IN WHICH My Baby Turns Two

Last Monday, Malcolm turned 2. I thought back to my post about TWO (when Eamon was two and Malcolm was 2 months). So much has happened since then!

The other day, Malcolm bumped himself and was crying. I cuddled him and said, "Poor Baby;" he stopped crying and replied, "Not Baby, little boy." I said, "Oh! Aw, poor little boy." And he pretended to cry some more to get more cuddles.

That's my little boy! We haven't had his 2 year check up yet, but he is a few inches shorter and a few pounds lighter than Eamon. He eats just about as much and is just as picky, but about different things. Eamon is my barbecue boy; Malcolm prefers ranch. We get Eamon to eat by singing to him; we get Malcolm to eat by pretending to steal his food. Eamon is reactionary; Malcolm is the instigator. For Eamon, life is a battle to fight or a quest to conquer; for Malcolm, life is a game to play and joke to laugh at. Together, they are best buddies and worst enemies.

On his own, he likes to play cars and trucks. He likes playing the piano. He enjoys books, though he usually prefers to have them read to him, rather than just looking at them by himself. He sings and dances and tries to make Mommy shout or laugh. He gets jealous when his brother is getting Mommy cuddles, but is very much "not a baby" anymore.

He is beginning to talk quite a bit. In fact, I often have to remind myself that he is just two and though we encourage him to use words to tell us what is wrong, I can't expect him to be able to explain himself very well yet. His biggest fits happen when he thinks I don't understand what he wants, either because I really don't understand or because I won't let him do or have what he wants. He is also beginning to repeat everything we say. I was correcting Eamon and said, "No, Honey." Malcolm, who was doing something else, repeated, "No, Honey." Eamon turned on him and said, "You're not my Mother!" Last night, he said parts of our repeated prayers and sang parts of the Gloria. And today in church, the pastor heard him repeat several of the words in the Bible readings. I don't know how much he knows what all the words mean, but he is working on his pronunciation.

I love all of this little boy, but perhaps my favorite thing about him is the way he is full of smiles and tends to know how to make other people smile too.