This month has been a funny month--you're gearing up for a leap, I suspect. I say that because you have taken a step back in your language abilities. You get more frustrated when you're talking, you are talking more baby-talk, and you are whining more. Sounds lovely, right? ;) I can see the gears in your mind working overtime to try to make sense of things. Once you do, you'll be talking much more eloquently than you ever have. Until then, we'll work through this phase of yours.
You have been a wonderful big brother for Jude. You have been sharing more with him, making sure he has something to play with when you are playing with your trains. You like to give him Duncan and one or two pieces of track (he likes to chew on them). You love to wrestle with him and play "tag" with him. You both get so excited--it's cute to watch.
You are much more adept at riding your bike. You are still learning how to use your brakes and stop when Mommy or Daddy yells at you to stop. We'll have to really work on that.
Nana and Poppa were here for a visit this month for Easter (Yes, I still have to do an Easter post!!) and you had a blast hanging out with them. Poppa was the chef during their visit and he whipped up a lot of good soups. You tried them all and surprised me when you liked them. (Of course...it's Poppa's cooking, right?) Your palate is maturing from just meat and cheese roll-ups.
You and Poppa jamming to Wheels on the Bus
A bike ride in our neighbourhood with Nana and Jude
Your Baby Jude
Jumping into the "pool" of foam cubes at your new school (starting Sept 2010)
You and your Mommy, hanging out
You and your Daddy, checking out the rainbow after the storm
What a fun monthiversary! You are lucky to have both Mommy and Daddy home, Liam around to terrorize you, and Nana and Poppa to give you lots of hugs and kisses!
You have been moving and grooving! You started crawling a couple of weeks ago and you are now motoring around--and as if crawling just wasn't enough for you, you have decided to pull up more (on everything!) and start cruising! Busy, busy, busy! You are able to pull up, slowly cruise around, transferring from the couch to your exersaucer, to the guitar case and back around. You can bend down and pick up a toy if you need to. You have even started letting go, Mr Show-off, and are trying to stand on your own! You've stood for a few seconds unassisted, but you're not that steady yet.
You are eating about 1-2 times a day. Your favourite foods are sweet potatoes, applesauce, prunes and pears. Everything else needs to be hidden in these foods. I can mix in some cereal easily, but hiding the dreaded green veggies is a bit tougher. You've started on some finger foods, but they are just so darn sticky that they tend to drive you mad. Having rice puffs stuck to your nose and eyelids is just not your cup of tea.
You are still coo-ing and singing away, everyday. Your cries (which are rare, and are usually involved with you going to bed, or being tackled by Liam...) still sound like, "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Eeee Eeee Eeee Eeeeeeeeeee!" You sleep well, though. You were sleeping through the night for a month, then decided that you'd take advantage of some alone time with Mommy again, and you started waking up once, then twice a night. I think we're back down to once a night, though. We'll see how tonight goes!
Tomorrow the Easter Bunny will arrive and it will be your first Easter! Everyone is so excited! I hope you have fun hunting for eggs! We put the eggs on the tree so the bunny knows to stop here.
We love you, our sweet Baby Jude. Have a happy day.
You have been busy this month! That last tooth is slooooowly coming through, causing you to chew on your fingers a lot. Poor thing. I swear I should have bought stock in Motrin before having kids! We try to keep you well medicated to fight off the pain of it all, (and to save those poor little fingers of yours from being gnawed until they are red!) but I think we will all be happy when this whole teething business is done!
You, chewing on your thumb and riding the laundry train with Jude
Your reading is coming along well--you are starting to pick up books on your own to read them out loud with Mommy or Daddy or even to Jude. We all love to hear you read.
TACKLE!!
You have been really interested in watching videos and seeing pictures of yourself when you were a baby. Jude is almost crawling (when you aren't tackling him--haha) and you were at that point around the same age, so it's fun to watch videos of you trying to crawl and you eating in your high chair--just like Jude is doing now! Your favourite story to hear from when you were younger is your name story. When you were little, and people would ask you what your name was, you would answer, "Name." Then as you got a bit older, and people would ask you what your name was, you would answer, "Lame." (that cracks you up!) And then finally, when you were a bit older, and people would ask you what your name was, you would answer, "Liam." I've told you that little story over and over and over in the past couple of weeks and you laugh every time. You like hearing the "lame" story. ;)
Hugs for Puppy
You really have been enjoying school this year. You are quick to give me a kiss and hug and dive right into playing with your classmates. It's been fun to hear your run-down of your day at pick-up time, too. You're much more vocal about what happened during the day than you ever have been--even if it's to tell me that Miss Helen had to take away a puzzle that you and Cohen were arguing over. Ahem. However, these little "naughty" tales are rare and overall you really enjoy going to school. You always come home with new songs and new stories to share about your friends Callie, Cohen, Audrey and the rest of the gang.
Look! Puppy is a Canadian!
You know how some people will say that they don't have a musical bone in their bodies? Well, I think ALL of your bones are musical! You constantly sing songs.
