The New Dad Blog

Jude Likes to Read

Jude likes books. He likes to be read to but he also likes to just flip through some books himself. As you can see in the photo above Jude is surrounded by books and often he is happy to sit there for 15 or 20 minutes just flipping through the pages. This is great for Marcy and I because we can often leave him and get some work done or just relax. Another fun things Jude does with books is that he will often open a book and get very excited about what he is seeing. Sometimes, he will say "Dee" at almost every image and look at us with excitement. It is very cute.

Jude's cold seems to be getting better finally. It was a lot worse in the middle of week and Marcy took him to the doctor to get checked out, but the doctor said it was nothing more serious than a cold. It stuck around for a couple of weeks, and even now you can see he is still a bit stuffy. We hope he is back to his normal self soon for the big celebration and trip to Des Moines this week - Thanksgiving and then Jude turns one!

There were a few more changes that became noticeable this week. At meal times now, Jude like to try and feed himself. He is only just beginning, and so it is a bit messy but he definitely understands the concept of taking the spoon into his mouth. He also looks at the food before we feed him and he decides whether it looks appetizing or not. A couple of times this weekend he point blank refused to open his mouth until I forced some in there and he was surprised that it tasted good and after that initial mouthful he was fine.

Diaper changing has also become more challenging, particularly after bath time. Jude sometimes thinks this is time to play and so we lay him on the changing table and immediately he sits up and tries to move. This can be quite frustrating as one of us is trying to get a diaper on him. But even when we get really frustrated once he is dressed and he flashes us this gorgeous smile all is forgiven.

We have been singing the Pattycake song to Jude for a long time, but this week he has started to play along with the gestures. He claps his hands, tries to roll his arms and then pats with his hands - all the while with a huge smile on his face.

One final change that is happening revolves around sleep. He is slowly transitioning into a shorter morning nap and a longer afternoon nap. A couple of times this week he had a three hour afternoon nap. And his night time sleeps have been uninterrupted and generally going to around 6am. We put him down at 7pm so that is 11 solid hours. And it certainly helps mom and dad sleep as well.

Jude Gets the Ball

Jude hasn't been able to shake his cold that he caught last week, but it hasn't affected him much. He has just had a runny nose and a bit of a cough most days but he still has plenty of energy.

Jude is getting better at recognizing objects. For example, this week when Marcy asked Jude where his ball was, he crawled over and picked up the ball. He has done this with ducks in his bathtub before but this week is the first week he recognized the ball and went and picked it up. Now, when he sees a ball of even a round moon in his books he gets excited and points at it.

We have spent this weekend up in Keystone, our first visit since the July 4 vacation with the Smallridge's and Dahlen's. Our neighbors Ray and Lesley came up along with their son Carter, who is about six months older than Jude. As you can see in the photo here Jude enjoyed playing with Carter, and there were double the number of toys so that was a bonus. We had a couple of visits to the playground in River Run and the photo above is Jude enjoying the slide.

This week Jude started getting up earlier and earlier. We had the time change last Sunday and that didn't make things any easier. There were several mornings when Jude awoke before 4am. We think this pattern started in the summer when he would awake at 5am and I would get up and take him for a walk around the park in the bjorn. So we think he got used to the idea of getting up and playing. After Marcy read in the "Sleep Book" (Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - this book has been a godsend) that kids this age will intentionally wake up early just to play with their parents we decided to let Jude stay in bed in the mornings a little longer even when he is awake. We think this has helped, but a couple of mornings he has been a little angry. Friday night Jude rewarded us with a rare 12 hour sleep and I had my best sleep in a month.

A Challenging Week

We got back from Des Moines last Monday morning and since then we have had a few challenges. The first challenge was around food. Up until now Jude had been eating pretty much anything that was put in front of him. Marcy was making his own food - blending up carrots, beets, broccoli, squash, and several other vegetables. We were always commenting that it was great that Jude seemed to like vegetables. Well that changed this week. Many days he point blank refused to have anything other than apple sauce and yogurt, and in general his appetite was down. Today was the first day we were able to get a few teaspoons of vegetables into his system.

When we look at Jude's gums it looks like he has three or four teeth that are getting ready to come in. So this may account for his reduced appetite. On Friday we were worried that he was getting sick. He wasn't his normal active self and he had really long naps. In fact, for the 24 hours ending Saturday morning at 7am Jude slept for 18 1/2 hours. His morning nap on Friday was from 8am until noon. Saturday he seemed to be doing much better.

