Maxwell can stand on his own

Maxwell standing from Daniel Too on Vimeo.

Maxwell is 10 months old!

Maxwell is very quickly turning into a small boy. He is so determined to be doing whatever Preston is doing, that it is spurring him on to develop a bit faster. He races around everywhere with expert crawling and climbing around the furniture abilities, and the last few days he has been practicing standing up without holding on to anything. The look of extreme pride on his face each time he lets go is so sweet! Since yesterday, he has increased from not being able to stand on his own, to standing for about 5 seconds. He initiates all the attempts on his own, so it is something he has decided he's ready for, and I would say over the coming week he will be a pro. Then he'll be walking in no time!

His baby signing is also developing in leaps and bounds. We are now at the exciting stage where he will point at something of interest and I can say the name of it and show him the sign, and he will repeat it after being shown it only once or twice. This is very exciting for communication!

And yesterday I discovered that Maxwell can play a game of bouncing a small ball to each other - he loves this! He understands the concept, and it's so fun, especially when Preston joins in and we all play. They love each other so much, it melts my heart. :) Cute boys.

Preston is 4!

Wow, Preston is finally 4, after acting like he's been 4 for ages and surprising people when they ask how old he is and he says '3'. He's had a pretty exciting year and has developed all sorts of skills, including being able to play computer/video/iPod/Nintendo games on his own and actually very well (Dan and Preston play co-op games all the time now where they have to work together), and swimming, and also Lego. He is very good at following the diagrams to build things - it's quite impressive to watch. He had a Lego birthday party, and he's going to a Lego school holiday program (and also a swimming program too).

Here are a couple of party pictures - I made Lego cupcakes and Lego crayons:

Thanks everyone for all the amazingly generous presents - he now has more Lego than some toy stores, and also lots of new inspirations such as drawing with magic reveal pens, and books. And with the added bonus of Christmas a week after his birthday, it's been very exciting for him lately!

Preston builds a Lego Tie Fighter

Lego Tie Fighter from Daniel Too on Vimeo.

Kathy draws our life

My lovely friend Kathy made us this amazing piece of art for Christmas - it details our life, it's so clever! In case you don't know us as well as Kathy does, here is an explanation for everything in the picture, starting top left:

Baking Delights: I do heaps of baking, especially cupcakes, and I bought a fancy cupcake display stand while Kathy was staying with us
TradeMe Sales Parcels: Kathy and I did an intensive Trademe few weeks of selling all sorts of random stuff, which resulted in millions of parcels to pack up
Blendy: I'm playing Rock Band, singing and being an Expert Guitarist, and sock knitting (the pink socks that I knitted for Kathy, and because I'm writing a sock knitting book so i'm always knitting)
Zombie Garden: Preston was quite addicted to a game called Plants vs Zombies for ages, so we planted a zombie garden (to protect our brains from being eaten) with the plants in the game. The yellow flowers were the power-producing plants, and the pea shooters were peas that could shoot the zombies (who said 'Braaaains!' and some wore road cones on their heads for extra protection)
The Too's: our family. And put on a drum kit. We play a lot of Rock Band.
Dan: He is playing Expert Drums and singing, plus holding a chef spoon as he is an excellent chef, and also conducting international commerce on his computer.
Christmas Tree: decorated with socks that i've knitted - i designed some patterns for christmas tree decoration socks :) It is also covered in World of Goo - this is from another game that Preston was very addicted to.
Preston: He is jumping off the couch (typical), wearing a cape saying 'Presto!' which is what the Little Einsteins (tv show) say when they want to go super-fast. He is singing the zombie song (from Plants vs Zombies), and is playing both the iPod Touch and the Wii. He is leaping over his Lego city (his new obsession), and past his games of Tantrix and Magnetix. The TV is showing NumberJacks, (Kathy and I call it 'NumberJerks') which is a really annoying kids show with some weird characters trying to teach something about numbers.
Maxwell: He is dancing to the music, while rattling something, and eating asparagus, and has food on his bib, and is also rather obsessed with Lego.

Maxwell learns baby sign language

Baby Sign from Daniel Too on Vimeo.

Maxwell has just started to figure out how to do some baby sign language himself (we've been doing it to him for months, and now he has the dexterity to do it properly). It's very exciting - now we can have signs for everything and can communicate so much better!

