The Cannon Hackett Chronicle: Happy Birthday TWO Ben!

Ben's birthday was Friday, and we've been partying like two-year olds for the past couple of days. On Friday both sets of grandparents drove in to SA, along with his Aunt Sandy, Aunt Kate & Uncle Eric for a family celebration (complete with Earl Abel's fried chicken and two kinds of pie). Then Saturday some of our fantastic friends joined us for Ben's wild animal-themed birthday party. The tropical bouncy castle we rented and all the fun time with friends gave Ben such a wonderful birthday!

On Friday he had his two-year check up at the doctor's office. His height is now 34.25 inches (45%) and he's weighing in at 27 lb 2 oz (40%). So he's not as tall for his age as he was a while back, but the doctor thought he is probably going through a growth spurt right now (given that he just needed bigger shoes and he's been waking up and wanting milk in the middle of the night all of a sudden). (Fun times for mama.)

Ben's also been making all sorts of mental leaps too. The doctor even called his vocabulary "amazing" (specifically all the animals he was showing her in a book and all the Star Wars characters he knows in their Star Wars-themed exam room). Of course I think he's amazing, but when the pediatrician says it, *mama glows*.

Ben is now remembering words after only hearing them once or twice, and he is also putting words together in funny new ways (like telling me how his Pappy and his grandmother Irene drive a "big ol' truck".) There is SO much going on in his little head, and it's incredible to get to share his thoughts!

Ben got (& needed) a lot of help with gifts

For example, the other day, Ben and I were pretending to play an imaginary piano, and he said "piano Grandpa" (his grandparents have a piano), then "far airplane" (we have to take an airplane ride to visit Gramma and Grandpa). I found it pretty awesome that he's understanding that concept and wanting to talk about it. (Previously I sort of worried that he thought we didn't see his family much because we (or they) just didn't want to. It's nice to know he's starting to understand that distance is the only thing keeping him getting constant cuddles from family.)

Oh, and as of yesterday, we're trying a great-and-terrifying (for me) experiment: NOT putting the baby gates back up in the kitchen and bathroom. Which means he is currently a free-range toddler, having access to the cat's food and water, the kitchen trash *gross*, the kitty litter box *yuck*, and *ick!* the toilet. Ben did great with the gates down yesterday and today, so I'm hoping hoping hoping we can keep the gates put away. Clay and I have lived with baby gates up in our house for 8 years now (since we needed them for our dog, too). How fantastic it'll be when there won't be multiple hurdles around the house!

Aunt Sandy & Gramma

I feel like sometimes I don't even notice how so many of the not-so-pleasant habits Benito used to have, have slowly melted away. For example, we rarely have to catch mouthfuls of spit out food as he aims them at the floor anymore, his former exquisite joy in destroying everything seems to have ebbed a little, and he can even manage to sit on my lap at the computer and NOT pound every key on the keyboard. I need to stop and appreciate these things more often, I think. Especially since his "tricky two's" have already set in with yelling "no!" about things he really does want, or shoving his best friend, Auden, and then saying, "I sorry!" Oh, and (my new favorite): needing constant verbal attention when Clay and I just want to have one short conversation over dinner.