Now one thing I’ve found about breakfast places is that they tend to be small, cramped, and quiet. Not the ideal environment for a toddler who likes to yell and bang spoons against the table. The place we found fit this mold, but luckily had an open outdoor table. And that outdoor table had all these little holes in it as part of the design, which Maddox, straw in hand, found absolutely fascinating. Dropping a straw through those holes kept him entertained for about thirty minutes straight.

After breakfast we got back in the car and drove to Rye Beach. We found parking about a quarter mile away, which in the past was nothing but now with a baby and his accruements meant a decent trek. We finally arrived, put Mads down on the sand … and he started wailing. We’d actually tried this one before briefly, and he had the same response. So things weren’t looking good.

I figured we had just lugged all this stuff and eventually Maddox had to get tired of crying. Leanne was a bit more proactive and sat down with him and showed him how much fun sand could be. After another minute or two, he realized she was right and for the next hour he had a blast. I think the best thing about this for him was the fact that he could just walk non-stop without us having to pick him up to avoid all the dangers he might normally run into (darn Nature and her lack of babyproofing!).

One of the other things he enjoyed was us digging him a hole, which he would sit in, cross his legs, and then let out a contented sigh.

He didn’t really love the water though, perhaps partially due to the fact that it was probably about 35 degrees cooler than the air. So later on when we were home, we setup the water table his grandparents bought him for his birthday, and he had a great time splashing with that.

That changed on Thursday when we picked up Maddox early from daycare with a temperature of 101. Nothing dangerous, but enough to have him stay at home. We expected the temperature to disappear after 24 hours like it did in the past, but instead it lasted all the way until Tuesday morning. Long enough that the doctor actually wanted to see him in the office to do some basic tests. One more day and they would have done a blood test!

It was tough to see Mads be so unlike himself. I worked from home on Monday, and at one point early in the morning he pulled out his favorite book, sat in a corner, and just stared at it for almost five minutes straight. When we put him down at night, he would actually lie on his back in his crib and listen as we read to him, something he hasn’t done since he learned how to stand up! He was also extremely clingy (which admittedly was kind of nice). The worst part was his cough, because every time he would cough he would cry after, and you wish you could explain to him what was going on.

Yesterday, all his symptoms seemed nearly gone, but he was pretty much inconsolable all morning and wouldn’t stop crying, so Leanne stayed at home to watch him. And he napped for nearly six hours! So we’re thinking that all this sickness led to a lack of sleep, which led to a rather grumpy mood.

This morning though, he seemed nearly his same self, except for a new penchant for throwing anything he could get his hands on. But even mischievous behavior like that is welcome after the past six days! He even was feeling up to dancing last night, which at this point for him means moving his legs around really quickly and occasionally waving his hands.

It also was a good test to see how he’d fare on a longer road trip, and he did wonderfully! We left around 9:30 in the morning, just at his nap time, and so he slept for the first hour and a half.

We stopped at a Mexican place for lunch. We actually ordered a whole plate of food for him, some rice and beans, before realizing that he’s not exactly at the age yet where he can down a whole plate of food like that. He loved the rice and beans though. Not a big surprise of course, as there’s still very little he actually won’t eat (besides, for some reason, blueberry waffles. Even though he likes blueberries and waffles. Who knows!). Mads was very entertained by the oversized cartoon pinatas hanging from the ceiling.

After a brief campus driving tour we ended up at a big patch of grass near the center of campus, where our goal was to wear Mads out before the ride back. He’s still immensely entertained just by walking around in circles outside. Standard procedure is for him to pick up a stick and wave it around while parading up and down the grass.

On the drive back Mads started to show a bit of frustration, so for the first time we tried out our secret weapon: the in-car DVD player. And it actually worked! At least for about 45 minutes. He occasionally lost interest, but we heard him crack up every time there was some slapstick comedy. Maddox is a big fan of physical violence, you see.

The biggest problem was that he’s not really at the age where he can use headphones, so Leanne and I got to enjoy the audio-only version of “A Bug’s Life.”

That was actually the first movie we’ve specifically put on for him, as we’re trying to avoid any unnecessary television. It was nice to see that he was entertained, but not enraptured by it.

Plus in the past few days he’s learned to stand up without the assistance of a wall, chair, cat, etc so he has pretty much complete freedom. Which makes public excursions … interesting. He’s not at the age yet where he understands the concept of holding hands and staying “in bounds.” This, coupled with the fact that he’s still not 100% sure on his feet and might go careening into a pole or curb at any moment, make outings where he goes walking a bit of a challenge. To top it off, if you do put him down, don’t plan on picking him up anytime again soon, as he tends to go ballistic when you interrupt his walking.

He does handle falls pretty well too, usually just shaking them off unless he’s tired or grump. We haven’t had a fall that’s resulted in a bruise or scrape yet, but I’m sure that’s not too far off!

He’s also very prone to imitating sounds he hears on television. For example, he makes an incredibly convincing bird of prey sound. Then the other night he did a great imitation of Barney, from the show How I Met Your Mother, laughing it up.

He isn’t just imitating sounds either. At daycare, one of the other children makes a habit out of opening the toy box, taking out a block, and then closing it again. Our daycare provider told us yesterday that even though that child wasn’t there, Maddox spent the whole day opening the toy box, taking a block out, closing it, placing the block on the table, and then repeating.

