Happy New Years!

So we end 2010 with a final Jude-centric celebration... rather than finding a babysitter and going to an "up past midnight" party, we went around the corner for a gather of families with two-year-olds and celebrated the new year with a countdown at about 6:40pm (the kids can't tell time, so we just started a countdown when it felt appropriate).

Jude did his best impersonation of Baby New Year, big ears and all.


He was not quite able to get the concept of the noisemaker, but felt the need to hold on to it in any case.

And, finally, no new year celebration would be complet without a toast. In Jude's case, the fizzy grape juice was his first experience with a sparkling beverage of any kind. After a slight initial shock, he gladly drained his cup in honor of the new year and all it will hold.
Happy New Year!

Jude 2.5

Our little baby whose story began in this baby blog in 2008 is two and a half! Each day is long and sometimes wonderful but it still feels surprising that the time has gone so quickly.

Jude at two and a half

Here is the info from his checkup. Weight 30lbs 8oz is the 55th percentile. Height of 35 inches in the 30th percentile. When I read the percentiles it gives me pause. But then Greg helpfully reminds me that the difference between say 50th and 30th is a few ounces or an inch. I think our boy will grow up just fine!

the best 99 cents i spent in 2010- inflatable socer ball

We are getting ready for the Christmas season. We decided to go with postcard Christmas Cards this year. I can't bring myself to go virtual with holiday cards. I still like receiving the actual greeting and photos in the mail, even though come January, I always wonder what to do with the cards. The pastor who married us has a good idea. Each year Tim and his wife Sue, pull out one Christmas card a day and pray for that person or family. We got a note in the mail last year letting us know of our day of prayer from them. Neat idea.



Hope you are all well.

Two Cute at Halloween

Happy Halloween readers. Jude celebrated his day with a roar. Our cute little tiger was joined by his parents as keepers at Miller Zoo and a little Lion named George.

Halloween 2010

Jude seemed to understand more about trick or treating this year. At the first few houses he tried to hand back the candy he had picked up at the previous stop. But after a bit he was taking candy and thanking them like a pro.

trick or treat

Kara is quite proud of the Tiger costume that she made for Jude using the skills she learned in her sewing classes. There was some debate about wearing the hood. But 50 degree temperatures seemed to settle the issue for Jude in favor of being warm.

relaxed tiger

On Saturday Greg took Jude to Brookfield Zoo, hoping to snap a picture of our little Tiger near one of the four big tigers who live there. Unfortunately the big cat area is closed for renovation. But he did get a cute shot of our tiger visiting the bear and bison area.

tigers and bears, oh my

We hope you had a safe and happy halloween.

Jude was so worn out he ended his festivities with an early bedtime at 6:30.

baltimore express

Here is a quick summary of our trip to Grandma and Grandpas in Baltimore. We'll post photos later when we are home and Kara remembers the camera cable.

Jude's love of choo choos made the B&O Railroad Museum a must see. We walked around and climbed on at least a dozen locomotives including one old girl from the Civil War.
We visited Clark's Farm where Jude petted animals, took his first pony ride and climbed in lots of nursery rhyme characters brought to live in colorful giant plaster/plastic creations and slides.
Grandma treated Jude to his first crab feast. His favorite part is the hammer, not sure he actually tried much crab. But Greg ate his fill of 7 crabs. Yum.
We also saw cousins, aunts and uncles and watched the TV coverage of our Chicago Bears earning an ugly loss.
What a nice visit to Baltimore.

going to grandmas

Jude took his first airplane flight where he realized he was going up. Our little guy got big eyes and said all done as we zoomed into the sky on our way to visit Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Henry in Baltimore. Fortunately we had the pacifier and a small apple at the ready. Both of them helped keep him content until he settled into the flight.

In the car ride from the airport he had to relive the moment. "Daddy go UP"

can you handle the pants

water water water

In case we haven't made it clear in our blog, we have a baby who loves water!
Anytime we hit a childrens museum with a water play room, we know there will be lots of splashing and getting soaked. We hope to stay dry but usually Jude or mom are a bit wet when we leave.

water play

We are grateful for the kid-sized smocks that many places provide. This summer Jude had a few chances to play at Exploration Station in Bourbonnais. Its proved to be a great meeting point for Jude to see his grandparents, as its about halfway between here and Champaign where they live.

get those fish!

