May update

Steady old Max (24 months) remains in the 95th percentile for both weight and height at 34 lb and 36 1/2 inches. At his 2 week check up he was in the 7th percentile for weight but quickly climbed to the 95th where he has remained ever since.

Sam (at 7 1/2 months) is in the 100th percentile or setting his own curve, as our doctor said, with his 25 lb weight and almost 30 inches.

Sam has 6 teeth and is crawling like a crazy man. His seemingly mild nature appears to have been overcome with curiosity and sheer brute force. He now crawls and climbs on anyone he can catch and usually attempts to pull their hair or bite their toes. He loves Max's curly blond locks which are growing by the minute and frequently reaches out to pull them. It appears that Max preferred the stationary version of Sam and has much less affection and patience for the forceful, toy stealing one.

Max's vocabulary is growing very fast and he will attempt to copy just about any word you say. Now when he meets people, or people stop to talk to him at the shop, he will usually point to his chest and say "Max". Then sometimes he will go on to introduce others who are with him. The other day, a neighbour who we hadn't seen for a while said hello when we were out with the bikes and Max blurted out"Max... Mummy........ Daddy........ Mummy's bike". He also likes to clarify "Max, boy".

As hard as he tries though, meaningful sentences still illude him and his attempts at novel communication are often interspesed with clicks and foot stamping in frustration if we fail to understand him.

Since we have been in England Max has developed a very strong Northern English accent for a few of his words - much stronger than anyone in my family so I don't quite know where he got it - maybe he just exaggerates the differences. The most obvious ones are "MUmi" for mummy, "BUni" for bunny, "MUni" for money. He also says things are "ponga" meaning stinky. This isn't really an English thing just something my dad (who max calls papa)taught him. He would say Max did a ponga or that max's feet are ponga and max thought this was great. Max burst in on him on the loo one day and said "uuurg, papa ponga". When you ask him who is ponga he usually says either "Max Ponga" or "papa ponga".

His strangest prenunciations, which he has said for a long time and do not appear to be changing, are "Tur Tur" for Richard and "Wa wa" for screwdriver. As thay are words which he uses several times a day, I would imagine they would improve. Part of the problem may be that we start to use the new words too - "hey, Max, pass me your wawa".

All day long Max still has tools on his mind. If something is not working he immidiately says "mend it" and then "wawa". He thinks screwdrivers can fix just about anything. Then if you tell him that we can't fix it with a wawa he looks you in the eye nodding and says "battey" meaning battery. He goes running at the speed of light if he hears Matt in the garage or using a tool. Most of his biggest fights with us are over us confiscating tools that he has found. One time our doctor had to come out of his office to help me in with Max and Sam as max was lying in the middle of the parking lot kicking and screaming because I wouldn't let him take a screwdriver in to the doctors office. Luckily our doctor has boys the same age as Max and Sam and understands all too well. When I told him we were taking the boys to England on the plane he looked at me very simpathetically and wrote them both a prescription for a seditive which worked like a dream - thank you Dr. W.

Now Max will re-live events that happened and try to talk about them - he talks about the "Air pane" (Air plane) and points up in the sky saying high and "bump bump". then he will tell you who he saw when he went on the air-pane.

Other things he likes to tell storises about are times when Richard gets told off. He will start saying "no, tur tur, kennel" and acting out how we tell him off. Sometimes he acts out Richards part too and makes barking, whining and panting sounds. We sometimes worry a little as Max will occasionally stand at the window and woof when someone is coming up the driveway. We hope he grows out of this.

He notices the funniest of things and he loves shoes. He notices when he sees shoes similar to those of someone he knows. A while ago he was looking through a book with pictures of Jesus and looked at me quite concerned and said that Jesus was wearing papa's shoes.

For the past couple of months, one of Max's most common words has been "Carfu" or careful. I suppose we must dsay it to him a lot so now he says it to himself when he is doing something risky or to us if we are carrying him and he doesn't feel secure. It can get quite frustrating - "mummy, carfu. Max Carfu too".

He also says everything is hot and when you tell him it isn't hot he immidiately looks you in the eye, tilts his head and says "worn" meaning warm. It started with food, when we would tell him his food wasn't too hot to eat but he applies it to everything. In fact if he tells you something and you disagree he will often mutter"worn" (as if it means, to the contrary or that's not the case).

Two words that spring to ming when I think of max are entertaining and exhausting. What a funny little chap.