In March, Laura and Charlie came to Madison with Nonna for a few nights while Mike was in Chicago for a conference.
Charlie carefully studied everything Malcolm did - like walk, talk, and take toys away from him. I remember Malcolm absorbing the actions of older kids interacting with him at Charlie's age. It was a good chance for the cousins to hang out and Malcolm to get some lessons (many lessons) in sharing.
It was also one of the last snow falls we had of the season. Here Nonna and Malcolm take a little snow walk in the yard.
We took advantage of Paul's offer to take care of the boys and headed out for dinner to celebrate Laura's birthday. Our night was relaxing and delicious and funny. Paul's was more exciting. The boys pooped in tandem for him and Paul handled it like a pro.
It was a quick visit, but packed with so much fun and good hang out time. Especially for the boys. They change so much between visits that each time they get together it's a little bit different.
Malcolm has increasingly become aware of the camera. He likes to look at the pictures on the camera right after we take them. Recently he enjoys taking pictures as well. Here's his first installment:
Thomas the Train
Cat with Air Pump
The photos are of a few of his favorite things at the moment. He still likes to play in the bubbles at the sink, too.
Malcolm also likes to ask us to take his picture. Like here. He asked that he get his picture taken while he eats his bread. And he was able to sneak in a funny face too. He knows how to work the camera.
It seems like a marathon of time. It's almost unfair to lump these five months together. From month 20 through 24 there have been so many changes. We've gone through the end of baby-ness into toddler and now we begin our journey into little boyhood. I say "we," because more and more I find truth in what is said about parenting, "you grow with your kids."
During these months we also experienced the passing of Grandma Ruby Lindell and Grandpa Richard Schlomer. It's nice that Malcolm was able to meet and spend time with both of them, as it's nice to be with many members of our families. Grandma and Grandpa are dearly missed.
While Malcolm's grown a couple of inches and put on a few pounds, most of the changes we notice are with his vocabulary and social interactions. He still loves interacting with people and once he knows your name he's sure to say, "Should [insert your name here] play?" It's a sincere question, but he asks as if he already knows that the request can not be resisted. And if the person he wants to play with is doing other things, he'll also let you know those other things are done for now by saying "play with me," "close book," or "close computer." While he will play with everyone, it's his cousins that he loves to interact with most. He absorbs all that they do and loves being with them. And when he's not with them, he chatters about being with them.
But one way he fills the time when he doesn't have somebody to play with is to act out interactions with stuffed animals or dolls or trucks. In fact one day, he had the front loader give a kiss to the dump truck. He made a kissing sound and said, "That's nice of the front loader." Guess the dump truck needed to be comforted. He first realized the stuffed animals' perspective when he held a tiger in front of him and he said, "He's looking at me." I looked at the tiger and thought, he's right, the tiger is looking at Malcolm. And since then he holds conversations between him and his animals and his animals to each other. They often times say "Hey Malcolm," when he thinks it's just him and the animals. These moments are great to just watch and hope that he doesn't catch you listening in on seeing his imagination grow.
In this pic, he's imagining that he is hiding behind his cup. Even though he has yet to actually hide (he always "hides" behind his rocking chair), he loves playing hide and go seek. He'll count with us while we count and then shouts, "Ready or not here I come!" from behind the chair. It's good fun.
We've also seen Malcolm become innovative. Before he could get up onto the couch himself, he'd flip over his tool box to use as a step. Now he can move chairs and turn door knobs and open cupboards. During these months he loved walking through the leaves, then the snow, and then the puddles of melting snow. He still likes to ride in his stroller, but he likes pushing his stroller too. Now on our walks instead of us telling him what we see, he tells us everything he sees. It's a constant conversation. He goes up and down the stairs hanging onto the the rail and a hand. He runs everywhere and while he runs, he announces that he's running. Keeping up with him hasn't been too difficult. And he'll sit still (for about ten minutes) to color, draw, play with play-doh, do other crafty things, and watch tractors plowing fields on youtube.
He has developed opinions. This seems normal. He has preferences about pants and shirts, foods, and whether or not he really tired enough to take a nap. For awhile he wouldn't wear jeans. And if he could, he'd eat pepperoni and cucumbers and chocolate - always. We've also experienced him rationalizing. He loves to jump on our bed. One day after playing outside he asked to play on our bed. I said that because his pants were dirty from playing outside, he couldn't play on the bed. All through dinner he asked to play on the bed after he finished eating. And the reply was the same, "No. You have dirty pants." Finally he said, "I want to play on the bed." "No, you can't play on the bed. Your pants are too dirty." To which he replied, "I want to change my pants. Then I want to play on the bed." Paul and I just looked at each other - proudly. He came up with his own rebuttal. However, he still couldn't play on the bed.
