Story time

Judah has enjoyed having us read to him for quite a long time. But lately reading books has become much more participatory. He seems to have memorized most of his books and loves it when we let him fill in the words.

"Own chair! Own chair!!"

For the past several days, Judah has been very focused on sitting in his "own chair," which, of course, doesn't mean his booster seat, where he generally eats his meals. He means a regular chair like the ones we sit in. It started out very uncontroversial - just hangin' out, munching on some clementine...

But yesterday morning he demanded that he eat his cereal by himself (I usually feed it to him), with his own bowl and spoon, sitting at the table in his own chair. So I took a deep breath and suppressed my profound neat-freak tendencies and let him at it. What a delightful outcome! You'll be able to tell that he's truly my son by what he does when he spills some milk...

Here's one more video of him in his "own chair." This time the hard work of eating was done, and it was time to hang loose and play.

Judah the aviator

This morning Judah and I went with our friends David, Rodka and their son Jonathan to the Aviation Museum in College Park, Maryland, which was a huge hit with Judah. There were many interesting buttons to press and levers to pull, like this awesome cockpit control panel.

And there were a bunch of old airplanes, like this 1939 Taylorman aircraft, that we could climb into.

Judah's been talking about airplanes all day since we got home. I guess we'll be going back soon...

Synagogue Retreat

This past weekend was the annual Oseh Shalom Retreat at Cacapon State Park in West Virginia. Last year Judah was hardly even crawling and was comparatively unaware of his very different surroundings. This year Judah was all over the place and quite reactive to the new environment, for better and worse! We've been learning more and more lately that Judah is a bit of a home-body. He has a hard time adjusting to new places, especially with a lot of strangers, and really prefers to be at home with his family. But aside from the fact that whenever anyone came up to talk to him he said "bye bye" or "see ya later" (he's very subtle in his messages), he was a real trooper and did very well, all things considered.

In particular, he was very excited to see his Abba up at the front of the room. The first time he saw Doug leading services, he turned to me excitedly and said "Abba!!" as if he was genuinely thrilled to discover that his Abba was, in fact, the rabbi of this wonderful congregation.

He also loved the music, which is no surprise, and shouted "again!" every time a song ended. One of the few times he was actually outgoing with a congregant was when he saw someone playing a guitar. He just ran right up to him and started strumming. Fortunately, the young man was very gracious about it.

He also tried out some Israeli dancing, along with his grandma,

And had a great deal of fun at the water fountain.

The weekend also provided the first opportunity for Judah to experience some snow (although it was just a little on the ground). He wasn't at all sure what to make of it, but was definitely intrigued.

All-in-all it was a lovely weekend - Doug did a great job and the community was, as always, warm and welcoming. Although my focus had to be on Judah and I was therefore unable to participate much in the retreat programs themselves, it felt good to be a part of it. And it was incredibly nice this year to have the help and company of my folks who stayed with us in our cabin and made Judah especially comfortable and happy.

A mind of ones own

As Judah gets further into toddlerhood, his drive for independence gets stronger and stronger. I still here plenty of "Mommy Mommy!!" Often followed by curling up on the floor and saying "hugs!" or "lovin'!" (that's a word he picked up from me - hilarious). But he's getting more and more interested in, and adept at, controlling his world. He likes to direct people - "Gampa sit!" or "Mommy do!" Just last night he said, "Mommy, music too loud. Turn down."

The funny thing is how conflicted he seems to be about his independence. The other day he was playing with the coffee maker in the kitchen while I was in the living room folding laundry. He practically made himself dizzy running back and forth - he wanted to play with the coffee machine, but he also really wanted to be with me. So he ran back and forth saying "Mommy!" if he was in the kitchen and "coffee!" if he was in the living room. Eventually, he figured out how to have it all and he said emphatically (as he says most things), "Mommy kitchen!!" and took me by the hand and led me to the kitchen, where I was expected to sit on the floor and keep him company while he played.

Speaking of his independence, here are a couple of videos we took on a recent trip to the park. He was very into the slide that day, and you can really see his willfulness shining through. He definitely does things his own way. Make sure you turn the volume up.

Some of us have a lot to say

I've noticed a glaring omission in my blog. By centering my posts around photos I have failed to capture one of the most significant (and hilarious) facets of Judah's personality: his verbal communication. To blog about Judah without talking about the things he says is to miss out on one of the most fun and fastest developing aspects of this little guy.

To put it simply, Judah is a talker. It seems like he never stops talking - there is a running commentary on absolutely everything he is experiencing. We always know what is on his mind!

Not only does he label everything he sees; he also announces everything he does before he does it, which Doug and I have found quite helpful. For example, he says "throw sippy!!" right before he hurls his sippy-cup onto the floor in frustration, which gives us the opportunity to at least try to convince him otherwise. (This works for a great many other items besides sippy-cups. The word "throw" followed by some object he's holding is a very common refrain in our house).

Another helpful announcement is the general "no no" declaration. If Judah is in the other room and we hear him say "no no," we know that he is poised to do something we don't want him to do and is waiting for us to come in and confirm the admonition. If we don't respond right away he stands there and repeats "no no" until we do. He's clearly much more interested in getting the confirmation of his understanding than he is in doing the forbidden act. Fascinating.

Lately he has been very interested in saying hello and good bye to people and things. Very often when I get him from his crib in the morning and take him downstairs for breakfast he says "good bye room, good bye door, good bye night-light," all the way down the stairs. When we arrive in the kitchen he says "hello table, hello grapefruit," and so on. Just recently I was in hysterical laughter because before I had a chance to turn on the lights in the kitchen he said, "hello dark!" This has recently expanded into "good luck," which he has heard us say a few times. So now he wishes good luck to a great many people and objects we pass by. I'm sure they all appreciate it.

At first we were all marveling at his rapidly growing vocabulary. But lately it's become not just about the number of words he knows, but the concepts he's able to express. For example, "grapefruit, cut knife, sharp, careful." Not exactly a coherent sentence, but he certainly conveys an idea. Or my personal favorite, "grandpa eat pills, put mouth" (Judah is exceedingly interested in grandma and grandpa taking pills - that's the subject for a whole other post).

I think I can safely say that the development of verbal communication has been the most fun and rewarding aspect of parenthood for me. His use of language (absolutely all the time) provides such a wonderful glimpse into his little brain and his ever increasing understanding of the world around him. It's also extremely entertaining!

Happy Chanukah!!

Judah has really gotten into Chanukah this year. He loves the lighting of the candles and singing. It's a little bit difficult to explain that he can't take the candles out and play with them once they're lit (one of life's many frustrations) but as long as we keep singing it seems to be okay.

This year we gave him the "Kitty Keyboard," which is a keyboard that not only looks like a cat, but if you press a certain button the keys play "meows" instead of piano tones. This, of course, appeals greatly to two of Judah's biggest obsessions: pressing buttons and animal sounds. Needless to say, the gift has been a huge hit.