Santa Baby

Last year, getting our picture taken with Santa, was a breeze.  Jude was ten months old, and sometimes scared of strangers, but for the most part, he'd contently sit on anyone's lap.  This year, Jude does not easily trust strangers, and has a very strong reaction when he is placed in someone's lap that he does not know.  While we talked about Santa this year, he had no clue what was going on when we were waiting in line at the mall with all kinds of excited kids, and all of a sudden his mean Mommy turned him over to a puffy guy with a lot of white hair -- nooooooooooooo!

Maybe next year will be better.  This classic photo was well worth the $25.  He's already forgiven me for the ten seconds of torture, and I'm sure we'll look at this years and years from now and think it's hilarious...I already do!  Sorry kid.



Cookie Time

I'm starting to get over the fact that Jude is not always going to look perfect.  I am slowing accepting that he will often get food on his clothes, that his hair is not going to lay perfectly, that dog hair will always be on him, and that the majority of time he will have snot smeared on his face.  Because I'm coming to this realization, I'm also starting to do more messy things with Jude - like making cookies!  I thought this would be a great year to start a homemade sugar cookie tradition for me and Jude, and I'm so glad we did.  While, he didn't help much, he did get to see the process from start to finish of making something. 

"Helping" with scooping out the cookie dough.

Being thoughtful, and sharing his cookie dough with Lucy (at bottom of pic).

And the finished product.  And I must say, they were delicious!



Kissing Cousins

K Pa asked for a sentimental gift from me and Kitty for Christmas.  We're not the best, or most creative, at coming up with sweet gifts, but we decdied a cute pic of the grandboys together in a canvas would be sentimental to him.  We had to figure out how to get these two (mostly Jude) to cooperate enough to get a good pic.  We met at the mall to try to get some shots.  Here are some of the outtakes.

Snuggling boys.

Pucker up.  Waller's not too sure about this crazy kid yet.

Kitty must have been saying something interesting.

Jude tasting how yummy Waller is!  Waller looks a little terrified here.

Jude helping Waller with his drool.

And the winner - sweet, Eskimo kisses!



First Cards Basketball Game

K Pa took Jude and I to a U of L basketball game right before Christmas.  He had so much fun.  I outfitted him in his U of L gear, and he loved the excitement, and seeing his Cards in real life. 

Getting a better view from K Pa's shoulders.

A quick pic while watching the game - we won!

And his favorite part, checking out the "wa wa" and lcking the glass, gross.

Me, trying to get a picture with the little man...not going my way.

Thanks K Pa for taking us to the game, can't wait to go back!



No Biting

Jude was having some problems at daycare, namely, biting.  Jude is not used to be around lots of little kids, and I think this is the only way he knew how to express his frustrations with kids.  He's been so used to getting whatever he wants, playing with whatever toy he wants, and not having to worry about sharing it with anyone.  Throw in a bunch of 1-2 year olds where it's all fair game, and he was having a difficult time adjusting.  So, after several weeks of biting, I thought I should just talk to him about it.  I always read that toddlers understand more than we think they can, so I thought we should have our first Mother-Son talks about doing the right thing (one of many more to come I'm sure).  Here it goes!



Really, he improved!  His biting decreased, and now he rarely does it!  But, he has starting jumping on kids' backs...guess we'll need to talk about that now.

Light Up St. Matthews

And on to the next Holiday event.  This one was on a gorgeous December day.  It was so mild and pleasant, and a perfect day to go to Light Up St. Matthews.  We started by going to the petting zoo, which was just a small enclosed area, full of all kinds of animals, and tons of kids.  It was crazy in there.  I was very nervous with all these rambuctious kids running around in there, torturing animals, and hoping we didn't get trampled by them.  Actually, thankfully, I was holding Jude when this kid was literally hanging off the side of this pony, and the pony was none to pleased with that, and actually kicked its legs in the air, ran as fast as it could away from the kid that was hanging on it, and knocked over a little girl.  That was enough for us, we were done.

In the petting zoo, hoping for the best!

Checking out an alpaca.

There was also a choo choo train!  Ah, so exciting!  Waiting in line with Daddy.

Getting strapped in the caboose.

He just sat there with his arms resting on the rails...chillin.  It was too cute.

A sweet shot I captured on my phone of Jude playing in the leaves.  He had such a blast jumping in them and throwing them all around him...it's the simplest things that bring him pleasure.  Love him :)

Christmas Fun

The weeks leading up to Christmas seemed crazy busy, but that's ok with us.  It's nice to have stuff to go to and see when the weather is miserable and we're all bored in the house.  We started off the Holiday season by going to Light Up Louisville.  I had never been before, and since it wasn't freezing outside, we thought we would check it out.  We got there at the very end of the parade...which wasn't much of one, from what we saw.  Not that we minded.  There were lights, and trucks, and music and even some dancers, so Jude found it to be interesting enough. 

Getting a better view from Daddy.

Family photo.  I know I look wacko in this hat, but it's so warm and made of soft Irish sheep wool .

They had a little walk through area that was indoors - I think it was Santa's or the elves' playland.  There were lots of holiday decorations, arts and crafts for little ones, and sugar cookies. 

Jude moved a little elf that was sitting in this chair because he wanted to sit in it himself!

I wish I had taken a video, because Jude was a dancing machine.  There was live music at the event, and a huge open grassy area, and this kid jammed.  He was doing forward rolls, skipping around, clapping, and just dancing.  He loved it!  I think we'll come back next year, as long as it's not 10 degrees outside.

My cute little guy.