Judah Spring 2011

Judah is 15 months!

His personality is blossoming and so obvious so much of the time. He loves to say Hi to people, even if they are so far away they have no idea what is going on. He is outgoing and full of himself.
He is also my snuggler of the two boys. So cuddly!
He also has a buzzed head as noted in the picture.  After buzzing the boys, we realized we like it better on both of them and it is good for the hot weather too, so it will probably be like this for a while. Thankful Matt does it and we don't pay to have it done!
Judah has not gotten any more teeth in recently. Still two on bottom and four on top. I think Micah may have had a mouth-full at this point, but the good thing is that Judah is a very good eater with the 6 teeth that he does have, so there is nothing we would be feeding him if he had more teeth than what we are already feeding him now (pretty much anything). He is also pretty adamant about feeding himself now, which makes things a little easier during mealtimes, but a little messier too.

It is so easy to make Judah smile and laugh. He finds many things to be humorous. He is very ticklish. He is just a pretty happy, easy-going kid (most of the time).
Judah is walking and even running so good. I know he learned earlier on how to withstand little pushes because of his brother, but this has helped him greatly. We can even tell the difference in the baby pool of how well he can catch himself from falling when he gets a little off balance.
He spends time chasing micah everywhere, but when Micah is napping, he also plays quite well on his own. We are pretty sure that Judah may be bigger/tougher/stronger than Micah one day, so it's a good thing they love each other!

Judah has just recently started talking, and he is trying to say everything we tell him to. His biggest, cutest word right now is umbrella. He is also learning some signs so he can talk to us, but it seems they don't always mean what they should mean. "More" often just means food/eat or more of something or get me something. But he is trying and learning.
He loves being outside. He is always going to the front door and getting his shoes and bringing them to us so that we will know he wants them on and wants to go outside. And he gets upset if we don't oblige. He is pretty adventurous inside and outside, and he is pretty comfortable in his abilities to try new things, i.e. going down slides and playing in the water at the pool.

He loves his pacifier and I think it is going to be harder to "break" him of this than it was for Micah. For Micah, we just started when he was 1 leaving it up in his bed and only using it for sleeping...and he was totally fine with that. Hasn't been as easy with Judah...
He sleeps well in the car, but I may change this after we take a trip to the beach and see how he does on a longer trip since we don't try them often.

Over a month!!

I can't believe it has been over a month since I last posted. That is nuts. I blame it on busyness/lazyness. There are many times when I think about what I should be writing and updating about, and then I just don't. My thoughts don't turn into anything...
And at this age, with a 1 year old and a 2 year old, SO much happens in a month!

This is before Micah got his head buzzed too. They both look SO cute with buzzed heads! Now if they would just keep their hats on when we are playing outside...
They both LOVE the outdoors and it is so nice playing in the yard, going for walks, and going to playgrounds. They also both sleep great, they love any toy that a boy should love (i.e. trucks and trains and balls, etc), they love their grandma, they enjoy kissing each other a great deal but also wrestling with each other too. They both enjoy times of snuggling and are dependent on physical touch to know their love. They play well together (though they do fight too) but they also both do well playing by themselves.

Judah is a ham.

His personality is so obvious, and so different from Micah's, it's great! It's the worst when we are trying to say "no" and discipline him and he looks at us, shaking his head in the "no" position, and smiles or laughs! So hard to keep a "discipline" face on when he does that!
He is also walking quite well, beginning to say a few words by speaking and also using signs, he has become proficient at quickly and quietly climbing the stairs, and he has learned how to get down off the couch by himself. He is very courageous (as noted by the red mark on his forehead) but also seems to be getting much smarter about climbing/falls/heights/etc.
He has not added anymore teeth, but he has added a few pounds...And he is very ticklish!

Micah is still "potty training" in that we still have some good days and some bad.

 For the most part, he wants to wear underwear and wants to go in the toilet, but every once in a while, we have a day where he frequently chooses the floor over the toilet that is usually within arm's reach. Actually, as I write this, he just chose the floor...For the most part, he has dry naps. And he still wears a diaper at night.
He speaks very well. This is an added bonus in teaching Judah how to speak, both with his mouth and with his hands.
He is fairly cautious, but his little brother has helped him take some new risks, like jumping off of things. He likes/needs choices. We can't always just say, "let's put your clothes on" but instead often have to take the route of choices. Like, "do you want to put your shorts on first or your shirt on first?" Then it gives him the choice, the "lead" if you will.
Hopefully I will get better at posting more frequently, and shorter...

Judah is fast!

Judah is extremely fast.
And mischievous.
He has just started walking and he is so good at it. And so excited every time he does it. And he is getting fast! 5 days ago we got so excited as he took about 5 steps for the first time, and now he is walking across the room. And he doesn't wait for anyone's help, he stands himself up on something and then just starts walking! He is so much more courageous than Micah was with walking.
He has also gotten really fast at going up stairs. He has hardly gotten the chance to practice and yet, he goes all the way up, he is very fast, and he has great rhythm doing it. He has just been waiting for us to let him go, but i guess we weren't giving him enough practice as we kept finding him halfway up our stair case without our knowing.
And he is just plain fast! He grabs things faster than I can get it away from him and he has a very strong grip, making it hard to get something back without a fight. And he is fast with putting things in his mouth too. He was doing so good outside the other day with his pacifier in his mouth (good for safety of not putting other things in there) and all of a sudden, I turned and saw his mouth moving and no pacifier in there. I ran over quickly, did a finger sweep and came out with an orange finger; a finger full of mud. He had gotten a clump of dry dirt and quickly put it in his mouth to moisten it up. And he didn't seem to mind the flavor one bit...I think he was actually saying "mmmmmm" when i took this one.

