Graham always wakes up first, and I sprint to his room to get him before he awakens the hibernating bear. If I am downstairs with Graham by the time Jude wakes up, Jeff gets him and I can hear them rustling about changing a diaper or whatever, and a few minutes later I hear at the top of the stairs, in the most chipper voice imaginable, "Hello, Mommy!" Then he jabbers all the way down the stairs about holding hands, coming, Daddy's awake, Baby Graham, Milk, Juice, Smoothies, trucks, his friends, wanting to go to Kids' Club (the gym), or Speech Therapy, or the beach, etc. Jabber jabber jabber. It's not all in complete sentences, it is very stream of consciousness, but ever so adorable.
He is very perky. As I talk about what we're going to do that day, he'll insert very peppy exclamations of, "Yes, OKAY!!!" Getting dressed is now very good news because he knows we can't leave the house without those pesky shirts and shorts on. When I say, "let's go get dressed," he jumps into rambling about "Oh! Shirt...fjaklsdkjfa..... I wanna... fjklad;fa.....shorts!" He shows great concern for Graham's clothing and binky too, which never gets old.
If we are playing anywhere outside and see a big truck coming or hear a plane up above, he runs over to me and holds my hand as we watch it go by -- I can't tell if he does this because he is so overjoyed he needs me to steady him, or if it's because he wants to share the experience with me. Either way, it thrills my heart.
He hasn't been napping lately. Buh. He NEEDS this sleep he, 5/7 days a week, is not getting. He never fights going into his crib, he just plays there for an hour or so until he starts calling me to collect him. Then on a random day he crashes for a 4 hour nap. I am not sure whether or not to do something about this. I have been saying for over a year that his crib is about to break, but now it's REALLY about to break. He also climbed out of it once last week, but never since. I think a toddler bed is not far off, and I don't know if "Quiet Time" will be so kindly received outside of a crib. The things I agonize over with my first child.
He wants to come everywhere with me, FLIPS OUT if I am not present for bedtime routines, says thanks or "geeks" for ANYTHING he is being given, and randomly apologizes to me throughout the day. "Sorry, mommy!" "Jude, you don't have to apologize, you did nothing wrong, sweetie!" But then sometimes I swear he's apologizing for screaming and dumping out my bag in church a few weeks ago, or taking a big gulp of juice and then spitting it out on the floor on purpose the day before.
He is a little cleaning maniac. I now have help cleaning up his toys. The other day I was holding Graham on my hip and Jude's hand to go upstairs for nap/Quiet Time. Graham spit up a little on the wood floor. I was going to just clean it up when I got back downstairs, it's not like that doesn't happen 10 times a day, but Jude stopped in his tracks with a disgusted expression and refused to budge until I grabbed him a paper towel. He wiped it up for about 3 minutes, making sure all traces were truly gone. I'm hoping this is because I am such a STELLAR example of cleanliness ;).
I know there are other things I'm forgetting, but my tender-hearted maniac toddler is rocking my world for better and worse. I don't know how I ever got along without him and his weedly ways.
1 comment:
Thanks for the wonderful narrative! We miss him & his brother so much! It is always great to hear what they are up to. The picture is priceless!
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