A belated Happy Halloween to all of you! Max’s first Halloween was lots of fun. We didn’t go trick-or-treating, but we did dress him up in his oh-so-cute dragon costume a few times, including one trip to Jeff’s office to show him off there. Max helped us hand out a little candy and then went to bed and slept through all the trick-or-treaters. We continue to have so much fun with him, he is starting to really babble now and it is so precious. His favorite place to “talk” is on the changing table, followed closely by laying on the bathroom floor post-bath. He’s sitting up really well now and can reach for things without falling over (most of the time!). I think he is starting to work on the mechanics of crawling, but hasn’t put it all together yet. He’s gotten very good at pushing up with his arms and will also stick his little butt up in the air, but hasn’t done both of those things together yet.
Max loves our kitties and is always interested when they walk by. Not surprisingly, he will reach out and try to grab some fur if they get within reach. We have been shocked to discover that of the two kitties, Dory is much more willing to be near the baby. Those of you who know Dory know that she is definitely more skittish than Pixel, to say the least. Go figure then that Pixel stays out of Max’s reach and Dory will let him “pet” and even grab her.
I hesitate to write this, knowing that I’ll jinx myself and it may go haywire again, but Max has been sleeping very well lately. He usually will take two naps of at least an hour each, which is a vast improvement over a month or so ago, and almost always sleeps about 12 hours at night. I figure this is my reward for those early months when I was only ever sleeping 90 minutes at a stretch! I am not so cocky as to assume this is a done deal, but I will enjoy the sleep while it’s here! I wasn’t sure how the whole daylight savings time switch would go, and am convinced that it was invented by a childless person. Thankfully we did okay and were able to shift Max’s schedule without too much trouble.
My cousin Jesse was in town from Maryland for a conference and was able to come over for dinner last night. Unfortunately Max was already asleep when he arrived, but we of course showed off pictures and video. It was great to see Jesse again and we look forward to having his sister Shani here in just a couple weeks! So I guess that means Mal, Anne and Don, you are next! 
I’ll do pictures below, but first I’m going to attempt to post a video:
Maxwell talking following a bath. Jeff was getting an audio recording on his phone while I took this video:
Isn’t that just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? Okay, now on to pictures!
The official monthly shots are a bit more challenging now. Max tried to pull the sticker off his onesie and preferred to eat Chester Bear rather than pose with him, but we still got some good shots.
“Stand back, Chester, I’ll protect you!”
“Mmmm….Chester Bear….”
“What?”
Our neighborhood has several parks and play areas. This one is very close to our house and has a baby swing. Maxwell took his first ride in it recently and really liked it. Note also his cute jacket from Grandma Helen.
If clothing gets near his mouth, the tongue will reach out to taste it:
Enjoying the ride
Max the Dragon!
