Kid stuff... February & March 2011.

Aviyah eats EVERYTHING. Well, almost everything. (For a visual, check here or here.) The only thing that I've ever seen her reject on multiple occasions are men's arms. Too hairy for her taste. The face when she tries to eat them is priceless...

Jude eats NOTHING. Ok, that's a little but of an exaggeration. These are the things he'll eat without me having to talk him into it: macaroni and cheese (which I won't feed him), french fries, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (sometimes), Kashi (he wants this for every meal- "Mommy, can I have breakfast again?"), white rice (sometimes), prunes (always) and grapes (always). See? Nothing wasn't that big of a stretch. What this means is that he pretty much never eats dinner. I offer him what we are having (nothing too crazy, I'm not mean) and if he declines it, he waits until breakfast. This explains his general obsession with breakfast cereal.

Aviyah gets around by rolling and army crawling. She can get to most places that she wants to as long as they are on the floor. Her favorite places are under the stools in our living room- she likes to grab on to the legs and jerk them around. The girl is a beast. I regularly get comments from nursery workers about about how strong she is. Speaking of which, she seriously abuses me. If I give her my knuckles to chew on, she bruises them. Big chunks of my hair can regularly be found between her fingers and detached from my head. She also enjoys grabbing glasses and eyeballs. She has an iron grip that is hard to break without breaking what she's gripping. Is this normal for six months?

Jude is obsessed with Star Wars. My dad is the one to blame for this- he watches the movies with Jude when we're home visiting in Minnesota, and he gave Jude three Star Wars books for Christmas. Jude regularly asks me questions about Star Wars that I can't even answer. There is something weird about that. He has a "light saber" that he got when we were at Disneyland that has Mickey Mouse's head on the bottom that he likes to fight imaginary storm troopers with. He also owns a bubble wand which looks like a mini light saber. We have light saber battles sometimes, until he gets all Darth Vader on me. Then I run for cover.

Aviyah's still the happiest girl around. Smiling and giggling are two of her three favorite pastimes (along with eating everything). She still loves watching Jude play (until he tries to wrestle with her, that is), and thinks almost everything he does is hilarious!

Jude insists on reading the Bible when I'm reading mine and taking his to church every Sunday. It's a full-size kid's ESV, so he has to bring a backpack to hold it. His teachers are always so proud of him- they must let him use it during the teaching time. How awesome is that???

Both kids very much enjoy being out and about, going on walks and trips to the beach. Up until last time we were at the beach, Jude was deathly afraid of the water (on our trip to San Fran last year, it knocked him over with all of his clothes on, so he wouldn't go near it after that). This last time, though, he couldn't get enough of it! It was cute except for that he wanted us to go in with him. The average water is about 59 degrees there!!! (A comfortable pool temperature is generally in the mid to upper 80s, if that gives you any idea of how cold that is!). We stayed in until our feet hurt so badly from the cold that we had to switch. Jude never got out... he didn't even notice! (If you see vacation ads for California that show people swimming in the ocean without wetsuits, don't believe it. It's all a lie!) Fun fact- wetsuits were invented right here in California!

Jude is doing GREAT at potty training! He's been mostly accident-free at home and also when he's out with us for awhile now. He still has trouble overnight and sometimes at Sunday school because it's a long period of time away from home and he has so much fun that he can forget to go. But overall, he's doing a wonderful job. Potty training was seriously the worst part of parenting so far (Jake and I agree on this), so it's a huge relief that he eventually caught on. It was really painful for awhile there. I would sooooo pay someone else to potty train my kids...

I... ummm.... don'thatepinkanymore. There. I said it! I'd still never, ever, ever wear it myself, but I simply cannot resist dressing my darling little girl in it! I can't help it! Little girls look cute in pink! A few of you who have known me for a long time are getting a good laugh from this part of the blog. Haha!

Disciplining Jude Biblically is a very hard, but rewarding, task. It takes regular, diligent Bible study on both of our parts to keep on track and make sure we are being faithful stewards in this area. (Shepherding a Child's Heart is another indispensable resource in this area. It's like the Bible's sidekick :-) We are encouraged, though, because while the Bible does not promise any certain results (even when we are correctly disciplining), we can see change in Jude when we consistently and lovingly discipline him. It is crazy the things that a three year old can understand if you are consistent about teaching them! Jude is never confused as to why he is being disciplined, because the rules are clear and our emotions and moods do not factor in to when or how he is disciplined. Very hard, but very important! It also makes me appreciate this season in life where I do not have to discipline Aviyah. God is gracious to provide a small window of time between being exhausted from caring for a newborn and being exhausted from disciplining a young child :-)

If you ask Jude, "Why did you do that?" his answer will be, "Because I did!" No amount of coaxing will get a more insightful answer. It seems that he knows it's safer to be vague here :-)

Aviyah is the chunkiest little thing... I just love it! So many rolls to go with all the giggles! She's also extremely ticklish, and when she laughs, the rest of us laugh. It's so cute and contagious! She's also making a lot of sounds now, my obvious favorite being "ma-ma-ma!" I love you, too, baby A :-)

Jude never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever.... stops asking questions. I'm not kidding when I say the only time that he's not asking me a question is when his mouth is full of food (which, as you read above, isn't very often). I love how curious he is, but it does get tiring. Sometimes I have to politely ask him to stop asking me questions for a few minutes so my brain can rest. Can you guess what the common response is? "What do I have to stop asking you questions for?"

This post is a little Jude-heavy, but since he can talk, there's more to tell! :-) I was just going to end by saying that Jude is an excellent helper. He loves to help with his sister and also chores around the house. Though his attention span for these things is short, I appreciate his sweetness in helping me even if it's only for 30 seconds.

Our boss sent us to Disneyland, which Jude was enamored with~ he was able to meet Mickey Mouse! Ah, I need to write another blog. I feel like I'm missing some things.

If you want to see my favorite pictures from the last two months, click here. That's all for this round.