Jude: 10 things

I had quite a few things I wanted to write about Jude, so I decided to do another one of these. Enjoy Jude at 2 1/2!

1. Almost every day, Eleanor wears a hair bow. Jude has become very jealous of this hair bow. He'll yell "HAR BOW!" and pull it out of her hair. I got sick of him doing this, so I finally asked him if he would like his own. He chose a sensible bright red headband from my collection. I think it makes him look like a pirate. Now, whenever Jude gets jealous of Ellie's, I tell him to go find his own.

2. Jude has decided against entering the car through his door. Instead, he either climbs in through the trunk, or from the other door under Ellie's carseat. Only downside: he can't buckle himself in yet. Yesterday he climbed in by himself and I totally forgot to strap him in. When we pulled up to the gas station, to my surprise, he jumped out of his seat and asked to help. OOPS.

3. Jude says SO MUCH now! He repeats almost everything you say to him. Every day he surprises me with new words and phrases. Even some of his old "language" words & signs are starting to disappear. However, Jude doesn't get the whole tense thing yet. I asked him today what he did at play group; his response: "I eat da waw wuls (waffles). I play da bocks (blocks)."  Or he'll just drop most prepositions. "I go doggy store (Petco)" Sometimes he has a hard time differentiating between subjects. The other day Ellie lost her sock at Target and Jude told me the rest of the day "I lost da sock." It's hilarious to listen to him most of the time.

4. Jude is turning into a bit of mean big brother. Don't get me wrong, most of the time he is fantastic; always sharing, giving kisses, etc. But Eleanor, like you'd expect, always crawls after whatever Jude is playing with. He's stopped yelling "PEASE!" and started just pushing her. I'll be in the kitchen and suddenly hear "NO! NO! BABY SISTER! I PUSH DA SISTER!"

5. Recently, Peter bought an ipad for some of his side work. Most of the time I use it for cooking and what not. Jude, however, has discovered the Thomas & Friends website. There are these little videos and games to play; he asks to use the ipad all the time! I've set some time limits, which seems to be working so far. But every few hours he asks, "I play da games?!"

6. Jude has always been a big momma's boy. He went through a few phases where he wouldn't even be around Peter. I'm used to him wanting to follow me everywhere I go. Suddenly, just in the past week, he's stopped doing that. Usually, Jude insists on coming with me to the apartment laundry room; this week he told me "I stay house." Yesterday I had to take Ellie to the urgent care (she's fine, by the way; just couldn't get into her regular doctor on short notice) and I asked Jude if he wanted to come with me or stay at the neighbors. He immediately said "I stay neebhhhs!" and ran off to play without looking back.

7. A couple of months ago, I hatched a sinister plot to get Peter to take our family to Disneyland. I started telling Jude all about Disneyland and how all his favorite movie characters live there. I showed him videos on youtube of Disney rides, mainly the train (of course) and the Tiki Room. Now he's obsessed! Almost everyday he asks to watch the "birds" or the " dinny train" on the computer. Then, he cries "I go! I go! Daddy! Go!" Muahahaha. My plan has worked! We are planning to go next month :)

8. If you're familiar with Thomas the Train, you probably remember the old Thomas show where they filmed the model railroad and all the voices were narrated by Ringo Starr or Alec Baldwin. Now there's a new version that is computer animated and has actual voice actors. To be honest, I actually kinda like Thomas the Train. As far as kids shows go, it's not too bad to watch over and over. Personally, I much prefer the older Thomas; the characters are much cheekier, it's much more logical (as far as talking trains go), and it's a lot less "happy go lucky-everyone loves everyone". It's not nearly as flashy as the new episodes but I think it's way more entertaining. Surprisingly, my two year old agrees. He likes the new ones too, but lately he always picks the old ones to watch.

9. Jude is so over-dramatic. Every single, little boo boo becomes the end. of. the. world. Seriously, he breaks down into hysterics at the slightest bump, and comes running to me asking for a "kiss! kiss!" Then, as soon as I give him a little kiss where ever, BAM. All better. Meltdown over. While it is very cute that he thinks kisses are the best medicine, it drives me up the wall sometimes with all the over-the-top crying and what not every time he lightly grazes his leg on the couch. And it always seems to happen right as we are running out the door or right after I've opened the oven and I'm trying to pull out a super hot casserole.

10. Somehow, our collection of kid plates, silverware, etc keeps dwindling. I have a feeling Jude keeps throwing them out. He's really into clearing his plate, which, while attempting to be helpful, is usually worst than just leaving it on the table. Jude will declare himself "all din," and tell me his food must go in the "tash." Typically, this happens when he wants to be done so he can have a cookie, but he hasn't actually eaten anything. Also, he keeps trying to put his silverware back into the drawer after it's been used. Thankfully, he can't open our terrible cabinets on his own!