Rhombus Room

Max got this cool set of stackable rhombus's and dodecahedrons for Christmas. Sure, they're a kid's toy, but we all had fun building with them. Can you say "dodecahedron", Max?

Wooden Trike

When Grandma and Grandpa Field arrived for the second day of Christmas, Max found a wooden Radio Flyer "tricycle" waiting under the tree for him. He loves riding around the house on his new bike, which has a bell just like his Daddy's.

Call from Santa

"Finally," says Max, "a cell phone that I can call my own." He's so happy to have a phone that Mommy & Daddy don't take away when he opens it or when it rings. The phone rings by itself a few second after you close the lid, prompting giggles and a "Hi" from this happy little caller.

Christmas Hugs

For Christmas, Diamond let Max give her a big hug. Normally she keeps her distance, remembering the little baby who pulled her hair not so long ago. It's the holidays though, and she was ready to share the love.

Christmas Day

Max got a new shirt with his nickname on it. Mommy has been calling him "Peanut" since he was just a wee baby, and now he has the shirt to show it!

Christmas Eve Morning

It's Christmas Eve and Max is already getting into the gifts. Diamond's gifts, actually. Diamond found her ball and removed it from the packaging, which we found torn open in the back yard. Max found the Chuck-It Jr and immediately started following Diamond and her ball around with it. He obviously knows that this toy is for. Oh boy, just wait until tomorrow when he gets to open his own gifts!

Water Time

This is another shot from Sunday's hike to High Valley Camp. I had turned the water on for the dogs to get a drink, and Max thought this was a great opportunity to play with the faucet.

Kitchen Laughs

Here's a big smile from our little boy! He was having fun playing his kitchen tools, the salad spinner being his favorite by far.

High Valley Stroll

This weekend I took Max and dogs up the hill to High Valley Camp in Sunol. The cows were out in force in the park this day, but we had the camp all to ourselves. Max had a great time exploring and playing with the dogs.

Music Lover

I thought this picture of Max hanging on my guitar was a cute one. He really enjoys playing with it, even if he does just make up his own techniques. I'm going to have to get him a kid-sized guitar of his own someday.

Cap and Cup

Max loves to do what Daddy does, so here he is wearing Daddy's Netflix baseball cap. Now if we can just get him to wear his sunglasses too...

Walking the dog

Max loves walking Piper, and piper loves getting walks. With Max's little legs, Piper has finally found someone that he can walk faster than. That's OK with us, as it keeps Max on track as he tries to keep up.

Summer Splash-back

With December upon us, I thought it might be nice to take a quick look back at the summer fun we had. This photo is from back in July, just after Max's first birthday. He had been in swim class for a while then, so when we visited our friends with a pool he felt right at home in the water.

Late Day Son

This is another shot of Max on our Sunday evening hike in Sunol. The sun was just about to set over the hills to the west, and Max was busy running up and down the trail finding cool rocks to bring to Daddy.

Two Pals

Sunday evening I took Max and the dogs hiking high in the hills of Sunol Regional Wilderness. Here's Piper and Max exploring one side of the Vista Grande trail.

On a stroll

Today we took "the kids" out for a walk along the local creek trail. Max really enjoys riding in the stroller while the dogs walk alongside. Diamond loves to chase the ball, and Piper is happy just trying to keep up.

Thanksgiving wine

Always being the little imitator, after our Thanksgiving dinner Max climbed up in a chair and took a wine glass from the table. I didn't capture it on film, but he also poured the empty bottle before taking an imaginary drink.

It's a dog's life

While visiting some friends, Max found their dog's little bed and thought it was the coolest thing. He had a great time playing put-in/take-out with himself and the basket. The dog, however, wasn't as excited about it and decided to just sit by and watch.

Music through Osmosis

Max had a great time playing with our friend's acoustic guitar. I think here he was trying to do a Vulcan Mind Meld with the instrument.

Big Valley, Little Man

Here are Max and Mom at an overlook in the Yosemite Valley. We took a trip there back in September with some friends of ours. There are about a hundred tourists at this overlook, but I managed to get this photo of just these two. This was Max's second camping trip and he had a really good time. Besides seeing lots of magnificent views, the magnitude of which I'm sure he hasn't grasped yet, he also got to go on a number of hikes and got to play a couple of streams. A good time was had by all!

