Poor Poor Bellybutton

A story that should "stick" with Graf forever:

One day Graf brought me the tube of Super Glue and I praised him for bringing it to me and not getting it on anything...phew!  Soon thereafter Graf started crying that his bellybutton was hurting.  You guessed it!!  He super glued his bellybutton shut!  It was a toss up between laughing hysterically and feeling really bad for him since every move he made pulled at that glued together skin.  Lucky for him I had saved the bottle of stuff we used to use to get Izzy's port bandages off.  It took a lot of work before that poor poor bellybutton was back to normal. :)

 And while we're feeling sorry for random items...my poor poor yummy peaches were also a victim of the Graf monster.  The silver lining?...no missing fingers when I found him.

For reals though?  Graf just makes people happy.

Typical Graf

 Graf wants in on the action!  He is now talking like crazy--much of it only family decipherable...but people are amazed at how much he understands and communicates.  In the morning he is instantly on the move yelling "Wowin, where aaaare you?"  Then he moves to Izzy's name and then to Ryan.  OR, he finds me and says, "Hi, Mom!" in which I respond ""Hi, buddy!!...did you sleep good?"  His response, "Yep!"  The girls are loving that when they tell him they love him now, he responds appropriately with "I love you, Ryan/Izzy."

In order to get ready for baby Declan's arrival I moved him to a toddler bed just before turning two.  Don't worry!  This pink princess bed was immediately spray-painted blue.  We talked it up so much that he had to get his binkie/blankie and try it out as soon as we got it home from the neighbors.  After much debate we decided he'd be best with Lorin in her room...it has been the best transition!  She basically puts him to bed every night.  He gets his 5 minutes of snuggle/read time with Lorin and then loves the comfort of having her nearby and stays in his bed every night without fail.  Woohoo!

Graf is like a camel!  For breakfast he drinks all the milk out of his cereal twice before taking a bite.  Here is a shot of him guzzling some Gatorade while camping.

 Sticks are the ultimate toy for Graf.  I mean, they're so versatile!  He can fly them, float them, shoot them, and more recently, he can slay dragons (bikes, chairs, dad) with them.

 Dad and Graf love adventuring together.  Beautiful Virginia lookout at Bear's Den.

 He'll take the center of attention if it is thrust upon him as seen below.  Otherwise, he has a bit of Ryan in him and tends to want to bury his head in mom's leg if people see him performing.

 Binkis and bath!  Two of his favorites!  Notice he got back in after just barely getting out and fresh diaper became full diaper very quickly :)

 The Leavitt's came to town and Graf let Katie, their teenage daughter, turn him into a pirate...or something!

HANDSOME DUDE!!

Graf turns 2 (START NEW BLOG BOOK--SOME OF THE PICS FROM THE FIRST BOOK I MADE NEVER MADE IT INTO A BLOG POST...JUST THE BOOK)

I wish I had pictures of Graf at the Rec Center pool.  We went for his birthday knowing that if he could articulate his one request, it would be to go swimming.  If he ever sees water in pictures or on tv he says "I go der, mom" and gets all weepy and says "I jump."  So we took him to a place with a fun water fort and slide.  The boy doesn't quit for as long as we're there...climbing walls (no whistles, so that's good), jumping from heights beyond where he should (getting all kinds of comments and looks), going clear under the water so that he's all out of breath by the time he comes up.  There is a runway where the water starts shallow and slowly gets deeper--he loves to back it up very dramatically with arms pumping at his sides...pauses...then vroom!...running until his legs are too short to carry him through the heavy water and he wipes out ("I wipe out, mom").

Graf and Cory...forever sharing a birthday :)  Cory will have to be ok assembling all of Graf's new toys on his own birthday.... 

 and Graf will have to be ok with cheesecake (Cory's fav) as the choice of dessert for his birthday.

Graf is so excited for his new baby brother coming just 2 months after his birthday (2 weeks from now).  In the meantime he is our baby boy...gets all the attention and love he can handle (and some that he can't, to be honest :)..."(s)top it, Ryan!/Izzy/Lowin."  He's as cute, smart, talented, active, and happy as a two year old can be.  We love Graffers.

This is just a typical shot of Graf being a part of the big kid world..what the girls can do, he can do!  And then I get to clean the whole house after. 

But I had to take note:  Graf's first sentence was "(big explosion sound) I choot dat guy!" after picking up a stick with two perfectly situated twigs that gave both hands a trigger (one near the back, one near the front) and pointing it at the guy walking toward us.  Such a proud mom :(

Graf Keepin Up -- 1 1/2 years old

Some of his favorite words are Ew...yuck!, Yeah!, No no!, Vroom, cleanup (song), bath!, and any sound effect you can think of. His favorite activities are starting the CD player for his "Footloose" soundtrack to come on and dance to; kicking and throwing balls; having me blow bubbles to pop especially "big"; going to the bus stop; and swimming. I wish I had more pictures to do the justice, but Graf is a fearless, go-getting, mess making, tackling, growling, fit-throwing (yes, sad but true), loving little man.

Graf does more than keep up actually--he kind of runs the place. From chasing the girls as the BIG BAD WOLF for our ward Halloween party
to helping the grocery store clerk at Target (and earning a free am/fm radio headset)
to managing the weed-whacker--a task he takes on whenever outdoors,
he finds his niche quite nicely.

On of his favorite activities is visiting the girls at school. He has a little bit of a hard time saying goodbye (particularly to Lorin), and his voice has been known to echo down the hallways whilst school is in session--woops!:
Messes are definitely a specialty of his right now. Here's where he helped me make scones for Christmas Eve dinner:
Afraid of Heights? Not when there are airplanes to be seen out of the watchtower:

Yes, he landed in the hospital with Bronchialitis--a sad tale of him not breathing at full oxygen levels and getting admitted on the spot. Ask me if this slowed him down...breathing tubes up his nose (taped to his cheeks), an IV complete with bag and pole, and a hospital gown too long to maneuver in..............................I had to run with that pole to keep up with him and constantly adjust tubing over and under toys in the toy room so as to avoid kinks, breaks, and general mayhem.

ALERT: OK, I admit, he did stop once...and it happened to be on the 4 wheeler in one of my arms while I was driving. It was freezing cold with wind whipping us in the face. Ryan was on the front "helping" me steer, and Cory, Lorin, and Izzy were being pulled on sleds with ropes. We were giving them a rip-roaring ride. He chose that moment to stop and sleep for a while!!!


A few more cute pics: