieking at such a volume as I attempted to try on swimsuits that when we came out of the dressing room, a store employee was standing there and asked "Is everything ok?". Seriously. Shopping trip aborted. Later on, Max capped off the celebration by hurling his entire dinner onto the kitchen floor and walls and then wailing until his Dad got home, at which point he turned on the charm and acted like a perfect little angel.
(I did, in fact, get a perfectly lovely gift from my Main Valentine, along with a fabulous steak dinner, but I'm going to stick to my guns and continue to assert that Valentine's Day is for the dogs! Just ask, Bailey...she clearly loves it)
I always knew that little kids were prone to developing attachments to characters like Elmo, Curious George, or Dora the Explorer, but Max (Mr. I-will-not-sit-still-to-watch-even-5-minutes-of-TV-even-if-it's-Sesame-Street-and-every-other-little-kid-loves-Sesame-Street) had never really had much interest in any of these.
However, he did develop quite an affinity for this cute little truck we picked up for him on a Babies R Us outing. The truck's name is Chuck, and Max really liked him.
Fast-forward about a month or so and Chris also has a new toy - his iPad. Max was very interested in the iPad (he loves computers) and Chris decided to see if he could find some kids' shows he could download on his iPad. Well, turns out, Chuck the Truck has his very own show!! Not surprisingly, The Adventures of Chuck and Friends quickly became Max's favorite program, and before we knew it, everytime he saw the iPad he was begging to watch Chuck, which became one of his first words. (Well, I'm not 100% sure if he was saying Chuck or Truck...I think he says both at different times, but one is indistinguishable from the other in toddler-speak).
We discovered that this was a great way to give us some time to get ready in the mornings without a certain someone dumping all the contents of our bathroom drawers on the floor:
The especially great thing is that he never seemed to tire of watching the same two episodes that Chris was able to find to download. The bad thing was that Chris did get tired of watching the same two episodes (and Max's ideal/preferred watching position was from Chris's lap). I'm not sure why it finally dawned on us to check the TV guide but it was an extremely happy day when we discovered that Chuck comes on TV EVERY DAY!!! Sometimes THREE TIMES IN A ROW! So, a quick program of the DVR and now we are set. And Max is totally obsessed. I do not want my kid to be a TV junkie, but I also sometimes need a distraction for him for a few minutes and Chuck can grab his attention like nothing else (and you cannot beat that little grin when he hears the theme song):
A few weeks ago Max and I made a trip to Babies R Us again; Chuck needed his friends. We finally spent the gift card that Mema and PapaBob had given Max for his first birthday. He wouldn't let those trucks out of his sight once they were in our cart.
This is one happy boy. And one happy Chuck - he now has his friends to hang out with at our house.
So, it may not be Sesame Street, but Chuck and his Friends do try to teach good qualities like sharing, being obedient, and being a good friend; plus I think Chris is pretty happy that Max is so into trucks. We will also take advantage of Max's love of Chuck on our upcoming flight - here's hoping he can be entertained by those 2 original episodes on Chris's iPad for about 3 hours!
Professor Ludwig is back to impart more of his expertise in today's class, in which you will learn the proper way to express your appreciation for a fabulous meal. This is an introductory class, and the techniques here are quite simple...yet extremely effective.
Lesson One: If you're enjoying the meal, it just makes good sense to coat yourself in it for maximum exposure. Make sure it's all over your face, your clothes, and the table.
Lesson Two: Periodically throughout the meal you should feel free to break into spontaneous applause and fits of laughter. This lets everyone around you know that you're enjoying it immensely.
Lesson Three: Take samples of the meals of everyone else at the table. Preferably with your hands. Don't forget their drinks.
Lesson Four: When the meal is over, there's no better way to show how much you liked it than the universally-understood gesture commonly referred to as the "belly rub" Professor Ludwig demonstrates:
That concludes today's lesson. Homework: Go out to a delicious restaurant and practice appreciating your food. Professor Ludwig recommends Rosie's.
Thanks to Rosie's for hosting us for the taping of our instructional video, and Mimi and PopPop for allowing Professor Ludwig to practice in front of an audience.
