1 year old portraits

We took Max out for a nice photo shoot last Friday (before we found out he was starting a nice little ear infection). I can't wait to see them all, but here are a few.

1st ear infection

So Max woke up night before last crying inconsolably and we were a bit baffled at what was bothering. We knew that he had 1 other tooth starting to come in (tooth #4, right next to his top fang) and he didn't have a fever, so we gave him some tylenol & tried to distract him while that kicked in. He was super tired, so after it kicked in he was ready to go to bed again. Yesterday morning, Wei Yan took him to the pediatrician (morning walk-ins at our ped's office rock) to check on his cough which is pretty bad right now. They said is cough is fine even though it sounds worse than anything to date, but that he has an ear infection. So we've been keeping some tylenol in him when we can and started the antibiotics. He hasn't woken up crying again, but I can't see a huge improvement just yet. So we'll keep up with it for the next 10 days and see how he does.

High Five

Max gave me a high five today for the first time this morning.

Max's 1st birthday party

Pictures from Max's 1 year birthday party:

 

 

Click on this link below for all the pics:

Max's Birthday Party

Of course the day went on and we felt like we didn't know who to talk to. I personally felt like the typical socially awkward engineer who should have been a better hostess in introducing folks to other folks (we had old childhood friends, college friends, work friends and poker friends, etc. at the party) But it was priceless to have a bunch of folks in the same room who have seen us become who we were, helped us get to where we are now and who we hope will be along with us on the path to the future which is just so very exciting especially when we have seen all that just 1 year can bring. So thanks and much love to everyone who could make it & those who were there with us in spirit (as I know many of you blog-stalkers were)!

Monkey Joe's bday trip

This last one is Max going down one of the big slides...he wasn't very happy about that one. But at least dad liked it!

Happy 1st Birthday!

 

 

And this one is Max after a little help in digging into his birthday cake...

 

Ball! Orange!

Max saw the oranges that were given to us by Wei Yan's parents for Chinese New Year and promptly said, "Ball!" We were just at home for Chinese New Year and on the alter for Wei Yan's grandfather there was a giant lime-green fruit. Max pointed at it & said "Ball!" Since I had no idea what it was I just said "yup, that does look like a ball, but it's a fruit". The label said "Red Pomelo" but it was green...go figure.

oh, and please note Wei Yan's "Wassup!"...so I'm hoping that doesn't come back to haunt us at a most inopportune time....

Quack Quack

Not the best quacking, but like I might have mentioned before, it seems that as soon as we turn on the video camera he stops doing whatever it is that we were trying to tape. He actually tries to say duck - and there is almost a "k" sound at the end, but here it is:

No No No!!!

Max's day care teacher was telling us today about how she thinks he is definitely ready to move up to the toddler room. He will move up with another boy who just turned 1 (Max turns 1 in exactly 1 week) - who's name is Hawke (cool name, huh?) Hawke just joined Carolina Kids Academy and he is a walker - so Max and Hawke have been having lots of fun running around the room as the only walkers. Ms. K said that she would miss Max and that he was a really good kid. She said that he knows his name & knows when you don't want him to do something specific. For example, today, she said Max went over to the cupboards where he is not supposed to mess with and he walked over, grabbed the handle, looked over at her, shook his head "no", jiggled that door a few times & then walked away.

The other day, he was pulling on some chords that were plugged into a power strip. I gave him a sharp "No!" which was probably the harshest I've been with him, but one of the chords was to the baby monitor which is on top of his armoire & could fall down on him or bring other stuff down. He stopped right away and then started reaching again. Since I knew he heard me the 1st time, I said "no" again slowly a few more times as he continued to reach. I had to laugh when he grabbed a pair of socks that was right next to the power strip and when the chords got a little caught on his arm, gently pulled them off his hand and then got his socks & showed them to me (so proud of himself). What a ham. I'm gonna have to watch this guy!!!

First dentist appointment

Max had his 1st dentist appoinment with our friend Josiah Chen of
Morrisville Family Dentistry today. He didn't like anyone trying to
look at his teeth, but we got through & he got a duck toddler
toothbrush & quacked for everyone. He was a little afraid of the glove
balloon the assistants made foe him.

Booty shaker

I forgot to mention how much Max likes to dance. Tonight we stuffed ourselves with Chinese Buffet & and while Wei Yan and I were finishing up dinner, Auntie CC took Max to walk around the restaurant. Apparently there was Karaoke at the restaurant and Max was getting lots of attention doing his little bouncing up & down (get low! hehe...yeah, he just stands with his feet wide & sticks his but out & bends his knees) and swaying to the music. He love pushing the button in his little Radio Flyer car that plays music & he will bob his head a bit but mostly waits to see if anyone else will dance to the music. And the other day he was dancing to William Tell overture at day care on the music player & whenever the day care workers hummed it for him. Not sure where he got his moves from, but he seems to enjoy himself. He seems to only do these things when we aren't trying to video tape him, but one of these days we'll have to show you guys his moves.

