The things I learn from Mommy

I have to be so careful these days. Judah doesn't miss a thing in general, and he especially doesn't miss anything I do or say. So I've been getting in a fair amount of trouble lately. For example, when I muttered a bad word under my breath in the kitchen while he was in the living room, he was repeating it for the rest of the day. Recently when Doug and Judah and I were in the car together Judah pointed out that Abba had fixed this rear view mirror attachment which Judah had knocked off while playing around in the front seat. Judah then said, "Judah's going to knock it off again and then mommy's going to say 'oh, for crying out loud Judah!'" Doug looked at me and said, "you're so busted!" which, of course, was true.

Here's a video of one of the most hilarious things Judah picked up from me recently. A few weeks ago I was pretty sick so mom and dad came to take Judah out for a while so I could rest. Judah said he wanted me to come with them and I replied that I couldn't, because I had to lie on the couch and moan. Well, ever since then when he asks me to do something and I say "I can't right now," Judah says, "because you have to lie on the couch and moan." The other day he took it to the next level and decided to try it himself. So in this video you'll see him running back and forth to go lie in his chair and moan. Unfortunately, his moan is barely audible on the video. But you'll get the idea.

It really is funny what he picks up from us. He's been playing this game lately where he pretends to go off to work. He carries my purse and tells me to have a good day and marches off. Then he pretends to type on the computer until I tell him it's time to come home. Then he happily marches back. He also loves trying on my jewelry and putting on my sweater (getting extremely frustrated when he finds it doesn't fit him very well). The other day we had a bunch of women in Target cracking up because he ran right up to the jewelry aisle and started trying on necklaces and holding up earrings. One woman said, "he must like his mommy."

How we spend our time

We're always on the look out for new, fun things to explore, like a trip to a toy store just to play with whatever interesting things we can find...





Or examining new things in the house.

But truth be told, some of Judah's very favorite things to do are things we over and over and over again. For example, one of Judah's current obsessions is riding elevators (this seems in keeping with his life-long love of pressing buttons). So we often go on outings to the mall or wherever we can find elevators where he can reach the buttons and just ride up and down and up and down, greeting people as they get on, telling them things like "Judah forgot to watch his fingers!"

Another favorite activity is playing in the front seat of the car. There are, once again, many buttons to press, as well as seatbelts to buckle and mirrors to adjust.

One of my favorite things about this activity (aside from the fact that I get to sit down and not chase after him) is that I've noticed a change in how he plays. He's been getting much more into pretend play in general, and this is no less true in the car. Whereas he used to just press buttons and buckle the seatbelts, now he also pretends to drive somplace, turning an imaginary wheel, manipulating an imaginary gear shift, and telling me about where he's going. I can almost see his little imagination taking him someplace. It's delightful.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!