Sparkling Maxwell

Maxwell recently started showing interest in what his parents ingest. He loves to watch XW drink water, and has begun reaching for her cup. XW will give him a sip every now and then, and one day decided to let him try some sparkling water. He made quite the face when he first tried it. But he kept reaching for more . . . so we recorded a video.

Maxwell goes to Hollywood

Maxwell and family made a quick jaunt to L.A. for 2 days to see family. Xiao-Wei's auntie Gretchen and uncle Bob, and Alan's paternal side of the family (lots of 'em) all live in the L.A. area. It just happened to coincide with Anita's housewarming party. What a gorgeous house! Cousins Ethan and Alan were consummate hosts, and let UNCLE Alan play with all of their toys and video games. Maxwell enjoyed watching the two of them so much. We also got to meet cousin Isabelle, who is the cutest, and the most en vogue!

Maxwell goes to Naperville

To remember Maxwell's Wai-Po (maternal grandmother), we traveled to Naperville, IL, over Valentine's Day to visit Max's cousin, Samantha, his DiDi JiuJiu (Uncle Vincent), and Janie Jiu-Ma. Two of Max's older cousins, Morgan and Emma, came to Naperville from Ann Arbor, along with Max's GoGo JiuJiu (Uncle Michael), and Jimo Jiu-Ma. We had a great time together: Sammi wooed us with her renditions of Disney's Mulan, and Morgan has proved to be the most eccentric of us all (oh, hi). Emma is a mature young lady now, and Maxwell just LOVES hanging out with her. Most of all, it pleased Gong Gong to have so many grandkids gathered together. Gong Gong was especially thankful and cheerful. So much so, that he cooked dinner from SCRATCH. It was aMYzing.

Taiwan Part 5 - The Gang's All Here

We saw lots of different family members while in Taiwan. We had dinner with the First Lady of Taiwan, who is the "ku4"-est lady in the world; we paid our respects to XW's grandmother, and Alan's grandfather (with Max in a polar bear jacket); we went shopping at the mall (where XW fed Max in a pretty snazzy lactation "chamber"); and Max got to just hang and have quality time with his cousins and grandparents. A good time was had by all.

Hair Daze

Maxwell has been getting comments on his hair. XW has decided that we will not cut his hair for a year; we'll see where it goes. In the meantime, we have a "reach" goal (see below).



For more 80's nostalgia:

Maxwell gets it

Maxwell has grown so much in the past month, and has had so many milestones, it's tough to keep up! On our way to the airport in Taiwan (for the return flight home), we watched Max play with his pacifier for the first time, grabbing, exploring, and trying to shove it in his mouth. After 15 minutes of trying to get it in his mouth, unaided by us (tempted as we were), he did it! And promptly fell asleep, no doubt exhausted from the effort. Since then, he's learned to grab things and switch from hand to hand, roll over in his bed (onto his tummy), sleep 8-9 hours at night (i.e. soothe himself back to sleep), eat solids (blog entry on this coming soon!), and a myriad of other little things that come with his new sense of awareness.

Anyway, below is a video of Mommy and Maxwell playing peek-a-boo for the first time. And you can see the realization on his face. This is one of our favorite moments with Max (so far). Enjoy.

Maxwell's Twin: Elodie

Xiao-Wei has been preparing herself to go back to work, and in doing so, has found a great nanny named Sandra, whom we will share with XW's co-worker, Stacey. Stacey's daughter's name is Elodie and she is five days younger than Maxwell. Sandra commented that it's like taking care of twins because of their closeness in age. So, we recently all got together to do a meet & greet (Sandra is great!), and we put Max and Elodie next to each other. The result is what you see in the video. Max didn't seem too happy about it, though the first time they met, he was reaching for HER hand. It looks like the tables have turned, and Max just doesn't know what to do with himself. Enjoy.