Mav is 17 months big!

Oh my precious boy! Where did my snuggly cuddly little bundly babe go? You are a big boy now! A toddler, barreling full speed around the house...running, climbing, jumping. You almost give me a heart attack at least once a day! You climb the chairs on the patio to get on to the table out there and walk around it, clapping and talking. You get in and out of the trampoline yourself with the chair we put there for your big sister to use. You pull up your chair to the kitchen counter and stand there watching me while I work. Figure out where everything is. Then when I am upstairs you go and get your chair and take it to the drawer you saw me in and what was in there and you go and dig everything out. Even buckled in, you often find a way to stand up in your high chair. You are like a Houdini! You love to run right now, when you do you always have a huge grin on your face and sort of pull your chin in to your neck and look all tense like you are bracing yourself. It looks like you are having the time of your life with that smile when you run. You love to wrestle, you still come give me lovins but lots of the time now if I am sitting on the floor with you guys you will come over and try and shove me and that tells me you want to fight and wrestle. You love it when i push you away from me and then you try and "get" me again, I push you off of me, you come back, and on and on.

When we are trying to build things with Tula, you LOVE to destroy them. Lately Tula likes to play "cups" and we get a bunch of the plastic red drinking cups from the pantry so she can stack them and make a "wall". AS soon as she is two rows high we physically have to hold you back, you cannot resist running over there and kicking them all down to hear a big loud crash. Same with blocks. And anything else stackable for that matter. You love weapons! You throw your toys at my head (in fairness, you are just trying to be funny and have to be taught that these things aren't okay so we are working on that one. You love anything "stickish" (foam baseball bat, plastic golf club, measuring stick) and you walk around the house swinging it.

So have I made you sound "all boy" enough yet, Son? Well wait, the list goes on. And if you read this between the ages of, oh 10 and 20, you are probably going to want to kill your mother for writing this about you, but you LOVE your penis! You are always trying to hold it. Always with your hands in the pants. Watching tv, grabbing yourself when I change diapers. The best is when I give you your bottle and you slip your little hand in there. I don't think you are actually grabbing anything, you like to just let your thumb hang over the top of your diaper and your hand almost rest on your belly. Like the big boys all do. John really doesn't do this so I don't know where it comes from but I am not gonna lie, it's sorta cute.

This month, Maverick got his first real haircut. We took him to a place up by my parents house that had the little car to sit in and play with the steering wheel, look at the tv, etc. Basically, the place that charges and insane amount of money (I think $20 is A LOT to cut a baby's hair). But I will say, it worked perfectly, and I concede, it's a fabulous idea. He sat there the entire time, didn't make a peep, TOTALLY distracted by everything going on around him. I had sworn forever that I wasn't going to cut Mav's curls, but the problem became that his curls were no longer curly, the length of the hair was weighing them down and flattening them and he just had this big flop of hair on the top of his head. The stylist cut it pretty short and although he was already such a "big boy", the new haircut basically took away any of the final resemblances of a baby that were left. Maverick looked like such a little stud with the clean cut look! Of course I fell in love with it right away, although I think I am going to try and grow it a little longer, and just clean it up around the ears myself from time to time. We'll see how that goes.

Right now, Maverick is obsessed with The Wiggles. As soon as their song comes on, he shakes his fingers and dances. Wiggles and Mickey are really the only two shows that the kids watch, and they have certain times of the day that they get to (before nap and bed time) but Mav will point to the tv any time of the day and ask for "Wig-O, Wig-O" and try and do a little finger shake dance.

Mav says "Amen" when we pray at dinner. All serious-like. Big man.

Maverick had decided that "Papa" is is best friend in the whole wide world. My dad cannot be around Maverick without Maverick standing at his feet, arms outstretched, "up,up,up". My dad is really goo with taking Mav around exploring, he doesn't just pick him up and hold him. Lots of times, they go do something or take a look in a tool box or go outside and see the moon. And Mav knows this and he loves exploring with his Papa so he can't be around him without being in his arms. It is so special to me to see him so attached. I happen to think my dad is a great guy to love:)

Maverick still loves to snuggle before bedtime. Loves books. A favorite right now is "Panda Bear, Panda Bear" and "My First Truck Book". We are on day two of no bottle and its actually going pretty well. I guess thats not totally true, I did give him one this morning only because he actually is already saying "bottle, bottle" when i go in to get him in the mornings. And it gets me five more minutes of sleep. But I am going to do my best to try and get rid of that morning one too. I think that he is finally ready and a bottle free house is seemingly right around the corner.

Oh Maverick, how many different ways can I tell you that I am head over heels in love with you. My Son, your laugh and smile and eyes and love take my breath away. You are a treasure to me. Thank you for your perfect love.