The other challenging part of this week was Jude's screaming. He would just be sitting playing with his toys and suddenly start screaming at the top of his lungs, or as Marcy described it "a high-pitched blood-curdling howl." Over the course of this weekend this happened dozens of times. It starts to wear on you after a while and by Sunday night Marcy and I were exhausted and a little grumpy. Last night was the first night in ages that Jude woke up screaming. He woke up at 2am and we could tell he was in pain. We both tried consoling him, but he screamed almost nonstop for 15 minutes or more. We gave him some Tylenol and he went back to sleep around 3am. We hope these teeth come in soon, because we have our week long trip to Hawaii coming up on Wednesday of this week and we are hopeful that it will go well.

On a more positive note, Baba (Grandma Connie) bought Jude this very cute Halloween outfit and he wore it around town on Saturday. We snapped the picture above outside Whole Foods in Cherry Creek. He received several comments from passersby who thought he was just adorable in the outfit.

Party Tricks

This was quite an eventful week. Early in the week Jude caught us unawares and when we turned around he was climbing into the dishwasher - as you can see here he seemed pretty pleased with himself. Needless to say we try to keep our dishwasher closed at all times now when he is around.

Jude's understanding of language keeps improving. We have been working on teaching him a few things that he has already picked up on. Now, when you ask him "what does a fish do?" he purses his lips in a way just like a fish. He can now do that pretty much on command. Also, when we play the "so big" game - we say "How big is Jude?" In response Jude raises his arms above his head and then we say "sooooooooooo big" and raise our arms above our head, too. And now when we change his diaper he is starting to repeat the word "poop."

Last night was a first for our family. Marcy spent her first night away from Jude - she went with a girlfriend for a night at Shoshoni, a yoga and meditation center in the mountains. While she missed Jude, and called in a couple of times, she really enjoyed being at the retreat center. She has made a pledge to start doing that more regularly now that Jude is older. It was a little strange going to bed for me, knowing that it was just he and I in the house - I definitely didn't sleep as well as I normally do. But Jude did great - he awoke a couple of times, but just for a few minutes.

Marcy's night away was just a prelude to this weekend. On Thursday Jude and Marcy are flying to Des Moines, and then I follow on Friday. Then we are leaving Jude with Marcy's parents and Marcy and I are flying to Chicago for a weekend with just the two of us. I'll report back next week to let you know how that all went.

Ten Months Old

Jude turned 10 months old yesterday and to celebrate he enjoyed a delicious bowl of carrots that Marcy had cooked & pureed. As you can see his entire face enjoyed the carrots. Marcy has been cooking more of Jude's food, and he has even had kale and pumpkin!

Jude's language skills are improving. He even says "hi daddy" and "ee" which seems to mean cat, and as you can see below he spends lots of time playing with cats when they'll let him. We do have to listen closely, and it isn't always quite clear-- perhaps as parents we are hearing more than others might, though as a family we seem to be communicating rather well! Most of the time he is still babbling, which he does all day long. Lately his babbling sounds a bit like yodeling. We are working on teaching Jude to sign as well, so we hope that he'll be able to communicate with us sooner than if we had to wait for clear language skills.

Last night Marcy & I went to a wedding in Lyons and we had our regular babysitter Charlotte complete Jude's routine of dinner, bath & bedtime. It all went swimmingly, which bodes well for our upcoming trip to Chicago when Jude will stay with Marcy's parents for two nights.

Each morning after Jude has been up for a couple hours he starts to wind down and we read some books to him. This morning when Marcy was reading to him he was turning the pages of the book by himself. He is also starting to try to stand without holding on to anything. It only lasts a second before he either sits down or reaches back out to hold on to whatever was stabilizing him before, but it's a definite move toward standing independently.

Jude is a Stand-up Boy

Jude and Marcy started off this week in Des Moines. Jude had a blast hanging out with everybody there particularly his cousin Lily. Lily liked to share her toys with Jude and in turn he liked to pull her hair. They enjoyed playing in the pool together, Jude limited to the top step while Lily manages all three steps quite well. Jude had some trouble sleeping this trip, even though he has been sleeping great back home.

They returned home on Wednesday, and it was great to see them both. I feel like Jude had changed just in the three days since had left. The big change was around standing up. He now tries to stand up on everything. As you can see from the photos here, he can now pull himself up to standing. I even noticed this weekend the difference between Saturday and Sunday - he was a little sturdier on his feet on Sunday. Today Jude even took a few assisted steps - he was very unsteady but I have a feeling he will be walking before the 12 month mark. He has a great deal of determination and will keep trying at something and doesn't get discouraged, although he can get a little frustrated.

The weather has still been very hot most days here so we continue to use our little backyard pool that Jude loves. He spends about an hour in there in the afternoons and he loves it so much he could probably stay there even longer. Soon we will be escaping the heat - Saturday we are heading to Monterey, California to the annual Ridhwan retreat where it is typically cloudy and 70 degrees every day.

