two years with our man

I used to do these updates for Judah's monthly birthdays and I thought that since I still love going back and reading those, I should keep it going--only yearly this time (and without the white onesie and Photoshopped number).

1. "Hold You." and "Rock?"  The fastest way to melt my heart these days is having Judah reach up to me with his arms and say "mommy, hold you."  I love how toddlers only relate certain words and phrases and instead of saying "hold me," he says "you."  Melt. my. heart.  Another term that is so adorable it hurts, is when he's feeling sad or tired and looks up at us with his little brown eyes and asks, "Rock?" This means he wants you to sit in one of our recliners or his rocking chair in his room, rock him, and sing "You are My Sunshine."  If we don't start singing, he will lift his head off you shoulder, cup your face in his hands, and say "You mine sunshine?" See? So adorable, it hurts.

2. Little Parrot. Lil dude is repeating everything he hears these days.  I was placing a to-go order for crawfish the other night, when I heard, "Jenny. Crawfish." after the lady asked my name and what I wanted. I looked over and he didn't even seem to realize he did it because he didn't look up or stop eating.

3. Growing Interests. His interests can vary so much from day-to-day, but lately he is consistently loving trains, tigers, balls (duh), spotting buses and "big trucks," reading books, Daniel the Tiger, Super Why, balloons, being outside, his dog shirt, playing in water, running, the zoo, his friends, and the list goes on.

4. Great Sleeper. I feel like it was just last week when Judah wouldn't nap, and I would attempt to try new strategies through tears of frustration and sleep-deprivation. I realized a few days ago that it's been 8 months of him napping like a superstar and going to bed with no problem.  Napping can be a challenge some days, but he responds really well to ocean sounds by his crib.  And to be honest, he's gone to bed great since he was about a year.  And his schedule hasn't really changed much.  He takes a bath around 6:45 pm, then it's teeth brushing, and then pajama time. We have a fun ritual of putting on his "jammies" as he calls them and then he turns the light off and starts saying his goodnights.  "Night night mommy. Kiss. Hug? Night night daddy, night night elmo, night night dog." Then into the crib he goes for one final "I lub you." and then I leave and shut the door behind me.  At this point it's usually around 7:15 pm and he'll sleep until 5:30 at the earliest or 7 am at the latest.  It's cruel irony that he wakes up at 5:30 on the weekends and then the days when he'll sleep longer are the days we work.  :)

5.  Loves Watching Home Videos. We started a family channel on youtube last year and have been posting videos like crazy.  Joel does a great job of capturing fun moments with us or Judah and his friends, and anytime he is getting stir crazy or fussy--I pull up the channel and he sits back and watches and laughs.  Obviously we limit screen time, and he knows our phones are off limits, but he does love watching people he knows and usually once the video ends, he looks up, holds one finger up and ask, "one mo'?"

 Happy 2nd Birthday Judah!! 

You are sweet, snuggle-happy, giving, handsome, funny, joyful, inquisitive, energetic, fast, bright, loving, and have the most beautiful smile I know.  We love you and cherish you more and more everyday.