We celebrated Father’s Day last Sunday. This was actually the first Father’s Day that Jeff and Max got to spend together, as last June I was on my trip with Max to Michigan for Jeff’s first Father’s Day. Didn’t think about that when I was booking that plane ticket. We were also enjoying a visit from my cousin and dear friend Shani, and we had a great day together. Here’s Jeff and Max starting the day with a little father-son (and Froggy and Blankie) snuggle:

Later we all went out to lunch at Red Robin. Maxwell loves their grilled cheese and mandarin orange meal.

We had such a great time with Shani and the visit went way too fast as always. She just left last night and already I miss her! Here are some pictures from the week.

Max giving Shani a nose beep while Pixel looks on in the background:

Playing in his wooden cart:

Fun at the park!

One of the days when I had to work I met my mom, Shani and Max at Starbucks for a chai break. Max has decided he no longer likes eggs prepared at home, no matter how I make them, but he loves the egg from a Starbucks breakfast sandwich. You can see the sandwich taken apart and cooling in preparation for his enjoyment. See the guy in the background reading? Max kept trying to get his attention, he would wave at him, wait a few minutes, wave again, wait a few minutes, hold up Froggy for the guy to admire…sadly, the man was oblivious to the cuteness and very focused on his book.

Here’s one that Shani took at dinner one night. Max likes to have music on while he’s dining, and he loves to try to do the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” motions when that song comes on. Here’s a nice family sing-along moment:

Finally, sporting his cool shades with Mom at the park:

The fabulous Justine of J. Shelton Photography put a “sneak peek” of our Mom and Me photos on her blog. We love them and can’t wait to see more! How beautiful is that first black and white?! You can see them here

I’ll end with a physical therapy update. We had Max’s first physical therapy home visit on Friday. The therapist (Lisa) was very nice and said that Max is doing really well and has come a long way in the six weeks since he was evaluated. She doesn’t think he needs every-other-week visits at this point, we scheduled our next appointment in three weeks. Lisa said that while Max is still a bit wobbly when doing his new skills, that that is not a concern because he is still so new to doing these things. She gave us some things we can do to help Maxwell build his skills, like encouraging him to play while standing rather than sitting, holding his hands at chest level when we help him walk, and encouraging him to walk holding only one of our hands when he’s ready. One interesting thing Lisa shared was that while a lot of kids will practice and practice at a new skill and you can see them going through the process, other kids will wait until they can do it “right” to start. Max definitely seems like he’s in the latter group, which is probably one of the things contributing to his slower attainment of the gross motor skill milestones. It was great to get good news from Lisa as well as some things we can work on.

My dad and Helen arrive tonight, so Max is in for some wonderful grandparent spoiling in the week ahead!