August Summer Fun: Month 14!

Judah's ccomprehension increased this month as he understood more and more what you were saying. You could give him commands or talk to him and it seems like he finally understood what you were saying or what you wanted him to do. A good example of this is he learned his body parts and could point them out as you asked about them. He could point out his head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, arm, belly and belly button, and toes. Often he would pull up his shirt or yours to find someones belly button or search for your toes to tickle. On another note, he points and screams at everything saying "that" or "this" trying to communicate what he wants and certainly wearing out mommy's patience. He says "no, no, no" and if that is not enough, he says it more, "no, no, no," especially when you tell him no.

Judah has added new capabilities this month. Judah learned to ride his bike by himself this month, moving it with his feet. He has mastered turning backwards and going down the steps proficiently now. He gives hugs and kisses to both mommy and daddy as well. He loves to plop down on our two big giant pillows in the living room. Then he ends up laying down on them to watch his videos.

Judah is looking so much like a little "Tim" these days. You can really see this when he wears Tim's sandals that he wore when he was a little boy. Also, Judah's mannerisms and expressions are very similar to Tim. For instance, he sneezes like Tim (three times out in the sun), he shrugs his shoulders like Tim, and he has a mischievous grin like Tim. Judah got two new teeth this month, adding number five and six to the top of his mouth in addition to a lot more drool. His hair continues to grow fast and is starting to get thick like Tim's. It certainly is the same color.

His interest in using a spoon has increased too as he wants to be like mommy and daddy. We even have started using little forks with him. It seems like he wants to learn to use them instead of eating finger foods all the time. Sometimes he fusses at the table and we point at everything only to have him want the spoon when we finally point that out in desperation. This month he has also enjoyed eating bananas for breakfast instead of cheerios. Sometimes, he will eat yogurt or toast with his banana but not cheerios anymore.

Judah's favorite activity this month is anything and everything to do with music. First, this includes dancing; Judah has some fun dance moves where he will twirl, bounce up and down, march, step on his toes and other fancy footwork, rolls his arms, moon walk backwards, and head bang. He even sings, claps, and moves his arms to the music. He moves his hands trying to do the actions of Esty Bisty Spider or This Little Light of Mine. For slower songs, he likes to sway back and forth. Many times, we stop what we are doing for a dance break. We will turn on some tunes like Playground Jazz, Daddy O' Daddy, Pat the Bunny, or Bible and worship praise songs and have a family dance party. Along with this, Judah has used just about every wooden spoon, spatula, utensil, and stainless steal bowls from the kitchen for drumming. He even uses some container lids for cymbals. Sometimes we even get creative with Tupperware containers and bang those together. He especially likes to carry around a couple of stainless steal martini glasses (to my horror and embarrassment when the neighbors see us outside playing with them). Tim had won these from work and since we do not drink martinis, Judah found them in the get rid of pile in the garage. Will we have a use for them now as they make the best cymbals when you bang them together or with a stick. Finally, getting Judah a drum, you will see him carry it around the house drumming on it. This activity seems to entertain Judah for hours at a time.

With warm temperatures, we squeezed every opportunity (up until they closed) to play in the pool. Going to Ashby Park in Des Moines during the weekdays, Judah enjoyed playing in the fountains and the one foot wading pool. By the end of the season, he was sitting down in the water, blowing bubbles in the water, and running straight through the fountains totally unafraid. We even took a family outing to Valley View pool where Judah found more fountains to run through. Together we enjoyed lounging on inner tubes with Judah on Tim's lap and riding the lazy river. In addition to water, Judah always made time to play in the sand. Finding a shovel and a rake, he would move the sand around to his hearts content. Occasionally, you would even find him laying down in the sand and always you would find a dirty ring around his mouth from him eating it. Thankfully at the park, we could go wash off in the pool leaving behind all the dirt.

Once the pool closed for the season, we found other activities to occupy our time. One day we took a field trip to the Des Moines Botanical Center for a special story time. Judah loved to sings the songs and dance with the other kids. After listening to the stories and getting a toy, we walked around the botanical center looking at the pretty flowers (and picking them - shh) and watching the fish swim in the pond. Judah enjoyed his visit looking at all the plants. Another evening, we went to the Indianola Balloon Festival with our POG small group to watch the hot air balloons come and land for the evening. With head on the sky, Judah kept pointing at all the balloons as they flew over us and landed. This month we started getting together with our neighbors, the Schempers once a week to rotate doing supper or combine what was in the fridge. One week we would grill out at their house and the next week we would eat at ours. This always gives us a chance for some fellowship and for the kids to play. At home many days if the weather permitted, we were digging in the sandbox, splashing in the water table, or down at the park swinging and going down the slide.

Judah experienced the Iowa State Fair for the first time this year. With the fairgrounds nearby, we spent four days at the fair. The first time, we opened the fair attending as a family. Judah first taste of the fair was getting to meet the Blue Ribbon. Judah took in the sites, smells, and sounds as we strolled around the fairgrounds stopping along the way for an Egg on a Stick, Turkey Leg, catch Lamb Chop at the Kids Stage, dance to the Military Band, see the chicks at the Learning Center, and watch the fish at the DNR Building. Another day, we went with Grandpa and Grandma Kreis, Uncle Philip, and Uncle Charlie. On this day, we covered the staples of the fair like the butter cow in the Agricultural Building, the sand sculpture in the Cultural Building, and the High Dive Act. We also ate our Pork Chops on a Stick, peach shakes, and much more. Again Tim dropped off Judah and I on his way to work to spend a morning on the grounds. Much of this day was spent in the barns looking at animals. Judah was also able to pet the goats at the petting zoo and then we went to see Avenue of Breeds, the Big Boars, the Big Bulls, and finally Clifford the big red dog. Then we made a trip as a family to close out the fair where we watched the Grape Stomp, participate in the Veridian Scavenger Hunt, and toured the Varied Industries Building. Each day, Judah was wiped out from all the excitement but he certainly enjoyed it.

Tim's job continues to keep him busy attending meetings, managing staff, and planning fall programming. In particular, he has helped the transition for outsourcing Human Resources planning and payroll. Also this month, he worked with FEMA on leasing their space to offer help with the Des Moines flooding recently.

Thankfully, we had no problems with flooding this summer even though our creek nearby was higher than 2008 and even wiping out the the embankment near the bike trail. Unfortunately, though the mosquitoes were so thick often swarming us by the dozens. You would look outside our door at night and just see them flying all around. We did though have some hot days this month and many times we got stuck inside with the air conditioner on to break the high humidity. On days likes this, we went to the mall to the play area to let off steam or run other errands. Of course, this made it unbearable to travel for whoever had the Dodge Stratus since the air did not work. Many days, we would alternate schedules and plan accordingly just to drive the Escape.


These State Fair pictures were too cute to pass up and not share.