Weekend Update

We went for donuts Saturday morning where Max demanded we eat there and not take them with us.

We then went to the zoo and enjoyed some beautiful weather.

We followed zoo up with lunch at a new place (well, for us) in Chandler with Mike and AJ. Max was well behaved at lunch so I was pretty excited.

We played cars out in the backyard this weekend.

Gave Izzy a bath where Max was very helpful.

We ended the weekend with a Pinterest project. This was a success. Max had fun matching the fruit loops with the play-doh colors. He was stringing them on noodles. He had fun with this and I had more fun watching him.

Swim Lessons

Since we moved we had to find a new place to take Max for swim lessons. Initially we tried a swim school two minutes from the house due to the convenience, but it didn't seem like a good fit. We didn't like their program and didn't feel like Max would learn how to swim off their class. So, we got referred another place that is closer to Ms. Marie's house. It would be easy to pick him up from Marie's and go straight to swim lessons. I called the place and this is kind of how it went after the small talk and basic information.

ME: So, we are all set for Friday at 5pm?

LADY: Yup, just get here a little early so we can show you around.

ME: Ok, so one of us is getting in the pool with Max, correct?

LADY: Oh, no. Your kid is too old for that. We do not have the parents in the pool with the child after one year old.

ME: At his last swim school we had to be in the pool because he is only two years old.

LADY: That's not how we do things here. We focus more on survival and you will only make him too comfortable where he might not learn how to save himself.

ME: Just to confirm...I am not in the pool with my son?

LADY: That is correct.

ME: Uhm...I don't think we are going to be a good fit them. (While I am laughing inside thinking of my son going to a complete stranger swimming in the pool happily learning how to swim. If you know my son, you know that's not gonna happen.)

LADY: Oh, just give the free trial a shot and you might be surprised.

ME: No, you will be surprised at how much my kid is going to freak out at the thought of swimming with a complete stranger in a pool.

LADY: Oh, I promise that if you give us a try you will be surprised.

ME: Ok, we will see you on Friday at 5pm.

So, I informed Andy of how this swim school runs things. He did what I did...laugh. We know our child and we know this is not going to go well. We like the concept and see why they do that, but our kid has severe "stranger danger" and I would like to say it's just a phase, but he's been like that since birth.

So, we headed to swim lessons on Friday, but not before we spent two days talking to Max about the new swim lessons. We hyped up how much fun it's going to be swimming like a big boy with the instructor. No matter what we said it was not working. He didn't like what he was hearing. Even so, we went anyway all while laughing inside knowing what we were about to walk into.

Here is Max waiting for class to start all happy as can be.

Then it all goes south when he is forced into the pool with Nathan, the instructor who is also a complete stranger. This is exactly what we expected.

Nathan asked Andy to sit on the edge of the pool next to Max to make him feel more secure. This helped a little. Max cried constantly during the first half of the instruction, then Andy got him to calm down and then he only cried every time Nathan retrieved him from the stairs to do a lesson.

Even though Max cried throughout the majority of the lesson I signed him up anyway. Max was miserable, but in due time he will learn to like it and learn to like Nathan. The instructor was really good and we both really liked the course they taught. We feel Max will learn how to swim better without us in the pool. He needs to learn how to save himself if he falls in, but with us in the pool he thinks of it more like play time versus learning time. I think this swim school is exactly what he needs to learn how to swim and I am pretty sure after a few more swim lessons Max will stop crying.

The Last Xmas Gathering

This past Saturday I got together with my girlfriends to celebrate Xmas. We do this every year and get the kids together for a play date, brunch and present opening. This year I was nominated to host the gathering because the ladies wanted to see the new house. I was happy to host now that I have the room.

It was so much fun this year to see Max interact with my friends kids. He is now at the age that after a good 30 minutes of watching to make sure it's ok, he will join in on the fun.

The chaos began at 10:30am with the kids wildly excited to play and us ladies super excited to get together and enjoy mimosas. The boys started off getting crazy in the ball pit.

Riding bikes.

Lots of playing.

Izzy's favorite part was licking Mona's face constantly...poor girl!

The kids (and Jessica) enjoying my quiche that I made for the first time and turned out quite excellent.

The kids favorite part...presents!

Taking the cars for a drive in the side yard. I am so glad the kids came over to show Max that it's ok to drive the cars. Since Christmas he has been afraid to drive them. He would play in them, but not push the pedal. Stella showed Max how to drive the car and now that's all he wants to do.

Since Saturday Max has been asking me where his friends are. He shows me the picture that Stella made for him. He is so sweet and beyond cute when he does this. I am so happy he is coming out of his shell and playing with friends...especially my friends kids.

We need to do more play dates because Max was exhausted after playing for a couple hours. It wore him out and it was awesome! Until next year!

 

Week Update

We just had more visitors in town. Grandpa TK, Grandma S and Great-Grandma N came to visit for a week and spend time with Max. We kept it low key and Max had a good time hanging with more grandparents.

Max sat on the counter watching daddy and grandpa cook dinner while grandma S and N played with him.

Max's piggy got pretty full this past week with all the change the grandparents gave him. He loves to feed his piggy.

We went to dinner in Old Town and across the street was a construction site. Max was in heaven! He loved seeing the diggers and big trucks.

Max's first time in a bar and he was pretty well behaved. I think that's the WI in him that makes him a natural!

Max was pretty good throughout dinner, but he wore out Andy and I since we spent the whole time entertaining him. This is the crazy picture of him at dinner.

Max played stamps with grandma S and grandpa T.

Max with his doggy Izzy. He says Izzy his his doggy and Maddy is daddy's doggy.

Family picture before everyone hopped on a plane back to WI.

Here is a picture of Max watching the championship game last night looking for daddy since Andy was at the game.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. We celebrated at home with our friends Mike and AJ. I didn't take much pictures of our NYE celebrations, but I did get a selfie with my favorite little man.

Max rung in the new year playing with his doggies. These doggies wore him out so much that bedtime was a breeze (when is it not a breeze though?).

We spent the rest of the weekend playing outside. Mainly in the sandbox. I could not get this kid out of the sandbox. He loves this thing. Of course I had to teach him to keep the sand in the box and not to throw sand at me, but he eventually got the hang of it. The best thing about this sandbox is that when Max outgrows it we can plant bushes, flowers or trees there and it won't look weird.

It was so gorgeous out this weekend that we ate our snacks outside.

Max played in his blue truck, but still has not driven it yet. The pedal is too loud and scares him. I think I need to have one of his friends over to show him how it works.

We also went out for donuts this weekend before our usual Sunday morning grocery shopping trip. Max was well behaved in the donut shop, so that was nice.

 We had a great first weekend in 2016 and we hope our family and friends did too.

By the way, I watched Making a Murderer on Netflix all weekend and let me say, I am obsessed with this case. I don't believe Steven or Brenden received a fair trial. I am not saying they are innocent, but I am saying they did not get a fair trial at all. If you have not watched this yet I encourage you to do so as it will suck you in. Plus, once you are done watching it give me a call and we can discuss our thoughts.