Two

Sullivan is two today. 

Two is just so old to me. He’s not a baby anymore; he has a personality and friends and funny little quirks and obsessions. He’s figuring out what he likes and I’m figuring it out at the same time. We’re both getting to know him at about the same rate, which is just a crazy thing. 

I like lists, so here’s a list of things I know about my son so far.

1. He loves drums and drumming and drummers. He doesn’t care about cartoons – I tried to introduce him to Dumbo and 101 Dalmatians and he couldn’t care less about either of them – but he will sit with Barclay and watch Rush DVDs for as long as I’ll let him, clutching a pair of chopsticks in his little fists, drumming on his knees. When Neil Peart comes on the screen, he calls out excitedly, “Mom! Uncle Neil! Bass drum! Cymbal! Drum sticks!” He drums on the table with his fingers at meal times and on pots and mixing bowls the rest of the time. His attention span is long, but only for drums. Coloring? Not so much. For his birthday this year, we got him a copy of a drummer magazine. He loves it, even though it’s just a bunch of articles about drummers and pictures of their setups. 

2. He also loves video games. He thinks Mario sounds like Geddy Lee (lead singer of Rush, see above), and I don’t mind it because it keeps him occupied while I do my makeup in the mornings. 

3. He’s really, really into baking (does he sound like a 40 year-old bachelor yet?). His favorite thing to bake is muffins, and he knows what ingredients he needs and where to get them and mostly what steps he needs to take. He can be right in the middle of drumming, even, and if you say, “Sully, wanna bake muffins with me?” He’ll freak out, jump up, and sprint into the kitchen for the muffin tins. It’s pretty sweet.

4. Despite his loyalty to Rush, his all-time favorite song is Hard Time by Seinabo Sey, which is a solid choice in my book. He asks for it repeatedly and nearly falls over when I put it on. It has a good beat, so that’s probably why. 

5. He has a bunch of friends and he talks about them all the time. When he’s eating food he’s really into, he’ll comment on how they would probably like it and how he should share it with them. When he’s being made to eat food he’s really not into, he’ll cry, “Want feed this to Wreennnnnn…” (Wren is one of his favorites to talk about, but when they’re actually in the same room they don’t interact at all.)

6. He’s becoming a tad more comfortable around strangers lately. Last night, we went for supper and he struck up a conversation with some young ladies at the table next to us. “Hi! Hi, friend! One, two, two friends!” Unfortunately, he’s also at a stage where he’s very interested in bodily functions, so the very next thing he asked them was if they poop on the toilet. And then he started singing a song that went something like this: “I poooooop. I peeeeeee. On the tooooooiiiiiiiiilettttt…” We shut that down. It’s not dinner conversation, and it’s not even factual; he’s not potty trained at all. 

7. He rarely gets super hyper or busts out laughing, so it’s pretty rewarding when he does. He’s got a sense of humor, but minimal expression of it. He’s a chuckle-to-self kind of kid, and I like that about him. You can tell when he thinks he’s being funny, because he’ll tuck his chin into his chest, chuckle to himself and say, really quietly, “Nice.” 

I’m really excited for this next year. I like Sullivan – like, as a person, not just a son. I think he’s cool and funny, and I like hanging out with him, and I can’t wait to see what he grows up into. It’s probably because he’s a mini version of Barclay, and I feel all of those same things about Barclay. 

Yep. That’s probably it.