Malcolm also plays the "actor." An actor for the dramatic. He'll pull out his fake cry and whimper, then ask, "why are you crying?" to himself. And sometimes he answers back, "I want to get out [of his bed]." "I want my blanket." "I want to watch tractors [on the computer]." But he's not always whiny. He'll describe himself as a "funny guy." And he is. He tries to make jokes mostly by repeating something that makes people laugh or something that made him laugh. Such as the word "pompon" repeated all through dinner. Funny stuff. At least to him. He also likes to converse with us in a funny conversational voice. It's clearly one of those things you need to witness to appreciate, but it closely resembles an impersonation of an impersonation of Julia Child. Funny stuff. At least to us.
And he repeats and copies all words he hears. There are times at dinner that he'll repeat word for word sentences that Paul will say during an entire conversation. Malcolm's sure to include inflections and emphasis of phrases. By doing this he makes the information he's repeating his own. "I haven't heard that song in fifteen years. I'd forgotten how great it is." Hearing that coming from a two-year old is quite amusing. And when you ask him, "Oh yeah?" He nonchalantly replies, "Yeah." As to say, "Yeah, Mom. How can you doubt me? I totally knew that song fifteen years ago when I was in my twenties and LOVED it!"
During these months he's gone from counting to three, then counting to ten in his own order to counting to ten and beyond. He's only begun to actually count objects. He doesn't totally get that yet. He also likes letters. His favorite being 'V' because v is for vacuum. And if it isn't a v, he'll still say the letter is for vacuum anyway if he doesn't know the correct letter-to-word association. He's gone from repeating three word sentences to putting his own thoughts into twelve word sentences. He remembers things you tell him. Then he'll bring these things up again and we have to try hard to remember how he knows that.
Malcolm likes music, dancing, and singing. He knows a few words of songs and likes to listen to his favorites (Hammer Song, Thunder, O song). He's able to sing more lines all the time. His favorites are Beatles' songs and asks for them regularly when he falls to sleep ("Eight Days a Week," "Bungalow Bill," "Golden Slumber"). He also enjoys a good "Twinkle Twinkle" and "You Are My Sunshine." But when he's sleepy or just needs a little reliable love, it's his blanket that still offers him the most comfort.
And I could go on and on, but even over the course of the time it took me to write this post he keeps changing. And it's fun to keep up with all the changes. And while it's nice to stop and take note of them, it's more fun to be actively witnessing them and enjoying them in the moments they happen.
February can be such a long and inhospitable month of full winter, that having his birthday in February is a cozy, little bright spot.
We threw a little party complete with grandparents, great-grandparents, and a yummy Gramma Hoerth cake! (Malcolm carefully inspected the cake closely. He approved.)
We sang Happy Birthday, which he likes to randomly sing to himself since the celebration. And though he looked forward to the candles, he feared them once they were lit. So Grandpa blew them out for him. Malcolm was relieved by this gesture.
After we filled ourselves on dinner and cake, we watched Malcolm open gifts of trucks and...
....well, more trucks. Because he loves trucks. And tractors. And clothes. And a framed map since he likes to know where everyone is and he likes to point out that Laura, Mike and Charlie live in Maine and Sarah, Melander, Oscar and Ruby live in Minneapolis.
We carried on the celebration a few more days connecting with other family and friends. It's a bright spot for sure. One that keeps shining beyond a single day.
The next family Christmas celebration took us Westward to a cabin near Tomah so we could all fit under one roof for a weekend. And fit snug we did.
While at the cabin, we ate great meals and gave gifts...
...and played computer games like angry birds and...danced. Not like spontaneous jigging, but choreographed computer dancing with the Kinect Dance game. This created much laughing and some impressive moves. The impressive moves lead to a "dance-off" tournament. Uncle Melander proved to reign supreme with his flawless Reboot, Brush off, and Screw Loose moves.
We also met newest cousin, Ruby.
Had a good ol' fashioned snowball fight...
and had countless and priceless moments of cousin playtime.
We had two major family Christmas celebrations this year (as well as a little one in our home before all the traveling). The first was at the Lavender Landing for the Grunze family Christmas. Laura, Mike, and Charlie made the trip to WI from ME with some interesting Charlie on the airplane stories (you'll have to ask them about those.)
But once they were cozy by the fire the celebration began - complete with cousin matching santa suits. Paul protested this cute gesture of cousin connectedness.
So then he and Mike received matching santa shirts, as well.
Our stays around holidays tend to prolong the celebration for days and days. There was gift giving and eating and sleeping and eating (repeat, repeat, repeat).
And there was Lounging. (Yes, with a capital 'L'.)
And lots of pictures and prepping for pictures.
And changing Charlie's diaper, which Malcolm was fascinated by and offered to help every time.
And general relaxation and family time.
When asked what santa says, Malcolm replied, "Ho, ho, ho...Solo." Since his Daddy likes to have him quote Star Wars, Malcolm didn't really get the difference between Santa and Jabba the Hut at this age. But he did smile quite often and kindly wished everyone around him, "Merry Christmas."
Can't wait for our next visit!