Dancing Man

Max loves to dance to the music from his musical learning table. He loves dancing to most music, for that matter. When he's playing in his room he will start the music over and over again, dancing a little jig each time the music plays.

Playing in the band

Max loves playing with Daddy's bass guitar. He's particularly good with the "slap" style of playing. (OK, it's his only style of playing.) He even puts the shoulder strap over his head it's time to play. Of course, since he's learned to wear the guitar strap, he's taken to putting most straps over his shoulders too. So now we find him wearing ribbons, purse straps, and many other types of straps as he runs around the house. Anyway, he really enjoys the guitar and the noise he can make with it. One time he was playing and I turned off the amplifier because I thought he was done. He went back and pulled some strings, and gave the amplifier a puzzled look when no sound came out of it. Clever baby!

Food goes here

Max has learned to use the spoon to feed himself! It's not always perfect and pretty, but more often than not the food makes it too his mouth.

Joystick Joy

This morning Max pulled out the computer's joystick and had fun playing with all the buttons. Does this kid look happy or what?

There he is!

Max plays Peek-A-Boo from under his towel.

The Max in the Hat

Max is just too cute sometimes! He was really opposed to wearing this hat, but I encouraged him and told him how cool it looked. I guess once he knew I liked it, then he could like it too. He's learned to take the hat off and put it back on, for the most part. The hat goes on top of the head, but alignment and direction are still pretty random.

A little TV before bed?

This little boy loves to climb chairs, play with remote controls, and avoid going to bed at all costs. Even though the TV isn't on, he's happy just to pretend if it means staying up a minute longer.

Danny & Sandy

For the grown-up's Halloween, Mom & Dad went out as Danny & Sandy from the movie Grease. Dorothy had a silk Pink Ladies jacket, and Josh had a T-Birds shirt and a pompadore wig. This photo is from us getting ready for a Halloween Ball up in San Fransisco.

Maxwell Potter

This Halloween Max went as Harry Potter. Dad made him a great robe and Mom helped out with his hair and the makeup for the glasses and the scar. Max was a big hit at the Halloween parties he went to on Saturday, and he did his first trick-or-treating on Sunday.

New Words

Max said banana today. He has a sign for it that is modified from ASL, but today was the first time that he said the word. (well, I suppose that the word is modified, too). So far, Max uses the following words:

• Doggie (first word)
  
• Daddy
  
• Hi
  
• Momma
  
• Ball
  
• Up
  
• Off
  
• That?
  
• Cracker
  
• Bubble
  
• Banana
  

I think I heard him say "Piper" yesterday, too, but only once, so I am not going to count it. :)

It is very exciting to see Max learning to use language.

Red Sox are world champs!

In the baseball-crazed region of New England, they will no longer cuss about mythical curses. Red Sox players will no longer be force-fed history lessons on the generations of championship futility that preceded them. The heartbreak is officially over, thanks to a historic odyssey that arguably now earns top shelf status as the biggest story in the history of Boston sports.

Ghostbusters: Sox are champs!

Backpack Love

We love taking Max out for hikes, but we certainly don't make him walk the whole way. He loves riding in the baby backpack, where he can be with mom & dad without running along behind them!

Aw, chuck-it!

Max helps carry the 'chuckit' ball thrower whilewe walk in Sunol.

Smiles in Sunol

Last weekend we took Max and the dogs to the park to play. We went to Sunol Regional Wilderness where the dogs got to play fetch in the river while Max helped daddy through the sticks.

Sunset over Bridges

Dorothy and I recently spent an evening down in Santa Cruz. Her folks hired the nanny for a whole night as an anniversary gift, and we stayed, alone, in a nice little B&B near the historic Boardwalk. We watched the sun set from the beach at Natural Bridges State Park, and then walked to dinner before heading back to the Inn. Here's one of the sunset photos I took from the beach.

Welcome!

After years of trying to keep personal websites current, this Blogging thing has finally gotten simple and popular. So, here to represent my branch of the Mazgelis family tree, is the JoshMaz blog. Let's hope we keep this up to date more than we have the others!

-Josh