I’m no different than other parents. I am absolutely crazy about my boys and think they are truly exceptional kids. I really can’t say enough about Jude and I’m sure my bragging borders on obnoxious sometimes, but I can hardly help myself.
From the day he was born, Jude was the love of my life (sorry, Andy). He has always been a Momma’s boy. My little shadow. I have poured so much energy into him, putting his needs above my own, loving him, entertaining him and teaching him.
With so much attention from me and others, he has developed some amazing talents over the years. At about a year old, Jude showed affinity for letters of the alphabet. By a year and a half or so, he knew his alphabet, the vowels and the purpose of vowels (the glue that holds the words together) and he began spelling words. By age 2, he was reading. At 3-1/2 now, he reads at a first or second grade level. He’s also a great speller and has an amazing memory. He has for 6 months or so known all 50 U.S. states in alphabetical order (thanks to a cool song I learned in junior high choir), all the U.S. Presidents in chronological order (thanks to another cool song I learned when I was in school) and the 10 commandments. He can write his name and is working on writing all the letters. He watches most of his t.v. in German and we try to speak it together whenever we can do so in a way that I won’t butcher the language and teach him bad habits. He also can ride a bike without training wheels (although he prefers his Strider bike that he can scoot along without pedaling since it is lower to the ground).
Although he appears to be exceptionally bright, Jude is a typical boy. His favorite things to do with me are playing chase (he likes to chase me while I’m carrying Levi); wrestling; playing pow with foam swords; biking; playing outside; and baking (and sampling our creations while they are in the works). He also loves walking to the library and getting lots of new stories to read. He enjoys playing computer games and watching t.v.  His favorite t.v. shows are Los Diego Los (Go Diego Go), Micky Maus Wunderhaus (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and Zoboomafoo.  He also enjoys playing video games with Andy and helping Andy fix stuff around the house.
Although he is all boy, Jude is such a sweet boy and loves to snuggle.  He tells me that he loves me probably 20 or more times a day. He likes to say, “I love Mommy, Daddy, Levi.” He is such a great big brother to Levi and likes to say, “I love my baby brodder.” For years now, I have told Jude, “I love you to the moon and back, times infinity, to the power of infinity.” He started responding a year or so ago, “I love you up to God and back down, to the power of infinities.” Then in the last 6 months or so, he informed me that he loves me more than I love him since “up to God and back down” is more than “to the moon and back.”
Jude is very curious about spiritual matters. He loves to read his children’s bible and we read it cover to cover in a few week period and then started right over again. As wonderful as Jude is, he’s not, of course, perfect. He doesn’t always obey his parents (a violation of the 5th commandment, we tell him) and often covets toys or candy (a violation of the 10th commandment). We talk to Jude about God, Satan, heaven, and hell. We talk about how we’ve all sinned and we talk about his sin. We tell him that because people aren’t perfect and have all sinned, and God is a just God, we deserve to go to hell. A good analogy is that if someone commits some horrible crime, like murder, the judge would be unjust if he set him free. God would be an unjust judge if let us get into heaven in spite of our sin. Although we deserve to go to hell, that’s not God’s will. God wants all people to be saved and spend eternity with him in heaven. That’s why God made a way for us to get into heaven in spite of our sinful nature. He sent Jesus, who is God incarnate to be born and to live a perfect life as a man on earth. Jesus never sinned. When Jesus died on the cross, a great exchange took place — Jesus’ righteous was imputed to us and our wickedness was imputed to him. I tell Jude that this is a “good deal” and that we should “take the deal” — we did the crime, but Jesus paid the fine. I like to tell Jude that there are two ways to get into heaven: (1) be perfect (and he knows he is not since he knows he has sinned); or (2) repent and trust in Jesus alone for forgiveness. I tell Jude repentance means that we have to say sorry to God for our sins and try not to do them again. I tell Jude that trusting in Jesus alone for forgiveness means that we can’t bribe our way into heaven by bringing God a plate of cookies or telling God that we were better than the next guy (since perfection, not goodness, is the standard). It is comforting to know that my precious little boy is in God’s hands, which is certainly a great place to be.