Jude's Double Life

I guess the big thing in Jude's world these days is that he's gearing up to crawl. He showed zero desire to be mobile for a long time, then suddenly one day he did. He can sort of crawl backwards, and we're still working on moving forward. He still prefers to walk, taking baby steps while holding our hands. I think he'll get the crawling thing down in the next couple weeks. It's cute watching him practice, although he gets pretty frustrated sometimes....

Jude has been getting in some good play time with his BFF, Thomas. When the weather was nice a week or so ago, we all strolled down to our fave Mexican restaurant, La Piedad. Jude showed Thomas how to put away serious amounts of beans and rice:) They've had fun lately doing what baby boys do: grabbing each other's faces and having screaming matches.

We went to the Children's Museum on Thursday with Annabel, Beth, and Ross. Twice. We went in the morning, then left for a nap, and Ted and I brought Jude back in the afternoon. Apparently, the Children's Museum is free from 4-8pm the first Thurs. of each month, and it was CRAZY packed. I think Jude had a good time, though:) There was a Playscape for babies that he played around in for a while, and he really loved the carousel. Like, LOVED it. He bounced around in my lap the whole time and stared up at the stars on the ceiling in wonderment:) We also found a little room filled with mirrors and optical illusions, which made for some cool pictures.

Jude was pretty tired when we came home from the Museum for "halftime." I laid him down for a nap, Ted left to run an errand, and a fiasco ensued. Jude has a habit of kicking the slats on his crib--rather hard--when he's not sleepy enough to fall asleep. He sings little songs and kicks, and I noticed his kicking was on the rough side...I was on the computer with the monitor next to me, and he was going through his kicking/singing/jabbering routine for about 10 minutes when I heard a tapping on the wall....uhhh, the wall his crib is NOT on, and the monitor went dead. I hesitated to go into his nursery because he was quiet and I didn't want to stir things up, but curiosity got the best of me and I went in to investigate. Jude's crib was empty, he was laying on the floor next to the wall, with his Lovey (cow thing he sleeps with), playing with the now-unplugged monitor cord. He broke out in a huge grin when he saw me, and I about died. I scooped him up and stared at him, half expecting his head to roll off or arms and legs to be broken, but he was all in one happy, smiley piece. I called Ted to tell him (he was disturbingly blase about the whole thing) and I told him since I didnt know how to lower the crib, I'd keep Jude awake til he got home to lower it. But he seemed soooo sleepy, so I put him in and left the door cracked so I could watch him until he fell asleep and any chance of launching himself out of his crib had passed. And do you know what I saw? That boy crawled (CRAWLED) over a pillow, across the crib, laid down, sat up, got up on his knees, and performed all sorts of baby tricks that we weren't aware he could perform. Evidently he could stand up and fall out his crib, so I guess it makes sense that he could move around like that. I'm still taken aback and how much more he knows how to do than we thought....he has a secret life, which makes me half proud, half irritated. Needless to say, his crib was lowered as far as it goes, and I feel like I'm dropping him in a well every time I put him down. I can't lean far enough to kiss his head, but at least he won't jump out anymore. Ted can't understand why I didn't hear him fall ("If I dropped an 18 pound turkey on the floor a few feet away from you, you'd hear it!") but, I didn't. Jude seems OK with his low crib; in fact, he seems pleased.

Jude hung out with Annabel more last night, when we babysat, and had their first co-ed bath. Being from Tennessee, I don't see anything wrong with his, but Ted made sure everything was appropriate and that each child had personal space:) Here are a few pictures of their evening: