Oh, The Wonderful Things Mr. Max Can Do

It's crazy how babies can go along for a couple of weeks at roughly the same developmental plateau, and then make sudden, enormous leaps all at once. Last night, before our very eyes, Max did three major things that he has never done before. It reminded me of that scene in "2001" when the monolith comes down, and suddenly the apes start developing complex problem-solving skills at an accelerated rate. (How long have I been married to Ian, that this is the comparison I think to draw?)Here are the three things Max now knows how to do (prepare to be amazed, everybody):

1)He knows how to say "no". Okay, he is actually saying, "na", but he only says it when expressing a negative feeling, and it clearly means "no". This is his second word. His first word was "Mama" (how much does that slay me? A lot, is the answer). I'm hoping he doesn't string his two words together to form his first sentence, telling me 'no'.

2) He knows how to CRAWL. Sorry, Grandpa Al. Max got up on hands and knees, moved up to standing on tiptoe (like doing a push-up), and actually took a couple of full-on steps forward on all fours.

3) He knows how to stand up. While Ian and I were marveling over the crawling, and scrambling to get the camera, Max put both hands on the nursing stool, pulled himself to a sitting position, pushed off to a full stand, and even let go and stood unaided for a second before keeling over. Ian and I were completely flabbergasted. Max's granny has claimed that he has stood up before, but since it only seemed to happen when he was sitting on her lap, I figured she was cheating a little. This, however, I witnessed with my own eyes, and there can be no mistake.

Even he was a little stunned by all the milestones. He got so excited that it was impossible to get him to do anything else for at least an hour. He didn't want to nurse, he didn't want to sit and play, and he scoffed at the idea of bedtime (it was nine thirty at night when all of this began). He practiced pushing up to sit, then to stand, then to crow delightedly, over and over and over and over, until tiredness finally overwhelmed the warm glow of accomplishment.

We did take some crawling video, and we are going to try to post it today or tomorrow. It doesn't have the standing up, but it has the push-ups, and one or two scoots forward on hands and knees. Stay tuned!