April: Month 22!

Judah's favorite activity this month has been his music, spending his days singing, banging, and strumming along with life. He still enjoys playing with his instruments, especially the new trumpet and cymbals he received for Easter. Earlier in the month, daddy took the big banner paper and drew instruments. Then the two popped in a jazz record and played along with their paper piano, tuba, trumpet, saxophone, guitar, and drums, listening to instruments. Those pieces of paper were played so much that they became confetti. I also got out my Cricut to print off guitars for birthday invitations. I printed off a number of those along with trumpets that Judah carried around the house strumming and tooting. He takes the music picture books we check out from the library and tries to play the instruments. He even plays music games on daddy's smart phone as he drums and plays the piano or "electric guitar."


He quotes "Dum Ditty Dum (from Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb)" as he strums his fake guitar. Any chance he gets, he walks around singing to himself himself with a pretend microphone, "Happy Birthday...daddy" and "Jesus....Me." Sometimes he will dance as he sings. Other times he will tap his foot while tooting a horn, fiddling on the guitar, or drumming to a beat.


To pass time indoors during these April showers, Judah and I have done a lot of crafts including finger painting. We painted budding trees with flowers underneath. We also painted ocean water filled with fish swimming. Then we found old magazines, clipping out pictures of certain colored objects and discussing the colors. We also got ready for Easter by decorating the house with these cheerful paintings and later coloring eggs. Judah even started helping mommy in the kitchen making biscuits and other goodies to bake.




Judah has also grown to enjoy bath time more. Now that he is more and more dirty from being outdoors, he needs a bath. When we go up to take a bath, he will tell you what color he wants. We found a little frog that fits over the bath facet that came with color tablets. The dye tablets mix with the water to make bath water almost any shade of color Judah desired. His personal favorites are blue and green. Another bath time accomplishment is that for the first time Judah has let daddy trip is finger nails without fussing. And finally, we got him a Thomas train toothbrush to making brushing his teeth more fun.

Judah often wonders outside to explore the world around him. Most days, we fill his little sand pail full of rocks and sticks that we have collected and carry them down to the pond to throw in the water. Other days, he likes to roll his balls down the little hill beside our house, running after them and then climbing back up again. He even has become quite familiar at navigating the park in our neighborhood, asking often to go. He climbs up the ladders (with a little help) and goes down the slides over and over again. At a different park the other night, Judah insisted going down the very big, big slide all by himself time and time again (wore daddy out).


Judah's thumb is turning green as he helps mommy in and around the garden. Early in April (April 5), we cleared out the brush of our little garden. Judah also helped plant herb seeds in a starter kit. While we water these and watch them grown, Judah has enjoyed picking my purple hyacinth and yellow daffodils. He has his own little shovel to dig up the weeds (and flowers) and rake to move the mulch.


Judah's new trick this month has been jumping (April 18). Particularly he likes to stand on his bikes (with no hands much to my dismay) and jump off. He even mimicked his neighbor friend by jumping off the couch. I fear the bed is next. When he has something important such as a new trick, his new thing is to come to you and tell you, "show me" or "watch me" expecting you to follow him. He has realized by saying your name or "help me" that you will pay attention to him.



Judah continues to be a chatter box, talking and carrying a conversation almost all the time. He puts shorts sentences clearly together with two to three words back to back. He sometimes quotes his ABC's and numbers. He reports colors of objects and tells you the sounds of the animals. He repeats every word you say and even some we have no clue he knew. Our favorite words are "but ons (buttons)." His sense of humor has become more apparent in his conversations. When Tim does something silly and teases Judah, Judah will respond, "DAD." Judah also reveals funny things like tickling, playing peek-a-book, and chasing. Sometimes he gets his opposites mixed up by saying "on" when he means "off." Other times he will "carry you" when he means himself.


Judah has been growing again, taller that is. As a result, we have found a number of church garage sales for clothes in 18 months. He has also been teething making him often grumpy and out of sorts. His top canines are completely in now (April 15) and we think he is currently working on the bottom pair. His hair grew long again always sticking up after nap time and so he got his haircut with daddy (April 13).

This month, we all came down with colds, causing us to be sick for a couple of weekends (April 8,15). We went to the doctor as a family only to find out we had viruses. Judah still only weighed in at 22 pounds. By the end of the month, Judah was sick again, vomiting and coughing up mucous. For a second time, we took him to the doctor only to find out his symptoms resemble an infection similar to walking pneumonia.


Easter weekend proved to family and fun filled weekend. On Friday, we ate supper before going to the Good Friday service as a family. Saturday, we spent the morning flying Judah's new kite before running errands. By dinner time, we joined Papa Ed and Nana Joyce as well as our neighbors at the church for our Easter service. Afterwards, my entire family and our neighbors went out to eat and to fellowship.




Aunt Rachel got ready with us on Easter morning, joining us for a home made breakfast of omelets and muffins. Judah held onto his trumpet that he received for Easter. We enjoyed our Easter service at Uncle Philip's church. Then the family returned to our house for a 13 pound turkey and the fixings. Everyone took a nice afternoon nap before heading home.


Tim continues to get his administrative office in order as they plan to move locations again. On top of that he has had a number of issues come up on a daily basis that need to be resolved. Judah and I still host play group and attend music class and story time. We have also gotten together a number of times with our neighbor friends for play and dinner.

March: Month 21!

