The Hand Family: Craig's Two

Last month our son turned two. It's been full speed ahead since then and I haven't gotten a chance to recap the milestones and celebration. It's been awhile since I've written anything about the mitlestones Craig has met.

Craig's first sampling of his cake before it was fully frosted.

Craig has left the Toddler stage and is a full-fledged Little Boy! He was a slow one to talk and I was a little concerned that he wasn't saying any words by 18 months. His pediatrician said with a smile, "He's got three sisters that talk for him and he's a boy so I'm not concerned. Late talkers will start talking and never stop! My son and I were late talkers and look at us now!" (We have a really chatty pediatrician.)
July was the month. Craig started talking...in 2-3 word sentances. He's quite the talker for a boy and is trying to keep up with his sisters. He's not always understandable, but has a LOT to say. Some of my favorite words of his are "dadden?" (again), booball (football), Eat! Eat! Eat! and hungy (hungry). He went from a 6-9 month level in speech in March to a 24 month level in October. Our pediatrician was right!

Craig is still hanging in the 5-10th percentile for weight (24 pounds) and is 34 inches tall (25th %). He may be scrawny, but he's strong. He mantains and iron cross when held by the elbows. He loves to grab ahold of my arm, wrap his arms and legs around my forearm and hang on, all the while wanting me to pick him up over my head. (Good thing he doesn't weigh much!) When he's wanting his mamma, he grabs ahold of my leg and won't let go.

Craig's head is the biggest part of him reaching into the 50th%. He must be exercizing his brain with all of his exploring. Last night, I thought he had followed his sister out to the car after church, but we found him in the church office dumping the toner out of the copy machine! Buttons, levers and knobs turn him on. He's just one curious dude.

Speaking of curious, Curious George is a favorite TV program of his, although any program will usually do. This kid gets "glued" to the TV very easily and is learning about limits.

For Craig's birthday, he got a Bob the Builder birthday cake. I picked up the form for the cake at the second hand store. I didn't get the cake completely frosted while he was down for his nap so he thought he'd help out. He sampled the frosting and the cake even before I got the face on Bob. It was just another one of those times when I had to grab the camera so I could smile later.

The gifts that Craig got were very thematic this year. He got a carpenter's belt with two sets of tools. Incuded in one of the sets was a set of suspenders. He could really use those-he's always losing his pant.