Maxwell takes his first steps!

Hooray! This morning Maxwell took his first steps! He's been standing for a while and is really steady on his feet, and if he holds one of our fingers for balance, he can walk around the room. Then this morning finally figured out that he can move his feet without holding onto anything. Won't be long now before he is chasing Preston around. I should also point out that the first steps were Preston-related - ie, Maxwell was trying to get to Preston.

Here is a list of things Maxwell should be able to do at 11 months:

MOST KIDS CAN:
Says "mama" and "dada" to the correct parent
[yes]
• Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo
[yes, doing this for months]
• Stands alone for a couple of seconds
[yes, for ages]
• Cruises
[yes, has been doing this for months]

HALF KIDS CAN:
• Understands "no" and simple instructions
[yes, and understands when i do baby signs]
• Puts objects into a container
[yes, this is a favourite game - especially with lego]

FEW KIDS CAN:
• Says one word besides "mama" and "dada"
[yes, says 'uh oh' every time he drops something. also tries to say a word for the cat and preston. Also does baby signs for more, food, flies, hat]
• Stoops from standing position
[yes]

Clones again

I thought Maxwell was starting to develop his own look and wasn't so cloney anymore, and i think generally he is looking less like Preston, but i caught them watching tv today with the same expression and they do have the same facial features....

Maxwell is 11 months old!

He's standing for ages now, and can stand up from crouching position without holding onto anything, so i don't expect it will be long before he takes a step!

Also today he FINALLY started saying 'Mama' properly (I've been teaching him for ages but it's been no use, i've been 'yaya' instead). So his current words are Dada and Mama. He says something like 'daidai' for Preston and he tries to say something for the cat. He hasn't bothered with signing for any of those words, but he knows what i mean if i sign it. He's not that interested in doing signing much any more since he can get his message across in other ways, but he does occasionally do milk, more, all gone, again. I think he just wants to talk - i was trying to get him to copy sounds like 'ssss' and he tried to copy me straight away which was really cool. Don't know why he wouldn't say mama all this time.

Maxwell and Preston are best friends and they play together so nicely (mostly). They love to laugh and be silly together - it's very cute!

Preston's had 2 weeks of swimming lessons every day, so he's quite competent now. Tomorrow he starts a week of art class every morning, and then it's back to kindy the week after. He is not into art much at all, so hopefully this class will encourage him to do some drawing/painting/writing etc, especially since his world is all about interacting with a touch screen or controller or keyboard... but wow, he is so clever at playing games. I want to find some kids gaming championships for him to enter!