Preston builds a Lego Millenium Falcon

Lego Millennium Falcon from Daniel Too on Vimeo.

Pictures at last - Preston 3 years 11 months, Maxwell 8½ months

Maxwell is 9 months!

On Tuesday Maxwell will be 9 months old! Wow! And, as usual, my apologies for not updating this blog in ages - this time it has been much too long though. However, you should keep an eye on Dan's Flickr album for more frequent updates.

Maxwell has been crawling properly since about 7½ months (since around 6 months, he could crawl backwards only which was very frustrating for him), and now he is a super speedy crawling professional, and he loves chasing Preston around the place. He can pull himself up against furniture to stand up, although is not at the creeping stage just yet, but give it a few more days and he'll figure it out.

We've been taking both boys to swimming classes - Maxwell is very good about swimming - he neither dislikes it nor likes it particularly, but he doesn't cry, even when he goes under the water. Preston is enjoying his swimming class - finally we have found something that suits his personality (ie, not a team sport!) and he even listens some of the time, so that's a bonus! Soccer did not work out at all so we quite that after 2 terms of extremely bad behaviour, and now he also goes to Playball which is a great ball handling skills program, but he's not that interested in following instructions...

Instead Preston loves video games and lego. In the last few weeks, we've noticed his skill level has increased dramatically, and he can play games like Super Mario Bros on the Wii and Lego Batman on the DS and all sort of online games, and he was playing the drums on Rock Band and actually hitting the notes - and these games keep him occupied for a while. This weekend, Preston and Dan have been playing co-op games together, so that's really awesome! He is learning so much from playing games, and the skills he figures out are amazing, especially considering they are not designed for 3 year olds. He is right into lego as well, and he astounds us with his ability to follow the instructions to build things.

Maybe I'll have to give him all his instructions via pictorial charts. That might actually work.

I'll have to find some photos to post. We even had a photo shoot last weekend. The boys are growing up fast. Preston will be 4 next month, wow! Actually, now that I think about all the things he can do, that's not so unbelievable. And he is Maxwell's idol, so Maxwell is so lucky to grow up learning all the things that Preston is teaching him. They are so cute when they play together!

Holiday at Grandad and Nana Karon's

We went to stay at Grandad and Nana Karon's for the weekend while Dan was in Australia. Here are some cute pictures of the boys.

Preston went on his first ever fishing expedition and caught lots of fish! We fished from a wharf into the new canal at Marsden Point and it was so much fun, especially for proud Grandad.

Who can fit the biggest bit in their mouth?

Grandad reads bed time stories

Boys playing together on the iPod

Mr Mischief 7 months old

Maxwell is nearly 7 months old

Oops - haven't found time to update the blog in ages. I will try to add some photos tomorrow.

Maxwell is just developing so fast at the moment. He will be 7 months old this week, and has grown out of the 'baby' phase, and into the pre-toddler phase. He's picked up the concept of baby sign language really well, and responds to various signs that we've taught him, and can sign for himself a few things - 'milk' 'more' 'puss puss' and 'rusk'. It's just amazing watching communication.

Preston and Maxwell are the best of friends and love playing together. Their favourite thing at the moment is making each other laugh, and Maxwell ends up in fits of giggles at Preston's silliness which of course spurs him on to be sillier and laugh even more. Watching them play together is my absolute favourite thing in the world - it really is a dream come true to have two super cute little boys who love each other and play so well. Long may it last!

They love each other so much that in fact they are sharing a room! We bought Preston a new bed (his next stage of growing up) and intended to turn our spare room into Maxwell's room, but in the process of bed construction Preston excitedly asked if Maxwell was going to share his room - so we thought it was a great idea too! It is working out perfectly - Maxwell only wakes about once at night, and Preston is a heavy sleeper so isn't bothered at all. And in the morning they play and chat which is very cute.

Maxwell is eating solids now and loves his food. We've started with an array of vegetables and minimal fruit so that his tastebuds get set up nicely and so far it is working well - he hasn't rejected anything yet. I think we are ready to move on to more advanced foods like dairy, grains and some types of meat.

He has been crawling backwards for nearly a month now, and hopefully soon he will figure out going forwards as it frustrates him a lot.

