Out of Chaos, Some Form of Order

I was surprised and pleased to walk into the living room to find these numbers neatly arranged on the floor. I didn't touch them at all! Maxwell can say the numbers 1–12, 18, 20, and 80 (??). Max's favorite number right now is 5 (although sometimes it's 20) and he carries the number around and repeats it and puts up five fingers. It's a little obsessive, but hey, I'm not going to stop him!

A little later I walked into Maxwell's room and saw the words he had put together. I had showed him how to do it about a week ago (putting "cat," "hi," "read," and the likes together and sounding them out) and he's been making words ever since. They are mostly amazingly long consonant strings ("CKHQSDP"), but these were a little more balanced:

He finally can say at least something similar to "J" (he calls me "amie" or "Gay," but never "Gamie" yet—it's been fun to see the development). He still says "Duh" for "W." Here is Max doing the whole alphabet:

And here is a video I took just a few days ago. About a month ago Max suddenly said "Andrew" on his own—he's always said "Papi" (and so have I, when I'm talking to Max about Andrew). I guess he's just heard me talking to Andrew before. We think it's really cute.

Some random pictures:

Maxwell chewin' on a cob from Laura Farm—so good! What a treat to have it fresh instead of freeze-dried, frozen, or from the can!

Ready to come for a visit to the States! Hooray for R&R!