The Adventures of Jude and Squiggly McGee

He is really on the move now. He has really gotten the hang of this walking thing. I am surpised he is doing so well cosidering that we went to the doctor today and found out Jude had a double ear infection. Poor Boo! YEAH for WALKING.

Other Jude news…

2 teeth

Favorite words: Wa Dat (What’s that?), dat (that), hot, Dada, Bubba, hat, ball, num-num (means he wants to eat food)…I think those are the favs. He says more, but these are the most used words.

Favorite foods: Blueberries, watermelon, Annie’s Bunnies Crackers, Quesadilla( with some sneaky zucchini), cottage cheese.

Favorite Activities, Rockin’ Out-This kid can jam. He has quite the moves. He loves anything to do with music. I was a little sad when he was pushing the squares on the back of his book and starting rocking out. It was not a book that made music, it just had squares!
He also love playing cars and trucks(with Gavin), playing with balls, loves his pound a ball boat thingy, love his big door thing…

That is what J has been up to.

Adios!

The boys on the raftOriginally uploaded by ickyiggy

We went to this new indoor play place in Chico. It has three rooms with different themes. Two of the rooms are dramatic play and one is blocks/manipulatives and has a separate soft spot for toddlers.
It was fun. We do not have very many things for children to do indoors here in Butte County California. I am used to Austin where there are tons of things to do with children-love the Children’s Museum in Austin and Houston. There are lots of really cool places to take kids to in San Francisco, Berkley and Sacramento. We have not gone to any of then yet-not yet ,but soon.
Anyway, the weird part about this place is that it is in the building of the old preschool that I had worked at for 3+ years. It was strange to be hanging out in my old classroom and it not be my classroom. It was kind of like I was in an old house of mine that some else had moved into.
Yeah for Discovery Space!

from ickyiggy.vodpod.com

He had a big day today. He has figured out that he can crawl. He also had his first swim lesson. He loved the pool!  YEAH JUDE!!!!

Mr. Standing ManOriginally uploaded by ickyiggy

The latest and greatest Jude news is that he can pull himself up now. He has been working hard to do this for a couple of weeks. He was able to pull up to his knees before. Now he can get himself all the way up on his feet. He cried the first time he did it. I am not sure why because he loves to practice standing holding on to things. It was not like he had never been in that position before, but the first time to do it by himself. He could of  been crying because of my loud cheering. I was so proud. He has been pulling up on things all day.
Also, today I signed Jude up for his first swim lessons. I have been beating myself up for not doing this yet. It was a pet peeve of mine that Jude get in the pool as soon as possible. I wanted him in the pool at 6 months.  Anyway, we will be starting swimming classes in March. He will be almost 9 months. Oh well! I feel relieved anyway! 

I just got a package in the mail from Joanne, my brother Jeff’s wife. She made us stuff for Christmas. I got me thinking about how happy I am that my brothers have married exceptional women. They really are! I mean, if they married some nasty b****es, it could get ugly around here. Well, things have a tendency to get a little ugly when the VC’s get together, but if I hated my Sister in Laws it would not be pretty-not that I have a temper or anything (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). I really love both of them and think they are both very talented, creative, caring, intelligent and loving ladies. Not to mention, that they put up with the Van Campen clan. They are so awesome. I don’t think I tell them this enough. Everyone knows I love my bros-I just want to make sure that everyone knows that I love my Sister in Laws too.

If we were not still having camera issues, I would have taken pictures of the awesome mirror Aunt Letitia made Jude and the beautiful scrapbook Aunt Joanne made for him. Thank you both!

Jude has started to clap. We have been working on this little Rhyme: Clap, clap, clap your hands as slowly as you can. Clap, clap, clap your hands as quickly as you can. I was helping him clap, but now he is doing it own his own. It is too sweet. He claps all day now. He is pretty amused with himself. I was playing the drums on his highchair tray and clapping. He started doing exactly what I was doing. He was cracking up at this. He especially loved when I drummed his head. He is getting so smart. We are working on “How big is Jude?”,”So Bigggg!” and we raise our hands way in the air. He just looks at me like I am crazy when I do this. We are in between camera right now so that is why there is not a picture of Mr. Man clapping. I am sure it would of been a good one!

