Malachi-isms and More

• "pack-pack" - backpack
• "horse [minus the 's' sound]" - horse (you just can't teach him to not say a "bad word" yet)
• "ha-ma" - airplane and 'Handy Manny' on Disney
• "zha-zha" - french fry, sunglasses, glasses, water (I still think he could be a very good Russian speaker, if only I had paid more attention in college!)
• "Beep-bee" - Grammy
• "a-nay" - Annie (the golden retriever that lives next door to my parents)
• "dog" - Kiev and any other dog
• "tat" - Riley and any other cat
• "Da-day" - Daddy
• "Hot dog" - Mickey Mouse (I know I've said this before, but its so cute!)
• "Mi-mi" - Spiderman
• "vroom-vroom" - car
• "choo-choo" - train (especially Thomas)
• "e-moe" - Elmo from Sesame Street (I wish I knew where he learned that one because he has NEVER watched it with me---well, once but that was when he was sick and waaaaay after he started saying Elmo.)
• "ha [very, very nasally]" - tire (again, he would make a good Russian)
• "ice" - ice and rice

Malachi still LOVES his little brother. In the morning, sometimes he will call for Z instead of Momma or Daddy. He will hold him oh, so tight when he holds him on his lap. He will shove him away when he is through. He loves to play with the toys on the exersaucer and lay on the blanket with Z. He tries to share his food and drink sometimes.

He doesn't have a whole lot of sentence structure yet, but occasionally he will put two words together to form a "phrase or sentence." He is trying to copy more and more words that he hears. He has conquered the body parts and clothing items (except pants, shorts, skirts, etc. are all "shorts"). He is beginning to get his colors and has difficulty counting (but is trying hard). Anytime he notices something in two's or three's it becomes "two, two, two," followed by a big grin.

I've attempted to try to potty train him, but he just pull apart the pieces of his potty and runs around naked. He also likes to take other people in the bathroom and make them turn on the light, close the door, and sit on the big potty (clothes still on is just fine by him). Once we get settled in our new house, I guess I'll work on him more.

My plan is to have a party on the 14th of July to celebrate Malachi's 2nd birthday (actually July 9th) and welcome us into our new (finally just our) place.

Since Saturday, we have been feverishly working into the night to get the house ready. Daniel still has a big job ahead of him of laying the laminate floors in the master bedroom, Malachi's bedroom, and the hallway. He also still has 1 and a half bathrooms to tile. We are leaving the carpet in the front bedroom (office and Z's bedroom [later]) and the living room. We may do laminate later in the living room, once we get settled and see how things are going. We were also able to leave the linoleum in the very large kitchen. The house is (if you couldn't tell from before) a 3 bed, 2 bath house of a large eat in kitchen with island and laundry "room." It also has a one car garage, a fire place, and is set on 1/4 of an acre (with LOTS of trees and brush). Pastor Craig was helping in the yard yesterday and found two snakes. We will probably not paint the master bedroom, Malachi's bedroom, and the bathrooms. Everything else (including all doors and trim) are getting new paint. We took some before pics. I can't wait to show you the finished product of before and after.

I must go make more calls and balance the checkbook before the boys wake up. I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

Watching "Hot Dog" ("Mickey Mouse Clubhouse") together at the condo at Myrtle Beach