Christmas, Presents and Big news

Swim class ended:
In November Max’s swim class ended. He certainly mastered the skills required of him at this level and the teacher even said that he could skip the next level if he wanted to. Max has not forgotten what he learned as every time he is in the bathtub, he blows bubbles and floats on his back for a while. The floating on the back thing has come in really useful since it makes washing his hair really easy.

Birthday Parties:
Max got a double dose of birthday parties over one weekend when he celebrated Addy 1st and Ethan’s 3rd. Addy’s party was at her house. Max decided that Addy’s new pink car was the perfect toy and hogged it for most of the time. When he wasn’t playing with the car, he did his favorite activity at the Ozelies; cleaning. Their place doesn’t really need it but Max likes using the swifter on their wood floors. Ethan’s was at the Painted Penguin where he picked out a truck and painted it himself (a little help from Mom and Dad was needed). Max got to see his cousin Nick for the second straight day and they two played like old friends. Max was a very good boy, he sat and ate by himself and even resisted the urge to touch the cake when it was sat right in front of him.

Here is Max and Daddy at Ethans party sitting right next to cousin Nick

This is Max's truck in all it's glory

Here is a little video of Max painting his truck and cousin Nick painting his "N"

Baby news:
If you haven’t heard already, we are expecting a little friend for Max in May and we just found out that it will be a little boy. Max has been calling it his baby sister for a little while now so we will have to break that one. We are very excited for the new addition and the timing is perfect yet again. We have decided to enclose the loft and make it a third bedroom instead of the two boys sharing Max’s room and thanks to Todd’s friend Eric, we have it all mapped out.

Here is a 3D photo of our newest little guy

Christmas:

Max’s 3rd Christmas was his biggest one yet. To say this young man is spoiled is an understatement. Things will change next year, as he will have to share the score. Just listing some of the bigger items, Max acquired a Leap Frog Tag with some books, a pop up tent, mini piano, portable DVD player, contributions towards college, and a Mobi Go. He is a very slow present opener and wants to play with each one as he opens them. The pile of presents, which looked to be do-able, ended up being a marathon session. Max definitely remembered his gifts as he asked where each of them were as he was going to bed.

Here is max with Santa, we saw him at Charlestown Mall

Santa brought Max just what he asked for since he was a good boy

Grandma gave Nick and Max pianos, which one is Elton John and which one is Billy Joel?

Cooper or Pooper:
We were talking about baby names and asked Max which name he wanted for the baby, he chose Cookie Monster. Now since that name is already taken, Todd looked for some other names that started with Coo and found Cooper. Todd asked "What about Cooper?" and Max said "Pooper?" then began laughing so hard his face started turning red. He kept saying pooper, pooper and let out a hearty 30 second laugh every time which made Mommy and Daddy laugh too. It was a good time in the Polzin house and we will definitely not be using that name. If a 2 ½ year old can break a kids name down like that, this kid wouldn’t stand a chance.

Expanding Vocabulary:
Over the last couple months, Max has become much more of a talker. He says words and sentences all the time of things we didn’t even know he knew. Sponge is a word that is commonly used during this period of time, I think that’s pretty fair. So far he has not picked up any bad words so fingers crossed on that. Sometimes he talks and talks for several minutes without stopping. Mom will have to teach him about comma’s and periods. He likes to ask questions a lot now. His go to is why. He will use this one in repetitive fashion until you run out of a way to explain or he is satisfied with your answer, usually the former.

To end with, here is a little video Mommy shot with her phone during a recent visit to Indiana. It is of Brody showing Max his favorite dance. It has a sad/funny ending.

