What Jude is Up To

I realized the other day that I don't post nearly as much about Jude as I posted about Aubrey at this age. Oops! Poor boy with his second child syndrome! The lack of posting certainly isn't because we think Jude is any less adorable or his milestones any less exciting. His Mama just has less time on her hands :) But he's been so cute lately, so I knew a post about Jude was long overdue! Here is what he is up at at 27 months old:

His vocabulary has really exploded recently. I feel like Aubrey's talking really picked up at around 18 months, and Jude's has really taken off at around 2. I was never really worried about him talking later -- I knew boys typically talk later, and second children typically talk later, too. But it's nice that he's finally started communicating so well. He repeats pretty much everything we say now. I can almost always figure out what he's saying these days, and I think he's just a lot happier now that we can understand each other :) It's so fun to have little conversations with my boy!

He is still sleeping in his crib, and I'm hoping that will be the case for a while. I can't even imagine transitioning him to a big boy bed at this point. I'm sure when the time comes, it will be fine and less of a big deal than I expect, but I'm just not ready! ;) David doesn't think Jude will last as long in the crib as Aubrey did because he's just more rowdy and he jumps around in there a lot. Haha! He's all boy :) Jude goes to sleep easily at night, and he usually sleeps through the night. Sometimes he'll randomly wake up fussing, and we'll have to go to his room to give him a sip of water or cover him up or something. But Jude was never the best sleeper as a baby, so I'm thrilled with how well he sleeps now! Naps have been hit or miss lately. He still has a "nap time" for 2 hours everyday, but he has started staying awake during naptime probably more than half the time these days. It doesn't really bother me because he's still getting that rest time whether he sleeps or not. The only time it's annoying is when he tries to call me up to his room 200 times during that 2 hour period. Now that he's communicating so much better, though, I've been able to explain to him that it's rest time and I'm not coming back to his room until it's time to get up. He seems to understand and has been calling me less :) As long as he's in his room and semi-quiet, I don't care whether he sleeps or plays. His mood isn't effected too much by the lack of napping. He gets a little fussy after dinner sometimes when he doesn't nap, but he's been sleeping later in the mornings, so I guess it's just a trade off.

I honestly am starting to think this boy is going to potty train himself. I've done nothing to try to potty train him so far, and I wasn't planning on even thinking about it until he was 2 1/2, but he's literally been asking me to sit on the potty to "tee tee." And the other day, he went into the bathroom, took his diaper off by himself, and was asking to get on the potty. When I put him on the potty, he tee teed AND pooped! He's tee teed and pooped on the potty several times now, so I guess he's showing [not so subtle] signs of being ready. Haha! I'm thinking I'm going to get him some little underwear soon and see what happens. I cannot BELIEVE I'm even THINKING about potty training Jude!! He's still a baby! ;) Who knows... this might just be a fluke, and he could still be wearing diapers at 3 1/2. I would be SUPER thankful and shocked if I end up having two children who potty train really easily! (By the way, I know if Aubrey and Jude do both potty train easily, it's not because of ANYTHING I've done.)

Jude is a terrible eater. He is SO picky and I honestly don't know how he isn't blowing away based on the amount of food he eats. Well, I guess he does eat a lot of fruit... but that's about it. He usually eats a good breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, toast, or yogurt. He loves cereal, but we try to limit the amount of junk food our kids eat :) For lunch, he will eat cheese and fruit. He likes peanut butter, but if I fix him a peanut butter sandwich, most of the time he just licks off the peanut butter and leaves the bread. Sometimes he'll eat the whole sandwich. Some days I'll just let him have a spoonful of peanut butter to go with his fruit. Snack is more fruit. (He loves bananas, grapes, apples, applesauce, and strawberries.) For dinner, I offer him whatever I've cooked for the rest of us to eat. He rarely even tries it. He might eat a bite or two on a good day, and sometimes he might eat parts of the dinner. For example, he'll usually eat some brown rice, but not anything I've fixed to go with it. Or if I've made some kind of bread to go with our dinner, he'll eat that. Usually, I end up giving him some kind of fruit before bed just because I feel like he needs to eat SOMETHING. So yeah, basically he lives on fruit, cheese, and milk. He also likes whole wheat pasta. He eats hardly any meat or vegetables. I've talked to his doctor about it, and she said I shouldn't be overly concerned at this point. It's hard not to stress about his diet, though. It's especially frustrating since I feel like I do work hard to fix healthy food for my kids, and then Jude won't even touch it. I've decided I'm just going to keep offering him a wide variety of food, and I'm not going to give in and feed him junk when he doesn't eat. At some point, hopefully he'll catch on and start eating what's offered. Or maybe he'll just be picky for life. David jokes that having a picky child like Jude is his payback for being so picky as a child. Well, thanks. Glad I'm reaping the fun benefits of that. Haha! :)

I wish I could describe how cute Jude's personality is. It's so hard to really capture a child's personality in a blog post, though. He's a really sweet child, and he is pretty much always smiling. People comment on how happy he is. He's gotten a little bit more "grumpy" since he turned 2, but I'm sure that's just a stage :) He is super affectionate. He's so sweet about giving me hugs and kisses most of the time. When he hurts himself, he always wants David or me to kiss him wherever he got hurt. As I said earlier, he's all boy. He loves to say, "Watch, Mama!" and then jump or roll around on the floor while I watch in amazement ;) It's so cute. I can't tell you how many times a day I hear, "Watch, Mama!" He can also be a little shy and quiet. My friend who is our nursery coordinator at church told me recently that Jude hardly says a word when he's in the nursery. She said he just jumps around and does tricks and tries to make people laugh. Haha! I can't wait to see what kind of personality he ends up having. He's definitely been exerting his will lately. He's developed strong opinions about things, and he doesn't like it when things don't go his way. David and I are really trying to be patient with him and consistent with discipline. It's not always easy to do either. 

We love our little man so much! I really and truly LOVE having a little boy! Having a boy is so different in a lot of ways from having girls, and I feel so blessed that I get to experience both. It is true about Mamas and little boys having a special relationship. I definitely have a soft spot in my heart for my little Jude. So thankful to be his Mother!!