We have a short growing season here as well. I always start my tomatoes indoors. Mine are about 4 inches tall right now. And Early Girl are a very nice variety that I've had good luck with. Also cherry tomatoes produce before the larger tomatoes (I like "Sweetie" myself). I haven't had really good luck with starting squash indoors, but that might be because I have a tendency to start things too early and they get too big to handle being handled by the time I can set them out.
But as others have said, your seeds only growing to about 2 inches is an indication that something is wrong, either with the location you're choosing (not enough light?) or soil issues.
