The New Dad Blog

Christmas in Des Moines

This was Jude's first Christmas spent away from home and he had a blast. This is the first time he has spent with his cousin Lily where they were really able to play together. They did so much together (and we have dozens of photos of everything). On Christmas Eve we went to the local mall where they had a Santa (Jude wasn't into Santa at all this year) and a train just for kids. Jude and Lily rode the train together and they looked adorable sitting together in their little compartment. I snapped this photo just after the train ride was over.

Jude didn't fully understand Christmas this year but he knew it had something to do with presents. He received lots of presents at home before we left for Des Moines, and he received many more from his Des Moines family. My favorite was the matching chef outfits for Lily and Jude. If you look closely you can see they are personalized with their names. Lily and Jude also received a toy kitchen, but Jude is not going to officially get his until we move later in 2009. Jude really enjoyed playing with Lily's fully stocked kitchen while he was there.

Jude was lucky to have his very own room at Mandy & Nathan's house. He slept in a crib just like he did at home and for the most part he slept pretty well. Unfortunately he started to get a cold just as we were leaving so he was coughing and sniffling a lot but he was in good spirits most of the time. He loved playing with Baba and Grandpa, but most of all he enjoyed Lily's company. We took many, many photos of the two of them together but I think the one below is my favorite.

Teaching Jude He Isn't the Boss

They always say that turning two is a big transition in every young child's development. This is certainly the case with Jude. His behavior has changed in recent weeks in that he is really wanting to test the boundaries of what is acceptable. Sometimes he gets very demanding and other times he just wants to see what will happen when he does something he knows is wrong.

Before Anna was born Marcy took a Love and Logic parenting class and I have been reading the book. But then Anna was born and we didn't get around to implementing a consistent plan on how to deal with Jude when he is being difficult. We both like the Love and Logic parenting style for the most part - it gives us some tools for dealing with Jude when he is being very challenging. It allows us to deal with Jude in a calm and loving way instead of reverting to anger and threats. Now, when Jude is doing something he knows is wrong such as hitting or standing on his table we just say "uh-oh" and take him straight to his "calm place" that Marcy set up for him in the basement bedroom. He really dislikes this place and he always goes in there screaming but he is already getting the message that there are real consequences now to his actions.

One funny thing that Jude has started doing recently is picking up his little suitcase and announcing he is "going to work" or "going to yoga." We always tell Jude where we are going when we leave the house and it is more of often than not one of these things. He will pick up his suitcase and walk to the front or back door in a purposeful way. Fortunately he cannot open our doors yet, so we can be assured he won't really go anywhere!

We should have mentioned this ages ago because Jude has been doing it for many months. When he is eating and gets a piece of food he doesn't like he says "bad one" and then spits it out. It may be an orange, a piece of egg, or even an apple but Jude makes it very clear when he doesn't like what he has in his mouth. Luckily he is a good eater and likes a wide range of foods so it doesn't happen very often.

The photo at the left here is Jude in his sunglasses. He doesn't like to wear them very much, so when he had them on this week Marcy snapped this photo.

We had two celebrations this week. On Monday it was Marcy's birthday and we all gathered on the kitchen floor to give Marcy presents. Below is the photo of Jude and Anna that Jude gave Marcy for her birthday. Today we celebrated Christmas. Jude's family from down under bought him some gifts and we didn't want to take them to Des Moines with us so we opened them this morning. Jude received a new dump truck and bulldozer which he loves as you can see in the photo at the top here.

Jude is starting to get excited about the trip next week. We have been telling him he is going on a plane ride to see Lily and I think he really gets what this means. He saw a plane in the sky today and said "airplane ride" and when I asked him who he will be seeing when we go on the airplane ride this week he said Lily and Baba. We leave Tuesday, the first time we will be traveling as a family of four.

Where's Jude's Hand?

If you look at the above photo you will notice that you can only see one of Jude's hands. The other one is hidden from view as part of a new game Jude plays. During meals he puts his hand under the table and then asks, "Where's Jude's hand?" We then have to start "searching" for his hand. We will look in his glass of milk, under the newspaper and anywhere else we can think of. The really funny part is that Jude will also help us look. Eventually, he will smile and raise his hand triumphantly in the air and we will all say "There it is!" This happens multiple times at every meal, so we have been searching for Jude's hand a lot lately.

Another saying Jude has started this week is "Zis is I won know" as in "This is, I don't know." He will point to something he doesn't recognize and say that. Instead of asking the question he will just make that statement. He is a curious boy so he says that several times a day.

One more change this week is around Jude's bedtime routine. We no longer sing to him, instead he likes to hear stories. So Marcy and I will make up fun little stories for him which he loves. What started as a nice little change to his bedtime routine has become a problem, particularly tonight. He is so into these stories that now he cries out for more after we put him down to sleep. Tonight after I put him to bed he was crying out for both of us so I went back in (because his room is next to Anna's and Marcy was trying to get her to go to sleep) and told him some more stories but he didn't want it to end. Finally after another 15 minutes of stories, I told him no more stories and put him back down in bed, but he just started screaming. He screamed and screamed for more stories for what seemed like an eternity (probably 10 minutes or so) until Marcy finally went back in to try and soothe him but he was inconsolable. She had to leave him screaming because nothing was working to calm him down. It took another 15 minutes for him to finally fall asleep. This was without doubt the worst bedtime meltdown of his life and the most difficult time I have ever experienced as a parent. It seems we'll need to go back to our rule of not going back in to Jude's room after we've left him for the night. This may mean that he wakes Anna for a couple nights, but in the long run it'll most likely solve the problem.

Jude's language is also getting better and better. This morning he said what I think is his longest sentence ever: "Mommy's having tea and Daddy's reading the newspaper and Jude is having eggs." A thirteen word sentence, we were very impressed.

The other change this week was getting rid of the cat tower that was next to our couch. Jude had started climbing it and it really was pretty dangerous and it was almost six feet tall. So, down into the basement it went and in its place we put a new table and chairs for Jude to play on or, as you can see in the photo below, sit on.

Jude Just Loves His Little Sister

Jude is always asking to hold his little sister. Several times a day he asks to "hold Anna" to "keep her warm and cozy." It is really sweet to see. With Anna suffering from bad colic these days he is always concerned about her. When he wakes up in the morning and if I go in to get him the first thing he usually says is "see Mommy and Anna."

This week was really cold so Jude was inside most of the time. Not a whole lot happened this week for Jude. We have been preoccupied with Anna, and we were both very tired. But apart from the occasional meltdown which is pretty typical for his age, Jude is doing great. Generally speaking he is pretty happy staying at home helping Marcy with projects, cleaning out closets and playing with his toys. He loves to clean and vacuum so the highlight of his week is the visit every Thursday from Beatriz, our cleaning lady. He adores her and follows her around for the entire time that she is here.

One of the projects that Jude enjoys is finger painting with Marcy. I took this photo today of Jude just as he was getting started on a work of art.