Liam singing and dancing spectacularly to (...or something) Wheels on the Bus
(background vocals provided by Baby Jude)
Whether it be the Wheels on the Bus, the ABCs or your favourite, The Farmer in the Dell, if you feel the need to talk, you SING it! I wish I could write down all of the verses of The Farmer in the Dell that you have created, since that is your "go-to" song of choice. We've heard (sung to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell, of course...):
"Everyone poops and pees, everyone poops and pees, hi ho the derry-o, everyone poops and pees!"
"Jude is a dude, Jude is a dude, hi ho the derry-o, Jude is a dude!"
"It's time to eat some dinner, it's time to eat some dinner, hi ho the derry-o, it's time to eat some dinner!"
"Blue and green and yellow, blue and green and yellow, hi ho the derry-o, blue and green and yellow!"
Everything is sung to this tune. Everything. It's enough to drive some people batty. I'm thisclose sometimes.
Mommy, not going crazy (yet!)
We had a good talk the other day about how you used to call bulldozers "bullzeedohs" and oatmeal "eatmoil" and you thought it was funny. What's neat is that it was only a few months ago and it's amazing how fast you are changing. It's wonderful to actually have conversations with you. You're such a smart little boy.
You and your Jude
Your memory amazes me. I know that it must be due to your photographic memory that you are able to read and remember words that you see. Today, when we were doing some cleaning, I saw the hummingbird feeder under the sink. I didn't pull it out, but I said, "Oh, we'll have to get out our hummingbird feeder soon!" You pulled it out and I asked you if you remembered it. You said, "Yes." I asked you what it was for and you told me about the little birdies and walked over to the patio door where we had put it last summer. That was 6 months ago and you remember as if it were yesterday. Astounding.
This photo is from Aug 2009--your birthday, actually! You can see the hummingbird feeder in the background. We used to get hummingbirds all day long!
We've been planning our garden and last week we planted some seeds in some peat pots to get ready. You love to go check our plants to see what has popped up. So far we have some healthy watermelon, canteloupe, tomatoes, and morning glory seedlings. I think we might have enough fruits and veggies for the whole neighbourhood with the rate they're growing!
Your watermelon and tomato seedlings
We hope you enjoy your day today. We are off to get groceries today since you woke up with a bit of a fever so our plans for the gym and a playdate with Drew will have to wait for another day. Daddy comes home from his race in Brazil tomorrow, so it will be wonderful to have him home again.
Happy happy monthiversary, Jude! You're 7 months old today! You are growing up so fast! This past month, you have been busy trying out new foods, making new sounds and trying your darndest to crawl! Crawl forwards, that is!
Your first food came on your 6 monthiversary with oatmeal. You weren't a fan. Then you were given a cupcake to celebrate your half-birthday. You absolutely loved it. Then we tried rice cereal...blech...whole grain cereal...ick...bananas...ugh...pears...mmmm, okay...avacado...blergh...carrots...not bad. For someone who is just so, ahem...how do I put this...healthy, it's funny that you don't like food.
My healthy, healthy boy!
You've had it chunky, semi-chunky and pureed to a pulp and still after a few bites you are just SO DONE! with it all. (so done to the point of just not opening your mouth anymore or spitting up everything that has gone in) Well, I can confidently bet all of the money in the world that by the time you're a teenager, you'll be eating us out of house and home...but it probably won't include carrots, oatmeal and pears. More like pizza, chips and pop! ;) Anyway, since you're still a wee babe, we'll be working our way through the rainbow of foods. On deck is peas, green beans, prunes and sweet potato. Better get some stain remover, Mama! You have mastered the rotate and grab, the backwards push, the downward dog, the plank pose and the cat and cow. You can go from sitting to your belly and back up to sitting again. You roll every once in a while from your tummy to your back and then from your back to your tummy, but I can probably count on one hand how many times you've rolled over in your life. You're strong enough to do it, but it just does nothing for you. Soon, you will be able to coordinate your movements and begin the stilted crawling that will finally get you places.
Those beautiful blues!
Jude, you are beginning to babble a lot more. With your oh-so-quiet "ba-ba-ba"s and "mum-mum-mum"s to your occasional "da-da-da"s and don't forget your high-pitched 'singing,' you have made the house a little happier with your chatter and a little more musical with your serenades. You still growl like a dinosaur and laugh like you've seen the funniest stand-up comic a lot, too. You are a joy to listen to. You are a big big boy. Currently you are sporting 18-24 month clothing and Mommy has just been handing down (directly!) all of Liam's clothes that have just become too small. I'm happy not to have to box them up until you're ready for them--it saves me a step! I predict that you will just be wearing Liam's clothes from last year for the summer. It's like a whole year's worth of clothes just got pushed aside. :) Well, my love, we hope you have a great day today. We're playing at home today since Liam is feeling a little under the weather. Maybe we will all go down to the basement to rush around! We love you very much, baby. Love, Mommy, Daddy and Liam
There's no way that Liam would pass up this photo op!
PS: I forgot to add that Jude popped his second tooth through yesterday--bottom right. That will help chew up those prunes! ;)
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