The boys are busy with activities - Preston has been going to an accelerate preschool class one day a week which has been interesting, and kindy three afternoons a week which he loves and has finally made some friends, and soccer which he does not like (yay, last session this week - the teacher breathed a sigh of relief when we said we were not re-enrolling), and we've just started preschool swimming which is really good - although Preston doesn't necessarily follow the instructions properly, he actually enjoys it and participates pretty well, and next term he starts a preschool sporty program (something to replace soccer). Preston is completely addicted to computer games (all kinds) and knows how to find and play games on the computer, internet, iphone, ipod, nintendo, xbox...... he is amazingly skilled at a lot of games he plays. Maxwell loves to watch, so he'll get wise to it all too.

And next term Maxwell starts his baby swimming class! Fun!

Preston's behaviour has also improved a lot, and consequently so has my sanity. He loves his 'girls' who come to look after him after school and the nanny we have one day a week has worked out really well. Having some extra help has really made a difference. (plus he's taught them all how to play his computer games!)

I'll try to post pictures later.

Maxwell photos 5ish months

Preston helping Grandad

Preston loves Maxwell

Brotherly love gets a bit out of hand...

Funny boys

They are not really clones, but they do have matching expressions while watching something obviously quite serious on Playhouse Disney.

Maxwell figured out how to hold his own water bottle which he chewed on during our flight to Wellington. Worked out really well - the chewing cleared his ears, so I didn't have to feed him the whole time to console him! He was a model baby for the entire day - I don't even think he cried at all. And of course being so cute attracted lots of attention which he loves!

Maxwell is 5 months old!

Aside from being a clone, Maxwell is growing fast and learning all sorts of things. He can sit very well now for extended periods, and reaches for toys and loves to inspect them thoroughly. He's getting the idea about crawling - he can nearly get up on his knees, so we'll see what happens over the next month.

He's not really too much of a clone - he's actually a lot rounder in the face than Preston was, but there is a general similarity between them.

We will be starting solids in maybe 3-4 weeks - then he will really be grown up!

Tomorrow Maxwell and I are off to Wellington with my friend Fiona to visit Craft2.0 - can't wait!!!

more clones!

our cloned children: 5months old, Preston 2006 left and Maxwell 2009 right

Blue is for boys

time for a new look :)

Preston and Maxwell are both so clever!

Yesterday Preston went to try out Small Poppies preschool, which is part of the Gifted Education place. We went with an open mind, fully expecting weirdos and pushy parents. Luckily it wasn't really like that at all, and Preston had an extremely fun time with a class room full of fun science activities and edu-games to occupy him. It was actually really interesting, and while quite advanced, was good for Preston. He will be going for a weekly session now.

His mind completely exploded when he saw this - a whole box of his favourite multi-sided dice! He proceeded to put them in a row with all the 3's showing face up, which made all the teachers go 'ahhhh-hhhhaaa'.


Maxwell is a little clever-clogs too! He can sit up now - here is some blurry photographic proof (he's a bit unstable as a beginner). I'm so proud of him - 4½ months and he can sit and roll. AND, he has started doing his baby sign language for 'milk'! What a clever boy!

The baby sign books say not to really bother teaching it til around 10ish months when they have good motor control of their hands, but I've been doing the milk sign to Maxwell pretty much since birth, just for fun. He has been responding excitedly to it for about a month if I do the sign to him, and in the last few days he has started doing it himself when he is hungry! Initially we thought it was just fluke or co-incidence, but it definitely seems more deliberate. For example, last night I asked him if he wanted milk, and he looked at his hand and did his sign.

Maxwell on skype

Preston video

Cute Maxwell pictures - 4 months

Loving the Jolly Jumper

Bubble bath time!

With Great Grandad (about 3½ months)

K-pow!

Hahaha! Naked!

Maxwell and I have been a bit sick the last few days, but we are getting better. He is in very good spirits today, despite having a blocked nose. He absolutely loves jumping in his jolly jumper, and Preston thinks it is hilarious when he sees Maxwell jumping around and not acting like a baby. He smiles and laughs at all sorts of things, but he especially finds anything Preston does to be the funniest thing ever and he chortles and laughs for ages. His hand-eye co-ordination is getting better and he can grab things more easily. And he recognises us - if you ask him "where's Daddy"( or Preston or Mummy) he looks around to find them, as though pointing with his eyes. Clever boy!

