Snips and puppy dog tails

It has been a very hectic few weeks. Maddox had a fairly serious run-in with Baxter... and BB won. Maddox was taunting him with a tshirt and Baxter snipped and caught his nose. We freaked! It looked so awful! We have been trying to keep them seperate since then and that has helped. We just think that BB can't handle the craziness of a two year old since he is getting older and his heart isn't doing well. The nose is healing well though. There is a bit of a scar, but I am confident that it will fade away shortly.
Maddox had his tongue snipped last week for his tongue-tie. It really wasn't that big of a deal once it was all over, but it was hard to go through. They put him under concious sedation and we had to watch him during that. It was very disturbing to watch him be drugged like that. I never want to see him in that condition again. He was a total trooper though. He healed quickly and was asking for salty crackers the next day! We have seen him extend his tongue a bit further than before, so we are hopeful that it will provide some amount of improvement for his speech and future.
This past weekend we went out on Mom's boat and Maddox swam in the lake! He did so well. The water was a bit cold for him... he is used to 90 degree water at swim class. Then on Sunday we went to a friend's house that has a heated pool. Maddox was loving it and spent the entire time swimming around by himself in his life jacket (I was within arms reach of course). He also climbed up on the diving board all by himself and JUMPED!!! Yes, at 2 years old, our little guy is jumping off of diving boards!! It was amazing! Who knows, maybe Aaron and I have a future of sitting in pool areas watching a diver or competitive swimmer one day!!

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs

So the other day we are in the car and Aaron and I have slushees. We are taking turns letting Maddox have some. Well, one time on Daddy's turn Maddox felt he was taking a bit too long so he started signing "share". At least he understands the concept!!

Tonight we were eating dessert. Maddox and Aaron shared a biscotti and I had some ice cream. Maddox insisted that I share with him, so I did of course. About 2/3 of the way through, he signed "all done". I say "Maddox, you are all done with ice cream?" He shakes his head no and points matter-of-factly at me. Apparently, I was all done and the rest was for him! :-)

One other cute moment... Maddox started associating anything from Disney's Cars movie with boo-boos after seeing the movie and the scene where they wreck. Well, tonight we were playing with his shake-em cars that you shake to make them drive. These ones have the hoods and the doors that open when they wreck. When that happened, Maddox signed boo-boo and went up to kiss the car. I think, if he was able to, he would bestow kisses on every peice of Cars merchandise too!

Here is a list of the signs that Maddox knows and uses now:
More, eat, drink, sleepy, bed, home, fish, bird, dog, kitty, horse, share, boo-boo, thirsty, hungry, cheese, cookie, ice cream, cracker, nurse, play, read, book, please, thank you, sorry, in, out, time, baby, car, bike, train, rabbit, plane, dirty, grass, ball, potty, boat, surprise, brush teeth, all done, help, mine, shoes, socks, apple, candy

Here is a list of the words he is saying:
Daddy, doggy, mommy, bite, bike, num num (nurse), bye-bye, hi, mine, ducky

Mommy... you moron

There are many times in parenthood when you question whether or not you are doing things right... well this time the answer was a resounding "NO you idiot!!".
Over time, Maddox has begun going to bed later and later. I am sure that this is because Aaron and I are night owls, Aaron works a lot, and we are often busy until late with swimming or gymboree etc. Maddox finally hit the point where he wasn't going to bed until 10:30 or so.
The chaos level in the house had started hitting an unmanageable pace recently. If felt like Maddox hit the terrible twos with a vengence and we were in for a crazy ride. Every night at 7:30 he would turn into the tazmanian devil. He would run around crazily, scream, laugh, cry. He would go from happy and content to angry and frustrated and back. We couldn't figure it out. Finally we thought to ourselves, maybe he needs to go to bed early tonight. So, at 8:30 we shipped him off to bed. To our astonishment, he didn't take too long to fall asleep. We had thought that he would be up fighting it for hours. And he stayed asleep... and he was pleasant the next day!! So... he is still two, there is no doubt about it, but he is a lot less "devil" in the evenings and a lot more enjoyable. We don't claim to always be the smartest folks around... or the fastest.

Maddox speaks!

It has been TOO long since my last post. But this has been a BUSY wild and crazy month! First of all... we have gotten back two of our favorite words! As you might know, Maddox started talking at 12 months old and by 14 months would say "Daaaeeee" and "Doooeeee" with so much gusto! But we lost those words within about 2 months and didn't get any knew ones. This is what started our journey with the First Steps Program and his speech therapy. Well, after about 5 months and the work of a WONDERFUL therapist (Miss Mary), we have those two awesome words back. There isn't that from-the-gut gusto yet, but there is still excitement! And we have a few more words now too! He is saying hi, bye, momma, b-b (baxter), and mine. We have heard help, go, and mommy a few times. A big part of his progress is due to our use of American Sign Language. He knows at LEAST 75 signs and using at least 50 himself. He is totally in love with the Signing Time DVD collection and it has been our saving grace! It has helped so much with his frustration being able to sign his wants and needs. My heart melted when we were in the car the other day and Maddox wanted his foot wiped off. After I did it, he looked at me with a BIG smile and signed "Thank you". ALL BY HIMSELF! It was so neat! He is starting to sign "Sorry" too. It is wonderful to see him learning manners and how to show care even without "words".
On top of these wonderful developments, Maddox seems to be cutting those 2 year old molars. Yesterday, he pointed to his cheek and signed "hurt". I was so proud of him for figuring out how to share that he was in pain! And when I told him I was sorry, he signed sorry and then thank you. I can't wait to see what his little mind has to say. I know that I won't always like what comes out of that cute little mouth, but I still can't wait to hear it.