It's been almost 6 weeks since I last wrote! Max has grown and changed so much in 6 weeks. His favorite thing to do is to crawl around on the floor, sticking his tongue out, and pushing a car while he makes a "thhhh" sound. He's a determined little guy, and he's clever as he is resourceful. He loves to eat paper, tear pages out of books, and crumple pieces of Mama's assignments. In truly Phippen male fashion, he adores anything with buttons, like remote controls and Mama's cell phone. He delights in pressing the talk button on the home phone.
Max understands "No" and delights in doing exactly the opposite. He's just learning cause & effect, and he has started to push things off tables just to watch them fall. His new "cute-isms" include clapping, humming, giving big, real hugs, blowing kisses, waving hello, and climbing anything. He wants to go down items, but he wants to go down the stairs and off of furniture face-first. He pays no attention as he crawls and bangs his head on all sorts of obstacles. His most constant accessory is a bruise on his forehead.
Max understands lots of words, but only says "Mama," "Dad," "Hi," "This," "Nuh," and "baba." He makes noises all the time, so he's easy to track, and he's almost always demanding someone's attention. He's crazy about Asa, but he enjoys all his siblings. He hates being held down by Xandri, and he often wants Jack to take him down the stairs. He'll stand at the gate at the top of our stairs and coax Jack to come and get him.
Max loves swinging in the baby swing in our back yard. He leans over the edge and watches our old dog. The dog seems endlessly fascinating, and she often comes to sniff his feet which makes hin giggle. Max will sit on a "ride-on" toy in the basement and push the buttons, but he won't hang-out in a laundry basket or box. He enjoys being in his high chair only as long as there is continuous company and lots of finger food.
Max's favorite activity is bathing. He adores chasing the bubbles around the tub, and he wants to suck on the washcloth (eeewwww). He sits and splashes and can entertain himself for quite some time. He especially enjoys screaming bloody murder in the bathroom because it echos so nicely. He and Asa often have skull-piercing screaming contests in there.
All in all, Max is growing up too quickly. This last baby-hood has flown past. I haven't had nearly enough time to spend with just Max. Taking him to scout camp with us was nice because he was the only child, but I still feel like I didn't get to spend enough time with him. I don't think I'll ever feel like I spent enough time with him because he is constantly surrounded by the others and I am so amazingly overscheduled. He's easy to love and as he gets older and older he gets to be more fun, but I still miss how wonderful the baby-days have been.
