Energy, Thy Name Is Max

Max has long been a fan of climbing, and has become so adept at it that I expect to find him hanging from the ceiling any day now. I'm not joking, either -- he climbed from the kitchen chair to the kitchen table today, and was just beginning to scale the bookshelves when he was apprehended. In an effort to satisfy Max's mountain-goat-like tendencies, I have begun taking him on a tour of the Davis playgrounds. I keep steering him towards the baby climbing structures (not entirely unreasonable, since he is, in fact, a baby), but he is having none of that. He feels very secure in his ability to climb to the highest peaks of the most sophisticated structures known to park-kind. The fact that this security has no basis in reality dents it not even slightly. After removing a wailing, infuriated Max from several playgrounds after his desire to go down slides and leap over high ledges proved too much for me to squelch, I called in reinforcements. Max is now only allowed to go to playgrounds if there are no large climbing structures, or if I can bring at least one, and ideally two or three, other adults with me. Ian, Ian's parents and I all banded together to take Max to the park near Ian's parents' house the other day. The mission was a success in the sense that we all had fun, although it did not noticeably dampen Max's enthusiasm for climbing the furniture afterwards.

Max throws himself into sliding with a passion that must be seen to be believed. He starts saying "more! more!" before he has even reached the bottom.

This slide is kind of weird. It is made up of stuck-together tubes. Ian tried sliding down with Max a few times, but found the consequent bum-massage a little disturbing. Max's diaper padding and aforementioned passion for sliding allowed him to enjoy the slide in spite of the tubes.

If you think that all that action subdued Max, let this picture disabuse you of the notion. I don't know how Ian's parents managed to get this shot, but I love it. Even when his wee knees were trembling with exhaustion, Max kept staggering around, trying to get to the slides and saying, "more! more!" in an increasingly weary voice.