Jude's First Birthday

Jude had his first birthday a couple of weeks ago. We had a tiny, last minute party the night before Matt and I left for Italy to try to assuage our guilt for missing the real day.

If I was a good, indulgent mom, I'd probably grant his every wish on this special day.

Imagine with me...a party that takes place inside the dishwasher. There's a tasting table of all Mommy's colorful hair products and perfumes. An anti-gravity machine makes sure you can roll off all the couches and beds you want without getting hurt. There are nice warm mud puddles everywhere to relax in, and nobody has to wear diapers all day long. You have free reign of all the electrical outlets, remote controls, and computers to tear apart at your leisure. Hundred of pens and markers wait in one big accessible pile, so you can pull off the lids, suck the ink, and draw on whatever/whomever you like. Additionally, there's a box of crayons solely for eating, and a bucket full of candy so you can practice chewing through the wrappers, which taste almost as good as the candy inside. And finally, what's a good party without a keg full of milk, equipped with a tube that lets you drink as much as you want from any position imaginable.

Alas, I am not that mom. So a small, last minute party is what Jude got.

The birthday boy wasn't too sure about anything. I couldn't get smiles out of him for the camera. I think he was too confused about why he was suddenly allowed to rip all that paper and eat his own cupcake. He looked wary like this for much of the night.

Here are the party guests. These kids are all so good to my boys. Thank you for coming and making this feel like a special occasion!

 Jude had plenty of help opening presents. Good thing Josh is an expert, and willing to share his skills.

 

Josh helped me make and frost funfetti cupcakes. He chose the frosting color, the sprinkles, and even had the idea of putting gummy worms on top from his own personal stash.

Jude was most excited by the fire.

Josh offered his services again when it came time to blow out the candle.

And because I'm a mom, here are too many pictures of my baby experiencing his first cupcake. Enjoy.

I'll try to explain what Jude is like as a big bad one-year-old. Some of his favorite activities lately:

Shapes. If there is a smaller object that will fit inside a larger object, he wants to make it happen. Every time he sees an opening (a water bottle, a hollow toy, an outlet) he wants to stick something in it. He tries to shove pretzels and veggie straws in my water bottles. He constantly dissembles pens and tries to fit the pieces back how they were. Same with lids and their containers. He wants to fit them together exactly. We're going to push him towards engineering.

He likes to try to feed himself. He dips his spoon in the baby food, stirs it around a little, then flings it up to his face to lick off whatever stuck. It doesn't work well.

He's obsessed with the dishwasher, toilets, and his dad. Ten points to whoever can tell me something those three have in common.

Every time he's in his high chair, he makes his own concoctions. Never to be eaten, they're just experiments. He thinks he's so sneaky when he slips a half-chewed piece of bread into his sweet potatoes, peeking up at me from the corner of his eye to make sure I catch his defiance, but not quick enough to stop him. He throws whatever he can into the container and mixes until he decides it needs a little something more, which he usually finds in the lip of his bib or just within his surprisingly long reach on the counter.

When we play outside, there is a constant ring of dirt around his mouth from tasting sticks and chewing on rocks. (It's good for your teeth.)

He says the words "mama", "dada", something like "more", and "nigh-nigh". He waves, gives high fives, plays peek-a-boo, claps, tries to do the Eensy Weensy Spider hands, jumps on the couch, and makes funny faces with Matt. He tickles and teases his big brother mercilessly.

He tastes everything he crawls across on the floor, every sizable crumb (there are always plenty to choose from around here).

He is trying to walk, getting braver every day. Sometimes he'll stand by himself if he's not paying attention. Once he notices what he's doing, he flops down.

Also he needs a haircut badly.

As far as I know, his only fears are the vacuum (on or off) and live dogs. We're talking near-heart-attack-causing fears here. I have never seen an infant physically shake like he does when a hyper dog surprises him. It's really sad. 

He's starting to recognize animals and tries to imitate when I label them. Right now his favorites seem to be ducks and tigers. In this video he gets really excited every time he finds the duck in his book.

By the way, here are the stats from his check up this week.
Height: 29.5" = 45th percentile
Weight: 21.6 pounds = 30th percentile
Head Circ: 19" = 93rd percentile

"That head...It's like an orange on a toothpick!"