He is not too into eating solid foods. The only foods I know that he really likes are avocados and teething biscuits. I have stopped using the teething biscuits because the second ingredient in them is organic evaporated cane juice. I think it is lame that they have to put sugar in a product made for infants. I mean he does not know the difference and it seems unnecessary. I found a brand that makes them without sugar, but they are sold in England. I am having my Buppy look into them for me. Jude tried plain silken tofu tonight and seemed to really enjoy it. I let him have tiny little chunks. I think he liked feeding himself. He will soon be able to eat more finger foods and I will not need the stupid teething biscuits anyway! I was just using them in restaurants when we were in Texas anyway! Hmmph!

I love being a mom so much. He is the best thing ever. I feel so lucky to have him in our lives.  I want to keep him forever and ever!

THE END

Jude’s Tonka TruckOriginally uploaded by ickyiggy

Well…we survived Christmas. Jude got way too much stuff! We have a new toy chest on it’s way to contain all of his goods.
Jude, Grandma Bonnie and I went to Texas to visit Uncle Mike, Aunt Letitia and Cousin Jonah and Toby. Jude loved his cousins. He thought they were pretty funny. He loved his Aunt and Uncle too. He was a little unsure of Uncle Mike at first (as we all are). Uncle Mike can get a little loud. After a few days though, he would look at Mikey and smile. He liked him when it was all said and done! He really liked him(as we all do). He missed everyone after we left.
He is changing everyday. He is getting so smart. There was a picture of Bubba on the computer and I told him “that’s Bubba”. He looked towards the doggy door and looked around the room for Bubba. That is the first time that I realized that Jude was really understanding me. He is not crawling yet. He gets on his hands and knees, rocks a little then splat on his tummy. He is babbling away. He really enjoys hearing himself. He is up from about 4 am to 4:30 am babbling away. I don’t think he is all the way awake when he is doing this. He goes back to sleep by himself.
That is about all we have been up to. Tomorrow we are off to the doctor for more shots!

He eats!

Originally uploaded by ickyiggy

Jude had his first food yesterday besides “noonies”. We made him a batch of sweet potatoes. He was really into it. I was surprised that he did not spit any of it out. He had his fair share all over himself. He was wanting to feed himself ,however he does not have very good aim. We fed him again tonight ,but he was not as into it. He still enjoyed it just not as much as the night before. That is my latest and greatest Jude news.

Jude sits!!!!

Originally uploaded by ickyiggy

He has been working on this on for a few weeks. He was able to sit up for about 30 seconds before, but now he is a strong and steady sitter. The trick is he needs a piece of newspaper to play with while he does it. Thanks to Grandma Bonnie (LaLa) and all her after Thanksgiving ads lying around our house, Jude is now a sitter! Yeah Jude! We are proud of our little 5 month old!!!!

I have been trying to work out my going to the gym schedule. For those of you that know me really well, know that it is important for my mind/mood to workout!  I have been trying to go at 5am before Jude wakes up. That only works out about 1 out of 3 times. There is always something either I got in bed too late, Jude slept through the night without his 3 am feeding and my boobs are so full of milk that they are killing me, I worry that Jude will wake up starving and being that Patrick does not have the equipment to help such matters and on and on. Anyway, I have been going back and forth if I should try Jude out in the childcare at my gym. I finally decided that we would give it a try. We went by yesterday, checked it out and I probably asked too many questions. We gave it a try this morning. I told them to come get me if he got upset and they could not get him to calm down. I was pretty sure that I was the only one that would get upset. I was on the treadmill for about 13 minute when they came and got me, “Ingrid, Jude is really mad!”. I was surprised. I thought he would be happy to watch the other kids. There were 2 girls working in there with only 5 kids.  He was held the whole time and he loves that! I thought he was easier going than that. I guess, his personality is coming through. I really don’t mind too much and it is nice to know that he loves his Mama so much. It seems as if it is back to getting my butt up at 5 am!

We will see if he is any happier in a few weeks when Grandma Bonnie watches him while Patrick and I go out to eat for our birthdays. He will be in his own house and with Grandma B. I think it should be a better situation for my guy!