Baby boy got a big boy bed

Grandma and Grandpa Polzin agreed that Max was getting too big for their pack and play when they watch him on Monday’s and Fridays (they were right). So they bought railings to put on their guest bed. Well Max tried it the first time and slept like a little baby. That was just the kick that Mom and Dad needed to turn his crib into a toddler bed. The first couple nights were a little rough with Max waking up several times but he quickly adjusted to his new bed. He likes to show it off to anyone who comes over to the house. The only downside is that we get early morning visits from him right before the alarm clock goes off, same thing on weekends, sans the alarm clock. Sometimes he even goes downstairs and yells up for us to come open the gate for him. But how can anything be a downside when you get to wake up to the cutest little face saying, “Mommy, I wanna go downstairs”. Here is Max in all his glory:

Same old song and dance

It has once happened again. A long delay for our followers to see what Mr. Max has been up to lately. Again I apologize and will make more of an effort to keep this more updated. Well enough of that stuff, now to the fun adventures of Max’s early life.

Max joined his first swim class in September, he is by far the best at every exercise that he has been asked to do. I might also mention that he is by far the oldest in the class too. Max's favorite activity is jumping in the pool to his Mommy or Daddy. He always tells us to move further back and then he jumps as far as he can. Here is a picture of Daddy and Max in their special heated pool:


Max was a guest at Nathan’s (next door neighbor) 4th birthday party. It was at Lifetime Fitness in Schaumburg. Max had a great time playing in the gym with all the other kids. The guest of honor gave Max his first, and hopefully last, head on collision. Max was in a little car and Nathan pushed him at full tilt, the length of the gym into a padded wall. It sounds much worse than it was, and Mom and Daddy had to stop laughing long enough to go check on Max. :) He held on through the whole incident and only fell off when the car tipped over after impact.

We were surprised to see small carnival pop up right by our house in early September. Every time we drove by it Max kept saying, “I go there”, so we finally obliged. We were only there for a half hour but Max got to ride several different rides. Here are some photos:




Our annual visit with the Rutleges was unfortunately a very short and rushed one this year. Mommy and Daddy had overbooked the day and had a dinner in the city that evening. Uncle Tim took Max home and Mommy and Daddy picked him up on their way home. We met at Brookfield Zoo and got to see several of Max’s favorites before having to leave. We were still able to get the annual photograph to document the event though. Here are some photos:



This year, Max went to a different apple orchard, one that was closer than in previous years. We went to Kuipers Family Farm with the Julians. Max was a great apple picker, especially since most of the apple were on the ground as the result of recent storms. It was very crowded so Mommy couldn’t buy any apple cider or donuts, she was sad :( Here are some photos:

Max welcomed a visit from the Ozelies in September. Aunt Tammy babysat while the parents went out to dinner. It wasn’t quite a repeat of their first overnight visit (one where Addy could not fall asleep and they had to go home) but was also not an easy one. Bob and Becky came down with an unknown sickness and were up all night. We were forced to postpone our trip to Goberts Farm for pumpkin picking.

Max got a visit from his favorite cousin when Nick and Uncle Tim came out for the night. Daddy and Uncle Tim got to relive their childhood with and all night session of Nintendo and Geniuses. Mommy made pancakes for everyone in the morning. Here is a photo:

Max got some serious one on one time with Daddy for 7 days in September as Mommy was in Paris for a wedding. Daddy isn’t too much of a planner but the week was full of bike rides, trips to the park and lots of Daddy horsey rides.

Renee and Brody came to visit / Kuipers Family Farm
In October Max got a visit from his God Brother Brody (Todd and Amanda are Brody’s God Parents),God Mother Renee and Grandma Ellen when they all stayed for a weekend. Mommy, Renee, Grandma, and the boys made a return trip to Kuiper Family Farm to check out the fun on other side of the road. The first trip was strictly apple business, this trip was about fall fun. Max continues to try his luck at big boyness and had yet another reminder he is not quite there yet. He raced to the top of a tractor tire mountain only to fall backwards, one level before the top, into one of the tires. Aunt Renee raced to get him, while Mommy got this candid shot.

