Lessons from day 2

Lesson number two: "Know your limits."

It's hard to determine Max's limits since we have only known him for a short while now. The only way we are able to figure them out is trial and error. That was today's theme.

We started out at breakfast in the hotel resturant. We weren't too sure how much he ate for breakfast, so we started with some oatmeal and a piece of bread. Then added some yogurt and tea. Then some more oatmeal. And more yogurt. We're still not sure if he reached maximum capacity, but we thought we should push it any more. We will try again tomorrow.

We returned to the room to play until lunch at 11:15am. Today's entree was Chicken dinner with vegetables (at least that what the label said). He ate almost the whole jar and another whole yogurt and topped off the meal with yogurt covered fruit snacks. Those are by far his favorite, but anything beats pureed chicken dinner in a jar. YUCK!

He took a nap at noon and slept for about an hour and a half, but his schedule said that he naps until 3pm. We decided to leave him in his crib until then. He never fussed, just played by himself until we got him at three. It is obvious that he is very used to a crib and doesn't need much attention when he is in there.

After the nap, we needed to get out of the room, so we decided to go for a stroll. After yesterday's walk through the park, we thought he would enjoy a nice long ride. So, we walked quite a ways from our hotel to the Peter and Paul Fortress. He fussed a little, but overall enjoyed the walk there. On the way home, we may have pushed it too far. We stopped at McDonald's, again, as Shelly and I had not eaten anything all day, and that's where it all unraveled.

Shelly picked him up from his stroller for a change of scenery when we noticed something running out his pantleg. Clearly, we had pushed the limit on the diaper. When it says it holds up to 18-20 pounds, it doesn't mean the total capacity of urine. Shelly attempted to change him in the bathroom, but that was out of the question, so he had to be changed in his stroller. Once again, we pushed it way to far with him, and he was going to have NOTHING to do with that! He tossed, and turned, and kicked, and screamed. We did our best to get a quick change done, collect our things, and head back to the hotel. He cried the whole way back. Lesson learned? Frequent diaper changes are a must (preferably not in public places).

Max, moments before his "overflow"

Just as a point of reference, he typically doesn't mind being changed. It was just the icing on the cake of a long afternoon for him.

After some play time, it was time for dinner (chicken and pasta-just as nasty) and the standard bread and yogurt, then a bath and bed.

He is fast asleep in crib next to me as I type and sip a tall, cold Baltika. Lord knows there isn't much time for blogging while he's awake!