Jude's words

Jude's latest strides into verbal communication...

Mama or Mommy
Daddy or Da
Nana
Papa
Bye
Hi
Wow
Roar = often for dinosaurs
Uh-Oh = Not what patents want to hear...and he says it when he sees "uh-oh's" on TV, too
Binky = pacifier
Bathtime
Wee-oo = fire engine
Beep, beep = when reading a car book
Apple = his favorite food, after chocolate
Cracker
Baby

He'll sign please and down and shake his head no.
His favorite all purpose sound and a crackley-staticky sound that he uses all the time.

Jude just turned 21 months old.

A box for Walentine's Day

A big box showed up on our doorstop last week... It wasn't anything that I had ordered from an online store...and it was addressed to Tamlin and Jude.

 Tam recognized that it was his name on the front and imedately asked to open it.  

I saw that it was our Valentine's box from Aunt Carol and Aunt Rosilyn (RoRo).

 Of course, Jude wanted in on the action. 

Whatever big brother is doing, he wants to be involved in to!

Tam:  Look Jude!  Its a box for us!  I bet there are cars inside; I love cars.

Jude : Wow!

 

 Tam:  Cards!  This one is for T - A - M...That's me!

Look!  There's cookies, and more cookies, and more cookies, and fudge, and candy!

Jude: Wow!

 Jude:  I'll remove my binky for a moment and try to gnosh-down on these candies...

(He has been known to chew through wrapping to get at the candy inside, 

such as Tootsie rolls at Halloween)

Tam:  Cool!  Books!  A book about snowman and one about dinosaurs.

Jude: Wow!  What's all this white fluffy shreddy stuff?  Is it toys?

 Tamlin : Roar!  Dinosaurs go Roar!  And listen, the book roars too!

Jude:  Books are cool.  These snowmen pop-up.  Momma read this book, Now!

 Jude:  But wait...that shreddy stuff looks cool.  Let me grab several handfulls and throw them around really quickly while everyone is distracted reading the cool pop-up books.

 Tam: Super-Tamlin to the rescue.  I'm on a mission, Mom.  I'll sweep it up!

Jude: I want to help too. That was fun!

Thank you, boys, you are both very messy and both good helpers. 

Thank you, Aunts.  The cookies were immediately shared amongst ourselves and friends.  The chocolates are being doled out for good behavior.  The fudge was eaten quickly.  And the books are HUGE hits.  Both the boys love interactive books.  Tam loves to pull the tabs to make the snowmen move and Jude loves to turn the pages to hear the dinosaurs roar.

Thank you!

I love bedtime

I love the moments before bedtime that I spend with my boys.  After baths, jammies get put on, and then a few minutes of play prior to reading our stories.  Currently, Jude is an avid "reader".  He pulls himself up into the big bed and hunkers down with a book, usually something about cars, trains, or airplanes.  I crawl into bed, pull Jude into my lap, and Tamlin snuggles up beside us.  I then read a few of the simpler board books to my boys.  Tam helps point out his favorite cars in the books; Jude points too...often to random things. 

I love these moments. I just savor the feel of warm, soft, child skin and the sweet, clean smell of their hair.  I know that I always take a few seconds to just try to memorize them...the curve of an ear, the freckles on their necks, the little fingers, twinkling eyes. 

After books, Tamlin turns off the main light and turns on the star night-light.  Then, we sing our lullabies.  I have always sung tunes to the boys before I lay them down to sleep for the night.  Sometimes I sing songs from my childhood that I recall my mom singing to me...like "Let it Snow" or "Shortening Bread" tunes.  Sometimes I sing songs I learned at Sunday school or Pre-school, like our current favorite of "I've got the Joy in my heart" or "Jesus Loves Me" or "She's got the whole world in her hands."   Sometimes I am in a Christmas mood and we sing carols.  Sometimes it is rock songs from the Beatles or Janis Joplin. Sometimes, Tamlin wants me to make up a song about cars and trucks...I admit that I have become better at making rhymes on the fly. 

Lately, I have been singing a ditty from the movie O, Brother, Where art thou?  :
Good to sleep, little baby...
With this song, the first syllable of baby is drawn out at the end of the phrase.

Just this past week, Jude has been attempting to sing along!  Awwww...
I begin, then Jude comes in and sings the word "baby".
It is so cute to hear him singing and trying to be a part of the song. 
I just love this!

Then,
I always sing the same little tune last.  I pull up the covers and tuck them in while singing and end with a kiss on their head.  Both boys get this song and ritual each night.

Goodnight, Sweetheart, well it's time to go...
Goodnight, Sweetheart, well it's time to go...
I hate to leave you, but I really must say
Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight.

Back turned

I'm in the kitchen rolling out dough for pretzels. The boys are playing nicely in the living room and watching a video. I swear my back was turned for 5 minutes....


I walk in to see Jude's cheeks budging and a suspicious brown ring around his mouth and dribbling down his chin.

Munchkin had found the bag of m&m candies cleverly hidden behind the reclining chair. He stuffed as many as possible into his mouth and chewed with utter delight. I think he knew he was being naughty because he was trying to quickly shove the ones in his hands into his mouth as I came running over.

Stinker.

Those were mine....I guess I need a better hiding place.