Malcolm got into the festive fun of Halloween this year. He didn't totally understand, but played along. And why not? He was Bob the Builder! And any reason to carry and display his hammer and tools is a good reason.
He took his role very seriously by overseeing the digger at work at a construction site.
But it wasn't all serious work. He went "Trick or Treating" with his cousins, er, I mean with Cleopatra, Clark Kent, and Shirley Temple.
At the end of October, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Laura and Mike and meet my nephew, Charles. We pretty much spent our time like this:
And this: You get the idea.
It was so nice to meet him and see Laura and Mike "parent it up." They are great! Relaxed, loving, enjoying the moments. Charles made out pretty well getting them as parents. He's such a handsome guy. You'll stare at this pic for hours:
Meanwhile, Paul was traveling to various locations for volleyball. (His season finished very well. Ask him about it). And Malcolm, well, he got to "vacation" at Nonna and Pappa's for a few days.
While he was there, he helped Pappa dig up rhizomes and put them in the wheelbarrow. From this experience, he can now pronounce "rhizomes" and "wheelbarrow." His love of all things garden continues.
But he wasn't working the entire time he was there. He also played. And he got to go to a special play place, the Betty Brim Children's Museum in Milwaukee.
Here he played in an auto shop:
And then with trains:
And he stopped to smell the flowers.
Of course, no downtown afternoon is complete without stopping to eat at Beans and Barley.
Not sure who had the best time, but we couldn't wait to see each other again. After weather stranded me in Maine an extra night, Malcolm and Paul greeted me at the airport. Malcolm even patted me on the back in our family hug. Trips are great when you've got a great place to come home to.
My Grandparents, Clarence and Colleen, celebrated their 60th anniversary in October. The happy occasion was shared by many (many, many!) family and friends who participated in the joyful merriment which included:
...a lunch (to store up the energy needed for the day's events)
...a play break and you can see Malcolm's "cute shoes" (as he calls them)
...and dancing with Nonna - to the polka band, of course.
Malcolm loved the band and seeing the live instruments - tuba, piano, saxophone, drums, trumpet, speakers, microphone. All of which he kept listing on our ride home before he fell asleep (and then probably dreamed of them).
Malcolm had a wonderful time at the party for "Gramma and Grampa Hoer-ff." (As did we all!)
Malcolm has a new cousin. And we would like to welcome Ruby Alice to the mix. Ruby was born to Paul's sister Sarah and Dave and big brother, Oscar. Ruby was so excited to meet them all that she arrived a little early, but doing great and finally at home with her family. Malcolm can't wait to meet you, Ruby, and loves singing your name in the Cousins Song.
This autumn we've taken a few trips to apple and pumpkin farms. We ventured out on cool days and warm days taking in the smells, sights, and fun-ness of fall.
Which includes getting out with the cousins. Ever since we went apple picking with his cousins, when Malcolm sees an apple he says, "Pick apples. Cousins."
Another fantastic fall day, we made an afternoon of it with Emily and Ryan and her family at the pumpkin farm. Malcolm loved the wagon ride because the wagons were pulled by the tractor. In fact, sitting on the tractors was his favorite part.
While most of his time was spent on the tractors, he also got to interact with kittens, goats, sheep, and a "milk-training cow." Here Emily shows Malcolm how it's done.
Then we picked out our favorite pumpkins to take home.
These four months feel like they passed in four blinks. The summer kept us busy. We've had summers before, but this summer was different. There's been so much growing, so much changing, so much exploring. This summer was busy with Malcolm (and he still sleeps 10-12 hours of the day). Yet, there isn't a day that goes by that we haven't felt exhausted. A joyful exhaustion, yes. And at times, just exhaustion. But we found these months to be the most fun - at least the most fun so far.
His vocabulary has exploded. He can put together two word sentences and his first three word sentence was, "Daddy play blocks," when he wanted Paul to play with him. Instead of just waving, he adds "Hello" and "Bye-bye." He knows the names of the people he sees the most. He says what he wants. And what he usually wants is "milk" and "eat" and "mommy" and "daddy." But that has now evolved into pointing and saying, "Want it. Need it."
He likes to get pushed around on his bike. His legs don't quite reach the peddles yet and he's just getting the hang of steering. He likes to throw a ball. We think he might be left-handed as he prefers to throw and eat with his left hand. But he still uses both hands regularly.
He loves to help in the kitchen and stands on a chair to help "cook" dinner and use the blender for smoothies. He loves to be included so he helps clean and picks up. He loves to wipe his tray after a meal. But his favorite place is still outside. Many mornings he'll say, "outside?" as if to ask, "Is going outside on the agenda today? Because I really hope it is because that's my favorite thing in the world."
He can be defiant but he's smart, which is a challenging combo. For example, on certain nights he'll try to stall bedtime by asking for another story or another song or another whatever he comes up with. I notice how tall he's getting when putting him to bed and when he tries to wiggle out of my arms. When we get him in the morning, he's standing in his crib waiting for us to pick him up. He says, "Up. Walk. Dark. Daylight coming." Then we read stories and snuggle in a blanket and are cozy for some stories. When we ask him what he dreams about his answer is pretty much always the same. "Bubbles. Vacuum. [makes a vacuum cleaner noise]. Bye-bye bubbles." And sometimes he adds, "Cars. Trucks."