Mads also is happy to “help” Leanne with laundry, whereby he will take each piece of clean laundry out of the basket, one by one, carefully placing it on the floor. Sadly he has yet to grasp the concept of folding.

Luckily, he hasn’t started imitating any of our bad habits yet. Not like we walk around cursing or anything, but I’m certainly known to yell at the cats occasionally, and I just know that some day I’m going to hear Maddox start doing the same thing.

For father’s day, Leanne got me a shirt that says, appropriately, “Happy Dad”. Maddox got a shirt as well, which says “Happy Baby”. So we make a good pair. We went out to the Newburyport Farmer’s Market, where three people actually came up to me and told me they loved the shirt. Afterwards, we walked into downtown Newburyport and to Waterfront Park, where Maddox had his first real chance to walk around in a big area outside. He seemed overwhelmed, but in a good way, as he was just non-stop walking, walking, walking. Most surprisingly, he didn’t fall once. It’s really amazing how quickly he has gotten comfortable on his feet.

Well, we’ve certainly had one of those spurts recently – coincidentally enough, right around his first birthday. It’s getting harder and harder to refer to him as a baby because of how much he’s changing.

The biggest change has been walking. A month or so ago, Maddox took his first steps in (of all places) the bath tub. He took another few the next day, and then that was it. I think of him saying, alright, I know how to do this now, I just need to wait for my body to get the balance down.

Then near the end of last week he decided, ok, I think I’m good! And he started walking everywhere. He still stumbles and falls a lot of course, and he hasn’t learned how to stand up without the support of a couch, wall, etc, but I’m sure that is coming soon. It was really surreal last week when I was in the kitchen making breakfast, and all of the sudden I just see him turn the corner and walk into the kitchen. I’m so proud of him, but even better, he’s so proud of himself – you can just see it in his face when he walks towards you.

At the same time he’s also begun making new sounds, like “ga ga”. He’s said maybe about a dozen words since he first said “da da” six months ago, but recently it’s just been a constant stream of new sounds. He’s also started using emphasis as well. For example, when he finds a crayon he’ll beeline over to his drawing pad saying “dot dot, dot dot” (which is what Jeanne, his daycare provider, has taught him to call it) in what can best be described as an excited whisper. It’s pretty cute.

He’s started imitating more sounds too. The other night, Leanne and I were watching a cartoon where a hawk was swooping down and making a screeching cawing sound. Out of nowhere, Maddox does a dead-on impression of it.

He’s also growing in other ways, such as having stranger anxiety, which is odd to get used to since it was so non-existant until now.

Right after his birthday, we moved his crib into the bedroom that was eventually going to be his when he was old enough for a bed.

So, there’s been quite a lot of change for The Duke recently! The Duke has been Mad’s nickname ever since he started crawling. He reminded me of Marmaduke, the cartoon dog, because of the way he crawled around. Except I thought the dog’s name was Marduke. Which, of course, can be shortened to Duke. And hence Maddox became Duke, The Duke, or Baby Duke.

Usually the last sight we see before he disappears into a room

We confirmed a month or so again that Maddox’s first word was definitely “dada.” My pride of being the first object to be bestowed a name in Maddox’s world was quickly dashed though when I found out that noise is one of the easiest for a baby to make. Still, the fact that he associates it with me was pretty cool!

Of course, he tended to make the same sound in almost every other situation, including calling our cat Sam dada. The worst though is when he’s stuck in his car seat longer than usual and he starts kind of yelling it. It’s not my fault buddy!

My favorite is when he says it in a really stern voice – da DA! – like I’m doing something wrong.

Anyway, since then, Maddox has been making lots of sounds, but none of them in the required three-times-in-a-row format for them to really be considered a word he knows how to use. Until this weekend, when we can now pretty safely say he knows the word “uh oh”.

Now of course the point is that he has to use that in context, as in, “Uh oh! I’m about to do something I really shouldn’t!” But he says it almost every time he crawls.

… and almost every time he crawls, he gets into something he shouldn’t be. So I think the fact that he repeatedly announces “Uh oh! Uh oh! Uh oh!” as he skitters around on his hands and knees makes me think he’s grasped the basics of the word.

Then just a day or two ago, we had actual, legitimate, sustained crawling! Including a 90 degree turn – very impressive.

At the same time, Maddox also learned how to stand in his crib. It definitely takes some getting used to, to come into the nursery and see your baby standing and looking up at you.

Leanne has done a great job babyproofing the house, although I’m still getting used to the fact that you can turn around and – whoops – baby is pulling down your laptop.

First, now that Mads has officially passed his six month mark, he’s been hanging out in a variety of highchairs and shopping carts. I took him to Costco a couple weeks ago, which he loved. Here he is very studiously studying the 40 gallon tomato cans. I love the way he hangs onto the car. As if I’m the bad driver in the family!

Next, also a few weeks ago, Mads and I were hanging out in the car while Leanne graciously volunteered to clean up our old apartment. He happened to be in a fantastic mood (which is unusual for sitting in a parked car), and so I made some ridiculous noises which he apparently found quite funny.

Lastly, a few nights ago Maddox ate his first meal in a highchair, which is great as it means we no longer have to get oatmeal and squash all over our couches.