Totally Frat-tastic

I'm thinking I should mail this pic to Vandy with an early decision app.  I bet they'd take him on the obvious good prepster genes alone.

Mr. John's House

Our neighbor Mr. John has a very interesting front yard.  It has LOTS of plants, and a wheelchair ramp.  Max really likes to run over to his house and go up and down the ramp.  He also likes to find rocks in the flowers and play on the little stone fence.  Mr. John is our Mr. Wilson, I'm afraid...

Playground

It snowed for about 10 seconds here on Saturday (during nap time, no less) so we did not get out a lot Saturday.  Sunday, we went to the playground to make up for being trapped inside.  It was a gorgeous day!

 Max loves ANYTHING that lets him climb.  All day every day we hear 'ki-ming, ki-ming' as he tries to climb onto chairs, tables, bookcases, beds, and anything else he can find.  He even tries to scramble up the column in the sun room.  He is funny!

Playroom

I finished the playroom on Friday and we started using it Saturday.  We LOVE it!  Even Ian thinks it was a brilliant plan.  We played with crayons, read books, ran in circles, threw the ball and generally just had a good time.  These pictures are not the best, but they'll do for now.

Bathroom Bandit

Max is not supposed to climb on or play with the toilet.  You can see how well he follows THAT rule...

Hiding game

Check out Max's very impressive hiding skills. He LOVES this game and plays it a lot in the morning and at night. Shower curtains are his favorite place to hide. I'm amazed at how still he is when he is hiding - he's better at not moving than I would be by far!

Joy

How could anyone not love waking up to this happy, helpful little munchkin each morning?!

Ponies!

With some sort of scary kid-radar, Max spotted the carousel from across the Mall and led us straight to it.  He was very insistent on riding it.  

 Same faces:

 Max had this HUGE smile on his face the whole time they were in motion - except when I picked up the camera.

 WEEE!

After the ride, Max was MAD that he had to go.  Then we told him to say bye-bye to the horses.  He did, and suddenly he was happy to walk off.  Polite young man!

Sunday at the Mall

Max liked running all over the big open spaces.  He did NOT want to pose for an obligatory Capitol shot.  At all.

He was giving Daddy hugs while riding on his shoulders

Taking it in

Checking out the sleep sheep

We find him like this a lot.

Max loves to get down on his tummy and check things out up close.

No words necessary.

Boo!

Let me begin by saying what a difference a year makes!  Remember this cutie?!

 Here he is in the big boy version.  Still a cutie, but definitely not a baby!  Why do you keep taking pictures of me???

 Look, a big truck is driving by!

 WHAT is that truck up to now???

Acting Squirrely

We went to church this morning, and then to the Commissary.  When we got home, Max was ready to P-L-A-Y!

 We recently took the seat wrap off the tricycle.  It makes it much easier to get into....

 ...but a lot more work to stay on once you are there!

Touch a Truck

A preschool in Bethesda held a Touch a Truck fundraiser yesterday.  You pay $5, and get to go see all kinds of trucks - dump, fire, ambulance, UPS, construction, tow, concrete, school bus, etc. - up close.  Max had lots of fun checking out the trucks in person.  Lots of kids were blowing LOTS of loud horns - we were pleased to see they bothered Max a lot less than they bothered us!

 Checking out the back of a UPS truck

 Realizing this is where Christmas presents come from...

 Who is driving that ambulance?  Max!

 It would not be fun to be pulled up on the back of a tow truck!

 Max seems to be the only child to realize the gravity of the situation if you are stuck on the back of a tow truck!