a letter to jude

Drooly McDroolerson. Most of your shirts get soaked by noon.

Checking out the fountain at Kernel Kustards with Daddy

Sweet Judeabug,

Today, my son, you are ten whole entire months old, and you're getting cuter and cuter by the day. I'm pretty sure that by the time you're a year old you'll be so cute that Daddy and I won't even be able to stand it. We're watching you change before our eyes and grow in independence and personality. Do you know what you did just this morning? Probably not - you're gonna be like, nine years old when you read this and will have no idea what I'm talking about.

So let me tell you. I needed to put some socks on your pudgy little feet before we left the house, so I sat down on the floor, a few feet away from you. I said, "Come here, bug," and you came a-crawling on over. You pulled up into my lap, turned yourself around, and then sat right smack in my lap and let me put your socks on your feet. I know, I know...it doesn't SEEM like a big deal (hopefully you've got the socks thing down by the time you're reading this), but it is. Right there...before my eyes...you grew up.



So let's talk about some of my favorite memories of the past month, okay? Well first of all, you started saying, "deh deh," this month, which thrilled your Daddy's heart. And don't think I haven't noticed that you say, "Mmmmaaa," with a distinct whine in your voice, whereas you whisper, "deh deh," with a quiet reverence. Hmph.


One of my other favorite memories was going to a Pool Party with you in late August. You looked pretty sweet in your board shorts and swim diaper, and baby - you LOVED the water. You loved splashing and kicking (and splashing...and splashing...and splashing some more) and would've done it all day had I let you. You even did great when you got splashed! You're quite the water bug, and if you continue to be for years to come, I think we'll have some swim meets in our future.



MommyDaddy love watching you push your lion around right now, too. You can really motor with that thing, and sometimes you'll be all the way down the hall before we realize you took off! Sometimes you take one hand and put it on the back of the lion, and then the other and put it on the front, and you kind of side step your way through the house. It's super cute to watch you do that and try to get your lion into tight spaces. It looks like you're parallel parking, and you take it very seriously. Daddy says all that side stepping is good practice for being a short stop...but we'll see what you end up loving.



You're getting better and better at getting to where you want to go, and there's not much that you're not able to reach. You've certainly figured out how to open the drawer on the end table and reach straight for our outlets and cords. You have a special fondness for "helping" me sew by pushing on the foot pedal of my sewing machine.


You're also ever-so-close to popping through two of your top teeth. I can actually see them pushing on the gums, so I'm excited that they're going to come through any day now. Goodness - you'll look so old when you get them! I've really just been hit this month with how quickly you're growing. It's wonderful to see you conquering milestones like they're nothin', and I love watching you grow into the little man God's created for you to be, but sometimes I like to just hold you tightly, take a deep whiff of your baby smelling hair, and kiss those sweet baby cheeks until you insist on being released. I love to see your chubby baby hands holding on tightly to my finger, because I know that one day that hand will be bigger than mine, and that feeling is a little bittersweet.



Happy ten month birthday, Jude. Daddy and I are proud of you, and we can't wait to see what God does in you, through you, around you, and in spite of you. We love you, sweet boy.