McKay’s Two Year Old Birthday Pictures

This is a month late, but it took me a few attempts to get decent pictures.  Better late than never, right?

We were at the store a few weeks ago and McKay insisted on sitting on my shoulders, it’s his preferred method of transportation, and while checking out the cashier took one look at him and said, “That one’s got fire in his eyes.”  That pretty well sums up McKay.

My little adorable, mischievous one:

With McKay there is never a dull moment.  He went through a phase where, when his name was called his echo reply was, “Sorry!” Some examples of things for which he regularly had to say sorry for (this list is in no way comprehensive):

• Smearing Vaseline all over himself and his toy dog, Buster.  Do you know how hard Vaseline is to get out of hair?  It’s not an easy job!
• Unloading the silverware from my loaded dishwasher all over the floor.
• Biting!  Oh yes, he’s a big biter.  He’s left at least a dozen bruised bite marks on his siblings.  It hasn’t happened for a couple months (knock on wood) so I’m hoping we’ve overcome that challenging phase.
• Stealing toys!
• Drawing on the walls, floor, his skin, our brand new van, the bedspread, in books, and on his siblings with crayons and markers.
• Refusing to sit in his car seat and get buckled.  This was a MAJOR problem for months!  It drove me absolutely insane!  I would have to pin him into his car seat with my full weight while he arched his back, cried, and kicked to get out.  It was exhausting and infuriating!  It doesn’t happen too often anymore, thank goodness!
• Refusing to let me dress him or change his diaper.  Again…this was an exhausting physical battle for months.  We’re mostly passed it now, too, but lately he loves to take his clothes off.  He also has a major problem with having his hands in his pants, if you know what I mean.  Usually I ignore it or distract him but his hands are always in his diaper or he’s taking his diaper off.
• Throwing his food plate and cup on the ground.  There were many a times I just had to tell myself to take a deep breath and walk away.

He was a really good baby.  He was such a sweet, smiley little guy who loved to be held and cuddled.  Around 9 months he became more restless, mischievous, curious, and sometimes even a little….naughty.  His mischievousness is now turning into an acceptable form of teasing.  In fact, his teasing is becoming one of his defining characteristics.  It’s given him an outlet to still be who he is without being in trouble.  We’re all happy about that!  He can be so good now.  He’ll sit still and let me read him books.  He’ll watch TV (I can’t believe I just wrote that!).  He’ll play nicely with his siblings for acceptable lengths of time.  He doesn’t bite.  He usually doesn’t fight getting into his car seat.  We’ve come a loooonnnnggg way!

So, some examples of his new teasing side:

• My mom told me that when she watched him one day she asked him, “Mo, how much do you love Mimi?”  With a huge smile on his face, he held up his hands about an inch apart.  He consented to give the correct answer in exchange for chocolate chips.  That is so McKay!
• Last night when Ben was reading him a book Ben pointed to a cow and asked, “Which animal is this?”  Again, huge grin on his face he replied, “A hippo!”  We wonder sometimes if when his first grade teacher asks him a question he’ll purposely give the wrong answer just to be difficult.  Hope not!
• He’s been known to offer me his food and then quickly pull it away and eat it himself.  Oh, he thinks that’s so funny! He loves to be chased, tickled, fake bitten, buried in pillows, and rough housed.
• He thinks it’s a riot to tell people they have stinky feet.
• The kids were all playing with blocks last week and Sadie said, “Mommy, look what I built – a castle’s tower.” I said, “Great job Sadie! Jax, what did you build?”  Jax replied, “A huge rectangle.”  Sure enough he had put dozens together and had one giant, perfect rectangle.  I turned to McKay and his pile of rubble and asked, “And Mo, what did you make, Buddy?”  He replied, “A mess!”  He was so proud and smiled at his cleverness.  It was pretty funny!
• Whenever I ask him the question, “Who does Mommy love?”  His reply is always, “Jax!”  Then I say, “NO!” and he thinks that’s sooo funny, and he’ll say, “Sadie?”  Finally he’ll name himself.

