Dear Mack - Month Eleven

Dear Maverick,

This first photo below in this month's newsletter should really include a little cartoon bubble coming out of your mouth with the words "I am Baby Mack, hear me roar!"

Never mind the piece of pizza you somehow managed to place on your head before you did this...You really have turned into quite a chatterbox this past month, and have discovered that your voice has the capability of getting attention. And you love attention. If we are at a restaurant, grocery store or other public place, and the people at the next table are engrossed in their own conversation, you seem to take it as a personal challenge to your cuteness, and begin waging a campaign of saying "hi", smiling, waving and shameless flirting to get them to pay attention to you. It generally works, and then we too get to enjoy conversation with total strangers while we eat or try to go about my daily business. Thank you for that.

At 11 months, you do so many new things so quickly that it's getting hard to keep track. We are working on blowing kisses. You wave. You give kisses and hugs. You laugh when you find something new and interesting in your travels across the floors ... not a big laugh, just a private little chuckle to yourself. You dance when you hear music from anywhere...including television commercials, clanging of silverware in the drawer, your toys and anything that sounds remotely like music. When you really like someone or are trying to be sweet, you offer them your pacifier. I have to assure you that I don't really need a pacifier right now about three times a day, and you always look at me like "Are you sure?" It's really sweet to see you trying to share.

Although you were a early crawler and are unbelievably FAST crawler...

it is becoming increasingly clear however, that among your peers in our circle of friends, you are clearly going to be the last one to walk. I chalk this up to lack of athletic genes from me. However, at this stage I wish that at least you were starting to show signs of being interested in the process. You DO walk behind your walker, cruise around as long as you have something to hold on to and love to push furniture around, but when it comes time to hold my hand and practice traditional walking you drop like a stone on your bottom right to the floor like a sack of potatoes. I lift you up....and down you go. You really are such an efficient (you even crawl for a significant distance BACKWARDS!) and superfast crawler that I wonder when you will have interest in letting go and standing up unassisted. You are steady enough on your feet that I think you COULD walk...but you simply are not interested. I find myself torn between wanting you to hurry up and learn to walk and hoping that you take your time.

Your interest in new foods continues to grow and while that is a great thing overall, it also means that sometimes in a single meal, you will go through multiple courses.

As your personal chef and waiter, it is my job to keep the food coming. I also make largely futile efforts to keep the food out of your hair, but as you can see from the aftermath of one of your meals, many times I am doing well to keep the food out of my hair.

And of course, the 2-3 times daily baths continue as a result.

We celebrated your first Christmas this month and you were unbelievably fun.

You were again a stellar traveller sleeping both directions on the airplane for most of the way and entertaining our seatmates...actually entertaining anyone within about 3 rows in any direction ....with the above mentioned antics the rest of the time. You met so many new people I lost count as well as an arc-full of new animals including dogs, bunnies, horses, deer, zebra and birds.

I was proud (mostly of myself) that you received what I consider an appropriate amount of gifts, though it would have been so easy to "overdo". I was proud of my restraint. As it was we still had a ginormous box that we had to ship home with all your holiday bounty.

We travelled to Provident City, Texas to ring in the new year with some fun friends and stayed in a hotel that was exactly 100 years old...established in 1909. I found that a very neat fact as we rung in 2009. Allright, we were both asleep by 10:30, but the principle of the occasion was still very neat.

You took to the Texas countryside like a champ...sleeping in an antique crib and mostly going with the flow and for the most part you spent every waking minute there being played with, held, and generally catered to in every way imaginable. As the only baby on the scene, you got an enormous amount of attention.

Basically, the drill during our trip was that you would go down for one of your naps, wake up, be fed, changed and generally attended to in all areas of hygiene by me. Then I would hand you directly into the arms of whatever aunt, uncle, child or friend that was standing there waiting. Then you would have at least one, and, at certain moments, up to five adults, kids or animals gathered around you doing all manner of ridiculous thing to entertain you until you started yawning or fussing or otherwise indicating your desire to take nap. Rinse and repeat. Since we got home, it seems as if you have spent a lot of time sitting in our living room, looking around from side to side. I think you are wondering where your entourage went. Like maybe they are hiding. Here are some of my favorite moments:

We had so much fun and it was such a joy to have friends that have only heard of you and tracked your growth through this blog finally get a chance to get to know you and spend time with you. You even went on your first safari!