Eight Months Old

On Monday of this past week, Jude hit the 8 month mark. He continues to improve his crawling technique, getting ever faster and using his hands more as he crawls now. This week Jude has started trying to stand up. He will grab one of his toys and try and push himself up to the standing position. He can't quite get there yet but he works on this now several times a day.

With all this extra movement we decided it was time to move the mattress in Jude's crib down. We did have it on the highest setting so with Jude trying to stand up, when he succeeds at that he could have toppled out of the crib. The mattress is now on the lowest setting so Jude will be completely safe even when he starts to stand.

Jude is moving around so much now, but he is still a little unsteady as he goes. So there have been plenty of falls this week. His head has collided with our hardwood floors in the kitchen many times causing some red bumps and fierce crying but he gets over these episodes quickly. Then he gets right back to crawling and exploring again.

Today Marcy and Jude left for Des Moines to visit Marcy's family. Jude showed off his crawling prowess which grandma Connie caught on video this afternoon. So I am alone again for the next few days until Marcy returns on Wednesday. Jude and I have started a routine of going for walks as soon as he wakes up around 6am, so Marcy can get some more sleep. I am going to miss my morning walks for the next few days - but I know the family in Des Moines are all delighted to spend some time with him. Anyway, now at least I will be able to find the time to finish Harry Potter...

Cooling off During the Hot Summer

Today was another hot summer's day here in Denver and we had the Morley's over for some lunch and a bit of summer time fun for the kids. Even though our pool is tiny all the kids enjoyed playing in it - and as you can see in the photo above Jude had a blast as well.

The past week has seen a definite improvement in Jude's nighttime sleeping. With these short nights Marcy decided to buy a blanket to use to block out all the light in Jude's room and it has definitely made a difference. He has slept through the night every night since Marcy put it up, and he sleeps better during naps as well. What's more he has started to settle into a bit more of a nap routine these days - three naps a day around 8am, noon and 3:30pm.

Jude has been moving around a lot more these days. He still doesn't move fast but he can get pretty much anywhere he wants to go. He is even trying to stand up. He doesn't have the strength for it yet, but today he was leaning against a piece of furniture and trying to pull himself upright. We have tried to introduce Jude slowly to different foods - he likes sweet potato but he is not crazy about much else that we have given him. Today, we tried his first finger food - a piece of watermelon. He played with it, gagged on it a couple of times, but we think he liked the experience overall.

Crawling in Keystone

 

Well it has been a big week up in Keystone with all of Marcy's family visiting from Des Moines. Connie loved playing with both grandkids as you can see in the photo above. We all spent a lot of quality time together just hanging out with the kids, we played a lot of cards (six handed 500) and Nathan and I got to play a couple of rounds of golf at the River Course at Keystone (my favorite mountain course).

Jude has been threatening to crawl for a couple of weeks now, and we all thought it would happen while everyone was here in Keystone. But Marcy's family left on Friday morning, and it was Saturday afternoon when Jude finally worked out how to crawl. We shot this video of him crawling to reach a book that was a couple of feet in front of him. Since then he has crawled several times, but he is still pretty slow and only covers a few feet at a time.

This week Jude has also been able to get himself into a sitting position for the first time. He does it from the crawling position, and he brings his feet right under himself and then just sways back on to his bum. We can already tell Jude is a very determined little boy - all week he would see something in front of him and he would use all of his will to try and move towards it. Even in bed sometimes when we would try and put him down for a nap, we would find him screaming in frustration as he was trying to crawl. So I think he is a happy camper now that he has worked it out.

We have a new backpack that was actually a present from Marcy's grandmother who passed away when Jude was two weeks old. We have been wanting to try out on a short hike. So on Friday we did the hike up the mountain behind the condo - the photo above was taken at the top just before we began the descent. Marcy did all the hard work (her choice) and hiked up the mountain and I had the somewhat easier task of coming down the mountain. While we won't be doing any long hikes with this backpack, it certainly a pretty easy way to bring Jude along with us when we go hiking.

7 Months Old and at the Cricket

Yesterday Jude turned 7 months old. It was a nice, normal week - I was back to a normal schedule and we spent a good amount of time together. No major breakthroughs this week, but Jude continued to get better at sitting up, at using his hands to hold objects, and at moving. This morning Jude was up early so I took him downstairs and he played on the floor while I read the newspaper. He managed to maneuver himself out of the little area I set up for him with some pillows and after about 10 minutes of scooting around on his stomach (backwards) he was about six feet away. He is pulling himself up on hands and knees now but only briefly and he hasn't yet learned to move forward.

On Jude's 7 month birthday I had the annual Ashes Cricket match against the British community here. The Aussies won again (we are now undefeated since 1999), and Marcy and Jude came down in the afternoon for a while. While Jude was too young to appreciate the cricket I am looking forward to introducing him to the game when he gets older.