2 years old!

At 2 years old, Hudson weighs in at:

Weight: 28 lb (43rd percentile)

Length: 35 in (53rd percentile)

Nine Mile Canyon

Hudson is either really happy or really mad. One of the cutest things he does is raise his hand super high in response to the question, "Who wants to (fill in the blank)." Chad frequently uses this line. For example, "Who wants to say the prayer?" Hudson's hand shoots up and he says, "Me!" in the cutest little voice. The kids can't even talk but he volunteers for every prayer. He also says, "Yeah" with a smile to every yes or no question. Did you go to nursery? Yeah. Did you have snacks? Yeah. Did you sing songs? Yeah. Was Rosie there? Yeah. Do you like Sister Kirk? Yeah. Do you want to eat some worms? Yeah.

Hudson is getting easier just in time for summer. Much less crying, much fewer tantrums, much more independent. He DOES still scream, "Mama!" for a good part of the day, and also every time I leave the room or go outside to throw something in the garbage or get something from the freezer, but overall he is improving.

First day of summer picnic at Sugarhouse Park

It is so fun to just hang out with the kids and enjoy each other, and also to have time to get things done that are on MY agenda (reading, piano practicing, learning Spanish, etc that are tricky to squeeze in during the school year). This morning, before registering Judah at Whittier, running to swim lessons, then Spanish camp, then gymnastics, we grabbed the Monday special at Einstein's Bagels (13 bagels for $7) and relaxed in the shade at Liberty Park while we enjoyed our warm soft bagels, and I wanted to just savor that moment forever. We had 45 minutes between swimming and Spanish and I popped some popcorn and we ate popcorn and blueberries for lunch while watching the Olympics together. I just love those moments. Relaxing with my children, and enjoying each other. Of course, all of this would be infinitely easier without Hudson trying to jump into the pond at Liberty Park, or the pool at swimming lessons, or screaming every time we get in the van because he wants to sit in someone's booster instead of his car seat so we can't listen to our current audiobook, Ella Enchanted, because no one can hear over Hudson's wails. I could go on about him demanding to bring his toy dog into Whittier and then falling off the table and hitting his head on the gym floor, or him dumping the popcorn bowl onto his head, but suffice it to say, he makes sure I don't get to relax for too long. Ever.

Hudson. What can I say? He is a challenge. Whereas Baylor was content to ride in the stroller while Mara and Judah biked, Hudson sees all the other kids biking and he tantrums until he is being pushed on a bike. Whereas Baylor was content to sit in the shopping cart, even if the other children were walking, Hudson simply will not be the only child in the cart. He screams and throws his body around until he too is allowed to walk through the store. The only problem with that is that he also starts taking anything he can reach off the shelves, or running around like a mad person. In fact, last time I had him at Smith's, he took a glass jar of salsa and THREW it on the floor and it shattered. Salsa everywhere. I had to call a clean up crew over. It was humiliating and frustrating. Hudson has not been to Smith's since. My grocery runs have had to move to Saturday mornings thanks to him. He races the other kids to the van and tries to steal their seats before they get in. He is apparently sick of his car seat. We have tried to move his seat to different chairs, but it doesn't matter. He wants anyone's seat but his own and kicks and screams and throws his body down when forced into his car seat. Last week he beat Baylor to Baylor's seat and Baylor was kind enough to switch Hudson seats for the ride. Apparently there were two colored pencils in Baylor's seat, which Hudson took the opportunity to scribble all over the van walls and ceiling with during the ride. When we got home, I had him scrub the ceiling with some cleaner and a rag. When we got inside the house, I left the cleaner on the floor in the OFF spray position. That Hudson figured out how to turn the sprayer to ON and he sprayed down the entire kitchen with cleaner. Grrrrr. If it's not one thing it's another with him. He does have a super cute shy smile and when guests come to our house, he runs to me and grabs my legs until I pick him up and then he buries his face into my shoulder. It is really adorable. He worships Chad and his favorite song to be sung before naps is I'm So Dad When Daddy Comes Home. He does the actions when we sing it in the van together. He is starting to imitate nearly everything we say. If we ask him to say something, he will typically at least attempt it and then smile his cute little smile. Chad even has him saying prayers sometimes now. Hudson is the epitome of that scripture that calls Mormon "quick to observe" when he is a child. If the other kids all decide to put a superhero cape on, or use their blanket to tie around their neck as a cape, I would give Hudson less than 5 seconds to have gone into his room and brought me a blanket to tie around his neck. If Baylor is getting a dose of amoxicillin for an ear infection, before I finish drawing up the dose from the bottle, Hudson is screaming for his own placebo dose of water in a syringe. If someone says the word prayer, his arms are folded in a half a second. That kids is always watching. And watching closely. He knows exactly what is going on and is the first to react. I will be interested to see how his personality turns out.  

