Malcolm at Two

Sometimes it's hard to believe that Malcolm is two already as I revel in his cuteness. Other times, of course, I'm just counting down the days until he's a less annoying age.

One of the cute moments - giving Gareth a hug

I decided we should actually be social and invite some people to our house for Malcolm's birthday. Nothing big, just some snacks and brownies. There are a couple other families with almost-two-year-olds on our street, so we invited them, as well as a couple who moved in a few months ago (she happens to be my second cousin's husband's cousin...or something like that). I didn't remember to take pictures, but Malcolm pretty much just ate the frosting off his brownie this year and then wanted to get back to the important food: the strawberries. The kids played and the adults talked. I think the little party went well and the kids seemed to have fun playing. I was surprised at how well the two year olds all got along, and the 3.5 year olds enjoyed playing with Gareth.

Here's a bit of Malcolm at two:

• He loves to scream. If he's happy/excited, he screams. If he's angry, he screams. Loud, high-pitched, ear-piercing shrieks. Some days my ears ache by the end of the day. Thanks for the hearing loss, kid.
• Cars and balls are some of his favorite toys, though he also adores stuffed animals.
• He likes to read. I started trying to be more consistent about reading him a bedtime story and usually he seems to enjoy it. He has also started requesting books to "read" while we're driving in the car. Gareth reads in the car all the time, so Malcolm must follow suit I guess.

  

  Wishing he were ready to read this book

• When he decides to speak, rather than scream, he's quite good at using phrases. He started using phrases earlier than Gareth did. Some common ones are: "Where's uh ball?", "Izza [insert item name here - poop, ball, shoe, etc]", and "Dee dah doo" or something like that. It means "I got you" but is very similar to his "peek-a-boo". 
• He will name items he doesn't know the real name for by who he sees using them. So if we're doing laundry, a shirt of Ryan's will be "izza daddy" and something of Gareth's will be "izza dehs". There are lots of things that are daddy in our house - the speaker, the shower, various clothes, the drumset/sticks, the computer.
• He loves going downstairs because then he can sneak in some banging on daddy's drumset.
• He loves being outside and will often request to go out, rain or shine.
• He loves dogs and cats and is also terrified of them. Every time he sees a dog he desperately wants to touch it, but if it so much as twitches he starts screaming in terror. If a cat is out while we're walking he will try to stay close to it, but if it moves suddenly then he'll run and hide behind me and scream.

I forgot to take him to his 2-year appointment so had to reschedule for a few months from now. I guess scheduling an appointment the week of finals wasn't such a great idea. I pretty much mentally skipped from "prep Malcolm's party" to "study for chemistry final". But this way I can get him and Gareth done all at once, so it actually worked out okay. So, growth stats will come in a few months. One last picture - discovering the marble run: