all the things you can do

Kelby and I were apparently holding Max back from advancement because when we came back from Madrid, he was practically having conversations.

Max will at least attempt to say most words you ask him to try. For example I'll ask him to say "grandpa" and he'll say "Bam-pa." I'd consider that some serious progress. 

He can now say "bye-bye" and "hi" which he does to literally every moving thing.

He saw the mailman walking outside his window right before naptime and started waving. 

"How big is Maxi?"

"SO BIG!"

And he at least tries to help you with every thing. He's been sticking his arms through his shirts as I get him dressed and wiggling out of his clothes in the morning. It's the cutest thing! 

Aunt Melly and Grandma worked on saying 'more' and 'please' with his hands which he does with fer-vor when he wants something. With the more motion, he crinkles up his little nose and eagerly pounds those little fingers together. His sign of the cross has evolved into what my sister calls the seat belt motion. He goes from one side of his chest to the other 3 times and then folds his hands with an "AAAY-MEEN" repeated once or twice for extra graces. Most of time he'll do the whole grace before meals if we don't put his food on his tray until after.

When we were in Madrid, we found ourselves sitting next to a group from Australia. In true homesick mommy form, I whipped out the camera to show their group leader a picture of Max. He shared how he had just made a speech at his daughter's 21st birthday party (apparently Aussies make speeches at their children's 21st parties instead of buying them shots). He said, in this fabby accent, "You know how you go in there when their asleep and you call your spouse in and genuinely admire and watch them breathe? You say, 'Honey come in and see. She's breathing!' Then you both coo over them for minutes." I wholeheartedly agreed and started to tear up. Then he said, "I still feel that way about my daughter, 21 years later." The floodgates opened up and I just wanted to squeeze my baby tight in my arms. Kelby and I grabbed hands and whispered how much we missed Max.

We missed listening to him sing himself to sleep in his crib. We missed watching him read books to himself and point out kitties when he'd see anything with a tail. We even missed getting up with him at 6:30 on the dot and rolling out of bed to make that same ole oatmeal. It was really, really hard being away from him and more than once we would silently look at one another and know that the other was missing him too.

Max was in such good hands and we are so grateful to our family for loving him so much for us. But it has been so good to be home.