Little Things

Sometimes I find myself wondering how it is that I have come to know so much more about the game of football yet Ryan still knows nothing about horses or dancing (with me, not in general). Then he does things like clean the bathroom, dishes, laundry, dirty little boy bum--all in one day as he often does--and I think...I should be watching a lot more football with him. Then he surprises me with my favorite shake while he and Max are out grabbing some groceries for me. I think I will never catch up.

Good Max...

loves to play outside. He loves to go out back and pick strawberries out of the garden patch. He loves to watch his little shows in the morning and sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Blue's Clues, Wiggles songs, the Sunbeam song, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and many more. He loves to count to five (although out of order). He loves to bring mommy and daddy books to read to him. He loves to ask for and eat Popsicles with Dad at night and to shake his little booty to every jingle. Good Max loves to play with Uncle Mark and Jeff and all his cousins. He loves to give "loves" to all and wave to anyone driving by. He loves blocks and balls. Good Max loves to look at and softly touch his baby cousin, Cole. He loves going to the store and on any outings with his family. Good Max says all sorts of words now: Mama, Daddy, Mar (Mark), Jeh (Jeff), Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, all animals (although he refers to them my sound rather than by name), banana, strawberry, apple (which means all other fruits that resemble apples), Popsicle, cheese, juice, Show, balloon, vacuum, and pretty much anything else we tell him to say. Good Max helps clean up his toys when asked and is a generally happy child.

BAD MAX...

says "No" much, much more now. He will do the exact opposite of what you tell him all while staring you right in the face, or worse, wait until you turn your head and then do it. Bad Max pinches, bites, and hits on occasion...and not just when he is upset...he will do it when he is playing and excited. Bad Max continues to pick Mom's face, not just her eyelashes. He got a mole the other day and a bloody mess ensued. Bad Max still is having a hard time consistently sleeping through the night in his own bed...although he is doing better.



The other day Mom and Aunt Jolea went to Roberts to buy some craft paint. Bad Max opened a bottle and poured it all over his good clothes and Mom's bag. Mom had to strip him down in the bathroom and carry him out in his diaper. It was the one time I didn't pack wipes or an extra diaper. It got even better when we realized we were locked out of our house. We spent the afternoon at Jolea's...waiting for Daddy to come rescue us. The picture above shows what happens to little boys who ruin their clothes with paint and have to borrow from their cousin, Sarah.



Obviously anyone who has had a 21 month old knows that Bad usually just means curious. So while Mom and Dad have had to give and take a few more time outs than we would like, we love both Good and Bad Max. It is so fun to watch his little personality form and all the new things he is soaking up.

While my once very faithful blogging habit has somewhat wavered, don't think it's from a lack of worthy blog material. I have just been a slacker. Our home computer is a piece of junk so I have to wait to use the good laptop when Ryan isn't using it. By the time he comes home, the last thing I want to do is to muster up the energy to boot up, wait, download, wait, then try to get the creative juices flowing to post something even remotely worthy of reading. So here's my attempt to convince the rest of you that life for the Loveless' hasn't slowed and only gets more interesting as our Max nears his second birthday.

State Fair 2008

My first trip to the state fair (if you don't count the Rascal Flatts concert I attended like 6 years ago with college friends there). We decided to go for family night last week. We knew there were going to be lots of livestock there; Max has a slight infatuation with barn animals of every kind right now. He knows all the sounds they make and we knew that he would love it. I was very tempted to devote an entire blog post to the many musings of the State Fair...I had to refrain from my natural instincts to pull out the camera for all kinds of blog worthy material including State Fair attire, State Fair love, State Fair crazies...you get the picture. So while I have only family fun to document, don't let that fool you. I went in part to capture the good trash that every State Fair provides.Max loved riding the pony as long as Daddy was holding on tight. He even showed off his rodeo royalty wave.He also had a strange fascination with all of these cut out boards. He loved them!

Max was begging for the big, yellow slide. While his face showed fear, he loved the thrill and wanted to do it again!

PJ's on...we are ready for the ride home! What a great night it was. Max was enthralled by all the lights and rides and Dad and Mom indulged in homemade ice cream and a caramel apple! I think the State Fair has won us over!

BYU FOOTBALL @ UNCLE MARK'S

Our weekly outing has taken us just five houses down the street. Since my husband's good conscience wouldn't let him buy season tickets this year (leaving his pregnant wife and son home for 6 or 7 weekends while he indulged himself in football heaven), we have made the weekly trek down the street where the entire family can indulge in our guilty pleasure...BYU football is back and is making us very happy. What doesn't make us happy is that our cable provider won't pick up the Mountain, the only station that televises all the games. Thank goodness Mark lives close. Max even knows where all the spatula and Tupperware cupboards are now. We feel very at home there. I have my husband and he has his family and we all have the game. Win, Win, Win.