Maxine Observations pt. 2

As I said, Maxine's first birthday is quickly approaching, October 5th.

"Oh no! Not another birthday! I'm getting old!"

Just last night Horyon and I were talking about how much she has changed during this year. She has become more independent, taller, more capable of getting into mischief, and somehow more beautiful. I didn't think it was possible, but somehow she has. Maybe it's the teeth. Anyway, here are some more observations on her recent behavior, together with pictures.

-She has been sleeping clear through the night for a couple of weeks now, since we put her back in her room. I've had to get up about once every two or three nights when she wakes up crying, but putting her back to sleep has mostly been a matter of plugging the pacifier back into her mouth and laying her down if she is sitting up. (I just did this a few minutes ago, inspiring me to tempt fate by writing about how she sleeps through the night. Wish me luck.)

-She is becoming accustomed to being with me again. I know it doesn't look like it in this picture, but it's true! She really likes me! She just looks grumpy because she just woke up here! Anyway, during summer vacation I didn't get much time alone with Maxine. She was either with Horyon's parents, at home with Horyon, or at home with both of us. She didn't stop liking me or anything, but it became hard for me to comfort her, and I was often the last choice of whom she wanted to be with. Now we spend mornings together, and we are becoming buds again.

-She is eating more food than milk. Horyon works hard to make special food for Maxine. She shops for organically grown vegetables and rice, she spends a couple of evenings each week cooking, bagging and freezing meals for her.

Bring on the broccoli, sucka!

Each time she cooks the rice just a little bit less, and the last batch was made with regularly cooked rice, so Maxine has something to chew on. She still tends to eat like a cat, chomp-chomp-gulp, but there is more chewing going on all the time.

-She is very amused when I hold something in my mouth, like one of her toys. Sometimes I play dog, and wrestle things away from her. Hilarious, if you are Maxine.

-She waves when I say "Hello Baby!" or "Bye-bye Baby!" It's the cutest wave, with a funny little flick of the wrist sometimes. And if she is holding something, it becomes part of the wave.
Of course, it's not quite as cute when she gets that Schwarzenegger gleam in her eye and says, "I'll be back."

-She doesn't mind being in the living room by herself, as long as she knows that one of us is nearby. She will sometimes ignore me while she is playing, but never Horyon. Once again, the person with the boobs gets the attention.

-Maxine loves her Granpa Kang. No matter how bad her mood, when he shows up she is all smiles. She has him wrapped around her little finger, and they both seem happy with the arrangement.

-She enjoys getting into the kitchen cabinet under the pull-out counter. We keep some stuff in there that she can play with. A few bowls, some boxes of tea bags, my few treasured boxes of Jello, and some plastic containers. At any given time, most of the items listed above aren't actually in the cabinet, but spread around the floor in the kitchen and living room.

On a final note, I sort of captioned a couple of these baby pictures, and I apologize for that. Captioning baby photos is like keeping a vagrant chained up in your basement: once or twice is OK, but more than that and you are getting into a seriously bad habit.

I'm afraid to post this, so close on the heels of two previous posts. Usually after doing that I slack off. But if I don't post it now, I might forget about it and post after Maxine's birthday, when I will have lots to write about, I'm sure. So it goes up.