Home 5 Months

:( I gave him a not so great haircut

Judah is now 31 months old.   He is about 31 pounds and 36" tall. (@ 40% for height and @ 75% for weight).  He has a beautiful smile and contagious laugh. 

His preferred sibling is Evan, who frequently gets on the floor and chases him around, makes dinosaur and doggie noises with him as well as carries him around on command:)  

 

He still prefers Mom most of the time to take care of his needs, but he will easily allow Drew to care for him too.  He has an easier time when I leave than The Littles did at this point.  He has had a wonderful college student come in 1-2 times a week to care for him while I have worked.  She has taken him to the library and 2 other play areas which he has really enjoyed. 

He has increased his vocabulary a little bit in the words he uses independently without being cued to: puppy, momma/mom, dada/dad, bye-bye, cut-cut, Hi, more, bird, oh-no, night-night, eat, you, uh-oh, ball, balloon, up, and  help me.  He can imitate several animal noises (the best is his meow).  And many words he can imitate when asked to. 

He has started to pretend play; mostly he likes to crawl around panting like a puppy.  And will occasionally pretend to talk on the phone. He sings (though we can't understand the words, we are able to frequently detect the song by his rhythm and cadence) almost all the time.  And he newly likes to sit and look through and point in books though he does not tolerate much reading...takes too long for his taste:) 

 

He continues to eat really well and has started to use a spoon well this month and sometimes a fork.  He still loves a bath and naps every afternoon and sleeps well through the night in his crib, sharing a room with the littles.  He does still wake up around 3-4:30, most nights, and I toss him in bed with us and he sleeps until we get up or sometimes longer. But he never sleeps in on the days I have an opportunity to sleep late--- why is that???

It's rough being the baby of the family

This month also brought us his first Christmas.  Poor guy was sick with sinus infection so he was a little more irritable than our typical sweet boy, but the crazy holiday schedule and overwhelming nature of Christmas played into that as well. 

 

We got to celebrate with both sides of the family on different weekends.  Our Cincinnati family mentioned how much more comfortable he seemed than even at Thanksgiving. And what a happy boy he is... and so busy :)

FIRST SNOW

Today we had our first snow.  There was only a little at the time of Judah going outside to see it.  But, we are counting this as his first experience.  Needless to say it was a "wonder" for him.  So fun to watch.

4 Months Home

These two month have been just as busy as the first two.  Judah continues to go with the flow, keeping up with the busy schedule of our family.  He did start having a sweet college student, Abbey, start to watch him one day a week while I work. He adjusted fine and seems to really enjoy his time with her.  We finished a cold day of Marching Band competitions, had his first Trick or Treating and a very thankful First Thanksgiving (I have almost no pictures of that because my phone died :( )

He loves to figure things out: puzzles and games with pieces.  He is starting to imitate a lot more words and saying a few more.  At one point this month he said "Evan", which is the first name after Mama and Daddy.  But he hasn't continued. Anna was heart-broken that he said Evan's name first and is hoping when he starts saying names, hers will be the first consistent name :)

He continues to be a great eater and eats a good variety of foods.  he continues to love his fruits though.  And he eats snacks and meals all day long.  He's growing well and is caught up on immunizations.  We rock him before bed and play night time music as our routine and he sleeps well until early morning.  He loves to climb and investigate everything, everywhere.  His laugh is hearty and readily available.  He enjoys being held.  He still sucks his thumb when he's tired and to sleep.  He says "puppy" and pats the dogs.  He says a few animal sounds, which are hilarious.  "Meow" is is my favorite, sounds like a dying cat.
Here are pictures that capture Judah these two months:

 

He sucks his right thumb and rubs his left sleeve at the same time. 

Thanksgiving with the Ryan side this year.

Our turkey!

A snuggle and a thumb put him right out. 

This climbing adventure did not end so well for him. 

He loves to try and ride anything the big kids get out. 

Doesn't matter if it fits or not, he's going to try it out!

Our Wookie at the zoo trick or treat.

He loves to help (his version) load and unload the dishwasher. 

Mr. Potato head!

He dies not sit long to watch a show yet, but this morning he was
checking out the ballet Levi wanted to see.

He takes any opportunity to get in a a little wrestling with his siblings. 

And why catch bubbles with your hands when you have a mouth!

TWO Months Home

Summer Big Wave 

Half way through the day, I looked at my watch, checking the time and I saw the date.

 TWO MONTHS TODAY that Judah is home with us💙

This month as been filled with getting in our new grove.  All the big kids are successfully on track with school and their activities. September always bring Marching Band season for the high schoolers with consumes our time in the best way.  Judah got to experience his first and then consecutive Marching Band Competitions.   Grandma Sugar got Judah set up with a Silver Creek High School Blinged out Shirt for Marching Band season!  Now, he matches the rest of us:)

He was very interested in the bands, the activity and the music.  As you can imagine it was hard to keep him still and confined during the several hour events, but overall he did really well. He was completely excited about a drone that was flying over head at one point... of course he thought it was a balloon up there in the sky!  So he was screaming for it well after it flew away 😓

After we had our family pictures taken, I was brave enough to try his first haircut. And one day though we'd style it up with a spiked updo... he seemed to enjoy it and I thought it fir him well:)

Apparently he is as sweet as we think he is as the mosquito bites leave large marks on him.  Poor guy, big ole swollen cheek.  

He tried out a hat...SO cute!!!!!!

Judah is just now starting to sit long enough to look through books. Levi is practicing reading in kindergarten and has enjoyed a few "reading times" for Judah.

Wants to be a BIG kid like the others and have a riding toy.  Can't quite keep his feet on the pedals... but on his tip toes, he can make it go :)  It won't be long though, he's motivated!

I LOVE this one from our photo session!

I can't get the bath ready and him naked fast enough!  He runs to beat me to the tub and tries to climb in.



This month Judah says: Mama, bye-bye, ball, Balloo (for balloon) and just started to say "No" ( he may hear that one A LOT!  He sleeps through the night well and takes 1-2 naps a day.  He eats a large variety of food but his favorite are still fruits. He enjoys the playground and anything active, he's all boy!  He may be a bit of an adrenaline junky... takes the biggest slides at the park with out hesitation. I still use the carrier a lot to keep him with me as he gets heavy to hold after long and it's the best way to keep him safe when I'm trying to get things done.  He climbs on everything and stands on anything he can find to stand on or stack and then stand on. He weighs around 29 pounds, so I think he's gained about 3 pounds since being home.  He doesn't like to drink much from sippy cups.  He does ok with a straw, but still throws everything he is done with: toys, food or drink.  He loves for me to catch a glimpse of him in the rear view mirror--- he laughs so hard and then anticipates it again.  He rides in the car fine now.  He enjoys music and singing.  And I have started to catch him "singing" making his noises in a lyrical and musical way that I know he's singing.  One day he was clearly singing "Hallelujah" , which sounded something more like (Alll-la-luuuuuuuuu)❤  He started getting caught up on immunizations and failed a hearing test due to fluid in his ears.  So we will repeat that and are waiting to also start speech therapy.  We have started allergy medicine but he continues to be chronically congested/runny nose.  Southern Indiana= Allergy Alley.

All in all, it's both crazy that it's been 2 months already since he came home and yet it also feels like he's been with us a very long time.

Family Pictures

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