johnny appleseed learns to ride a bike
Today I picked up Johnny Appleseed from preschool. Mom: "Hi, Max! How was school?"
Max: "I'm not Max. I'm Johnny Appleseed."
Mom: "Did the kids like the snack you took to class today, Johhny Appleseed?"
Max: "Yup. Just the Starbursts. Not the applesauce. I can't like that, Mom."
Also, Johnny Appleseed learned to ride his bike yesterday. The amazing thing is that he never learned to ride a bike with training wheels because the training wheels on the bike were bent. He was content to ride his little hot wheels. So Dad went out and bought some new training wheels to put on the bike. But it would be a few days before he could put them on, so Mom decided to see what he could do without them. Johnny Appleseed is a very quick learner.
Max: "I'm not Max. I'm Johnny Appleseed."
Mom: "Did the kids like the snack you took to class today, Johhny Appleseed?"
Max: "Yup. Just the Starbursts. Not the applesauce. I can't like that, Mom."
Also, Johnny Appleseed learned to ride his bike yesterday. The amazing thing is that he never learned to ride a bike with training wheels because the training wheels on the bike were bent. He was content to ride his little hot wheels. So Dad went out and bought some new training wheels to put on the bike. But it would be a few days before he could put them on, so Mom decided to see what he could do without them. Johnny Appleseed is a very quick learner. 
I'm not quite sure how this became tradition, but for the past 3 years, we've sort of found ourselves back at the Utah State Fair. I'm not sure why. The crowd is sketchy. The place is filthy. The food is all deep fried and over priced. The smells are..well...imagine livestock mixed with beer and funnel cake. But year after year, there we are. Of course, Max is a big fan. He loves the rides. We have to make sure that we hit the animal barns first, otherwise it would be the mini-helicopters for about 3 hours. 
The verdict is still out on whether it was the ride or a sick stomach, but Luke was throwing up dairy all over the place for the hour following the helicopter ride. Did we have a change of clothes? Of course not. Did he throw up milk all over his car seat? Yes, yes he did. Was I tempted to bathe everyone in a bath full of bleach when we got home? Absolutely.
Max was a champ and once the assistant showed Max the vacuum sucker and the cookie toothpaste, he was all in.
He and Luke enjoyed the Cars movie for about 5 minutes, after which they were more interested in all the mechanical stuff and the balloons.
I'm pretty sure Luke would have let them do whatever they wanted to him too. He was having a great time!
Good news is Max has all of his teeth. Bad news is he had one big cavity and two little ones starting. This was not at all a surprise to us given the occurrence of his current brushing regiment.
Ms. Tina did a great job of engaging the kids with play dough as the parents left. All that excitement turned to a little apprehension as I was leaving, but when I picked him up he ran out the door, said "Hi Mom!" and climbed into the car like he had been doing it for years. When we got in the car, he let out a big sigh and said, "Mom, I love my school." 
There are so many things we love about this little guy right now. One of them being his adorable chubs...just look at that belly. We love how everything jiggles, even his cheeks, when he runs. (If only that were cute forever...)
Luke loves the water, but he is very stubborn and very independent and doesn't want any help which makes pools very frustrating for a mom of a 3.5 year old who thinks he's a fish and and 18 mo. old who believes he's invincible. He pretty much doesn't want our help with anything these days and demonstrates so both vocally and physically.
We have been really quite surprised at the manifestations of his personality. Unlike his older brother, this one wakes up happy and ready for the day. He is very friendly, especially in grocery stores where he wins the affections of many moms and elderly women. He is wild and crazy and loves to wrestle. He is our cuddle bug and loves to tuck his arms and snuggle and give kisses. 
His pleasant and friendly 
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He is very good at folding arms for prayer, and saying Amen. He can point out Jesus and knows that he has "
We finally figured out all the ways we screwed up our first child and as a result, Luke is a dream sleeper. Generally he naps well and sleeps through the night, and has for many many months. Likewise he is adapting to nursery at a much faster rate as we have learned the value in the drop off, leave, and wait method. So far it's working and each week his is crying less. We feel so blessed to have this little guy in our family. He is so funny and tries to get people to laugh. What a ham! (In many ways...) 
It's no secret that Max generally has a dislike for dogs he is not familiar with. However, if he knows the dog and is comfortable with the dog, then he really likes the dog. Carrie's Labradoodle, Sunny, hasn't made the best impression on Max, with her hyper personality and incessant barking. If Carrie and Brandon are visiting at Jolea's or Nana's, Max's first question is "Is Sunny in her kennel?" On the other hand, Max is a fan of Rowdy, Jolea's much calmer mutt dog. So naturally Max's prayers one night went something like this: "...and blessing Rowdy, (pause...opening his eyes like he had just been inspired))...BUT not SUNNY!" 
Max's vocabulary is growing...he regularly asks for his "wim soup"--pictured above. You can't go to the splash park without a wim soup you know. He loves the water and is so proud that he can put his face under the water. Current favorite word: "Awesome".
Our Max has such an innocence about him. We've noted that he is no respecter of persons. Everyone can be his friend. While many of the little kids around him already know how to exclude others, Max just doesn't get it. He has no prejudices and loves everyone. There are two little 5 year old girls that live on our street. They are usually pretty sweet with Max and one day they were riding their scooters down the street. Max gave them a wave and a giant "Hello", then looked at me and said "Mom, those are my girls." 
Our own Elephant Man. Mosquitoes were the offenders. A few miner bites in the early evening resulted in massive swells. He was quite the spectacle.
The next morning the forehead swelling had gone down but apparently the mosquito venom had traveled to his eyelid. He came in my room early Sunday morning and said "Mom...wake up! My eye falled!" It was almost completely swollen shut. I told him to go look in the mirror. He just stood there staring in disbelief for about 30 seconds to which he then responded, "Ughm, my eye is very sleepy." 
Max still obsesses over mowing the lawn...everyone's lawn. He has lawnmower radar and will wake up mid sleep if he hears someone out mowing their yard. We are blessed to have such great neighbors who kindly oblidge his obsession and let him mow or weedeat right along side them. We joke that we should throw him a birthday party and just invite Nate, Krista, Matt, Kristen, Lindy, Jeremy, Sarah, Mike...all the adults on our street. He loves them and considers them his close friends. 
Max is very observant. If you think he isn't watching, you're wrong. He has the best memory too. He can remember stores we've only been to one time, where they are, and what we bought there. He remembers places and people too. He really loves to watch and do what the grown-ups do. A little mimic this one is. Today he got in his little toy car and told me "Mom, I'm going to work. I'm Dad." Other times, it's "I'm going home teacher!" 
