Andy & Jessica

Update on Jude — Jude is 4-1/2 and doing great.  He learned to swim recently, but has quite a ways to go to be an independent swimmer.  We’re homeschooling him and he’s doing 1st grade work.  He is in a bible memory club through church and typically memorizes one new verse a week.  He loves playing dodge ball and other games with the other kids in the club.  He loves to eat treats and constantly asks for them.  Thankfully, he also is very active.  He loves to run and has me make up imaginary people for him to race.  “Chucky” is a fierce competitor in the races (but usually finishes 2nd behind Jude).  Jude also enjoys soccer, jumping, sword fighting, play iPad, playing computer games, playing Wii, making forts out of all the pillows in the house, and watching German shows about super heros or mysteries.  Jude also loves to play board games, but hates to lose.  He will cheat to win (not good).

Update on Levi  — Levi has been somewhat immersed in German since his birth and I think it has delayed his speech quite a bit. He has added a few new words to his very small vocabulary. He now says, “wow,” “boo,” and “papa.” He can count to 2.  Levi loves Thomas the Train and enjoys building the track himself and sending the trains for a ride.  Levi enjoys doing everything Jude is doing, no matter how dangerous.  Levi has a really good sense of humor and likes to make people laugh.

Jude and Levi are the best big brothers little Asher could have ever hoped for.  Jude loves to give Asher attention.  Jude is so gentle and loving towards Asher and he has made no secret that Asher is his favorite person in the world.  Jude sings to Asher if Asher ever cries (often making up the song as he goes along).   Jude also does a great job protecting Asher from being accidentally smothered by Levi’s hugs and kisses.   Levi sometimes seems jealous of Asher, but never takes it out on Asher.    Levi even tries to share his coveted suckies with Asher.

Asher means “happy” in Hebrew. It is an apt name for my littliest boy. Asher is the happiest baby. Jude and Levi were always good babies too, but Asher seems particularly happy, smiley and full of joy. Most of the time his big eyes are wide open and sparkling. He makes tons of sounds and sure seems like he’ll be a big talker. He even laughs. Today I took care of him while on a telephonic continuing education class for work and really struggled to pay attention to the class since he was so engaging. On a recent visit to the Grand Canyon, strangers asked to take pictures of my little beauty. When I think about it, I can understand why Asher is so happy — he is so loved by everyone around him.

My babies Levi and Asher are going great. Levi is 20 months old and Asher is already 2 months old. Levi is is a character. He is generally a very happy boy who prefers to always have a suckies in his mouth. He is a little guy of few words. He has been saying words like “car”, and words that resemble “clock”, “cho cho” (for train) and “mommy” for many months now, but hasn’t really been adding words. I’ve not been concerned at all, assuming that Levi’s speech is delayed for a few reasons: (1) he can get his point across without words; (2) he tends to always have a suckies in his mouth unless we successfully sneak it away from him; and (3) he is learning German at the same time as English. My mom claims Levi is on the verge of a verbal explosion. That would be fun.

Asher is a very easy baby. He is very happy and often smiley. He really has every reason to be happy. He is such a loved boy. He is Jude’s pet. Jude has started stating that the order of his favorite people are, “Asher, Mommy, Daddy, Levi.” So, Asher displaced me as Jude’s favorite person. Levi is also very good with Asher and Levi will even take out his suckies and give Asher a really slobbery kiss on the lips, a smothering hug and will also attempt to share his most precious possession (his suckies) with Asher if Asher is crying.

Yesterday Jude asked me, “Mommy, do you know why my tongue’s a hero?” I said, “No. Why?” He responded, “Because my bubble gum was going to go down my throat and my tongue saved it.”

Yesterday was a very exciting day in our house. It was the first time in almost a year that Jude didn’t have to take his 3 MLs of anti-seizure medicine twice a day. That medicine did its job, but was a pain. Jude hated how it tasted and it was a struggle to get him to take it. Andy came up with the idea of mixing the medicine with super strong Kool-Aid. It made the medicine tolerable for Jude. The more Kool-Aid, the better it tasted, but the longer it took him to drink it. Levi seemed to always like it and would drink it any time Jude left the cup unattended. That resulted in a call to poison control and I learned that it could cause Levi to become drowsy, but it never did. Jude smiled and laughed tonight when I told him (jokingly) that it was time for his medicine. He’s so thrilled that’s over.

With the addition of a 3rd kid, I’ve stumbled into some ways to save time. Since I’m doing laundry everyday, and often fold it in the mornings, I have started putting the boys in the same outfits sometimes day after day. I remember my mom telling me that when she was in the hospital for the birth of my sister, my dad would wash my clothes and Mike’s clothes each night and dress us in the same outfit the next day. Smart man. Also, if Jude’s day time clothes are still clean and comfortable, I let him wear them to bed at night. Even Super Mommy has to cut some corners!

Jude asked for peanut butter toast for breakfast this morning. I cut it into 4 triangles, which seems fancier to me than squares. Jude wasn’t happy. He said, “You screwed up my order! I wanted only two triangles.” He wanted me to re-do his “order.” I refused and he ate most of the piece of toast. My, my.

I was shocked to learn recently that of all my boys, 4 year old Jude had cradle cap. I learned of this after he came back from having his hair cut. Jude has never liked water in his eyes and bath time has always been a struggle. It got worse after his surgery when his head was so sensitive. I was never able to rinse his hair as well as I wanted to and had to put up quite a fight with Jude to get what I could get. That’s how the cradle cap developed.

Well, I’m thrilled that the cradle cap is now gone, thanks to swimming lessons. I enrolled Jude in swimming lessons, which, to my surprise, turned out to be private lessons. Jude is thriving in the classes and even goes underwater (with goggles on). He’s been great in the bath since he started swimming. What a relief!

I’ve mentioned what a danger Levi is to himself (and also to our possessions). This morning I was feeding Asher on the couch and Levi came showing me a pacifier (suckies, as we like to call it). He had a look on his face that he was so proud of himself and I immediately thought that maybe he had opened up the dishwasher and took out a dirty suckies. I opted to finish feeding Asher before looking into it. Less than a minute later Levi came to me with a look of delight on his face and a steak knife blade up in his hand. Not too long later he got into a permanent marker and wrote all over the computer keyboard. It’s just one thing after another with him.