this little guy...

I've been thinking about Max a lot lately...  Today he is 19 months old.  Oh how the time flies!

Here are some things to note about this little guy as he begins his 20th month in the world.  

Max loves binkies.  In fact, binkies are his "comfort" object.  If he's tired or having a tough moment, sometimes I give him a bowl full of binkies and he lies on the floor in - what we call - "binkie heaven."  

Binkie (and packing peanut) Heaven

He also hides his binkies now and we find them in funny places.  Like our mailbox.

Wait... what's that in the mailbox??

A blue binkie!

Max says all kinds of things.  Some of our current favorites:  o-meal (oatmeal), ba-pack (backpack), pancake, horsey poop, moise (mouse), Moits (Max)

He hates having his hair cut (by me).  For this reason, his hair is always a work in progress.  Some nights I can only get one side cut.

He loves loves loves tractors (sometimes he says "tractor" in his sleep).

He also loves HIKING.  Really.  He hikes.  Sometimes with a walking stick he finds on his own.  Lately we take him into the forest every day and he hikes for at least forty minutes.  Then we have to drag him out. 

   

And those are just some current Max Facts.  In case you were wondering.

joyeux anniversaire, barbara!

Saturday night was Barbara's birthday.  We celebrated in typical Chilean fashion - great friends and tons of food!  It was excellent.  Happy Birthday, Barbara!

Barbara receiving birthday wishes from all over the globe...

The ladies... and Brook.

Who loves her husband???

this is why i love paris...

Last weekend we spent Sunday morning in the Luxembourg Gardens.  What an amazing place...

 

Click here to see more of our Luxembourg Gardens photos.

then and now...

The first 18 months of Max's life have absolutely flown by.  I can't help being awed by how quickly babies turn into little children.  When we arrived in France, Max looked like this:

January 27, 2008

And now, we have this little boy running the show around here:

August 27, 2008

Incredible.

ps - Click here to see some photos of our first days back in France.

lifeguard off duty...

One afternoon at the beach we took these photos of Max.  Somehow we captured the beauty of the day and the whimsy and adventure of being one-and-a-half perfectly.  There were so many good (though a little repetitive) photos that I gave them their own little album which you can link to below.

Click here to see the Lifeguard Chair series.

landmark event...

Fine.  Some people might think we waited too long... 

But the photos don't do it justice.  Max's blonde curls were so beautiful, it was almost impossible to cut them.  Only eventually he started looking less and less like an adorable baby and more and more like he was slightly deranged.  

And so in several phases, we cut the curls.  

It's been almost a month since this "after" photo and I'm surprised to see the curls again (I thought it would just grow out straight).  I guess the hairdo for Max will be a work in progress.  Thanks to those of you who realize my courage in cutting the baby hair...