Back to Mischief

Max is all better now. I know this because he's back to his old tricks....and some new ones as well! Today he managed to lock himself in the bathroom at his nana's house. He very calmly walked into the bathroom, shut the door and clicked the lock. Mom went into a panic trying to remember if she had latched the cupboards with the cleaning supplies. Not to mention the bowl of toilet water and the fact that there is no access to the lock outside of the bathroom itself. She called Tom and asked him to rush over and help her break the door down. Fortunately shortly after she made that call, Max decided he'd had enough of the bathroom, unlocked the door and came out. What are the chances? Fortunately he's a bright boy who is obsessed with switches of any sort, including locks that click back and forth. Ahhhh, just think what fun the coming years will bring us in the Linke household!

Snuggling: Clinically Proven to Reduce Fevers

Poor Max is sick. I don't really know with what but he has a super snotty nose and fevers of up to 103. Random virus? Molars coming through? Although I don't think a fever goes with that.

Wednesday I stayed home with him, dosing him with droppers, wiping his nose and taking him on long walks. Thursday it was Alex's turn although he seemed a lot better then. Last night...or I guess I should say this morning since it was 2 a.m.... the fever came back. He wasn't sure what he wanted. Well, okay I think what he wanted was for me to stand and rock him while he slept but the kid is 27+ pounds so that wasn't going to happen.

Eventually Max ended up in bed with me. He would toss fitfully trying to find a spot on the mattress that he was comfortable. After many irritated position changes he sat up, threw his body across my chest, snuzzled in and decided that would do quite nicely. He settled right down and proceeded to fall asleep. Um, great, now what to I do? He's asleep but I can't possibly sleep with him tucked under my chin. Then I realized...You know someday he'll be 13 and think I'm the devil and he will run screaming if I try to so much as hug him. I should enjoy this while it lasts. So did I let him stay there all night? Heck no! But I did let him stay a little longer and savored the moment. He's a sweet, cuddly boy. Hopefully on the mend soon!

Happy Holidays!

Which one has your vote for Christmas card photo? Hey, at least we have a sense of humor about it. Alex's mom was very sweet and offered to get a photo of us as a family. You can see how well that went.

Name Change

We’re thinking of changing Max’s name to Chip. What do you think? Has a nice ring to it in a 50s sort of way. Why would we do such a thing? More on that later. First let’s start with a more pleasant story of Max….

Alex pulled into the driveway with Max after work last evening and I was quick to grab him up to squeeze and kiss him (Max that is). He wanted down and quickly scurried over towards his dad in the bedroom. I began walking that direction. Max spotted me and closed the door between us with a grin. Hey! I would attempt to open it and he’d peak out and giggle, closing it once more.

Eventually I did gain entry, scooped Max up and leaned over to give Alex a quick smooch hello. As I pulled back, I realized Max’s head was lunging towards my face. I looked over and realized that his mouth was half open and he had locked in on my mouth. Kisses! Max gave me repeated kisses which I accept as apology for his door closing shenanigans. Kisses will get you everywhere, Max. You are forgiven.

Now on to the story I don’t like. Alex was giving him a bath later that evening. When Max decides bath time is complete, he stands up and points to the towel hanging on the rod. Alex, sitting beside the tub, began to reach for the towel as I watched from the next room. In the blink of an eye Max falls forward and I see his mouth whack the side of the tub. Oh no! He lets out a silent scream and I run to scoop him up. I look in his mouth and there is blood at the roots of his front teeth….as well as a chunk out of one of his front teeth. Ohhhhhh noooooooo! It’s not to the point where it exposed a nerve but it’s definitely bad enough to require repair. The plan is to place a call to the ped this morning to get advice on a good pediatric dentist.

As you can imagine, last evening was spent with Alex and I trying to reassure each other that it will be just fine, this is a relatively minor injury, Max is not in any pain, etc. I had finally built myself up to the status of acceptance. Then this morning I realized that when I signed Max up for benefits, I didn’t sign him up for dental. Medical and dental are both free to us but I was practicing good stewardship thinking, “Why would I waste my employer’s dollars to pay for dental for a baby? It’s not like he’ll have cleanings, fillings, etc.” Now I know why I should have made them pay for it and I’m beating myself up that this will be out of pocket. My other option is to call him Chip until he loses that tooth at 6 or so. Thoughts?

*Update* We took Max to the pediatric dentist on Tuesday and she said "Oh, I'm not worried about this one!" Great, that makes one of us. According to her his milk teeth are still growing and it should fill in some. The tooth bottom should level off through regular use. Alex and I are going to keep an eye on it and consider a fix down the road if her prophecy doesn't prove true. In the meantime I don't flinch now when I see it and Max enjoys rubbing his tongue over the new texture of his tooth.

And So it Begins...

Alex and I spent half a day organizing our jam-packed garage today while Max was at Nana's. It ends up that we have 2, yes 2, Golden Tee arcade games in there along with a retro pinball machine. I shall now refer to the garage as an arcade since clearly no cars will ever be stored there.

This is Max and Alex enjoying a game of arcade golf. I think they're cute!

Tahoe

As I mentioned previously we just returned from South Tahoe. The Linke family was putting on a reunion which meant that hoards of tall, slender, blonde haired, blue eyed people (Max representing my immediate family) were sited all over Strawberry. There were clusters of family in the cabins and lodge all around. Alex, Max and I were lucky enough to stay in a beautiful cabin with Alex's father, brother and family and step-sister and family. There were three 1-year olds, a 3-year old and a 4-year old. Suffice it to say that Max was in heaven.

Alex's cousin Caroline was the resident expert and set up the daily agenda which meant that we were able to visit gorgeous lakes tucked off the main drag that we never would have found on our own. We hiked 3-miles in to Echo Lake on Friday and 1-mile up to Angora Lake on Saturday. In the evenings we attended festive family dinners and a great time was had by all.

On Saturday, Max's first birthday, he received a very rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday' sung by several dozen family members. He didn't have a clue of what was going on but we certainly appreciated the thoughtfulness.

In an answer to my prayers, Max did beautifully on both flights. This was the one part of the trip that I was most anxious about. Okay, really it's like my idea of a personal hell. However, it won out over the option of 12+ hours each way in the car. I'm fairly certain that's Max's idea of a personal hell.

Choo Choo!

I'm so excited about this train set I bought off of Craigslist. Last Thursday I used my lunch break to drive to Gresham to pick up a set that a woman had posted for $10 that promised 50+ pieces. This ended up being a great deal. There were 50 pieces of track alone. I just finished painstakingly setting it up and am giddy at the outcome. What does Max think of it? I don't know. I might let him play with it when he's 5!

In other news, we just returned from our family reunion in Tahoe. Had a great time. Max turned 1 on Saturday. Plenty of pictures and memories to record when I have the time. Right now I'm going to go play with the trains. ;-)