28 months -- yes, this is correct!

Ok, it's been a while. I was asked to update this blog so here it goes. Max's personality is developing now and whe're starting to see what kind of a person he might be. I say that because he's only two and a half and many, many things can change in his behavior. But the one thing that stands out to me is that he seems to be a very resilient little person that knows what he wants and appears to understand what he needs to do to get it. He's extremely resourceful. I've seen him solve problems and improves objects.

Interests:
Max is developing interests typical of a little boy. I often forget that he's only two and will get him a toy that's designed for an older kid. He still plays with it--it's a toy, something new--but he obviously doesn't understand the concept of certain games yet. I don't mind getting him toys like this because it gives me an opportunity to play with Max and the toy, we have fun. Things he likes right now are trains (choo-choo), all manner of aircraft, robots, playing in the kitchen helping momma mix things--when it's possible and yelling at Spike--he's two and we're working on this. He's developed an interest in mimicking the sounds that some of these vehicles make like jet and rocket blasts, rocket launch countdowns and vehicle sounds.

Behavior:
Max is fairly even tempered little boy with the expected ups and dows of any toddler. He listens and watches everything we do, carefully. I know that he's watching because sometimes he'll request something unexpected and calls it by name using max-only words. For example, he was moody last Friday afternoon and we didn't know why. He pointed to the pancake mix and called it, "bah-beek?". Amy knew immediately that Max wanted "Pancakes", that was "Bah-Beek". I was shocked because I didn't think he knew what pancakes were much less what they're called. Amy makes pancakes for breakfast and he obviously enjoys them but I didn't think he was aware enough to ask for them. Because he's two there are many tantrums as one would expect. But the cool thing is that they don't last that long. But when Max does throw a tantrum, he throws himself on the ground, gently eases his head to the floor--apparently so that it doesn't hurt--and starts wailing. After a minute into this tirade, he produces crocodile-tears and then about 15 minutes later gets up and does something else, it's over. There have been times when it has lasted longer than that but it's rare. He seems to be able to switch gears on his own. The only difference is that if there is something he really wants (or needs) he will not quit until he gets it, it's interesting to watch. Max is starting to understand a few rules of conduct like, "thank you", "bless-you", "you're welcome". If we ask him how he's doing, he'll say, "ah fine, ah-q" (I'm fine, thank you). He might be a teaser, a trickster as he likes to tease Amy. He seems to get a kick out of saying, "Momma?". When Amy responds, he'll gigle and won't say anything and then do it again--"Momma?". I think this goes on for several rounds until either Amy or Max get tired of this game.

Development:
We work on numbers and letters regularly. I think Amy spent some time with Max and his letter puzzle and can identify 90% of the letters. He can also indentify many animals at this point and mimic their sounds(he snorts when he sees a pig--it's cute). Max also identifies and finds a few important household items like shoes, keys, cell phones and wallets. These are things that we look for before leaving the house and he's used seeing us run around the house looking for these items. What I don't understand about Max is how is it that he seems to be able to learn how to play with a with a toys designed for older kids and can follow a few instructions but I can't get him to identify numbers. What's the difference between that objects that we show him and the symbols we use to identify numbers, "one", "two", "three", etc. We're not harsh parents that are forcing him to learn these things, not at all. In fact, we encourage Max to spend time playing with his toys and watch him make up situations that involve helicopters, trains and other toys he's familiar with. I simply don't understand what the difference is between a letter(symbol) and a number(symbol). We're not even expecting him to count yet. Aside from all this though, Max spends a lot of time making up new games seemingly using his imagination.

Speech:

Max is learning two languages by default, English and Spanish. His grandparents speak to him in Spanish and Max is able to comprehend and follow instruction in Spanish. If I ask him a few things in Spanish at my parents house, he'll oblige. But he will not respond to Spanish commands commands outside my parent's house--it's the weirdest thing. It seems that Spanish is something that is only spoken to my parents and their house--and that's it. If I ask him anything in Spanish, he'll ignore it. A large portion of what Max says is still baby-gibberish but we can tell that he's going to have the gift of gab. He seems to have a lot of questions because he'll launch into a bunch of gibberish with the tone of a question (ksalfkj klfjlskjd jlkjsdlfj??). I just say, "yes, I was just thinking about that, Max." I wish I had a better handle of what he's asking because it's an observation that he's making about a situation. I wish I could communicate better with him.

Below is a list of the words that I can think of:

• milk == "yup[k]"
• playdoh == "bay-boh"
• cocoa == "coco"
• to get anyone's attention == "Ey! Ey!"
• apple == "Appo"
• Juice == "joos"
• cell phone = "seh-bo"
• robot == "ah-baht"
• Oh Man... == "oh man..."
• ice cream == "aee-kee"
• Spike = "sigh"
• light == "why"
• pancake = "bah-beek"
• space == "faish"
• space shuttle = "faish"
• moon == "moo"

There are a few more words that he's developed into his own language but I can't remember them right now.
Ok, I'll make a better attempt of updating this blog. I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep this going. It's an interesting log of his activities that he can visit as there is a lot of information about the pregnancy. If he's as curious of his origins as I am about everything, he'll love reading this blog. I'll keep writing stuff in this blog until I stop.