Happy Birthday John John

Two years ago today i was sitting in a hospital with Eric, Ella (with her broken collar bone), Jack and our brand new baby John. My how time flies. It seems like i remember it all so well but then again it seems fuzzy. A lot has happened since then so i guess my brain can only hold so many memories. This is what i know for sure. He was a wonderful baby, ate well and i don't remember him crying much. He has the cutest smile, always has. He used to be so mellow and has now developed into a strong-willed, opinionated, curious, adventurous, stubborn, independent, attention-demanding, handsome, loving, funny, and kind (most of the time) little man. He is obviously going through a phase right now where he thinks the rules don't apply to him. Some call it the "terrible twos", i call it a brief lapse in judgement. He keeps me on my toes. We had a doctors appointment this morning and he was 25 pounds and 35 inches tall. That puts him in the 15th percentile for weight and 65th percentile for height, for those keeping track. Dr. Gessler says he looks very healthy but i addressed my concerns about John's speech with him, just like i did with two other doctors at 15 and 18 month appointments. I took our picture flash cards so that he could hear John speak since he usually doesn't chat with the doctor. We went through and i am sure he has 50 words or more in his vocabulary but he misses consonant sounds in easy words. Like he can say "daddy" clearly but pronounces dog like "og". Laziness? Maybe. Dr. Gessler offered to put in some paperwork to have an evaluation done and i jumped on it. We should have a call by the end of next week to set up our evaluation and after those appointments we will get a plan if one is even necessary. Speech is one of the broadest areas of what qualifies as normal but i just want to stay ahead of the game. That was our only big development for the day so i am off to put him back in bed. He thinks he doesn't have to take a nap today. I guess he thinks his birthday exempts him from that. After getting up at 6:30 this morning, i can definitely say it does not! In closing, as i thought about the last two years i scrolled through all the pictures and watched him grow. I put a few (okay, a lot. but not even close to all of them) together for a slideshow and they are in chronological order or at least pretty close. Enjoy.