Good reminder

You cannot conceive my isolation, so complete it is at times. I do not gift you with clever conversation, cute remarks to be laughed over and repeated. I do not give you answers to your everyday questions, responses over my well being, sharing my needs, or comments about the world about me. I do not give you rewards as defined by the world's standards...great strides in development that you can credit yourself; I do not give you understanding as you know it. What I give you is so much more valuable...I give you instead opportunities. Opportunities to discover the depth of your character, not mine; the depth of your love, your commitment, your patience, your abilities; the opportunity to explore your spirit more deeply than you imagined possible. I drive you further than you would ever go on your own, working harder, seeking answers to your many questions with no answers. I am the child who cannot talk. (Author unknown)

'I call dada'

Bye ears

This is how I found out Max's ear hurt. He told me 'Bye ears!' I personally thought that would be a little drastic so we bought him some medicine instead. He's fine now.

Me: 'Daddy is a?'

Max: 'boy'

Me: 'Max is a?'

Max: 'boy'

Me: 'Mommy is a?'

Max: 'mommy!'


'Max, where do fish live?'

'Haughton'


(And a correction on my previous posting, turns out Max did not actually say 'Hi flying bug.' He instead said 'High five, boks,' common mistake..).

What dada does at work and other stories

We were driving in the car and Max said something that I couldn't hear.  I turned down the music and said 'what?' to which he yelled 'POOPIE! EXCUSE ME!' and then I smelled it..... He was right..

I asked Max what dada does, to which Max replied 'Sitting.' Then I asked him what dada does at work and he said 'Play.' Hmm, interesting..

At church Max loves to go to the sanctuary. While we're there he runs up and down the stairs, looks at everything and is just so excited to be there. In that enormous room Max has discovered one little spot where if you jump up and down, it makes a different sound than the rest of the room. Who notices that?! Max does.. While he's doing that he comments on the sound by saying 'Music.' (I am foreseeing music lessons in the future).

I asked him what he wants to do tomorrow, he said 'Trick or Treat!' Had a little to much fun this Halloween..

Max was playing and a fly kept flying around his head, then I heard him say: 'Hi bug flying.' 

Max had a lot of goodbyes before going to bed today; 'bye Ipad,' 'bye kitchen,' bye dada's books,' bye mommy's phone,' bye Micky,' bye Goofy,' bye Duck,' bye light off,' bye Monster song,' bye bye. 

Bye Max :-)

Huh?

Me: "Old MacDonald had a farm, hia hia ho, and on that farm he had a"...

Max: "Zebra!"

Me: "Uhhh oke, hia hia, hoo, and a (insert zebra sound) here and a (more zebra sound) there, hia hia hoo"...

Good niiiiiiiiiiight

Max made his own song! It goes like this:

Good niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight Ernie,
good niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiht Bert,
good niiiiiiiiiiiiiight Cooky,
good niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight Dr. Phil,
good niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight Nicole,
good niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight Jenny!

Funny talks

This morning Max said or did something that made me laugh. Max responded to my laughing by giving me the loudest fake laugh ever accompanied by the words 'FUNNY,' 'FUNNY,' 'FUNNY.' Ehm yes funny....

When we got to school, a lady walked by and Max said 'Bye bye OMA.' Probably a good thing she does not know what oma means since she did not look that old. Or it's a compliment to his real oma's :-).

Then when he walked into the class room, I heard him say 'I want pizza' right before I walked out, huh?

He says that at home when he's hungry, he'll point at the oven and say: 'I want pizza.' As if that's the only thing we feed him!

Louisiana love

I have been meaning to post something about our new home state, but in between adjusting, visitors and new explorations it's been hard to find the time. So many new experiences! Moving to Louisiana has been great for Michael, Max and myself. Life for us is just so much better and easier down here, I don't even know where to begin: the weather, the city, the restaurants, the art, the people, the culture, the music, the food, the nature. This place is bursting with it all. And I may have found my new favorite city: New Orleans, wow! That place deserves a posting in itself. For now, here are a few pictures, because Max is tired of looking at the old ones. I stole them from my parents and sister's camera since I have barely taken any pictures myself, Nicole is not in there since she did not have any pictures to steal, but she was here visiting as well. I will post updates soon!

 His favorite pictures: Oma in bathing suit.

 The funniest word ever: COOKIE!

 We are so happy with our new house! It's beautiful!

 Hot weather, so lots of ice cream.

Dada and Ack.

 Tried to climb out during the ride yelling 'all done,' 'all done,' 'all done.'

 Lunch at Guiseppe's, they have Carpaccio!

 One of our favorite new pass times: looking at the old airplanes.

 Throwing coins in the 'wahee' at Starbucks on Line, making wishes for everyone.

 Visiting little book stores in cute little old streets. Aaah, the history down here!

 And then there's the food..

 And the beautiful porches!

 And Bourbon Street, what can I say. It makes you see and do the craziest things. 

Like ending up with a microphone in your hand on stage singing Nelly "Ride with me" in front of a full bar. There is something in the air in New Orleans, I tell you!

3 years old tomorrow

 How I love you..

so so much!!

Neighbors

Lots to post about our new home and city and I will do so soon,  but I wanted to share something else first.

Meeting our new neighbors and an email from the realtor made me think of our former neighbors back in Minot. A friendly elderly couple who kept mostly to themselves. Every winter when the snow would hit and cover the city, our sidewalk would magically clear itself (all 5 winters we were there). One day we caught the secret snow shoveler (or in our case blower) and it turned out to be that neighbor. While cleaning his own sidewalk he did ours as well, never said a word about it, just did it. I have always appreciated his secret help. Not only did he save us the work, but also there were times when it was just me or just me and Max and it was comforting to know he was there.

We have moved in the meantime and Minot has been hit by some harsh winter weather; extreme cold and lots of snow. Our realtor e-mailed us that 'somebody' has been taking care of our sidewalk since we left. I know who that somebody is, it is my sweet neighbor once again, still secretly helping us.