recently, hank had to get his THIRD collar. his neck just keeps getting bigger and bigger. i certainly didn’t expect him to have a swan neck like audrey hepburn… he IS a bulldog after all, but i have been surprised by his rapid growth. he also now weighs in at TWENTY-SEVEN pounds… more than half the weight of my daughter. i think his bones must be made of steel. while i am grateful for his sturdiness and good health (except when he eats chapsticks) his many milestones in such a short period have left me reeling. only two months ago, i was working at the kitchen counter with hank at my feet and all of a sudden he was just GONE. i looked all around the room and was wondering if he’d somehow left when i heard pattering overhead. somehow he’d managed to go up the stairs all by himself. until that point, we’d been carrying him up and down. it reminded me of when my son was about four months old and i left him in the middle of the room on a blanket and went to the bathroom. he was also gone when i came back. i finally found him in a corner and realized that he had learned to roll over… and over and over. unfortunately, he could only go in one direction so he was a bit stuck.