Max at 11 Months

I can’t believe this is the last monthly post before Max turns 1! The most exciting news this month is Max took his first solo steps! It happened on a night when I was working late, which broke my heart, but luckily the moment was caught on Dropcam. Max has repeated the effort a few times now, and each time, Aaron and I clap enthusiastically so Max knows how proud we are. We finally baby proofed our kitchen cabinets. This probably should have happened earlier but Aaron and I were holding out hope that Max would lose interest in them, which, of course, never happened. After Aaron installed the cabinet locks, it was so funny to watch Max cruise around the kitchen and systematically test every cabinet to see if it could be opened.

Max has gotten a lot more affectionate this month. When we pick him up from daycare, Aaron and I kind of race to the infant classroom window because as soon as Max spots one of us he breaks out a huge smile, bounces up and down with his arms in the air and then crawls toward the door to meet us. We can tell he understands that the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line because he will charge over anything that stands between him and us: toys, other babies, whatever.

His teachers also tell us that he’s a very affectionate baby and the best hugger in the class. They mentioned that he sometimes lays down next to the younger babies and gently touches their faces. We were happy to hear this because, while Max can be adorably affectionate, he can also lull you into a false sense of comfort by reaching out for what looks like a hug only to slap your face; it’s decidedly less adorable. So it’s nice to know he doesn’t pull that trick with defenseless infants. We’ve been working on teaching him what gentle means but it’s hard to say whether it’s sunk in or not.

Still, we’re willing to overlook the occasional slap because, when he actually does want a hug, nothing makes you feel better than when he tightens his tiny little arms around your neck. And when he’s feeling especially cuddly, he’ll even rest his cheek against ours. It’s those small moments that warm my heart and make me love being a mom.

Max stats

• Weight: 21.8lbs
• Height: 30’’
• Head circumference: 19.5’’

Memorable moments:

• One afternoon I was laying on the floor playing with Max when he suddenly got really excited and wrapped his arms around me. I was basking in parental bliss until I realized that Max had crawled over my shoulder and grabbed the phone out of my back pocket.

• When Aaron’s parents were in town, his Mom and I took Max to open gym at Romp ‘n’Roll to let him run around a little. While we were there, Max seemed really focused on a laundry basket filled with rubber balls. We thought he wanted to play with the balls but it turns out the basket was actually the object of his fascination: Max managed to flip it over, dumping out all the balls, and then proceeded to motor around the gym, using the upside down basket as an improvised walker. The giant grin on his face told us that he was very pleased with himself.

• We took Max to the Richmond Zoo with Aaron’s parents and let him feed the giraffes, which he was very brave about. All of the sudden we saw Max’s hand, with the giraffe food in tow, shooting towards his face. We managed to intervene and prevent most of it from getting into his mouth, but I can’t confidently say that my son has never eaten giraffe food.

  

Things we think Max likes:

• Ceiling fans
• Y Bike
• Drums
• Sweet potatoes and bananas
• Notable absence from this list… Raffi. He still likes Raffi, but it doesn’t have the same hypnotizing effect on Max that it once did.

Things we are pretty sure Max doesn’t like:

• Solid foods (if he’s not in the mood)
• Having his face wiped
• Wearing a bib
• Being strapped into his car seat

Milestones:

• Waving
• 2 more teeth (6 total)
• Took 4 solo steps!
• Copying - Max copies sounds (Ba-Ba) and some gestures (clapping and waving)