Speaking of the Speights...: 2 Years Old!

Dear Hudson,

You are 2! How fast time flies!! What a sweet, smart and fun little boy you are. Daddy and I are amazed everyday at what you can do, say and understand. The most fun has been to see your little personality develop. You are so tenderhearted, observant, inquisitive and imaginative. You are cautious but after warming up to new things, you dive in full speed ahead. You love to be silly and to laugh and to make others laugh with you. You are like a little sponge, picking up on words and concepts so quickly. You surprise us with the things you remember - even things from weeks and months ago. The most incredible thing that you show us these days is your continuing love for music. You love to dance and sing. You've got some serious rhythm and can sing songs with the correct melody on your own. You are very interested in instruments and can recognize the guitar sound in songs. It really is so neat to watch your interests and preferences sharpen. God has uniquely created you and we are so blessed to watch His creation unfold before our eyes.

Here are some other things you are up to right now:

Counting!! You can count to 10 on your own. We did it a couple of times together and then one day you surprised us by doing it all by yourself. Sometimes you even try to go higher than that. You always clap and throw your hands in the air screaming "all right!" when you get to ten - so proud of yourself :). You also love to try to count objects in a group.
You can say how old you are! We are working on being able to hold up the fingers!
Recognition of places - You recognize places when we are driving. Where Daddy words downtown, places that have roadwork going on, Church, playgrounds, fire houss, etc. You surprise me with how observant you are while we are driving in the car. Nothing gets past you!
Marching and Jumping
Pumpkins - 'tis the season and you love to point out all of the pumpkins (kumpkins) you see.
You have an amazing memory! You still talk about memorable playdates and birthday parties you've attended.
Your new favorite word - YES! Better than the alternative! You love to say yes while nodding your head up and down.
Lilly - You adore Lilly...and she loves you too :). You get excited to see her everytime we return home from being out and you always say goodbye to her when we leave the house. You also like to tell her goodnight before bedtime, feed her dinner, throw the stick and frisbee to her in the backyard. You built a house for her in our playroom the other day and then called her when you were all done!
Pretend Play - Your imagination is impressive! You love to pretend to go to the store and bring home milk and cookies for mommy. You also love to pretend to build things with your tool set. Your favorite thing to do in the nursery at church is play with the kitchen and make food for your teachers.
Cooking with Mommy - You love to help Mommy in the kitchen. You pull up a chair from the table to the counter, climb up and help me put the ingredients in the bowl and mix them. All while exclaiming, cooking! cooking!
Rough Play with Daddy - You squeal with delight when Daddy gets home from work. You run into his arms and he picks you up and gives you kisses and tickles. You are now asking Daddy for tickles. You also love to climb on Daddy and ride him like a horsie!
Football - you call it kick ball and you love when it's on tv or the radio.
Speaking in Sentences - On our way to Chick-fil-a yesterday, you said I like chicken! You've been saying three words at a time more and more these days! You have become very conversational and you are able to communicate to us verbally for the most part. If you have trouble thinking of the words, you usually take our hands to show us.
Bigger appetite - not everyday but more than usual - you are trying new foods and learning that you actually like them!
Puzzles - you just got some new ones for your birthday and you love putting them together.
Reading Books - you still love to read! Your favorites right now are Little Blue Truck, Goodnight Construction Site and Chimpansneeze.