Status Report 5/10/10
Arial view of Max on swing.
Max at grandparents' (Delia's side) house. When he has this pose, you may assume there is a fan above him.
Max and Lulu. Lulu is, thankfully, very affectionate, because she could break him in half.
Hello, I'm back, and am here to give a quick progress report. Now, Max is, umm, a lot older since my last blog. He's really fun these days, which is hard to capture on the blog because (a) Google changed the format and took away the "Upload movie" thing (so far as I can tell), and (b) every time we point a camera at Max, he stops whatever he's doing and stares at the camera with alien saucer eyes. That said, he can walk now, say a few words, etc. and does what I assume is about in the normal range for kids his age. From what I understand, also, "normal" is a fairly silly word when describing kid development - there's a huge variation for when kids hit certain milestones, and my guess is it's a much bigger function of what interests the kid (and the parents) than any innate goodness the kid has.
Which doesn't stop the comparisons. Lots of people get a smile when they see him, which is great. Then there are the conversations like the one I had at Raley's a couple days ago:
Stranger: (Neutral opener:) Wow, look at the little guy!
Me: (Neutral, defensive response:) Yeah, he's a handful.
Stranger: (Establishing measuring stick): Say, how old is he?
Me: (Getting paranoid:) Oh, 16 months.
Stranger: (Establishing benchmark for children Max's age): So does he wave bye-bye yet?
Me: Yeah, sometimes.
Stranger: (Establishing that his/her son/daughter/relative is more advanced): Wow, my grandson is a couple months younger than Max and he waves all the time! And he even knows "Touchdown!" He'll put both his arms in the air and everything!
Me: Go #@$@ yourself? (Oh, wait. That's under my breath. Did that come out?)
Me: Sounds like a great kid.
Delia's Mom said, "Get used to it." Really, truly, on a rational level, I don't care. It actually brings to mind a recent book I read that basically said everyone thinks they're above average. How does that work? They change the measurement criterion to fit their strengths. For example, someone who's a hard worker but has no social skills would say hard work is the most important aspect of a manger, and the more social goof-off would emphasize the importance of motivation and communication.
Nonetheless, I wanted to take time off from teaching Max "Touchdown" to mention Max's clear potential as a chef.
Max shopping.
Max selecting the garlic grater, which is the sharpest object he can currently reach.
His first recipe is as follows:
VEGETABLE SOUP
Max Kaplan
Ingredients:
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery, chopped
Romaine or other lettuce, loosely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 salad bowl
Procedure:
1) Play on futon. Wait for Daddy to eat salad next to you.
2) Point at salad furiously, make lots of impatient noises, and wait for Daddy to give you some.
3) Chew on salad piece for roughly 30 seconds, then let the spittle/vegetable paste dribble onto futon. Shoot for roughly a 2" diameter puddle. Repeat for other vegetables.
4) If vegetables on futon are too hard or not watery enough, re-insert in mouth, chew and dribble remains onto futon again.
Max enjoying restaurant food.
Max finishing cleanup.
Our attempt to branch Max out into other household chores.
