A Star(dom) is born: More new stuff

Before moving on, as promised, to a couple of neat events that we've attended over the last while, here are a couple of new Max talents that I neglected to mention last time.

Max likes to climb up off the ground now. Walking was really not that much different from being able to clamber around the furniture in our house. He couldn't really reach more things and wasn't really getting into more trouble. Getting up off the ground is troublesome though. Obviously. He likes to crawl up on stools, or the wheels of his umbrella stroller (yikes). Best of all, he has figured out how to swing his legs over things...so now he loves sitting in boxes and such. In particular, he lives in our recycling bin on the top floor of our house. We've had to stop putting small ripped papers in there because Max would always spread them everywhere. Or eat them. We also can't unload the dishwasher when Max is loose in the kitchen because he likes to crawl up on the dishwasher door and sit on it.

Also, Max has started putting things on his head. Anything that can act as a hat. Knee pads. Face cloths. Tupperware. Pasta. Really, if it will stay put on his head, awesome.

Finally, Max is making strides in feeding himself. He still does the same old thing when left to his own devices with a spoon - flipping it upside-down on the way in to his mouth so that the bowl of the spoon dumps directly on his tongue. That's if there's actually anything left after the spoon spills on the high chair tray or Max's Buddha belly. After a few tries, he'll usually offer the spoon to the supervising adult, but won't accept being fed. What he actually wants is for the adult to hand him the full spoon in the best possible position to get everything in his mouth. It's pretty cute to watch him wanting to take more control...despite the increased mess and longer meal times.

Okie doke. I'll start with the baptism of Max's future wife, Maddie. I got to fly solo on this one with Max as Mom was conked out sick at home. It was a United Church service, probably not too different from my own baptism years and years ago. The cool part was that the baptism ceremony was performed by the baby's paternal grandmother, who is a minister at the church. Max and I got to catch up with friends and partake in the fabulous spread in the church's basement before the little guy passed out. I was a little concerned that it would have been a lot harder to keep him quiet in the church, but a friend and I kept him fairly entertained in our pew. Solemnly entertained, that is.

Here are some pictures and a video. Tomorrow, I'll try to post a bit about our Thanksgiving dinner!