He can be difficult to parent because he’s stubborn and impish, but we think he’s hilarious and adds a really fun element to our family.  It can be so hard at times not to laugh because it only encourages him, and believe you me – he needs no encouragement.  I could go on and on with examples of his teasing, mischievous side but I’ll move on….

McKay has a genuinely affectionate personality.  He is so happy to give a big hug or big wet kiss.  I think part of the reason he loves to be held so much is that he just craves affection.  He wants to feel close to you and is happy to give and receive love.  He still loves to be rocked to sleep.  I love those quiet, calm moments holding McKay in my arms before he falls asleep for his nap.  And Ben’s favorite part of the day is night time when he holds McKay close, reads him a book and then watches him drift off to never-never land.  Before giving up McKay will usually request a round or two of “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round” and then drift off to sleep to sounds of a choo-choo train (Chugga Chugga, Chugga Chugga Choo Choo). The other two have never really asked to sleep in our bed, but from time to time McKay will request to join us in the middle of the night.  It has been during these nights that we have found his sleep habits to match his personality….  all over the place.  His feet, elbows or hands to my face is not uncommon.  I woke up once with him on top of the covers between my legs with this head at my feet.  Another time I woke up and he was directly on top of me.  It was an impressive balancing act.  Not sure how long we had been like that? People he likes (it’s a short list):

• McKay is obsessed with Ben and wants nothing to do with me when Ben is home.  He cries almost every morning when he leaves for work.  You’d think after two years he’d be use to the daily occurrence by now?  His loathing of me started when I tried to wean him.  It took me almost a year but I finally got that job done!  He STILL asks occasionally to nurse and throws a major temper tantrum when I tell him no.  I’m hoping he’ll forgive me in time.
• For the most part he loves his siblings.  Sometimes I think it’s frustrating for him to be smaller than them.  For instance, he can’t really jump on the trampoline with them because he gets bounced to hard and falls over and over again.  Also, he can’t communicate his complete thoughts to them and sometimes that gets him riled up.  He especially loves Sadie; sometimes he loves Jax 🙂
• He LOVES my mom and probably prefers her over me.  During nap time he’ll often ask for her or Ben.  I try not to let my feelings be hurt.
• He likes his cousins, aunts, uncles and a few people at church like Matt Marshall, BJ Moore, Gena Allen, and the Smiths.

Other than that he’s not super social or friendly. That’s just his way 🙂

His favorite TV show is Little Einsteins and he loves The Sound of Music.

His favorite toys are his vacuum, kitchen, airplanes, toy trains, magnetic blocks, and sidewalk chalk.

His favorite foods are cereal and sweets.  He eats a lot of apples and PB, chicken, mandarin oranges, applesauce, and rice.

He wants to be a baseball player or an airplane pilot when he grows up.

His favorite phrases are “Me do!” or “Self!”  He’s very independent.

He loves adventure and is usually our most brave child.  It wasn’t long after he learned to walk that he learned to climb.  We’d turn our back for a second and he’d be up on a chair, or up on the kitchen table with his big dare-devil grin.  He likes rides at theme parks or the zoo.  He often tells me in the car, “Go fast Mommy! Faster!” He still has his darker, soft baby skin.  His skin is absolutely perfect!  It’s never dry or dull.  Jax, Sadie, and McKay all have different skin tones but almost the exact same colored hair. Funny how that works.

His eyes are dark and very reflective.  I always get great catch lights and reflections when I take his pictures.

His voice….oh, I love his voice!  I could listen to his sweet baby voice all day.  I should really take more video of him.  His voice melts me.

I love his pink, plump lips.  He still has his lip split scar.  It’s not super noticeable.  It’s something I hoped would disappear entirely but probably never will.  Oh well.

His fingers, toes, belly, body….all perfection.  I love his little body!

I often tell Ben, “Good thing he’s cute!”  He’s so cute and lovable it’s easy to look over some of his challenging behavior.

That’s a little about McKay as a two year old.  He’s changing a lot lately.  We’ve really enjoyed having him as a baby but he is becoming such a fun little two year old that I’m okay with moving forward.  The best is yet to come!

I decided to add a little video of McKay.  It’s maybe 6 weeks old but I haven’t taken anything more recently.  I REALLY need to do better about video!