Mr. Maxwell is 2!

It’s bittersweet watching your kids grow up.  I love watching Max’s learning, playing and communication skills grow and expand but it’s hard not to be a little sad knowing that he will never be as “little” as the day before. 

Max has a very unique personality that we absolutely adore.  His interests are so different from those of Noah and Amelia.  They are each truly their own person.  Some of Max’s favorite things include: Daddy’s car (which he talks about incessantly and is upset when we drive my car), balls of all shapes and sizes (especially basketballs), guitars, picking out songs on my iPad while it’s connected to the sound bar (a DJ in the making), and he LOVES Elmo!

So it was fitting that we threw him an Elmo themed birthday party.  I went to Party City and bought basically every Elmo birthday decoration they had, including a four-foot Elmo balloon that scoots around on the floor.  We decorated while Max was asleep, so when he woke up and found himself surrounded by “all things Elmo” he was in heaven.  He kept pointing to different decorations and saying, “Look Mommy, Elmo!”

Our neighbors and some close family friends came to the house for his party, it was basically all of his favorite people, plus an Elmo party.  I don’t think it gets much better than that for him!  Nancy, Mike’s mom, flew out a few days before to be here for both his birthday and his Valentine’s Day party at preschool.

At the beginning of the year I signed up to hold his class’s Valentines party, both because it’s so close to his birthday but because I love Valentine’s day and decorating.  Mike flew home a day earlier so he could be there for the party, which fell on Max’s actual birthday, February 12^th.  We set up the decorations and food while the kids were out on a walk.  When the class returned and Max saw Mike, Nancy and me in his classroom, he was over the moon.  He kept telling his little friends and two teachers that was his daddy, grandma and mommy. 

For actual Valentine’s day Mike, Nancy and I went out to a restaurant close to our house named 12 Stones. When I made the reservations I didn’t know it was a prefixed menu.  Usually, I not a fan of prefixed menus but the two selections we had to choose from were awesome, and every course was amazing! After dinner, we met up with our friends, Jerry and Rayna and danced to a live band.  It was a great Valentine’s day.

Every day Max is doing or saying something new – it really blows Mike and I away.  His vocabulary and his ability to tease both his siblings (and us) is so fun to see!  I feel terrible because I can’t remember all the little things that Noah and Amelia did at this age . . . I wish I would have done a better job of documenting all the new things they did at this precious age.

Right now Max can count to 10, sing the alphabet song, as well as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Jingle Bells (his favorite), If You’re Happy and You Know It and The Wheels on the Bus.  He can spell his name, not super hard since it’s only three letters.  Probably knows how to use my iPad and iPhone better than me.  He recently discovered how to “Facetime” people.  I’m not sure how, but he knows the different names of people his calling.

My most favorite part of this new chapter in his life is how well he and Amelia get along and play.  They always have to kiss and hug when I drop them off at class, when they go to bed at night, or when I have to take one of them somewhere without the other.  When Max is down for a nap, Amelia always asks if we can wake him up because she misses him and wants to play.  I think having a little brother has been a great thing for Amelia, she is very nurturing and protective and it’s wonderful to watch.