Preston's new schedule

Preston has been driving us crazy with his constant need for attention and defiant behaviour. I think this is simply because we can't give him 100% attention all day long - for our sanity and also because we do need to get things done during the day. His behaviour issues seem to stem from boredom (he is far too clever and most things don't hold his attention for more than a minute) and tiredness (we fight a multi-hour sleeping battle every night, only to be rudely awoken very early in the morning).

So, since I can't get anything done at home usually, and my patience has been worn dangerously thin, I'm getting some help. Starting this week, I am having either a nanny or a high school aged babysitter come for a few hours each day to play with Preston! This will give me time to deal with Maxwell plus all the other things I need to do around the house, and hopefully it means I will be able to finish a job rather than being interrupted every 2 minutes! I have a nanny/preschool teacher starting next Friday who will come for the whole day. Preston also likes this idea because it means I'm taking him out of his daycare, which he no longer enjoys (all his friends left, including the good teachers, and now the remaining kids are either mean to him or are generally too young for him to play with properly).

I'm also enrolling him in an accelerate preschool class. For a long time many people (both friends and doctors etc) have told us that Preston could be 'gifted' and we should look at special schools for him. We have been pretty much against this idea as we don't want to label him or push him or whatever and figured we would wait until he is at school to see what additional educational needs he has. However with his boredom-triggered behaviour and persistent need to figure out how the world works, I've looked up the Small Poppies preschool after reading about it yesterday. Out of curiosity, I got their enrolment pack which had a series of questions relating to behaviour, mental and physical development and skills etc to help determine whether the child fits into their category. As I ticked nearly all the boxes on 2 pages of questions, it felt like they must have snuck in and monitored Preston for a while, because it very accurately described him!

So while we have been against the concept of sending him to a gifted school, it seems that it might actually be quite appropriate for him, and let's face it - since I'm having a constant battle with him, if there is a structured program that is designed to help, then it's worth a try. The preschool is only one morning a week, and I'm very curious to see what it is like.

I should mention though that we are extremely proud of Preston and his abilities - he is so amazingly clever and has the most interesting 'true' logic (unspoilt by decades of 'exceptions' to rules). When he is being good, he is such a lovely boy with perfect manners and a very caring nature. We spent the whole weekend pretty much giving him 100% attention and despite not getting anything else done, we had a lovely time with him, and I think there were no time-outs for two whole days!

Maxwell is 4 months old!

Maxwell is very very good - we can't believe how much of an easy baby he is! And he is growing so fast - I've just got a pile of new clothes out of the cupboard to wear and he doesn't fit them! :( He is still determined to roll over, but hasn't quite got it yet. However, he is mastering his hands better now and can reach for things and hold onto things to suck or rattle. I made him a really cool ribbon blanket and he likes to hold and feel all the ribbons. He also smiles and laughs all the time, and especially responds to Preston!

Preston pictures

New Purple and Yellow Bears (taken by Preston)

Snuggled up with blankys and bears!

Preston is becoming a very clever big boy now and spends a lot of time on the computer, playing Nintendo and buying iPhone apps and that sort of thing. We are very proud of his abilities and talents! He loves singing and making up songs and rhyming at the moment which is pretty entertaining. However he has also been testing our patience quite a lot with his defiant behaviour and selective listening issues... grrr. Things have been getting me down lately and reading debate on the upcoming referendum has been making me feel like a terrible mother, and makes me feel quite depressed when I see how many people I know have the complete opposite view to me. At least Dan and I have the same view on parenting, and sometimes (very rarely) we just have to do what it takes to discipline an extremely disobedient child and in those cases, the situation is instantly diffused. There is only so much verbal negotiation that a violently angry 3½ year old will respond to....

Matching boys

Maxwell and Preston have matching shoes :) The tiny Vans were Preston's when he was a baby, and now they are getting worn again. So cute!

Maxwell at One Tree Point

Maxwell, Preston and I went to stay with Grandad and Nana Karon for the weekend. Maxwell is 3½ months old now, and determined to roll over! Maxwell is a bit chubbier than Preston was, but looking through baby pics, they both look very similar. I'll see if I can find some good examples.

Look at my big eyes! Just like Preston's.
(Maxwell above, Preston below, both 3½ months)

We had to replicate this photo! Maxwell above, Preston below.

First time in the sand: "what is this stuff?"

"it's not so bad!"

Preston & Maxwell in the sand

Snoozing after a hard day being cute