It was truly a very special time

However, it was very nice to be home. We both missed our own beds and were exhausted from our extended stay. I missed your bed and that your bed is in a different room from my bed. I missed our life and routine in California and I was glad to be home even thought it means wading through the process of missing the family and friends we don't get to see as often as I would like because we live out here. This is the hard part about living with parts of your heart in 2 places. But I think we are blessed to have two places that feel like home. Some people have none at all.

This month has been trying and challenging in many ways, but you make everything so much better. I love trying to teach you how to do things even if you don't always get it (yet). I love to comfort you when you get hurt or just need some snuggling. I love to celebrate with you when you succeed at something you have really been trying to accomplish. Not only do I enjoy every moment with you, but I so look forward to seeing who you will become. I am astounded I had anything to do with making such a wonderful little person.

I can hardly believe in a few short weeks you will be one year old. (and no, the football does not represent the views of the management...but still a cute pic for fans of those people....)

Where has the time gone?

I love you so very, very much,
Mommy

It starts so young....

Here is Maverick helping Gram with her work on the computer. He is absolutely fascinated by computers. I am certain it won't be long until he is asking for his own....sigh...

Dear Mack - Month 10

Dear Mack-a-roon,

Month Ten has us coming off of a rough couple weeks of stomach virus and for you double ear infections, so I apologize that this is a bit late, but I still feel like I am recovering and needed a bit more time to get this together. I am somewhat comforted by the fact that you can't yet count, and that by the time you read this and realize I was late this month, I'll probably have humiliated you on your first day of junior high, or been the only mom who insisted on riding in the back seat during driver's education, and that will make this seem like a minor infraction. I hope you'll forgive me.

As a result of this vile illness that swept our home over Thanksgiving weekend, I also have significantly less photos of you this month than previously which makes it easier to pick out a few so there is a small blessing there even though now, I wish I had taken more...but as there times over the last two weeks that you were behaving as if the mere task of breathing oxygen in and out of your lungs was more than you could contemplate without screeching in annoyance every five seconds, I did the best I could.

We started the month together in much better health in Texas celebrating your cousin Bailey's 13th birthday. You were a gem, as always. Bailey loves helping me to take care of you and she does such a fabulous job with you too. You totally fell in love with her and her shiny shiny cell phone that she let you play with. Here you are with her.

You still clap, and kiss and are working on waving and saying "hiya" to just about everyone we cross paths with. You fake sneeze, fake cough and all in all mimic all sorts of sounds you hear which is really quite funny.

Probably the most notable new skill you have this month is dancing. Have I mentioned how ridiculously cute you are dancing? Because you are. A few weeks ago, during your bedtime routine, I started noticing that when I would sing the little songs I sing with you every night, you would sort of wag your upper body from side to side, like a person tied to a chair might do while trying to loosen the ropes. I thought maybe you were protesting your impending bedtime, or developing some kind of a tic. It never occurred to me that you might be developing rhythm and dancing. But over the next few days, the wiggling got more pronounced and started to involve a lot of head movements (a la Stevie Wonder) and arm waving and I soon realized that you were getting down with your bad self.

This month, you have continued your self agency. In various fits of this self agency you have fallen off the bed, slipped backwards in the sink during your bath, and conked your head on the tile floor, a wall and the pantry door, leaving two little scrapes and bruises on your forehead.

This is not exactly making me feel like Mother of the Year. But I am told by people who ought to know that you have to start understanding gravity at some point, and this is how it happens. I wish it didn't have to involve so much falling down, but I actually think that is harder for me than it is for you. You pretty much recover if I offer you a graham cracker, whereas it takes me an hour to get my blood pressure back down after one of your tumbles. Maybe I should try one of those graham crackers.

You really are the highlight of my life. Every night, after I put you to bed, I love to sit and think about funny things you've done, and how much you're learning, and how quickly you're growing. You'll be one year old in two short months, which seems impossible, and if I had my way, you'd spend at least a few months being this age. But I know that isn't how it works. What a shame.

