8teen

Maximus and his parents have survived a whole eighteen months. I know it sounds totally cliche, but it does seem like yesterday that we were bringing Max home over the Golden Gate Bridge. Now he is a big brother and I often have to remind myself that he is still so much a baby in many ways.
Adam and I are often shaking our heads and trying to catch our breath with this little guy. We go to church and look around at the other little kids and we don't see any in his age group with the same strong, defiant, stubborn will as Max. Sometimes I suppose it can be embarrassing, because in the same situation I might tend to think that the parents are too lax and need get their kid under control, but this is what I get for being judgemental. Max has an attention span of about 60 seconds unless he is watching Blues Clues, Elmo, or one of a handful of DVDs he has seen dozens of times. He refuses to be shown anything new. If you try to teach him how to play with a toy, he immediately assumes you are taking it from him and throws himself to the couch with his head down to pout. I get this same reaction about 50 times a day. Whenever I try to initiate play with him, if I don't get his juice fast enough, if he doesn't like his food, if I tell him to stop playing in the trash can, or stop pushing the buttons on the t.v. a tantrum ensues. The concept of "if you perform some action--then you will get to do what you want" is totally lost on him still. He wants what he wants, right.now.

He is fearless. He will run into a crowd, out in the street, or out of my view in a store without hesitation. No separation anxiety for this boy. The only reason he cries when we leave is not because he will miss us, but because he can't go outside too. He does not listen worth beans. I could yell and repeat myself until I am blue in the face and he will continue to do whatever he is doing. We have started giving him time-outs in his bed, because make no mistake, his is very intelligent, and though we may not be able to reason with him, repetition is our only means of helping him understand that actions have consequences. Although, sometimes he just doesn't seem to care and I just have to keep reminding myself that it's all about consistency.

Many times people ask me if he loves Dempsey and if he is a good big brother. Ummmm, not really. He is still a baby himself and requires a lot of attention. He hardly acknowledges her existence, until recently she has begun grabbing his books and toys and he gets infuriated. We have a lot to learn about sharing. He's not so much the nurturing type. On the other hand, he loves to get praise from Momma and Dadda, so he will give her kisses on the head, whenever he is in a good mood, because we will tell him what a good boy he is...
Yes, he is intense about 75% of the time. However, I've learned to read him(cope) and can most of the time either avoid a melt down or diffuse one. Despite his high octane personality, he can be really sweet. He has always been very vocal, he has a very large vocabulary for his age, but I think his inability to communicate clearly is what fuels many of his tantrums, so I am hoping his disposition will improve with his capacity to speak. He is in a very affectionate stage and he loves to give kisses and has finally figured out how to make the puckering noises to go with them. He loves going outside more than anything in the world(except playing with doors), he is fascinated by his shadow and will also give it kisses in the air. He wants to run aimlessly and just yells into the wind because he so happy to be free.

Doors.
Any kind, anywhere. We could be at the park trying to show him how fun the slides are, but the second he gets to the bottom he bolts for the closest door he can find...which is usually the restroom. Open, shut, open, shut, if we would let him he would just do that all day long. He is very mechanically minded and is always pulling things apart, turning them upside down to see how they work. Definitely all boy.



He likes to dance. It is the cutest thing ever. I don't know where he learned it, but whenever he hears some music he lifts up his elbows, alternates moving each shoulder up and down and then bounces his knees so his little bum shakes...so funny. He has no patience for reading books. He has certain pages he wants to look at and then he is done. When he was really little I used to read him these two books that had prayers in the end and so the last word was always "Amen." Now whenever he gets to the end of any book he says, "Amen!" When he gets excited or really mad he will say every word he knows which usually consists of, "mama, dada, becca, nana, clock, ball, moon(boof), hat, car, house, what's that, wow, juice, cak(cookie), elmo, nemo, blues, shadow, light(nat), allgone, and probably a few others I can't remember.



We really love this little guy. Even though he challenges us everyday we know that he is a very strong spirit saved for a very scary world. We always hope and pray we can give him the love and guidance he needs to grow up and be the man he is meant to be.