Sadly the local pools and summer in general has gone away until next year. But we wanted to share the few pictures we snapped at the Oak Park pools this year.

ready to splash

Jude took swimming lessons this summer in a Parent Tot class with his mom. The first week he held like glue to mom's arms and seemed very afraid. But by the end of the sessions he loved the water songs and even floating through the water with mom's help.

the kiddie pool at Ridegland Common

By summer's end Jude loved to float his little body in the water while using his hands to crawl along the bottom of the kiddie pool. And he even made a few attempts at jumping in with mom or his friend Miss Lynsey. We look forward to lots of water play time next summer!

three little words

Mister Jude has a lot to say these days. And it is so cute to hear him speak in his little Jude voice. He loves to talk about his choo choos that includes some pals named Thomas and Percy. Everyday we are celebrating some new word he attempts to tell us. Last night at dinner it was "cheese".

talking and playing

We had no idea about how children learn to speak before going through this amazing process with Jude. We have to laugh at ourselves sometimes with it all. About a month ago Jude spoke up as we pulled into the garage in Kara's car. He noticed Greg's car parked on the street and sweetly said 'Bye Bye Daddy Car'. Both parents started celebrating. This was Jude's first ever three word phrase. Sure we felt silly but it was a big moment!

so cute in the garage

By now he's jabbering with four words phrases occasionally and lots sentences we can't quite follow, filled with words like 'go' and 'choo coo'. It is amazing to watch and listen to our little guy develop.

second haircut

Jude got his second haircut a few months ago, and recently survived a third one. Thought the photos were cute enough to still post as I finally organize our pictures from the summer.

2nd haircut May 2010

Jude is mesmorized watching a video in his racecar seat. Unfortunately that ended when she tried to use the electric trimmers on him.

cutie

plastic and green

Speaking of our yard, it is now a haven for both plastic toys and greenish-brown grass.

Greg values having plenty of open grass space. We kept that in mind over the years as we re-did the majority of our landscaping and added beds and a deck. But we weren't prepared for the plastic invasion. It began slowly, at Christmastime(?) when Jude received a ride-on/walking toy from Grandpa Henry & Grandma Nancy.

the first plastic outdoor toy

But the plastic pieces multiplied thanks to generous birthday gifts from Jude's grandparents, garage sales, and hand-me-down gifts. Our yard used to be serene, punctuated by pops of color from the flowers.

the new normal

Now it is punctuated by pops of plastic color, a pool, balls, and especially trucks.

busy backyard

Jude continues his love/hate relationship with Tonka trucks and diggers. He loves them when they move where he wants them to go, hold the cups of water or mulch he dumps inside, and roll in the direction he is moving.

happy times with Tonka

But he also struggles with his new Tonka digger ($4 bucks--thanks salvation army!!) when it refuses to dump the mulch or turn the direction he would like. Poor Jude has spent a lot of time screaming at that yellow metal toy. We're hoping they continue to work on relationship building.

the digger of frustration and fun

The Tonka truck invasion is not limited to the outdoors. Apparently our living room also needs some new renovation, despite our recent upgrade around his first birthday. Yes our living room is also a work zone, evidenced by the sea of yellow plastic front loaders, excavators and dump trucks.

coffee table construction zone

Guess we'll have to give up on having a plastic free yard for a few more years...sorry George the dog!

george and the plastic invasion

little helper

It is fun being Jude's mom because so many people comment on how cute he is and especially his cute hair. Who knew red/blond hair was so special??

Another nice aspect of Toddler Jude is his pleasant temperament. Although he has opinions and temper tantrums, many times our son is fairly compliant to requests from mom or dad, especially if we use the phrase "Help Mommy do..."

cutest helper ever

Over the summer we partnered with our neighbors to have a large load of mulch delivered. Kara looked forward to weeding and covering the landscape beds in a new layer of the stuff. We had some delays due to the Flood of '10 (more on that later) but she managed to get some of the labor done during the daytime by asking Jude to assist her.

rake at the ready

You may remember Jude's love of shovels from the wintertime. Fortunately he also has a love relationship with his child-size rake. Jude helped move that mulch, or at least re-spread some of mom's woodchip work. Plenty of scoops somehow also landed in his Tonka trucks and diggers.

The surprise bonus for mom is that the tiny toddler rake is also great around and under shrubs. Kara recently saw one advertised in a garden catalog for $25, which makes the $12 version seem even better.