I love you,
Mommy

Blame the guy in the red suit...

Ok...so I am working on your 10 month newsletter but will be a few days late due to this guy. See those white gloves? White gloves touched by every child within 100 yards of the mall? White gloves that are probably not cleaned but once at the end of the season? White gloves there to protect Santa from getting sick? Yeah, well, they dont protect others touching the gloves...and thus due to illness, this months edition will be a couple days late. Blame it on Santa. This photo will have to tide you over until then...I wish I felt warm and fuzzy when I see it, but I feel resentful and a tad nauseous.

9 Month Baby Model...

You can go here to see little man at his latest 9 month photo session...he is growing so fast...

Click here:::::::

Mack - 9 Months

Statistics....at 9 months

Length:  27 3/4" - 30th percentile

Weight:  19 lbs 6 oz - 30th percentile

Head Circ:  17 3/4" - 45th percentile

Keep on growing little man!  I love you!

Mommy

Dear Mack - Month Nine

Dear Maverick,

The good news is that while the last two months have been pretty obnoxious regarding the election, in contrast, you have been really fun. Yesterday, election day, you turned 9 months old. This last month for you has been really busy for both of us and filled again with a lot of travel, family and friends, which is always a good thing. In fact, we are currently still on the road and despite the changing sleep arrangements, changing time zones and changing everything you are still proving to be mostly a great traveller. I say mostly because your new thing is to now wake up waaaay earlier than normal to get into bed with me which gives both of us not great sleep when it is for so long at night. We do better with that when it is the last hour or two of the night. Now that your sleep is out of whack, I do look forward to both of us sleeping in our own beds soon in hopes that this will correct itself and you will go back to being the great sleeper I know you are.

As we set out on our most recent journey, I admit I was a bit worried that you would not sleep on the plane like you did a few months back. I worried about how I was to contain you now that you are mobile. I worried about how I would ever keep you entertained for the entire 3 hour flight. The good news for me was that you have recently learned to eat Cheerios, and find this activity so engrossing that I was hoping that if I brought a big enough bag with me on our trip that you should be entertained for at least the first hour or so of the flight. You see, your preferred method of eating Cheerios is to pick up a handful and shove them in your mouth. Usually 2 of them make it in the mouth and the rest fall from your hand and scatter about. Now, I am not completely certain how many actually make it into your mouth....I am guessing at the most 2 or 3, but the fallout of those Cheerios that don't make it into your mouth is quite impressive. I would say for every 1 that makes it in your mouth, a good 10-15 end up on the floor. There may be a more wasteful way to eat Cheerios, but I can't think of what it is. Still, I am not complaining since at that ingestion speed, you can eat Cheerios for a looooooong time. We basically survived the last half of the flight from Los Angeles to San Antonio by you shoveling handfuls into your mouth and me trying to catch and kick back into your little cup those Cheerios that did not hit the floor and pouring more into the cup when it ran dry. Eighteen hundred crunched-up, soggy Cheerios later, we landed. I do hope they had a Dustbuster on board.

So far this month we have been to visit your Gram, your PaPa and Granny, and now your Cousins and on the way you have again met many more people who were so excited to finally get a chance to meet you in person. Since we have been in Texas, you have endlessly been entertained by your Aunt Jen and your cousins who just can't quite get enough of you....unless you have a stinky diaper, then you get quickly handed off to me to sort that out. Really, all of you are quite in love with one another. At times, you have gotten a bit clingy if you are extra tired, but mostly you have been happy to hang out and play with them for hours at a time. I admit at first, I felt a little sad at how much you were not needing me, but I think I can get used to it.

You are continuing to develop new skills it seems daily. You now clap on demand. You give hi-fives. You started a week or so back when our friend Gayle spent a good hour and a half doing hi-fives over and over and over again. By the time you went to bed that night you were snuggled up to me with your eyes closed trying to fall asleep and you kept shooting your little arm up for another hi-five. I finally had to gently pin your little arm down so you could fall off to sleep, but it did make me giggle. I am a bit concerned that now that you have learned this skill you think you have the power of mind control, because every time you hi-five even a little, someone nearby drops what they are doing and try to get you to do it again and doing anything possible to keep you doing it.