He's a fast one!

Oh time, where have you gone??

A picture our friend, Tim, took.

It seems to be getting harder to update things around here. I usually update as I take pictures and I know I have a picture to go along with a story, but the camera hasn't been out much and the updates haven't been happening.
Micah is a sweet kid and loves his little brother so much! Sometimes a little too much as it comes across a little aggressively...They are interacting so much more these days as Judah is now almost a year and is much more mobile and much more able to tag along and play with the things Micah is playing with. This creates lots of opportunities for us to talk about sharing and being nice and gentle, etc. Opportunities I am thankful for since we don't have a ton of other "play times" with kids to learn these things.
Micah is very much in a "pretend" stage of playing right now. He seems to do this mostly with his spider man figure, taking him for naps, putting him on the toilet when he needs to poop (though he is against doing this himself, at least he knows what to do when he decides he wants to start...), feeding him, etc. It's pretty cute. He does this in other ways to as he get on his little "bike" and tells us "goodbye, I'm going to work."
Micah still very much loves to sleep! 12 hours a night is typical, but is often 13 or 14! And he usually goes down for at least one long nap in a day, if not two. He just loves it. And even when he wakes, he can easily occupy himself in his room for another hour just reading and pretending (and who knows what else really since we don't have a video monitor).
Judah is almost a year old and it is hard to believe! He crawls very fast, pulls himself up, stands, walks if he is holding on to something or someone, and has taken a few steps on his own. He is much more daring than Micah was and we see this in his desire to want to walk now.
Judah is an amazing eater. I don't know that I did anything different (I think it is just like that, the whole nature vs. nurture thing) but he will eat anything we have given him to try! It's so easy and so nice. Micah is not a bad eater, but I think it is a part of his whole "cautious and skeptical" personality and if it doesn't look familiar or good, he might not even try it. And if we make him, he barely gets it in his mouth and acts like it is making him gag!! He might be a good actor one day.
Judah loves people, loves to be held, loves to cuddle and snuggle, and loves any attention he can get. And it's easy for him to get it with his big smile and chunky legs! He also has 4 teeth that make his big smile even cuter!!
For now, a few updates. In the near future, I hope to be writing about Judah walking fully on his own and Micah using the toilet!!

He's Smarter Than I Think...

The little guy turns 1 on Sat.
Crazzzzzy!
He is walking (as long as he wants to do it and we don't try to get him to), clapping, pointing, teething, eating, sleeping, playing, dancing, all the normal things for a 1 year old, right? I don't know. This is my first.
He is also very smart and learning to tell us things through motions, mainly pointing. I am not totally sure when or where he picked it up, but every time I get him out of his crib now he immediately points to the light switch (he likes to turn the light off) then points out the door, then to another room he might want to go into, or sometimes down the stairs. Then either into the living room (this morning first thing he wanted to do was read, so he took me straight to the books, picked one out and sat down with daddy while I got some breakfast ready!) or the kitchen if he is hungry. It's a fun game, I just don't want it to get out of hand, as in a demanding sort of way!
So the smart part. He starts to climb the stairs. I go get him and say we are not going upstairs now. He starts to fuss and then gets as close to a temper tantrum as I have seen him get, which is to cry and then lay down on the floor and continue crying as I walk away and let him deal. This is what he did today when I did not take him upstairs. He eventually (still crying) made his way back to me, held up his arms (for me to pick him up) and then started pointing to the stairs again. I told him if we went upstairs then he was going to take a nap. I really didn't think he was ready since he already took one 3-hour nap and had only been awake less than 2 hours at this point...but he kept pointing, so I obliged. I took him upstairs and he immediately put his head down on my shoulder. I put him in the crib and he grabbed his blanket and I haven't heard from him since...guess he knew what he needed more than me! I just need to listen better (and sooner) next time so we don't have to go through the tantrum stage...

Around the Block

Things can be exciting and scary at the same time, right?
Like my son learning to walk!
A couple of weeks ago we started "tricking" him into standing on his own. Like holding him from the back and then letting go of him once he seemed to have all control...he didn't necessarily realize that he was standing...but when/if he did he would immediately sit. He also did this to himself on occasion as well when he would be standing by holding onto something, but then get distracted with his hands, let go of what was helping him to stand, and continue playing with what was in his hands...thus, standing all on his own.
About a week ago we tried to take it one step further (haha, no pun intended) by getting him to take steps once he realized he was standing. Last Saturday he took his very first steps all by himself. All two of them. Since then, he has taken 2-3 steps each a few more times! My boy is growing up so fast! I know very soon I will wish that we hadn't taught him this so early......
He has also gotten very good at walking by just holding onto one hand (and he is much better if it is his left hand that is holding on) and is good when we each hold one hand. So, today we took him for his first real walk around the block. The hardest part??? Getting shoes on his feet! The boy scrunches up his toes! So, yes, he is wearing socks with sandals since sandals were all we could get on him!
Exciting!
And scary!

The Edge of the Seat

We decided to talk a walk the other evening...and we're off...
Look at how tall he is sitting. No leaning back for this one, gotta get the full view!

As I look back at the picture above, I realize I might get this sort of look again later in life: "Mom. Seriously. Can we keep going? Can you stop taking my picture already!" HAHA
This is just cute. This is how he was pretty much the whole time. On the edge of his seat. Waiting for something spectacular to happen. Sitting forward. Hands up to hold on because of possible bad drivers! Looking at everything! He really does enjoy being outside!