Boys are messy...

What does it look like when you let Max feed himself:

Max is 15 months!

Oh how time flies!  He is growing up super fast and is finding his independence, but when I'm in the kitchen he wants to be right in the mix and close to me.  Maybe a future chef?

On any given day you can find Max eating his snacks by the window, observing my attempts at cooking.

You Know Your Mom Is...

from Colorado when she thinks everyone should have:
1. a puffy vest
2. hoodie sweatshirt
3. awesome winter hat
and 4. UGG boots as part of their winter attire

I Heart You Day

Happy Valentine's Day from Max.

Friends

Jack was one of Max's first friends!  They are only 2 months apart.  Jack came over to play yesterday and they had a great time fighting over toys, treats and sippy cups!  Max was having a good time teasing Jack with his treats until Jack tackled him!  That should teach Max!  Is it bad that the mom's just sat back and laughed?

Anyway...here they are focusing on Elmo instead of beating each other up.

The Life of a Boy

The other day Max was playing hide and go seek with me.  I grabbed my camera while he was hiding and got him and he reveled himself from behind his excersaucer.  Man, I love this kid!

Is it just me, or are little kids just the cutest when they squat down?  Max likes to watch his videos this way.

I Heart Chocolate Cookies

Story Time

Everyday we read the same 3 books about 20 times each before Max is satisfied (I'm sure others can relate). Yesterday he wanted to sit in the reading chair and "read" by himself. I think he's pretty dang cute if I say so myself!

Walking!

After months of cruising around the furniture and taking steps here and there, it seems as though Max has decided it's time to REALLY start walking. I knew he had it in him, I'm just glad he's gotten brave enough to know HE can do it.

I love his look in this, half terrified, half mad that I won't put down the camera.
 

Family Grounds Cafe

On Saturday we discovered my new favorite place to take Max on weekends, Family Grounds Cafe. It's basically a Starbucks with a playplace. The great thing about it was George could go get his coffee, sit back and relax while Max played in the FUN play area.

My favorite part was how CLEAN everything is. This is no Chuck-E-Cheese ball yard. Everyone is required to sanitize their hands upon entering and leaving the play area. Food and drink is only allowed in the tabled section, not in the play area. There is an attendant there to help if something breaks or whatever. The only issue we had was we had to wait about 45 minutes to get into the play area because they limit how many people can be in there at a time. To me, it was worth it because once you're in there the kids have so many toys, play houses, etc to play with. Everyone gets a 90 minute time frame, which I was surprised Max wanted to play that long, but we did. The nice thing about the cafe is they have a little waiting room the kids can go to read books or play with toys while they wait to go into the play area. You could just bring your kids and play there for free instead of paying the admission fee to get into the main play room. Overall I would give it 4.5 stars out of 5. We plan on going back at least once a month.

Garfield Park Conservatory

I'm a little behind in posting!  Last weekend, and then again on Wednesday for our weekly playgroup, we visited the Garfield Park Conservatory.  This has always been one of my favorite places in the city, but is now becoming a weekly place for Max and I.  They have such a neat Children's area where the kids can play and they always seem to have some sort of activity going on.  On Wednesday they had a chinchilla the kids could pet.  Max was a little scared at first but then he braved up and pet the little thing.  He kept walking away and then would go back to the chinchilla for another round.

Here are some pictures of him exploring the different activities going on.