You now laugh. You play peek-a-boo. You have learned to throw things. I am not sure that is a good thing, but you find it entertaining, so as long as you are throwing plastic toys, keys or food off your high chair and not valuable china, I don't think we have a problem.

You give kisses now which is my favorite skill. One morning you woke and I sat you up facing me on my lap and you grabbed both sides of my face and proceeded to give me 4 solid baby kisses. It was one of the best mornings ever.

We continue on our path of having you feed yourself. This month you have tried sushi, caprese, frito chili pie, all types of pasta dishes and pretty much any fruit or vegetable I can get that is soft enough for you to handle. You are a self feeding wizard. However, it is still going to be a while before you can handle a steak knife, so on occasion you do get spoon fed yogurt, oatmeal or other such soft foods like that.

You are changing so fast and so much every week that I can clearly see that the day is coming when you won't be a baby anymore. Some days, I'll admit, that is a comforting thought - but last week, when we were on our way to Texas, we got on the plane and much to my pleasant surprise you fell asleep in my arms during takeoff. Usually on a plane I have a book or I-pod all ready to go to help to pass the time and the thought of sitting perfectly still without one of those things would sound like some kind of punishment. But you were so beautiful and sweet, sleeping with your face turned toward me and your cheeks all rosy, and right at that moment, I didn't want anything but to sit there with you and hold you and try to forget how quickly you are growing up. Slow down.

I love you,
Mommy

Green Babies Rule!!!

Today, Maverick, is election day in our great country. And that means that if I just keep myself busy for one more day, the election will be over, and I can return to a normal life that does not involve robot phone calls from EVERYONE urging me to vote for ... well, I don't know who/what they wanted me to vote for, because I hung up. So in case you were wondering why I yelled "I HAVE ALREADY VOTED! LEAVE ME ALONE!" yesterday afternoon at around 5:30, that is why. Sorry about the outburst. Meanwhile, I am putting the finishing touches on your 9 month letter and thought I would share a few more pics of you from our painting experiences this past month. When I get back to LA next week, I will put up the end result....it was awesome. But here you are and your first introduction into paint which is not much different than any meal time of any day with how messy you are, ... so it was only appropriate that the first thing you did was taste it...

And he wore more than made it onto the platter...but we had fun

And the big bottles of paint were the true fascination...

Then our baby class also painted that same week...It was a very big week for paint. Of course, you again had to taste it first...and it must have been good, because I spent most of the day trying to keep the stuff out of your mouth...

I am pretty sure all future artistic prodigies do this when they are teething...

Sort of like a milk mustache with paint...

One of your masterpieces...

And the aftermath....I did not think it was possible, but you got even more on you this time than you did on our pottery excursion a few days earlier. It also stained you a bit green, but that faded in a day...or two...or three. And as one of your mommies favorite Wicked onsies says....Green Babies Rule!

The Texas Heat and Other Halloween Musings

Ok....so the crazy Texas weather can sometimes force you to alter your original plans.  As I mentioned before we had decided you would be a lobster and I your chef for Halloween.  Of course, at the time , it was a bit chilly outside and the costume was a great baby warmer.  However, by the time actual Halloween rolled around and you were heading out for your first trick or treat with your cousins, the thermometer was reading a stuffy 80 degrees.  Needless to say, dressing you in a fully padded , and footed lobster suit would not win me any mommy of the year awards.  So we went with Plan B.  Plan B was "what if it is hot?" and it was...so at the suggestion of our wonderful friend Gayle, you donned a tiny blue speedo and 8 gold medals and went as Michael Phelps....

It was a very cool costume...literally.  And so simple.   The rest of the Halloween weekend was spent in fun first Halloween outfits.  Here is Ashton modelling your pumpkin skull cap at Bailey's volleyball game...

And the "I love My Mummy onsie that you wore most of the day"....

Ashton stole the ears from your monkey costume alternative...and gave them a good run...

Soon it was time for bed and of course, since I have no restraint, you also had new Halloween pajamas....I thought you were adorable...

No candy for you this year..I don't think I will get that lucky next year...but it was sooo fun to spend our first Halloween together with your cousins.  I am so excited for next year too!