Thursday, February 27, 2014

Judah | 24 - 28 months

Judah has grown in leaps and bounds over these past few months. Sometime around Christmas, his vocabulary took off and he is talking almost as fluently as his sister. It's adorable and funny to hear such grown-up sounding sentences coming out of his mouth! He sometimes even pauses to make sure he pronounces a word correctly. Some of his common phrases are "I'm fine", "me ei-der", "I'm cold", "WANT TO! WANT TO!" [don't want to], "I love you", and "one nursie! one nursie? Please? Please?". He is very good at communicating and likes to let me know how he's feeling ("I'm sad", "Me miss you", etc). It also makes me smile to see the difference between he and Jael. Jael plays independently for hours, but Judah always comes trotting back to check in with me every now and then. He likes to stay in touch.


Right now, his favorite activities are not sleeping, climbing on Daddy or playing bear or cow etc, eating (he has a huge appetite!), reading George and the Dragon or anything about tractors or firetrucks, spinning in a chair with Jael, pushing his dump truck around the house, and playing make-believe with Jael. They have started playing together a lot more recently and he listens to her about half the time. The other half involves screaming, kicking, and somebody running away to get me eventually. Now that we have moved into our master bedroom, they have a playroom upstairs and are LOVING it. Judah goes up and down and up and down his slide and they make a disaster of the room by evening every day. (Thus the resulting toy purge)


Judah is very observant. He likes to watch for details. He often checks to make sure Daddy has shaved and if he hasn't, warns him, "Nails, Daddy. Nails! Save! Save!" He has been picking up on gender differentiation lately, too, and likes to check and ask about which families members have a penis and which do not. ("Mama penis? Daddy penis? Jael penis? Fwanklin penis? Pingu penis?" and on it goes). He also saw Jeff with his shirt off the other day and informed him, "Daddy have pwetend nursies." ;)


He is also our clean, organized little man. He gets distressed during meals if food spills on his shirt or at his place. It is very important that everything is in its proper place and activities are engaged in properly, in the correct order. Daddy is usually at fault here for not being familiar with our daily routine and Judah is quick to inform him of the problem!


Judah is also becoming a lot more aggressive and mimicking "man" behaviors. He likes loud animal noises, truck noises, and fighting "bad kings". His general response to conflict or physical contact from Jael is head-butting, which can be painful for both of them! He even grits his teeth and grimaces as he butts his head forward. ;) Besides Daddy, his main male role model is Kienan, who he informed me is "awesome" the other day.


And lastly, Judah has undertaken preschool with Jael. He doesn't have the patience to listen to everything, but he generally sits through the Bible story and the science book, and then returns to complete our worksheets for the day (followed by a sticker, which is highly motivating). He is quite good at phonics and identifying sounds already.


Facebook highlights:
October 4: If my iPod was charged, I would totally be videoing Judah right now. He is happily marching around in Jael's play high heels with pink "silk" gloves on his hands, and one hand/arm held up with a pink purse hanging from the crook of his elbow. The life of a boy with an older sister, I guess.
October 12: I was enjoying a quiet moment this evening while the kids were happily occupying themselves at the kitchen counter, looking at pictures they had colored earlier. After awhile, I heard Judah happily muttering, "Cook-cook! Cook-cook!" And there they were, happily stuffing their faces with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. As fast as they could. *facepalm*
October 30: If only there were a magical answer for 2 year old sleeping woes. Not sure why Judah slept decently on vacation and then decided to spend half of his first night at home yelling and crying. So much for my catch-up-on-sleep plan....
November 5: I had a perfect moment this evening where supper was cooking on the stove, Jael was coloring in the dining room, the house was generally clean, and I was playing the piano with Judah building duplos on the floor next to me. It's just how I imagined motherhood in my mind before I had kids. It lasted about three minutes. ;D
November 15: I told Judah it was snowing outside and he immediately said, "Lots? Lots? 'Side? 'Side?" My kids love winter like I do. ;)
November 30: Judah is helping me make these for lunch, after reading some books this morning about how God kept the oil burning for eight days....he was quite thrilled to learn that one of the story's main characters was Judah Maccabee and he's been going around the house muttering, "Magga! Magga!" ever since. ;)
December 29: Eventually that skating rink otherwise known as our road will melt, but for now I've resigned myself to backing down the hill every time we pull out of our driveway and getting a run at it. Judah loves it and yells, "Fun! Fun! 'Gain! 'Gain!" when he hears the tires squealing and spinning out. (I do have studded tires, but it's literally one big sheet of ice!)
January 5: Adventures in toddler breastfeeding.
Judah, tapping my chest wisely: “Nursies, Mums. Nursies. Boys!”
Me, thinking he was reflecting the gender differentiation he’s been learning about: “That’s right, boys don’t have nursies!”
Judah: “No, no, no! Boys nursies MOUF! Food!” [exaggerated eyeroll and rubbing his stomach] “Good food TUMMY!”

January 8: How does Judah wake up at 3, 3:30, 4, 4:30, 5, get up at 5:30, and bounce up cheerful and ready to start his day? Meanwhile I'm prying my eyes open and feel like a zombie. That boy needs so little sleep compared to his sister.
January 9: Sometimes when Mom takes forever to do a return at the mall, a fellow has to resort to creative ways to occupy himself. Like practicing his planking skills. On the gross, dirty floor at Sears.  :P
February 3: It's pouring snow outside, Christmas music is playing (it's ok, because it's just instrumental piano ), Jael's Valentine lights are twinkling, and I'm cooking breakfast on my cast iron pan for the first time. Reminded again why winter is my favorite season. Me: "Judah, look at the snow falling! Isn't it beautiful?" Him, without skipping a beat: "No, Mums. Handsome!"
February 4: Judah just walked into my room, sighed, hugged me with one arm, and whispered in my ear, "Secwet! Secwet! Loves....mawwy you." (I know this is totally his sister's doing, for brainwashing him with all the play weddings, but I still melted. ;)  ) - On the other side of the spectrum, he is now running around the house roaring, "Bad king! Bad king Craigon! Fight him! Fight him!" ha.
February 8: Only my son would come running out of the dining room halfway through dessert and refuse to finish any more it - not because he was full, but because he needed his hands washed before he could commence enjoying it again. You just can't enjoy dessert with sticky hands.
February 9: Watching the team men's free skate....with my little man next to me yelling, "Go Jason! Go Jason! Jason Bwown!"
February 20: Many thanks to my brother, who speed cleaned blood off our new carpet, drove us to the hospital while I held Jael's cut together, occupied Judah for several hours while we sat waiting....and took selfies with him, of course.
February 22: My children have very different approaches to prayer. Jael is very matter of fact: "Dear Jesus, help my dolly not to wake up lots tonight. Help Talon [our cat] not to be a whacker. Make my owie better. Amen." Judah takes a melt-mama's-heart approach: "Dear Jesus, help me not hit Jael. Love Mommy, Daddy, Jael. Sleep good. Happy Sabbath. Amen."

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