The New Dad Blog

All Dressed Up in Des Moines

Sometimes Jude surprises us. He came into the kitchen in Des Moines this week wearing the outfit above. Most of it is hand-me-downs from Lily but he seemed to think it was cool, especially the pink boots. He put them on at every opportunity.

It was a nice week in Des Moines. The only bummer was it was pretty cold so we didn't spend much time outside. We went to the local mall play area just about every day, and we spent a lot of time at Baba & Grandpa's house. The last couple of days it warmed up a little and we were able to test out the sledding trail in the front yard. They have had so much snow in Des Moines that it really made for a fun trail and Jude had a blast with it. He went down with me once, and after that he wanted to go by himself.

By Friday, Jude was ready to go home. He loved playing with Lily but I think he felt that it was strange not having Baba & Grandpa there (they were in Mexico). By Friday morning he was saying he wanted to go home to Colorado. We took the afternoon flight back, so we had the whole weekend at home.

Saturday morning came and Jude surprised us again. We were down in the basement where his car wash has been setup for the last three months. He asked me to put his car wash away, so I put the cushions back to where they belonged. Later, when Marcy asked him why, he said that all the cars were clean now so he didn't need the car wash any more. This is the boy who screamed deliriously if Anna came within two feet of his car wash.

This morning we went to this indoor amusement park for kids. Jude had a great time running around to all the different rides and games. His favorite was the ball pit where they had a pool of thousands of small plastic balls. He liked lying down on all the balls.

New Pajamas and a Trip to Des Moines

We arrived in Des Moines yesterday for the week and Jude was very excited to see Lily again. He wants to do everything that Lily does, eat what Lily eats, and wear what Lily wears. This is great for Jude because he needs some motivation to start doing more things for himself and Lily is providing that.

All of Jude's pajamas are the one piece variety, whereas Lily has top and bottoms that she can put on herself. Jude wanted pajamas like that so today we were at the mall and Marcy bought Jude a pair. Tonight he was able to put them on all by himself, with a little assistance from mom.

He is also becoming more interested in the potty. He has showed occasional interest at home but the last two days, again by seeing Lily's example, he has become more motivated in this area. No result yet, but we are happy that he is at least moving in this direction.

Of course, sometimes all three kids want the same thing. Last night Jude asked for some hot chocolate with whipped cream and the next thing you know all three kids were asking for it. Here they are all lined up at the counter enjoying their dessert.

I am a Polar Bear

We moved Jude's train table upstairs from the playroom into the family room for the Superbowl party last weekend. It is a much better setup here and Jude has been enjoying it. He likes climbing in the drawers and then having us close them.

Jude is usually an animal these days. What I mean is that he is always pretending to be an animal, usually a polar bear or a lion, but sometimes he will be a caribou or an elephant. When we ask Jude to do something he will often reply with indignation that the polar bear cannot do it.

We have finally found a video Jude will watch for more than five minutes. He has never been into TV or DVD's but Marcy recently bought the Disney Earth video that features lots of animals and Jude is captivated by it. We have been watching it every day, often after Anna has gone to bed. Below is a photo of Jude and Marcy getting all cozy while they watch the DVD.

 

Jude had a busy weekend with two birthday parties. Today, was a party for one of his preschool friends at the local kids gym. Jude has actually been to gym classes here before with Marcy and today it seemed like he was happy to be back here. It was interesting for me to watch Jude around all the other kids, it is not something I see that often. While Jude was definitely having a good time, he preferred to be off by himself doing his own thing. He didn't seem to like participating in the group activities.

We forgot to bring our camera so here is an iPhone photo of Jude on the Roman rings.

The Car Wash and the Superbowl Party

Every year we host a Superbowl party at our house. The challenge for Jude this year was that we would have to dismantle his "car wash" that has been sitting in our TV room for the last month or two. As you can see here the car wash is made of cushions from the couch and removing it proved to be a problem. To say Jude loves his car wash would be like saying Michelangelo liked to paint. Jude loves his car wash. He plays with it every day, often playing contentedly by himself for half an hour or more. When he is not playing with it he often talks about how he is going to use it to clean his cars because "they are very dirty." The photo above was taken tonight just after we had put the car wash back together.

Marcy had been telling Jude all week that we were having a party and that we would have to put his car wash away temporarily. He seemed ok with it until just before the party started today. We started to put the car wash away....then....meltdown. Jude was completely distraught that his car wash was being dismantled. It wasn't until people started arriving (and a neighbor brought a lollipop to share) that Jude calmed down.

Jude does not seem to be a big fan of parties. He seems to enjoy the company for a little while and then he likes to go off by himself. Tonight, he stayed and played with the other kids for most of the first half of the game. He was even sharing his toys with some of the other kids, something that is hard for any three year old.

One thing I don't think that we have mentioned on the blog is Jude's cute little saying he says whenever Marcy or I are leaving. We will be putting our shoes on and getting ready to go when Jude comes running up and says, "How could you forget a hug and a kiss?" It is adorable, and he will say it even if we just gave him a hug and a kiss 30 seconds ago.

Jude was hanging out on our back deck this week when Marcy snapped this cute photo below.