On this Saturday, Max went to his first Halloween party hosted by his friend Addy Ozelie. This was the first year that Max had requested his costume and he chose Spiderman. His first choice was a lawnmower but he could not agree with Mommy on the design so he quickly moved on to his favorite superhero. Max designed a mini pumpkin and continued to impress his parents with his good manners and friendliness with other kids. Here are some photos:

Sunday, Max decided he didn't get enough face time with Addy the day before so they met up at Goberts Farm for the make up trip. Max got to ride a pony and attempted to feed a giraffe that was more interested in eating the wire caging than the carrots he offered. Mommy finally got her apple cider and apple donuts and all was good in the world. Here are some photos:

Here are some other fun photos:

Been a long time...

Sorry its been so long since we have updated this. No excuse.

Max has been a very busy little boy over the last month. With Mommy knowing this was her last month at home before going back to work and Daddy having a break in classes, it was "Max Time", all the time.

We went to Brookfield Zoo on August 7th. Grandma and Grandpa Polzin along with cousin nick joined us there. It was an incredibly hot day but luckily the boys had a nice umbrella over their wagon (thanks Aunt Mary).




On August 14th Max made his first trip to downtown Chicago. We walked by Soldier Field (he kept saying “Yeah Bears!”) and the Field Museum on our way to Shedd Aquarium. It was a really long line and was very hot out but Max was a trooper and didn’t complain once. He really enjoyed the “fishies”, he especially likes the beluga whale and the dolphins.

Last weekend Mommy was out of town and Daddy had his fantasy draft on Friday so Max staying with Grandma and Grandpa Polzin. When daddy went to pick Max up, Grandma and Grandpa told him of this secret they had been keeping for 2 YEARS!!!! There is a model train park in Sun City that people from the train club run every Saturday. Well that was just music to Max’s ears since he loves trains. Max really got exited when the trains came by, yelling, “Go train, go, go, go!” Here’s a video I shot on my cell phone.

Most kids want to act grown up, not our Max. He wants us to call him baby, and hold him like a baby, and feed him like a baby. I'm sure there is some logical reason for the regression; lets just hope he lets this one pass.

Well that’s about it for now, sorry for the long delay, we’ll try to keep this updated more regularly.

Rain Storms = Sleepless Nights

If you were to ask him, he would tell you, Max does not like the rain. Or the thunder and lightning for the matter. The first sound of thunder we got was around 10:30 last night and Max was up right away. We have tried to get him to go back to sleep but it does not work. The only solution we found is bringing him to bed. That poses another issue, as Max is not ready to share a bed. Grandma and Grandpa found this out on Thursday night when he stayed overnight with them during a storm. If he's not talking, he's kicking his legs (and you), if he's not doing that he's petting you (in a kind of sweet yet slightly creepy way). Fortunately, when the storm ends, he is ok with going back to his bed, so Mommy and Daddy can get some sleep.

If you haven't received the email yet, we uploaded a bunch of photos to Walgreens (Amanda really likes her new camera). Here is the link:
http://photo2.walgreens.com/walgreens/share/p=68221279815187037/l=1431300005/g=17258202/cobrandOid=1009/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
I'm not sure how to post all the pictures here yet or if it can even be done. Still waiting on the crash course of Blospot from Tim. hint, hint, hint... Here's one of our favorites from that group.

Makin' Pizza

Max is becoming such a big boy now. Sunday he was able to make his own meal. He's a chef in the making. If you didn't know already, Max loves cheese. If you want him to eat anything, tell him there is cheese in it or put some parm on it so he can see it. Enjoy

First post... Hopefully not the last

Well, it seems as good time as any to start documenting little Max and his early life. It only took two years for us to get motivated enough to do it. So many things that could of, should of, would of been posted. Where to start, well, let's start with the here and now. Now that Mommy is home for summer, Max has become quite the Mommy's boy. He follows her around all day and cries for her when she's gone. On Saturday Max spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa while Mommy and Daddy re-did the closet. On Sunday we went to a birthday party for his friend Hannah and then played outside. Max still has a love hate relationship with water. Sometimes he loves to play with it, others, not so much. Here are a some of our favorite photos to get us started.