He answers questions you ask him. So if you ask him "How's your lunch?" He'll say, "Good." His favorite words are "fun" and "happy." He understands and puts concepts together, like for sleeping he'll hold a finger to his mouth and "shhh." Or if he sees something he knows he shouldn't touch (like a cord in an outlet), he'll point to it and says "No-no. No touch."
When you say, "I love you," he'll blow a kiss back to you and say, "wuv eeew." That's great! But even better is when you say, "Bye. See you later," and he says, "Bye-Bye. Love you. See you." That's the best. And, he gives hugs pretty freely. Kisses, well those are reserved for pictures of things he likes in books, like teddy bears, Elmo, and babies. But he'll also give kisses if you ask nicely.
Malcolm sings songs that we like to sing. And he makes up songs by humming or la-la-laing. He can finish lines in the books we have read probably 100 times to him. He pretends to talk on the phone and when we ask who he's talking to, it's always Pappa. He builds chairs to sit in and tall towers with blocks and sometimes when he sticks two blocks together he pretends to fly his creation as a plane.
With his new found language that grows each day he is quick to initiate conversation and tells us what's on his mind. I think he likes saying "thank you" so he can hear, "you're welcome." Sometimes he forgets to say "please," and when "please" is often requested he reluctantly whines, "ppppeeeeessssssss." He loves to give high fives and fist bumps. His favorite object is his "blank-et." We never named it, it's just "blank-et" and it's truly comforting to him.
Malcom says, "Is," when asking, "What is that?" But he doesn't ask it the form of a question, it's more like a command, such as, "Tell me what that IS." Then when you tell him, he repeats the word the best he can. This happens everyday and everyday he wants to learn more.
He never tires of people. He's a real people person. He love interacting and learning from others. Since he started running he loves playing chase with his cousins. He just loves to be around people. On the Fourth of July we went to a parade with our families. I had one of those moments where you think you bring your baby, but here your baby isn't so much a baby anymore. In fact he's sitting on the curb with his cousins watching the parade go by, pointing out clowns and animals and trucks. Yep, one of those moments you have to choke back a tear.
These months have also brought some firsts. He had his first skinned knee. Like most of his bumps and bruises, he cries for a bit, brushes himself off, and keeps going. He had his first hair cut. And he went to the State Fair for the first time. So it was his first time seeing some of the animals up close in person that he had only seen in books. He wasn't crazy about the pigs (as you can tell by the disgust shown on his face in the photo) and he loved the bunnies (even though we see those in our yard all the time.) He also had his first cause for having to say he's sorry. He first started to use his own name and if you ask him, he'll tell you his full name. He identifies himself in the mirror and will make faces at himself. Sometimes he laughs at himself. He also mispronounced his first word in a audience of prayerful silence. It should have been "fox," but it wasn't.
Lately his favorite word is, "awesome." He uses to describe people, events, things. And that pretty much sums up the experience of these past few months.
And this:
You get the idea.
It was so nice to meet him and see Laura and Mike "parent it up." They are great! Relaxed, loving, enjoying the moments. Charles made out pretty well getting them as parents. He's such a handsome guy. You'll stare at this pic for hours:
While most of his time was spent on the tractors, he also got to interact with kittens, goats, sheep, and a "milk-training cow." Here Emily shows Malcolm how it's done.
Like trying on fancy sandals before going outside.
He likes to get pushed around on his bike. His legs don't quite reach the peddles yet and he's just getting the hang of steering. He likes to throw a ball. We think he might be left-handed as he prefers to throw and eat with his left hand. But he still uses both hands regularly.
He can be defiant but he's smart, which is a challenging combo. For example, on certain nights he'll try to stall bedtime by asking for another story or another song or another whatever he comes up with. I notice how tall he's getting when putting him to bed and when he tries to wiggle out of my arms. When we get him in the morning, he's standing in his crib waiting for us to pick him up. He says, "Up. Walk. Dark. Daylight coming." Then we read stories and snuggle in a blanket and are cozy for some stories. When we ask him what he dreams about his answer is pretty much always the same. "Bubbles. Vacuum. [makes a vacuum cleaner noise]. Bye-bye bubbles." And sometimes he adds, "Cars. Trucks."
He never tires of people. He's a real people person. He love interacting and learning from others. Since he started running he loves playing chase with his cousins. He just loves to be around people. On the Fourth of July we went to a parade with our families. I had one of those moments where
you think you bring your baby, but here your baby isn't so much a baby anymore. In fact he's sitting on the curb with his cousins watching the parade go by, pointing out clowns and animals and trucks. Yep, one of those moments you have to choke back a tear.
These months have also brought some firsts. He had his first skinned knee. Like most of his bumps and bruises, he cries for a bit, brushes himself off, and keeps going. He had his first hair cut. And he went to the State Fair for the first time. So it was his first time seeing some of the animals up close in person that he had only seen in books. He wasn't crazy about the pigs (as you can tell by the disgust shown on his face in the photo) and he loved the bunnies (even though we
see those in our yard all the time.) He also had his first cause for having to say he's sorry. He first started to use his own name and if you ask him, he'll tell you his full name. He identifies himself in the mirror and will make faces at himself. Sometimes he laughs at himself. He also mispronounced his first word in a audience of prayerful silence. It should have been "fox," but it wasn't.
