Max Diaries: The Sweetest Thing
by Christina Cox, new mom blogger
This last weekend, my husband and I took Max to a ski resort in Canada. It ended up raining on Saturday, the day that everyone (except Max and I) was supposed to go skiing. So, instead, we all wandered through the village, shopped and had lunch. It was a long day of traipsing around, but Max was in great spirits and enjoyed the adventure even though he was a bit sick and wasn‚t sleeping or eating well.
At about 3:30pm we landed in a very lively Irish pub to have some drinks and a few appetizers. There was a two-man live band, a woman playing the fiddle and a man with a charming Irish accent playing the guitar. Everyone in the bar seemed to be enjoying the music, though no one ventured out onto the dance floor. Except, of course, Max.
It turns out my 15-month old son loves live music. Right after we got settled at our table, the band began playing their next song and Max trotted straight out to the dance floor. He stopped front and center and like a little groupie started gawking at the band. My husband went after him to scoop him up, but stopped when our little guy started swaying back and forth, apparently deciding that he rather liked the music. He danced the entire song in that simple little sway dressed in his winter gear, a black thermal layered over a white one pulled up to his elbows and his blue bib overalls rolled down to his hips. I swear that he looked like he had just had a great day of skiing and then cruised into the pub for a beer and a little jig. Everyone in the bar was watching Max with the kind of smiles that say „awwww.‰
When the song ended, the man introduced Max as the band road manager and everyone clapped. He then dedicated his next song, Let it Be by the Beatles, to their littlest fan filling the dance floor with his great big personality. When the music started, Max started to do his little dance again, shifting his weight from foot to foot and swaying his head from side to side. He really seemed to be loving that he had the entire floor and looked genuinely surprised when he made a turn and noticed someone else had come to the dance floor.
It was a ten-month old little girl with dark curls dressed in a pink fuzzy one-piece. Max stopped dancing and walked over to the little girl. He stopped again about two feet in front of her. I guess he decided that she looked like fun because he started swaying again and ended up dancing with her for the whole song. The entire pub started cheering. Seeing these two little people dance on their own together without a single bit of self-consciousness or embarrassment was adorable innocence in its purest form. There they were, Max and little fuzzy pink girl dancing with not a single other soul on the dance floor (okay, the ten month-old had a bit of help.) It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen and my eyes welled up to see my little guy doing exactly what he felt like doing. And, my husband and I stood back at the edge of the dance floor and followed the Beatles instructions and just let him be.
