He is So Good To Us... Most of the Time

As I sit here writing, after a rejuvenating hour nap, as Max is turning the two-plus hours of napping, this is what I think "he is so good to us". Today (so far) has been one of those great family-Saturdays.

We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast, cleaned and played around the house this morning, then we went shopping.

We found that we have a sunken table in our tatami room
(with a heater underneath the table).
I'm sure there's a pretty Japanese term for this,
but I don't know what it is and you wouldn't understand it anyways.

He loves to vacuum! Hopefully he has all of his dad's cleaning tendencies!

After meandering around a bit and buying a toothbrush holder (we're exciting folks!), Max played at the softplay area - which is pretty cool and since we're in Japan, and it feels like it has a whole lot less microbes climbing all over the toys.

Then we went to Wendy's where we sat as a family and Max ate all of his chicken and didn't just gorge on french fries... not a piece of food was slung on the floor, we all ate and had a merry time. We went to the grocery store on the way home and still were without tantrum or fuss, then we came home and he had some milk and then Maximo whispered those magic words, "cuna" (crib).

When he's not throwing a full fledged tantrum or begging to watch "movie" (Cars) or "choo-choo" (Thomas the Tank Engine) for the fiftieth thousandth time, he's been really great lately. He's talking up a storm and has FINALLY started putting phrases together, like:
"Sit down" (He doesn't like to watch his shows by himself, he likes to cuddle with his nearest and dearest).
"Kiss it" (For owwies)
"Cheerios, please"

Yes, they are commands. BUT! He can ask us what he wants! AND, he can do it nicely (sometimes). It's so nice when a lot of the guesswork is gone.

We can almost reason with him.

In other Maximo news, daycare is going well (it's so good to finally be able to say that). He now runs to see his senseis and is speaking a bit of Japanese, but understanding a lot of what his senseis are telling him. He's really eating well and is doing it so much more neatly, which we are attributing to the fact that all the kids sit down to eat together at daycare and then clean up their area when they're done. He's actually getting most of his soup from the bowl to his mouth and insists on drinking with a real cup and doesn't spill.

Maximo is really into his books lately and will disappear into his room for a half hour at a time to read his books. It's cute to overhear him read the stories or point out different objects from the pages. He's never been the best independent-play kiddo in the world. This is has been for two reasons - we had a nanny in Peru and a maid who doted on his every breath AND he has no fear and seems to be a danger magnet, so I don't like leaving him alone for too long. But, it's so nice when he's playing by himself - pretending, talking, problem-solving... until he gets frustrated and flings himself into his next tantrum, ha.