Max Entertains One of the gifts Max got for the holidays was a $10 bill. Well, Max had never really shopped for anything before -- all coins are still "pennies" and he's pretty sure we have an inexhaustible supply of money somewhere -- so we trundled out to Ross and he wandered the toy aisles for a good half hour or more. He looked at this and that -- "Oh, that's perfect. But I don't really need it right now." -- over and over again, until he settled on a "paint-your-own tea set." Max loves painting, and he's been itching for a tea set for some time now thanks to some of his stories. It was perfect.

We got it home, and started painting. He let Daddy to the complicated bits -- the mermaids and family on the bridge -- but under very careful artistic direction. After a few days, we'd painted and baked the whole set. Then it was time for tea!

	Max was a most gracious and attentive host, pouring tea, serving sugar cubes and milk. And he had a lot of work to do, as those cups aren't good for more than a sip or two. Peppermint seems to be his tea party flavor of choice at the moment; we've done it both times.
	The creamer holds enough milk to flavor the tea; the sugar bowl is purely ornamental, though, unless we can find some really small spoons.
	And Max loves inviting his friends over, of course. This is Max with Caden and Woody, reading How Fletcher Was Hatched one night. In fact, we have to be careful that he doesn't invite them over without telling us!

  ¶ Thursday, January 26, 2006