City Creek Dinosaurs

Hudson's second birthday was really bitter sweet for me. I just can't believe I don't have a one year old anymore. And Hudson is like a little adult. He is growing up WAY too fast. He insists on doing everything everyone else is doing. Whereas Baylor was always content to sit in the shopping cart, even if other kids are walking, Hudson MUST get out and walk. Whereas Baylor was always content to sit in the stroller on walks, even if other kids were riding bikes, Hudson MUST be on his own wheels. Last week he got our smallest scooter out of the garage himself, drug it under the trampoline and around the van, then started scooting it down the sidewalk. He was pretty good at it for never doing it before. I was curious as to where he was headed, so I followed him, and he went straight down to Eggs in the City and was aimed to take it right across the street to Jolleys! The kid has no fear. He is also more curious, and also more confident that it's okay to explore his curiousities than the other kids were. Back to the scooter, the same large red ribbon has stayed on that scooter since it was given to us by my parents. Even while we lent it to Isaiah Spencer, it came back to us with the big ribbon on it. But day two of Hudson taking possession of the scooter, the ribbon was torn off. I have also been able to keep the flour and sugar in containers in the kitchen without the other babies getting into it. Not so with this baby. I ALMOST moved the containers out of his reach, but held out long enough, and cleaned up flour messes enough times, and said no enough times, that he has either lost interest, or learned to leave it alone. Same story with the cleaning sprays and the kids' candy buckets. Never had to turn all the cleaners to the OFF position before, or never found a baby covered with candy smears sitting in front of the candy buckets smiling. Books that have survived the three other kids, that I was envisioning keeping around to read to grand kids, have been torn to shreds by this one. You get the idea.

Garden planted. Feeling proud.

Fishing in Price

Like I mentioned earlier, Hudson thinks he is an adult. He is already decent at the scooter, whereas Baylor just learned how to use that scooter about six months ago. And Hudson is talking up a storm! He can pretty much say anything. He is definitely our earliest talker. I would make a list here of words he can say, but he can say any word. And he puts multiple words together all the time. I would say from about three months ago until now, he has gone from saying only a handful of words, to being able to say anything.

On Grandma G's ranch

He loves to say prayers. Whenever I say, "Who wants to pray?", Hudson says, "Me!" before anyone has a chance and both hands shoot up to the sky. Chad is usually the one helping Hudson with his prayers, and Chad always has Hudson thank Heavenly Father for every member of our family by name. One day at lunch, I was in a bit of a hurry, and Hudson wanted to pray, so I had him say, "We're thankful for our family," which he did, but when I told him to say, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen," he looked up at me in alarm and said, "Wawa?" He was confused as to why he was closing the prayer when he hadn't yet mentioned every family member?!?! It was so adorable. We went through everyone's names before we closed the prayer and he was satisfied.

Anticipation

On Mars and the Moon at the Clark Planetarium

Another adorable thing he has done recently was bonk his head and then come running to me like usual. I gave him a hug and said how sorry I was for him but he wouldn't leave it alone. He kept following me and tugging on my pants until finally I looked down and he made a kissing sound with his lips. He wanted me to kiss his ouchie! I just love that kid.

Hogle Zoo

First kayak ride. Scofield. 4th of July.