I was out of town all week at my brother's wedding in Sydney so this is Marcy's account of what went on here this week. This weekend Jude got some good exercise pulling Anna in the wagon as you can see above. There is also a cute video here.
Jude starts school this coming week, so on Friday Jude and Marcy went to the school to meet Jude's new teachers. Below is a photo of him getting ready to ride his scooter to school.
Seeing I was away for the week Baba and Grandpa drove in from Des Moines to spend the week with Jude and Anna. Jude loved having them here - and he took them both to his favorite place: the museum. Jude also loved helping Grandpa out fixing things around the house.
Before you know it I was home again. I missed everyone terribly and I was SO happy to see everyone at the airport on Sunday afternoon. Of course, I came bearing many gifts for both Jude and Anna. Here you can see Jude with his new book.
This week Jude decided it was time to give Marcy a hand with the feeding of Anna. So he took Anna's baby food and started spooning it to Anna. He did a pretty good job of it and he really liked helping out and I think Anna liked it as well.
Jude's behavior can be very challenging some times. As you know from last weeks post the museum is one of his favorite places to go. But both days this weekend he was banned from going because he was being mean to Anna. He was warned that if he continued to aggravate Anna he would not go to the museum and he did it again. I was away a lot this week, so that might have had something to do with it, but there are times when he really pushes the boundaries.
I took this photo below mainly for posterity's sake. Every morning Jude likes to go and get the newspaper. He usually brings it in to the dining room table but one day this week Marcy was still in bed and he really wanted to "give Mommy the newspaper." So up we went. No doubt Jude will grow up in a world without daily newspaper delivery, as everything moves online, but for now he enjoys this start to the day. The funny thing is when I was a kid I always liked to go and get the newspaper, too.
I am off to Sydney tomorrow for my brother, Ian's, wedding. I will be gone six days. This will be the longest time away from my family since Jude was born. I know will miss everyone terribly.
You may be wondering about the odd title of this post. Earlier this week Marcy and Jude were just being silly and making up words and "Noka-koka" was something Jude came up with. He was using it as an adjective and adding an animal on the end, as in noka-koka mule deer. Also this week Jude become completely enamored with the museum of nature & science. I think we went there five times and he asks for it now every day. It is a good thing we have a yearly membership and it is less than a mile from our house.
Speaking of the museum, even though we have been most days this week Jude still gets very excited when he is going. In the photo above Jude is "talking on the phone" with the mule deers (that are behind him). And below is a cute video of him running through and pointing out his favorite animals.
We had to address some sleep issues with Jude over the past week. He had become accustomed to going to bed with his lamp on. Over time though, he started staying up later & later reading his books or just playing. Then, when he was exhausted, often around 10pm, he would only fall asleep with Marcy laying down with him. This was even leading to some nighttime and very early morning wake ups, when, again, he would only fall asleep with Marcy there with him. So, we bought him a flashlight and removed all the light bulbs from his room. Since then, he is going to sleep between 8 and 8:30, and usually sleeping through to 6 or 6:30. Thank goodness.
Jude achieved another minor milestone this week. He can now get himself in and out of Marcy's car. This might seem like a small thing but it will be really helpful for Marcy when she is trying to get both Jude and Anna into the car at the same time. He can't quite reach the door handle on my car yet but as you can see below Jude can open the door on Marcy's car quite easily.
One of Jude's more adorable habits is putting on the shoes of Marcy or I and walking around the house in them. Here is a cute picture of Jude in his pj's and in Marcy's Harley Davidson boots this week.
Jude has been saying this for quite some time now. "After I wake up from my nap, it will be time to...." He says it now before every nap as well as before going to bed at night. At night we always just answer it will be time for breakfast, but other times he will want something more specific. He has an excellent memory so if we say something we are going to do after his nap, he will remember and repeat it just as he is going to bed. Last night we said that he will be able to go see a fire truck (at the Children's Museum) after he wakes from his nap and he remembered as soon as he woke up this morning. Above is a photo of him driving the fire truck there (it is an actual working fire truck that was donated to the museum).
Jude's conversation skills have improved immensely in the past couple of weeks. Being around Lily and the other kids probably helped last week, but we can now have an interactive conversation with Jude. A few weeks ago when we would ask him a question such as "did you go to the museum today," his way of answering yes was to repeat exactly what you said. Now, he answers "Yes, I did." His vocabulary is increasing all the time and sometimes we wonder how he comes up with some things he says. For example, tonight at dinner we were eating on our deck outside and he looked up at the sky and said, "there is a whole world up there."
It is still very challenging for Jude to share his play things with Anna, but sometimes he can be very generous. We bought these stairs well before Anna was born so he has had ownership of them for a long time. He loves them, but often now he is ok with Anna climbing on the stairs with him. Of course, we have to watch him because he can get impatient with Anna and try to push her off.
Often we think our kids are the cutest kids in the entire world. The photo below is an example of what makes us think that.
Jude, Anna & Marcy all flew to Des Moines last week on Monday morning and spent all week swimming and playing in the backyard. Jude received a special present as you can see here - a new scooter. He was mesmerized by it and he spent hours riding it around the pool. You can see him in action in the video here.
There was a surprise 60th birthday celebration for Lon (Jude's grandpa) so Jude had not just Lily to play with but also Jack and Adam, who are in reality Marcy's cousins, even though they are 7 and 9 years old. Jude thought they were both so cool and he liked to play with them every chance he got. Here is a photo of all the kids having dinner together one night. The weather was beautiful so we ate every single meal outside while we were there.
Jude had lots of special treats on this trip. He njoyed popsicles with Lily and he even got to try Baba's famous monster cookies. Here he is right after he has come out of the pool having a cookie and some lemonade.
