The New Dad Blog

Binky-Why, Gine and Other Babbling

The past couple of weeks has seen Jude enter a new phase of language. He is now making up words and babbling in language we can't understand. His favorite new words are "Binky-why" and "Gine." He smiles when he is saying these things because he seems to know these are not real words, but words he has created. It seems like pretty normal language development to me.

Jude is even more into his books these days. He has taken over the coffee table to make it his personal reading table. We keep expanding his library because he reads so much. It has become a real comfort for him, some kids have teddy bears or blankets, Jude has books. He has read these books so many times now, so even though he can't actually read words yet, he can recite everything in the book. The photo above is of Jude reading one of his favorites - the Counting Book.

Earlier this week Marcy took some videos of Jude singing as he reads his nursery rhyme books. Here is the video - we think it it adorable.

The big news this week was that we signed a contract on a new house. We went over there on Saturday morning to meet the current owner to go through some things and they have three and four year old boys. Jude had a blast playing with them, for him it was a great outing. We left Anna with Summer, our new babysitter. We like our current house, but we want a bit bigger yard and more room and this house has everything we are looking for. It is weird to think that Jude will probably have no memories of the house where he spent his first two and half years, but we certainly have a boatload of memories and photos from here.

Today Jude and I went to the train show. It was a gathering of model train enthusiasts and there were plenty of kids around. Jude has a good time but after about an hour he was done. There were all kinds of trains there but the bummer for Jude was that you couldn't touch anything.

I Miss You

We had the gym ball in the kitchen this week for bouncing Anna and I picked Jude up for old times sake. We used to bounce him on this ball incessantly in the first few months of his life. Now, we just bounce for 20 seconds and he says "Down please."

Jude has been saying "I miss you" a lot these days. We're pretty sure that he really means I love you, he just has the meaning a little mixed up. What happened is that whenever Marcy or I returned home after being away from Jude for a while we would often say "I missed you." Jude would be very happy to see us and I think he equated I miss you with I love you. He says it now to both of us with a very loving voice, it is really sweet.

Jude's counting keeps getting better. He can now count to fourteen without any problem, although when it comes to pointing to things on a page he has trouble after about four. But he loves counting so much he is getting better at it each week.

Tonight I showed Jude a picture of Barack Obama and I asked him who he was. He was unsure at first but then he said "Barack Obama" and we all cheered. He also knows he is the president and that he lives in the White House. While he will be encouraged to make up his own mind on politics when he gets older both Marcy and I want to make sure he is informed.

I try and play ball with Jude every chance I get. While I don't force it on him, I want him to get used to playing with balls if he is interested. So far he really likes "having a whack" with his golf clubs, and we play this game where I throw a ball up to him on the stairs and then he picks it up and throws it back down. Tonight I started fooling around with the football and he really enjoyed it.

Look at all the Oranges!

Last week Jude was into making a tower from bottles of formula, this week (or today to be more specific) he was into arranging oranges. He emptied our fridge of every orange and arranged them neatly on the table. This was a 15 minute activity that he undertook before breakfast until eventually he decided he wanted an orange for breakfast!

We have been looking at houses for a few weeks now. We are looking for a house with a bigger backyard but also close to where we live now. I am also looking forward to a separate play area for the kids, one that doesn't encroach on the media room where I like to relax and watch golf or a Bronco game. Anyway, the good thing about this activity is that many of the houses we go and see have a play area for kids, often with plenty of toys lying around. Jude has a blast. So much so that on Saturday after we had seen two houses he started crying when we had to go home; he wanted to go see another house.

The photo below may well be the cutest one we have taken with the two of them. It has been well documented on here that Jude loves to read. Now, he is sharing his love of books with his little sister. On Friday Jude lay down with Anna on the couch and read one of his favorite books to her, Who are you Baby Kangaroo? If you look closely you can see Anna is holding on to the book. I am not sure who enjoyed it more, Jude loves sharing with his little sister.

Jude Likes Stacking Things

Jude is very good at amusing himself. This weekend when I was outside grilling and Marcy was working in the kitchen Jude decided he would make a tower out of all the cans of Anna's formula. He did this with no prompting and he didn't even know we were watching. I was very impressed he was able to put that last container on without everything toppling over, and Jude actually looks amazed himself.

Jude is in very much a "mommy phase" right now. He is really into Marcy and prefers to spend time with her. This week for the first time he told Marcy that he loved her, "I love you mommy." He also said to Marcy, "you have beautiful blue eyes." Makes your heart melt.

At dinner time these days Jude has taken to putting his vegetables into his glass of water. Yesterday he had some broccoli and some sparkling water and into it went about 6 pieces of broccoli. Sometimes he retrieves the vegetables and eats them, he doesn't seem to mind the altered flavor. While Jude is usually a pretty good eater when he is close to finishing his meal he does start to play with his food. Most of the time we allow this because you can see his brain working as he experiments with different combinations of food and liquid.

Jude is a cleaning fanatic. He loves to vacuum, wipe the floors or pretty much any cleaning activity. Earlier this past week he put on his apron and starting brushing the bookshelves with a basting brush.