A moment with Jude

Jude has had what could be labeled a limited palette. He only allows yogurt, noodles, cheerios and mandarin oranges to pass his lips. I have tried and tried to offer him other things that have appealed to my other kids (and believe me, I have had some picky toddlers!) but with no success. Today Isabelle pulled an apple off the counter and ate her usual two bites before deciding to pass it along to her baby brother. I came into the kitchen to find Jude getting after that apple! And instead of trying to pulverize his food into liquid by vigorous sucking, like he has done up until now, he was actually biting and chewing! Go little man!
Today he also set a new napping record… 2 1/2 hours! He has finally become comfortable enough at home (albeit in mom and dad’s king sized bed ;)) to sleep without waking every 30 minutes or so. So by the time he woke up, we were BOTH in a happy mood 🙂
Jude has continued to make such big strides since he’s been home. He LOVES to watch me sign new words to him, he is constantly trying to imitate sounds and gestures, and he gets such a kick out of himself, it’s contagious! He signs “more” “please” “bye bye” “help” and “all gone”. He also loves to hold up fingers when I count, he tries to count along, but he counts in Chinese 😉 He imitates the hand gestures for Itsy Bitsy Spider and Pat-a-cake. He is in love with the dog and calls her ‘shu zu zu’…don’t know if that’s Chinese, but it sure sounds cute! He follows her everywhere and wants her to be on the bed when he goes to sleep. He also adores his “puppy” and “bear” stuffed animals and he works so hard to say “puppy”. It comes out more like “pa pa pee” and he joyfully pulls it to his chest to hug it when he sees it (thank you Lisa Cairney!!) He still loves stacking toys and stringing beads, and he also loves to play with any sort of ball. He still calls everyone ‘Mama’ when he is trying to get their attention, but if I show him a picture and ask him where mama is, he always points to the right person. Thank You God for choosing me to be his mama.