Happy Birthday to Maks!

The long awaited first birthday finally arrived and today is a day of celebration in our little family, as Maks is finally no longer an infant. Now he’s a big boy (to compare what he looked like on his first day of his life, click here). The first year in a life of a human is always the most challenging. The life risks are many, but on top of that, they have to learn to see, to eat, to walk, to babble, and even to cheer at hockey games. Maks has succeeded on every front and no doubt we are the proud parents. Here are a few random highlights from his first year in our family.

• During this year, he almost trippled his weight and doubled his height (I think...)
• He simply doesn’t know how to stop talking. He babbles all the time, and now can say “dada” “blah blah” and “Blackberry”. Yes, papa’s Blackberry phone is his favorite toy, and we heard him repeat the word out loud after us once.
• He’s always ahead of our awareness in his development. Last November he learned to turn himself, and before we realized it, he flew head first from the bed to the floor. Luckily, it was a carpet floor, but this was probably the worst day last year, as it not only shocked him, it shocked us even more. No worries – a bruise and he’s fine.
• Maks was visited by his grandparents on both sides of the family. The flight from Moscow was not a fast one for my mom, but driving from Utah via Sierra mountains is not an easy task either.
• During his first year Maks flew to Utah five times (don’t ask me why), flew to Hawaii and back, and visited Yosemite National Park, along with numerous trips along the Pacific coast of Northern California.
• After we got back from the hospital, he’s been bathed every day last year but two days (you’ll also have to ask Becca as to why)
• The longest he’s been away from Becca is five hours
• His best time in 100m crawl is 43 seconds
• He’s been to 5 NHL hockey game, including opening match of the Stanley Cup final where San Jose Sharks faced Calgary Flames. Mama decided to go buy some food, and as she was gone, Maks started crying (we were losing that game, so he was just looking at the scoreboard). When Mama came back 15 minutes later, not only were Ivan and Maks relieved, so were several hundred fans sitting nearby.
• He can now sleep through the night for 8-9 hours straight, and generally acts as a good boy.

Happy Birthday Maks!