Judah | 18-24 months (October 2013)

It's hard to believe we've reached 2 years already! My boy is still my baby, but he's getting to be such a little man. He'll occasionally choose daddy over mommy now and doesn't cry the second I go up or downstairs to put something away. He loves tractors and trucks, makes grunting noises, and just discovered that it is fun to scream very loudly over and over for no reason. But he's a cuddly boy, too, and loves hugs and snuggles. He's so quick to lay his head on my shoulders and wrap his arms around me when he wants a nap or some mama-comfort and I'm taking in every sweaty, dirty little boy hug, knowing this won't last forever.



Judah is also very animated. One of his funniest mannerisms right now is to furrow his eyebrows in deep concentration, squint, and squat on the ground to carefully examine something in a greatly exaggerated manner. It cracks me up every time. He gets very excited and wants to verbally share everything he sees or does. He isn't quite using sentences yet, but puts words together occasionally, and repeats everything. He seems advanced for a two year old to me, as he can count to three on his own and will finish number sequences up to six if he hears the first few. (Although admittedly, he hears Jael counting all the time and Jael never had anyone else to listen to)



At his two year old well visit, he is 21.6lb and 33 1/2 inches. (5th percentile for weight and 25th for height) According to his ped, if his percentile stays the same like it has been, he should be 5'7" or 5'8". We'll see! He seems to take after my family with the weight and is a wiry little guy, not as chubby of a toddler as Jael was.



He and Jael love to sing together. Jael often makes up randomly worded songs and the other night at supper, I heard Judah singing sweetly, "Jee-jah....Jeeeeee-jah!" (Jesus) They are starting to play together a little bit, but they also fight constantly and get in each other's space every few seconds. I'm hoping that once our house is not so chaotic with the remodel, they'll have more room to play and do their own thing.



Here are a few highlights from the past months:

April 26: Jael: "Mommy! Come quick! JUDAH PEED!!!! Judah peed TWO PEEPS on my floor!" Judah: *staring at the floor in astonishment*

June 4: Oh my children. Heard Judah yelling upstairs because Jael took his toy, she came and sat on the steps to pout, and then I heard her screaming, "JUDAH PEED ON ME!!!" And there was brother at the upstairs balcony (unintentionally) peeing over the side down onto his sister. I was laughing so hard...poor Jael didn't think I was very sympathetic to her plight.

June 7: I painted Jael's toenails today with poor Judah insistently wailing in the background, crying "Pin'! Pin'!" [pink] and pointing to his toes. Jael tried to console him, saying, "I'm sorry, Judah! Daddy said we can't do yours!" ;D

June 8: I'd say today was a big success considering Judah spent the whole day with Daddy for the first time and didn't freak out and I spent an entire day doing adult activities. They went to the park and then to pet the kitties at the shelter while I attended a (fascinating) training on postpartum mood disorders for school.

June 14: My boy takes after his daddy - if it's a competition, he's going to win. ha. My battle to get him to take his ibuprofen was a lost cause. Not even bargaining with his favorite things in the world (nursing and his chewable vitamins) worked.

June 14: Woke up rather groggily this morning to see Judah's face about two inches from mine, insistently waving a pack of wipes and saying, "Pup-pup! Pup-pup!" [poop] At least he knows to ask, I guess. (And of course, when I asked him if he needed a new diaper, he grinned and yelled, "YEAH!!!!!")

July 10: Well, that was a first. Last night I was putting Judah to bed and he stopped nursing, sat up, pointed to his crib, and said, "Judes, Judes - nite-nite!" So I put him down, patted him, and he went to sleep. O_o

August 19: A big milestone occurred at our house today. For the very first time in his twenty-two months of life, Judah slept from when I put him down to bed at night until morning. FIRST.TIME.EVER.