Weekend Activities

Jude, E Ben, and Greg took the canoe for a short autumn camping trip to Olallie Lake, just north of Mt. Jefferson.

The boy looks windswept and wordly. It was cold at night, so he slept in the sleeping bag with E Ben.

On Saturday, we met up with friends at the Portland Pirate Festival, underneath the St. John's bridge.

Jude and Gryphon had a sword fight, but the outcome was unclear. We saw a lot of pirates! Up until now, we've only known about Butt Pirates. Those are the people who come to your house and leave a surprise in your diaper.

Fall is Here, Hear the Yell

We are off to school in the Cornett House ~ Jude has been enrolled in a co-op preschool where he attends two days a week. Daddy Ben goes along on Tuesdays, and Thursdays Jude is solo in a small class with 7 kids, ages 1 to 2, and 3 adults.

Momma kisses Jude goodbye, and he kind of likes it.

Our boy is growing up, as everyone predicted. He finds new places to hide behind the chair, and loves to play under the blankets!

Daddy and Jude get ready for their first day of pre-school! No morning naps on these days!



Jude has found a new love at the school - these Fred Flintstone-like cars. E Ben brought home an old broken one, and built a nice foundation for it to mount on, just like the one in Teacher Karen's classroom!

Jude loves the classroom, which is filled with toys and trucks and slides and balls and all manner of happy baby energy. We love that he has the chance to play with other kids his age. And Daddy loves to have four hours off on Thursdays!

The Many Faces of Jude

A Whole Year!

It is so hard to believe the Jude is a year old. In a way, it seems like the last year has been one of the longest of my life. But when I think of the way Jude has changed from a helpless newborn to a rambunctious toddler, it seems like it should have taken longer, somehow. The last two weeks have been a blur, between a huge wedding, birthday party and pig roast, a trip to the coast, and a pretty bad bout of sickness for the whole family. Things have finally slowed down a little, and I'm back to do some blogging.

We had our 12-month visit with Dr. Jack this week. Here are Jude's stats:

• Height: 32.5 inches (98th percentile)
• Weight: 24 pounds, 12 ounces (76th percentile)

He's still above the top curve for height, and weight is tracking well. He was about a half pound heavier a couple of weeks ago when I weighed him on our scale, but this stomach bug has really affected his appetite, so I'm not surprised that he went down a little. The doctor said Jude is right on track developmentally. The only area of concern is his (lack of) language. He is not saying any words at this point, though he does make a lot of sounds and gestures, and in general communicates his desires perfectly clearly. The doctor said that he should be saying 2-3 words by the time he is 15 months. If not, that would be considered a speech delay. I'm sure he'll get there sooner or later!

Jude has become a walking machine in the past few weeks. He still will crawl if he's feeling a little unsure of his surroundings or if he wants to get somewhere FAST, but he is on his two feet a lot of the time at this point. Other than the stomach bug that we all caught, Jude has been very healthy and loves to eat. We've started the transition to whole milk and it's going well so far.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from the past week, and a video.

We have discovered that Jude loves dolls, so we bought a bunch to give away as birthday party favors. He had a ball playing with them before the party. I love this photo because it looks like he's about to eat the dolls...

This is the night of the big wedding. We all look pretty good, for once...:)

This is dinner on Jude's actual birthday. We grilled steaks and Jude loved them. This kid will eat anything!

Jude's latest thing is that he puts everything up to his ear to pretend it is a cell phone. Here he is playing "cell phones" with the camera...

These days, Jude's favorite "book" is a birthday card that plays the Macarena whenever you open it. Dance Party!