pairs

Matthew seems to have an almost obsessive compulsive attachment to things in pairs. He has a sharp eye for identical, or at least similar, objects, and when he finds them, he likes to carry them around, one in each hand. For example:

Wooden train accessories

Cylindrical blocks

Little People

More blocks (notice his use of symmetry)

Helicopters

Wooden train cars (and a bonus hat, styled by himself)

Wooden train engines

Wooden subway cars

More wooden train accessories

Giraffes

Crayons (not the exact same color, but during the entire coloring session, he only chose crayons of this hue)

Marble run balls

Large Thomas trains

Rubber animals (here he has chosen the rhino and the hippo, which of his collection are the two most similar)

When he's done carrying them around, he makes sure to discard of them in pairs as well:

Blocks

Duplos (he almost always picks the red ones)

Wooden train cars

Cylindrical blocks and Little People

Cylindrical blocks (reprise)

Assortment of wooden train cars

Wooden train accessories

Maracas in similarly sized and colored stacking cups (This one is my favorite -- I love how the maracas are even pointing in the same direction!)

It's a funny habit, this one of Matthew's. And it's been going on since about the same time he could grab on to things -- it started with those giraffes pictured above and escalated from there. It makes me wonder how long it will last, and how this affinity for pairs will manifest itself in his future. (And also, on occasion, at what point we'll need to seek professional help....just kidding....sort of.) But in the meantime, it's pretty adorable, so we'll just continue to laugh whenever we catch him wandering around the apartment holding two similar objects, one in each hand.