Zzzzzzz

So this deserves a post of it's own. This morning, Max was playing with a teddy bear that talks and makes noises while I was getting ready for work. I heard the bear saying things like, "I can't see you!" and laughing....and then snoring. But the snoring sounded a bit muffled and quieter than usual. I turned around to see Max laying down on the bathroom floor with his head on the bear's belly. The snoring stopped and Max hopped back up and started playing again. Way too cute! And surprising to me since I am not really sure how he figured that out.

Update on Max's activities

So I realize I haven't posted much on Max's latest accomplishments:

• Waves "bye bye" and "hi" whenever someone says these words or when he knows it time (like when we kiss him at day care)
  
• Says "Baaaaaw" and enjoys throwing any ball-like thing (which I did not realize when he was carrying around this knobby toy thing that was quite hard! hit me right in the forehead!)
  
• Quacks and tries to say "duck" randomly (apparently we have a lot of ducks around the house)
  
• Thinks is fun to stick is tongue out and try to talk (there is some childrens song where you sing with your tongue out, right? someone with a better memory or kids help me out here)
  
• Will shake his head no when you tell him to stop, no, don't, etc.
  
• Loves going up & down stairs. At first he was attempting to go down stairs backwards. In the last week he's gone to just sliding down on his belly feet first, or sitting on the stair and sliding off it going forward (and occasionally just taking a tumble forwards when he gets going too fast)
  
• Eats small chunks of soft zucchini, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta, bread, string cheese, toast with a slice of american cheese (he'll inhale american cheese like there is not tomorrow), tofu, gerber puffs, yogurt melts, peas, green beans, goldfish/cheez-its/saltines, cheerios, kix, peaches/pears (I'm running out of ideas here...any suggestions of new stuff kids can eat with only 2 teeth???)
  
• Loves all things dairy (yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese) and also lets you know if he does or doesn't want to eat something.
  
• Likes to taste stuff from our plate or our "big people" forks/spoons (like he won't eat cheerios, but if I spoon him some of mine from my bowl with milk, he'll eat them all day long)
  
• Sometimes naps laying on his chest with his legs propping his butt up in the air
  
• Gives hugs and always lets you know when he wants "up" or "UP!!!"
  

Snow video

Oh yeah, no work today. Day care and our work closed down and there is probably about 4 inches of snow so far!

Snow Day!

It's snowing! This morning it was coming down in huge chunks of snow. Once we got Max up, fed & bundled up it was coming down in tiny flakes but still coming down pretty good.

 

 

 

After the storm

Today we had a storm roll through Raleigh - crazy rain, lots of wind...and then it was over. I was walking up the stairs in my house when I spotted a double rainbow out of the window. 2 minutes later, the last shot I took, the 2nd rainbow was already faded to barely visible. Can't help to think it's a bit symbolic after the craziness of the holidays and all of us being sick and finally better now.

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

Grandma went to Little Tokyo the night before she left from L.A. She got some fresh mochi (the rainbow ones) and this hapi coat for Max! Hope you guys have a wonderful year! We are grateful for our little guy and all the blessings he has brought to our lives.

Lots of new skills

All of our efforts to keep Max stair-ignorant were lost when my mom put him on the stairs intentionally for fun. Luckily he has also been busy learning how to get down from the couch and a few stairs. Of course he gets it right more and more of the time, but has his occasional spills so we keep a close eye on him. Watch carefully for the expression on his face when his foot hits the stair below him!

Here are a few things he can now do on the eve of his 11 month birthday: go up stairs, go down 1 stair, get down from the couch, turn while walking, feel his own tooth (with his fingers or his tongue), stick out his tongue, wave bye-bye, walk a long ways (but isn't "running" yet) pretty fast with short steps, step sideways, open drawers (after watching mommy put away a remote! big mistake to do that right in front of him), take things out of containers, drop balls & go after them, bang pretty much whatever his has in his hands together, get into & out of his radio flyer car, open & close the door to his radio flyer car and lastly will sit down in his radio flyer car when we scold him for standing up in it.

Look what I taught Max!

 

Course there is no proof that it was me...so years from now everyone will blame it on dad!

Lunch with the cousins

Last week, Max got to hang out with my cousin Noelle...

 

 

On Christmas Eve, he got to hang out with his 2nd cousin and her family. So this year we almost got to see just as much family as a trip to Cali!