My Kind of Therapy

I have come to realize that most of the people who "read" my blog do so for the photo content. So, I have decided to cut out much of the work for me and let Max do the talkin! Enjoy!

His current obsession is...TRACTORS! He goes crazy everytime we pass one on the highway or he sees a picture of one. He was in heaven when a friend offered to let him ride along while they mowed the pasture.

I think he has most of the garden on him at this point.He takes his responsibilities as a little boy VERY seriously-he must wear dirt on at least half of his body by noon everyday.

And here he was "weeding" my garden for me. Thanks buddy!

"Talking" to Aunt Grace on the phone is a big deal and again-HARD work! (but quite cute)

More dirt-this time in and on the mouth-yummy!

He worked in the yard mowing for a solid 30 mins. I wish I could get the stinkin video to upload but its a no-go. Grrr! He never even cracked a smile the WHOLE time! lol

I have a rare few moments of peace and relative quiet so I thought I would share some thoughts on the past year or so. First I need to jot down the key points-otherwise I will get stuck on one and never remember what I came to talk about.

Biting,
Forgetting to feed your child,
Why are you screaming-I am holding you?!,
aaaannnnd...dang it! I knew this would happen. While I was rocking Max to sleep for his nap I came up with at least 4 key points of interest and now I can only dig out 3! Grrrr!

So, I guess I will just go on.

Biting: Lets start out with a sweet little story. Yesterday Max, Cody and I were invited to a friends little boy's 2nd birthday party. Ashton is a sweet, smart little guy the same size as my 17month old monster. (Why, you ask, do I call him a monster?...I will get to it)

Well, Max absolutely ADORES anyone under the age of 12. In his world of primarily adults a person that gets down on his level, or even better, is already there, is a HUGE deal. So-to say the least he was in complete awe of Ashton for the first little while there. He followed him everywhere he went and tried to do everything he did. It was very sweet and Ashton was quite nice about Max's eager and over enthusiastic attention. Then the inevitable happened.

Max likes to "love" as we call it. You can ask Max to go "love" someone and he runs over and lays his head on their lap and hugs them. It is very cute and as long as he keeps it short then it is also sweet. Well, Max went over to show Ashton some "love" and Ashton accepted and even gave him a hug back. However-Cody and I noticed at the same time that the "hug" was lasting too long. Lo and behold-Max had chomped down on the birthday boy's cheek right on the jaw bone! Poor Ashton didn't quite know how to make the pit bull release so he was waiting for someone to rescue him. I felt/feel awful! The little stinker gets never gets away with biting-I have tried every technique in the book (I think) and nothing has worked! He will cry for a moment after I reprimand him but then he moves on to do it again. I am at a loss-and this post is about to get QUITE long. So if anyone has a suggestion please feel free to tell me what I am doing wrong! I am embarrassed that for the rest of eternity all of Ashton's 2nd birthday pictures will include a perfect little bite mark on his left cheek. *sigh*

Forgetting to feed your child: This story took place a few weeks ago but I have been beating myself up over it ever since. We went out to eat one night with Cody's grandparents and Max-as usual-didn't eat well. It is common knowledge that if food doesn't arrive within 5 mins then he moves on to something else and REFUSES to eat at that time. So-after dinner we got home, played outside for a while, went on a ride around the property and then went in for bath time. Bath time was uneventful until it was time to get out-then....

All hell broke loose. Max wouldn't let me get him out of the tub. Naturally I just said-"Ok son, if you don't want me to get you out then sit there". (mistake #2, #1 was going out to eat at all!) So I sat next to the tub thinking he would throw his usual fit and then we would move on.

Didn't happen.

He kept screaming every time I tried to pick him up. He kept screaming every time Cody tried to pick him up. He kept screaming every time we did ANYTHING!

Finally I decided to ignore the screams, kicking, flailing and noodle-evasion technique and got him out of the tub against his will. We sat on the floor-him naked and me at my wits end and I just let him scream some more. He didn't want his sippy cup or a diaper or his daddy...soooo...we sat. I finally told my child that I was going to take him downstairs and daddy was going to fix him a jelly sandwich. *Silence* The child jumped up and stood next to counter waiting for his father to finish his traditional pre-bed snack. All was better-except my heart. I had forgotten to feed my little boy. *sigh again*

Why are you screaming-I am holding you?!: We recently went to visit Cody's dad and step mom for the weekend. It was a great visit-we got to see everyone and Max was an angel-slept through the night and in the pack-in-play both nights. So Sunday morning I decided to let the in-laws keep Max while we went to Mass. (not the norm-Max always attends Mass with us) Before we left I had to change his dirty diaper-quite the norm. He always has one dirty diaper before 8:30 am and another one around 11:30 am-and that's usually it. Well, I changed this one and we were off to Mass. We got back before 10:30 and grandma Donna (step mom) said he had been perfect. She also said she thought he might have been pooping earlier but since I was busy packing to go home and he had already had his morning dirty diaper-I forgot. About 12 o'clock he started getting really fussy. Ever time I picked him up he would FREAK OUT but if I sat him down he would lose it. We tried everything and finally we decided to just pack the car and leave hoping that he was tired and would sleep on the drive home. I decided to change his diaper one more time for the road and then-

I saw the rash. His bottom was blistered. I was mortified. How had I missed the fact that his cries were cries of pain and not tired? How did I let this happen? We still don't know what triggered it but the poor guy was miserable for about a day. Thank goodness for his prescription cream. *sigh yet again*

I wish I could say that I will never make painful mistakes like these again but, alas. This is a learning experience for me as much as it is for Max. I just wish I could learn all these lessons without causing him pain or discomfort. All I can do is give him a kiss, apologize, pray that I learned what I needed to and go on.

Oh-I remembered the next point! yay! But this post is ready to be retired, so "Perfect shot-where's the stupid camera" will have to be for another day.