14 Meses

It's time for a Jude update, and I'm bringing it.

This boy.  He becomes more...everything...every day.  More funny, more communicative, more opinionated, more exasperating, more exhausting, more silly, more mobile, more muscly every day.  I've started to wonder in the mornings as I hear him rustling in his crib, "What will Jude pull today?"  And I mean that in a good way.  It's a thrill to see him grasp the things I've been trying to teach him, as well as come up with new tricks of his own.

Some things off the top of my head:

*He finally loves his Lovey Monkey.

*He accepts water now.  

*He is obsessed with his walker we inherited from Ian -- he is completely capable of walking on his own but prefers to tear around the house with the walker.  He did it for about an hour and a half straight last Thursday and was sweating when I had to take it away for a nap.

*I think he has a crush on Amber.  He gives her this coy glance and pulls out all the stops for her.

*If you "doggy sniff" in his ear or nibble on him he laughs hysterically.

*He shrieks and whips his arms all over when Jeff comes home.

*He's starting to say "whoa" and oooh and aaah over things.

*He loves the chandelier in the front hall and points his heart out at it whenever it's in view.

*The binky is not so popular anymore.  He waves it away most of the time and only really wants it at night.  Fine with me.

*When he's done with his sippy, he doesn't put it down or even drop it.  He chucks it.  I have been on far too many runs with him where all of a sudden I see the sippy sailing to the bushes, and I have been on far too many runs where I then must dig it out of the bushes.  They are also starting to crack and leak.  Buh.

This isn't new, but he just loves STUFF.  Whatever it is, kitchen utensil, diaper case, book, sock, pants hanger, you name it, especially if he hasn't had much exposure to it, that's what he wants.  And it still goes straight into the mouth.

He squeals with boundless excitement when I turn on the bath water.  He tries to drink it.  Gross.  But bath time is still a major plus in this house.

He's more often than not just a happy, happy boy.  You just can't be in a situation where you have to hold him still.  ;)

I am so grateful for the pool and outdoor activities that are coming our way!  Because you know, it's just so hard to do many things outside during our frigid winters :).

He loves hanging out on Dad's shoulders and will always lean forward to give him a few kisses.  He is majorly into whacking so we have to hit Dad's head too.  In his mind I'm sure they're "love pats".

This is one of my favorite pics of him and makes me hope his curls come back.  This smile says so much to me about his disposition -- curious, sweet, happy, and full of squish.

One of my favorite things about this age is his pointing.  He gets this earnest look on his face and in his little way tells me what he's interested in or surprised by.  I love it when he points at me while he's drinking his sippy.  I feel like he's saying, "Hey, you.  I love you.  Don't go away, you stay right there.  You gave me this bottle, didn't you.  Thanks.  I love it."

He still doesn't want to watch TV but I tried The Muppets last week and he watched it about 5 minutes longer than he'll watch any other kid shows I've tried.  That brings us to about 7 minutes.  I doubt he'll care about TV in a consistent way before he turns 2 which means the American Pediatric Bunch will be very pleased.  He also constantly wants 3 off-limits things in the family room: the shutters (so he's banned from sitting on the couch until he gets over it), the fireplace (note the blanket basket's relocation to block it off), and the tv cabinet that's got a fabric-y screen on the doors he wants to poke out.  I've covered it as best I can with the Target ottoman I got when I was single that Jeff says is kind of ugly, and his Zany Zoo toy.  Incidentally he plays with the Zany Zoo much more now that it's perched higher up.

He loves to take a ziplock full of anything and whack it around. ???  These grapes were in for it but I saved them.

This is him whacking around a ziplock of our leftover Easter candy -- kept him entertained for a good long while during church and afterwards.  Hard times come calling when the ziplock breaks.  I don't want to get into the mess he made, quick as lightening I might add, in the foyer during Sacrament Meeting last week because the mental image is still an ugly one.

This little Jude is a good egg.  We feel so blessed to have him.