Jude is Two

Dear Jude, 

(a.k.a. Judey, Juditude, Juderonomy, Judicious, Jude Dude, Ju-Ju, Puppy)

Exactly one month ago, you turned two. FINALLY! I feel like I've been telling people you're "almost two" forever. 

You're such a grown up little baby that I sometimes forget you are, in fact, a baby. I expect you to be able to handle your emotions with as much control as you handle a spoon or a pencil. Your face gets so focused and your brow so furrowed that you could pass for a serious, chubby old man. But then I remember that you're barely two years old, and I smother you with slobbery kisses and tickles until your cheeks flush and you look like a silly toddler again.

I know this letter is a month late, but I took some notes a while back so I could exactly describe your little personality on your second birthday. Here are some of your favorite things.

You can hold your own in any conversation. You either try to repeat every third word you hear someone else say, or you put your face right in front of mine, nodding your head with an urgent request until I give most of my attention back to you. We can already tell that you are no shrinking violet. You have your opinions and you never fail to express them.

You love to tell jokes. You say "knock knock! banana!" whenever you hear Josh start in on them. You laugh when others laugh, you yell when others yell, and vice versa. You have this quality that makes others want to copy you because you look like you enjoy most of what you do and say. Every day you become more independent and it makes your love for life grow in a noticeable way. I wish I could get as excited as you do about throwing your diaper away every morning!

Counting is one of your talents, but you leave out "two" almost every time. (I think it's because you're in denial about your age.) Besides that, you can count upwards of twenty, which is solely because your daddy plays Hide and Seek with you every day. He loves to teach you things.

You love to play on my phone or Kindle. Even when you were just one, you could navigate through games like I've never seen. Your favorites are Fruit Ninja, Endless ABC, Mr. Potato Head, Easy Bake Oven, shape puzzles, Angry Birds...pretty much anything, actually. 

Shoes and hats are still some of your dearest loves. It usually takes three tries to find the shoes you want to wear each day. I get pretty tired of squatting there helping you when we're in a hurry (which is always), but it matters so much to you that it's hard not to laugh.

You are a good helper, and love to do what Mommy does. This is includes sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, laundry, dishes, cooking, and washing windows (more specifically spraying excessive amounts of Windex on every reachable surface). You ask for a "cuddeen bode and nahf" (cutting board and knife) regularly, so you can practice your knife skills. (Don't worry, yours is plastic for now.) This activity, along with building Legos, puzzles, and drawing, has shown off your awesome fine motor skills lately. These are some smiley faces you drew all by yourself. I just found it on the counter one day.

When I play the piano, you play the piano. You climb up on my lap and yank my hands away from the keys until I give up trying to play, so you can have every note to yourself. Then you play every  key so intentionally, with so much joy, that it makes me think you're going to be a very artistic musician someday. I can't wait. Your dad and I have a few very important things we want to pass on to our kids, and a love of music is near the top of the list.

Aside from all this, you have many characteristics of a normal toddler. You are a champion mess maker. 

You have sneaky ideas that make me huff and then laugh, like hiding all the Scrabble tiles inside the guitar.

You want to sit on the potty all the time, but rarely add anything to the bowl.

You are a very VERY picky eater. You scream like you've seen a giant spider when I put broccoli or carrots on your dinner plate. Then you flick it away with a disgusted face. Your favorite food, which you would eat with every meal if you could, is chocolate. (Wonder where you got that.) Smoothies are a close second.

Josh is such a good big brother to you. He teaches you everything he can. He shares everything with you. He tries to be fair and kind. He makes you laugh. You already follow him in every way, and aside from showing you some slightly destructive activities, so far he has never led you astray. I hope you always love him as much as you do now.

Here are your two-year-old growth stats from your doctor appointment, in which you were amazingly well-behaved. (Thank you!)

Height: 34.5 inches, 50th percentile

Weight: 29.5 pounds, 50-75th percentile

Head circumference: 90th percentile

And now, if you want to see pictures from your actual birthday day, here is what fun we had. I tried to make the day all about you, so I canceled all my Thursday morning plans to spend the morning just you and me.

After taking Josh to school, our first stop was the library, which you get crazy excited about every time we even drive by the building. Sadly, the library wasn't open yet, so we decided to check out the butterfly house instead. We got to take a little walk by a stream to get there, which was perfect because you love to be outside.

After that, it was back over to the library to return books (which you like to do all by yourself) and play in the children's section.

We had some time before picking up Josh from school, so we stopped for some of our favorite treats:  smoothies and donuts. 

It was a really special morning.

That night, we had a little party with our family. We had your favorite -- pepperoni pizza, which means you eat all the pepperoni and leave the pizza for someone else.

Josh helped me decorate your cake. He thought you'd like rainbow cake with green frosting and M&Ms. 

Josh was right. You dove right in face-first before we could even sing Happy Birthday.

And you kept trying to sneak in more face plants throughout the night.

You were lucky to get lots of Ninja Turtle presents this year. Josh was excited to give you Michelangelo. 

I had fun watching your eyebrows move all over your face while opening presents. You have so many cute expressions when you get excited!

Overall, it was a very special day and night and year for you, Jude. I hope your third year will be just as fun and sweet, full of growth and smiles and big boy hugs. You are an irreplaceable part of our family. We're so happy that Heavenly Father sent you to us so you could make us smile every day. I love you to pieces, always, no matter what!

Love, Mom