We had ourselves a merry little Christmas

Max's first Christmas was absolutely awesome. The proof is below in the many great pictures that Grandpa Gary took of all of us. Many thanks to him, Grandma Patti, Auntie Noelle and Uncle Jason for making it a very merry Christmas... and to Great Nana Ridley for the special holiday outfit!

Twas the night before Christmas

And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even our Max

A chip off the ol' block

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Still time to ask Santa for an Aquarium membership?!

We spent Saturday morning with our friends Ben, Mindy and little Ellie at the Seattle Aquarium. Neither Elisa or I had been there since we were kids and the memories were of a cold, damp and dark building with an otter or two and some goldfish.

Ben had raved about how great the recently renovated Aquarium was for toddlers and boy, was he right! The pictures below say it all.

Something's fishy.

Ellie, Ben & the Grape

Max has no fear and plunges in hand first.

Starfish nirvana.

Putting the touch in touch tank.

Maxwell's silver hammer in an octopus' garden.
(A tip of the cap to all the Beatles fans reading the blog)

The smiles say it all. We'll be back at the Aquarium soon!

Max-imum overdrive

Here's a video highlight from this morning of Max walking with a little assistance from his push toy. He just up and did about a week or two ago for Elisa.

Could unaided steps be far behind?

What's up, doc?

Onward and upward

O Hai, Frosty!

Max made a new friend at our friends, the Cartys, annual holiday party up on their property on Whidbey Island. We also picked out the grape's first X-mas tree. Photos soon!

Must have the precious

The Golden Child

Elisa's bff/Max's Auntie Noelle returned from a business trip in China with a special present for our little Buddha. He kind of looks like an extra from the Opening Ceremonies from last year's Olympics.

What Max is thankful for

A Thanksgiving turkey bigger than him.

Great grandparents!

Getting to play the role of maître d’.

May I show you to your high chair?

An amazing home-cooked meal with family and friends.

Fingers full of mommy's delicious sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and stuffing

But most of all, we're all thankful for mommy, who not only spent a week planning and preparing our Thanksgiving meal, but is just plain awesome.

All I want from for Thanksgiving is my two bottom teeth

Just in time for the biggest eating day of the year, Max has sprouted some teeth. There is one starting to show along the bottom and another is just about to break through.

As you may know, it's difficult to photograph new baby teeth in the wild. So we've chosen to depict Max's new pearly whites with two upside down white "v's," which also makes him look like one of those hip Twilight vampires.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

9-month checkup

The doctor says Max looks fantastic, but his weight is actually down over the last 6 weeks. He's now below the charts on weight, 75th percentile in head size and in the 25th percentile in height.

The doctor is having us redouble our efforts to plump up our grape. Max will now get cream in his baby food and we have a whole list of recommended high-calorie meals for him.

Heck, we may even replace Max's formula with gravy on Thanksgiving. Kidding.