Looking for Maximo?

I'm exclusively posting on Los Lemleys website now.

But if you want to start from the beginning, here it is...

The first blog post on Lo Maximo, 30 August 2007, when Maximo surprised us, 9 weeks early.

This is it

So, I've decided to end Maximo's blog.
Actually, I fully intended to do it after his 1st birthday post, but I couldn't break away from it.
Randomly, one month later, I seem ready. So, if you are still keen in reading about the Lemley Family Hijinx, join us at the LOS LEMLEYS blog.
The first post is Transitioning (from one blog to another): http://loslemleys.blogspot.com/2008/09/transitioning.html

Do Over

The past couple birthdays have been a bit rough. Two years ago, I had terrible altitude sickness and I was sleeping (at least trying to through a crushing headache) in a tent on the side of a glacier. Last year, well that was even worse, we were in the NICU with Maximo, though we did get the news on that Saturday night that he was going to be able to come home on Monday. So I'm turning 30 again, today.
Yesterday and today (the first two days of the celebratory week) were perfect, I feel like my luck had changed. Yesterday, John took Maximo when he woke up and I slept until 7:30! That's the latest I've slept since Maximo was born. We ran errands, had falafel sandwiches and french fries for lunch, and played in the park. Today, we had to work, but John made dinner when we got home and I got a bunch of little goodies at work.
When we got home, Rosmery had a little birthday present for me - a Spanish tortilla, Mmmm, one of my favorites, then Maximo arrived with Gloria about 20 minutes later after playing in the park with a rose. I'll be honest, I'm not a rose fan, but he doesn't know that yet. It was really sweet for both of them to think of me - and it was cute to get my first present from Maximo.I know I've mentioned this time and time again, but it's amazing how raw and awful it was when Maximo was first born and we felt like we were living minute to minute. People would tell us that one day this would be a distant memory. I never believed it. I still find it shocking that in one year, we went from this...

to this...

Wisps of our Week

School has been a bit hectic, so posting has fallen by the wayside. Here are a few wisps of our week:

• Maximo is getting more and more stable on his feet and is walking while cruising the furniture, pushing the footstool or hold our hands.
• Maximo attended yet another neighborhood kid's birthday party, Tiago, and seemingly had a good time. (again he went with Gloria and not us...)
• Maximo is really really interested in books (yipee). Right now he's really keen on turning the pages, so we have to read really fast.

• Maximo has a knack for knowing when it's "Mommy's night" by getting up at 4 am and then tossing and turning in bed with her until 6 am. He's only done this a few times, but only once on Daddy's night.
• Maximo loves to turn off and on the lights as we leave or enter a room.
• Maximo's poops have crossed the line this week. Who knows, maybe it's the milk, but... P.U.! those things are foul smelling... but on an up note, they are not the hard pellets they used to be!
• Two more teeth have broken through - so now he has four on top, four on the bottom
• Maximo is getting really good about going under the water in the pool. At first, he didn't know that he was supposed to shut his mouth before going under, now, with a little conditioning (1, 2, 3... plunk), he's going under the water and coming up without sputtering a ton of water. He even went under the lane markers in the pool yesterday, rather than the quick submersion in Mommy's arms.
• He's standing up! Solo! Last night was the first time in the bathtub. Today he did it while he was playing. It's only for about 5 seconds, then he either loses balance or decides to get down to crawl. (How exciting!)
  

I'll leave you with this cute video of Maximo laughing. He is super ticklish, especially around his neck and his thighs. Every night after his bath, we put lotion on him and can't resist a few minutes of tickling his little "hamhocks" with a handful of lotion.

Bilingualism

"Put it in your boca not on the floor!"
This is one of the common Spanglishisms in our house. As we are planning on leaving Peru at the end of this school year, we are torn. If we stay here or move to another Spanish-speaking country for a few more years, Maximo would be truly bilingual. John and I wish we were bilingual and realize what an asset it would be to our kids.
As it is now, Maximo spends more time surrounded by Spanish than English. He could easily be fluent in both languages with perfect accents in both. But, we're going to move, to who knows where. We're not totally closing the door on other Spanish speaking countries, but I'm looking for a big change next year (culturally/academically/geographically/gastronomically) - Asia, Europe, we'd even consider Africa if we were guaranteed good in-country health care (since we'd like to have another baby).
So, it may not be Spanish, but maybe if we stay at our next post for a while, Maximo will become fluent in another language, hopefully it'll be a global language, like French, German, Japanese, and not a "Click" language of a remote area of Africa, or Basque, or Icelandic. But, who knows???

Personality Plus

Living overseas has definitely changed for us since having Maximo. While we still love our lifestyle and our jobs and the adventure of living in a foreign country, but it's really hard not to share Maximo with our family and friends. It's hard for us knowing he's growing up without his Nana, Gigi, Papa, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Even though we keep in touch through blogs, photo pages and emails, they won't really get to know the kind of kid Maximo is growing up to be. His personality is coming out little by little. And as long as he's sleeping well, he's a lot of fun to be around.
Here are a couple of videos - the are definitely NOT Cannes Film Festival material, but they'll give you a glimpse of our little man.
The first is Maximo and his wave.

The second one is of him "talking". He babbles all the time, but nothing is really coming out except for "Cat". You'll hear him say "ma, ma, ma" but it's definitely not directed towards me. And you'll get to hear his second favorite sound - the possessed growling at the end. His first being a high pitched squeal that makes my eardrums hurt and alerts all the dogs in the neighborhood.

Is It Just Ours or Are They All Like This?

We have now changed our living room around for the third time. This is the room on the second floor that we spend the most time in – when we’re hanging around the house, we’re in this room. It's by far the ugliest room in the house - with a hodge podge of antiques, school furniture, electronics and baby toys. It has the wireless internet (when it’s working), it has our computers, the television and our VOIP and local phones. Lately Maximo is into EVERYTHING! Everything that he shouldn’t been in… he has a foam playmat with a huge basket overflowing with toys, a musical table, balls, even the cat.But, we are constantly chasing him away from wires, the computers, the trash can. We’re trying to prevent him from slamming his fingers in the door or a drawer or simply running out of the room. We barricade, we block with our bodies, we try everything. When he catches a glimpse of an electronic device or a wire, he scurries past his Fantasy Playland chock full of toys just for one tug on a wire or one punch on the computer tower.
Now, the question is, are all babies like this? Or are we really in for it? Is he going to be the kid we’re always chasing after, the one making me worry, or is this just a stage? You know what, don’t tell me, ignorance is bliss – let me just think this is a stage and it will pass soon.

But really, with a face like this - you can get away with quite a lot!