Max sings "Huggie Boo"

There's no getting around it ... Max is a singer. He loves it, walks around the house singing, breaks spontaneously into song at the most random times. His teachers at day care say he walks around singing all day and they are amazed that he sings in tune. And he likes plunking on his guitar and singing like a rock star, I'll post one of that soon. Meanwhile, for this little number, he shows his crooner side.

Max sings "Three Little Magnets"

Max playing with his new magnets and singing on Christmas Day 2008 during our trip to Mt. Hood.

Conversations with Max

Not only is this blog a great way to keep our far-flung families up to date with the Beene family way up here in Seattle, it's also a great way to document Max's progression from baby to toddler to little boy. To be able to look back on these days several years from now and recall his development in detail is certainly something to look forward to.

Lately, Max has become so much more loving, asking for hugs and kisses, mostly from Mommy but even Daddy gets the occasional request, which warms his heart. He's also starting to carry around and talk to stuffed animals, like his new Curious George from Uncle Dicky and Auntie April, and is developing an attachment for his pillow.

When toddlers first start talking, of course, articles like "the", "and", "or" are not part of the equation, and its not something you necessarily sit down and teach them to say. We teach them what objects are from pictures in books, who people are from photos, what things are outside the car window, etc. Yet they magically pick up the grammatical stuff that fills in the missing linking words, soaking them up from their environment. It's an amazing thing to see.

As such, here at 27 months, Max is starting to become much more conversational, responding to questions with full sentences and making rather astute out-of-the-blue observations. Here's a few things he's recently said, verbatim, that just floored me:

• "On Thursday, we go to Little Gym. On Friday, we go to pre-school. On Saturday, we go swimming!"
• "I will put my chin in the water."
• "First, I will take a bath. Then, I will take a nap."
• "Daddy cannot read the story to me. Mommy can."
• We went to a store the other day, and I said to Max, "Oh, it's closed." He replied: "The man can bring the keys and open the store."
• A fire engine went by the other day. I said to Max, "They're going to put out a fire." He said, "They have hot dogs and hamburgers?" (remembering our camping trips this past summer.)

Each day is a new "a-ha" moment with Max, and you can see in his eyes his brain working overtime to process all the things he wants to understand and say. It's a beautiful thing.

Christmas 08'

Here are some pictures of Christmas at Mt. Hood and some taken at our house. It was a wintery, fun December. We enjoyed our time at Mt. Hood and all the snow that fell in December but we're glad to have the roads clear so we can get back to our normal lives. Max loved his all of presents. Thanks so much to our wonderful families in Texas and RI for Max's gifts.

Coming up in the New Year Max starts swim lessons with Daddy and he and I will be going to a beginner Spanish class on Mondays at Meadowbrook community center.

I knock on wood that Max has only had runny noses so far this year and nothing bigger than that.

I have a few moms night out on the calender this month and that is always good for mom! I'm still playing soccer on Wednesday nights.

Happy New Year to all!