As the seasons change to spring this month bringing back life, Judah also has attained a new vitality to life. This season has opened a whole new world and chapter for Judah to understand and explore. He talks about it. He explores it. He observes it. And he plays with it. It has been such a joy to see Judah blossom under this season of life.

Judah has really had a growth spurt this month, getting taller and more lanky. All his baby fat has disappeared except for his wrists making him look like a big boy. Most of his 12 month clothes he has been wearing all winter have finally become too small. Thankfully, I have had a pile hidden away for a while that were too big, but even these are already getting to be too small. Another tooth also started coming in (on March 12) on the lower left side of his gum completing the bottom four front teeth.


You hear Judah saying his ABC's at three at a time. He also goes around the house quoting his rhymes from music class and pretends to sing "Jesus Loves Me " in a microphone. You will often find Judah singing to himself. Judah chatters all the time now mostly by saying phrases and short sentences such as "I got it." His phrases and short sentences are two to three words with tiny break in between as he describes objects or activities. It is especially cute when he tells you he loves you as this becomes, "I lob you." He acknowledges past events, often remembering details especially if you ask a question. He still to this day talks about his Cousin Jacob's birthday party or the St. Patrick's Day Parade we went to downtown. He also recognizes his extended family members talking about them and associating them with certain facts. Uncle Philip is the "party" Uncle. Gigi feeds him bacon. And Papa Larry drives the tractors while Papa Ed went swimming with him.

He started out this month by telling me he needed to go potty (March 5). In the past he would always tell me that there were bubbles in his diaper. This time however, after breakfast he told me he had to go potty. I asked him if he wanted to try and he said yes. I took him upstairs and sat him on the potty which seemed so big for him. So before I got a chance to put the diaper back on, he wet all over the carpet. But he did tell me. Needless to say, we went out to the store for little potty and some big boy "Thomas" pants. We will see where this leads.


By the end of the month though Judah was still interested in the potty. On March 21, I was ready to change his diaper before nap time. He told me he had to go potty. So I let him walk in the bathroom and sit down. He actually went. Then when he was done, he said, "all done." That's my boy...But it only happened once!


Judah has hit the "terrible twos." It really has not been terrible yet but rather busy (and certainly trying for mom). He expresses his opinions and independence. He voices more of what he wants or dislikes (usually by whining) by making his own choices. In particular he shows interest in the clothes he wears and what he eats for dinner (and how or where he eats it). In addition, he likes to explore and tends to wonder off at the store and similar places observing all that is around him. He pretends to be sneaky when testing the boundaries only to turn around and look to see if you notice.


This month brought in some promising weather ushering in spring. With the lack of snow and warmer temperatures we were able to be outside more often for walks. Judah found the mud from the melted snow and rain and I found him sitting in it (it is a good thing he changed shoe sizes for he got his boots all muddy). Judah has shown more interest in our nearby pond, noticing the animals like geese that make their home there. Even more so he has learned about earth worms while helping dig in the garden and bees as the flowers bloom.


The neighborhood returned to life as we run into neighbors and friends on our daily journeys. Judah really likes to spend time with the neighborhood boys, Zach and Porter. Most often times on our walk to get the mail, we have to stop on the way back to say hi and play. This simple gesture quite often turns into a play date or a communal neighborhood meal together.


This month allowed us to experience some new activities in addition to the weekly Monday play group, Kinder Music Class, and Story time. Spring break, Judah and I participated in the "rainbow" theme scavenger hunt at the local Botanical Center. Here Judah enjoyed fishing, coloring, and creating a paper garden. Then the weather permitted us to enjoy the St. Patrick's Day parade with our neighbor friends, Porter and his family. We even baked special cookies and wore green for the special occasion.


Tim and I continue to go to our Financial Peace Class while Judah goes over to the neighbors house to play each Monday night. On the side, I have also helped organize another political event, only this time at my church where it was held. Since I was gone most of the day, both Uncle Philip and Uncle David took their turn at babysitting. Mid March, my family also came down for the weekend as we visited for Aunt Rachel's birthday.



Our month ended with the celebration of Tim's 30th birthday. Even though his actual birthday (March 31) was low key, he had many surprises in store. The weekend before his birthday, his parents drove through Des Moines, taking us out to dinner to celebrate. Judah and I gave him a homemade banner that he hung in his office at work. Judah and I joined his co-workers on his birthday for a "chicken" telegram. A man dressed in a chicken suit delivered singing "Happy Birthday" and "You Have Lost that Loving Feeling." We all then went out to lunch together. At home that evening, Tim tried out his new grill by cooking steaks. Judah and I whipped up a quick cake for him. Tim thought his birthday was over.



Little did Tim know that his parents were coming down on Friday afternoon to get Judah for the weekend. They made it to Des Moines in time to pick up Tim at the office and go out for some quick ice cream at the soda shop. Once they packed up Judah for the ride back to the farm, Tim and I headed to Omaha for a weekend get-a-way. Staying the Oft's Bed and Breakfast in Bennington, Nebraska, we enjoyed a fun-filled and relaxing weekend. Saturday we spent the day at the Strategic Air and Space Museum looking at airplanes, interesting relics on display, and even riding the helicopter simulator. The nice spring day permitted us to go downtown Omaha to walk around and dine in the Old Market District. Sunday morning we headed out to the Mormon Trail Center to complete our historical tour of the migration west on the Mormon trail.



Back in Des Moines, we stopped at the Incredible Pizza Company for a surprise 30th birthday party with friends and family. Everyone had a great time chowing down the buffet and eating birthday cake before playing games and enjoying rides.