Kara still had to spend several warm evenings covering the flower beds and fighting off the mosquitos. But it was nice that Mister Jude allowed some of his playtime to be work time for mom.

ready go!

"Ready Go!" is the most popular game in the Miller family. Jude and his mom and dad line up, until someone says 'GO'. Then all three of us, and the dog, run from one end of the house to the other. Jude laughs and laughs and loves the game. It used to be just a game with dad, but he is most interested in both his parents joining in, which makes Greg and Kara crack up.

ready to run

This 'game' has also come in handy outside. It is a great distraction when Jude is getting into something he shouldn't or getting upset that we have to leave a location. A quick game of 'Ready Go' gets us heading in the right direction.

kare-en!

Jude gets a visitor once a week that sometimes frustrates him! Karen, his speech therapist, brings all kinds of new toys and pretend play into our toy filled living room.

feed the puppet

I thought our readers might enjoy a glimpse into speech therapy, because like me, many of you have never experienced this. The sessions are based around play.

jude's turn

This particular week Karen brought a bag of plastic fruits that Jude can 'cut' in half using a knife and cutting board. We worked on the words 'cut' and 'stick' and naming the particular fruits. He also got to stir the big bowl and serve fruit to the puppets.

jude won't eat green fruit, maybe the puppet will?

Karen also builds in time for speech on demand, so to speak, where Jude has to say a word or make a choice using words, to get the toy he wants. One time he had to say apple or orange to keep the play going. Jude gets extremely frustrated with this game sometimes and often looks to me as if to say "Are you gonna let her do this?"


But the therapy is helping his natural speech development. Our little guy has added a ton of words recently. His current favorite phrases are "Where'd it go water?" This occurs when we drive by or see water but we keep going. He also likes to say "No Ma" which means stop doing that or I'm not finished, even if his mother is not involved.

We are glad to have Miss Karen visit.

big shoes to fill

Jude loves to imitate his mom and dad these days. Recently he even wanted to walk in dad's shoes.

'elp' me daddy

do these come in brown?

Pinocchio's Travels in preschool

Baby Jude, now Toddler Jude, took a trip with Pinocchio this summer...when he joined the Academy of Movement and Music Preschool.
Before the trip, Kara worked through mom-guilt about leaving him two mornings a week and concern that our young two year old was just too young for a structured program. It was Greg who made the final push to encourage enrollment. He reminded me Kara that its OK if she takes a break from Jude, and that Jude would love time with other kids.

First day of preschool

Preschool proved a big hit with Jude and his mom! He cried the first day of drop-off, but loved going the rest of the summer. The only two-year-old trauma were the meltdowns during pick-up, when he had to wait in line while he could see mom in the lobby.

jude's school schedule

The creative program features a different theme everyday. On the 23rd jude brought home popcorn they had mixed and made in class. He also cleaned the animals one day with toy animals, a bucket of water and a toothbrush! This came in handy on our recent trip when Jude fought his bath. Mom asked him to clean his ducky as he did in school, and then got permission to also clean Jude.

school projects he brought home

I know one day I will tire of the many projects, pictures, and 'art' that Jude creates. But these few things from his first program rank up there with my most precious possessions.

this hangs in the kitchen

I (Kara) found the break made me feel more like myself. I was more energized and excited about being a mom the rest of the week. Cooking became fun again when I had time to grocery shop for creative meals, take George for a short walk without Jude, or get a haircut.

thank you Academy

The A.R.T.S. summer program wrapped up last week. We are on the waiting list for the fall and hope a spot for Jude opens up. But either way, it helped make a great summer for Jude and Kara.

july 4th minus fireworks

This fourth of July we decided to stay flexible with our schedule instead of Kara getting her heart set on seeing the fireworks inside the Oak Park football stadium in our annual tradition.
Having a two year old, especially one prone to tantrums when tired, made the naps and bedtime important.

When Jude woke from his nap we were packed and ready to toss him in the car and head for the village parade.

parade ready

We even took the rare, if never before seen, step in the Miller house of sporting matching t-shirts for the holiday. (thanks old navy!) Jude got very excited to wake from his nap and put on a shirt that both momma and dada already had on.

the matching millers

Despite our patriotic apparel and enthusiasm, the actual holiday was more a dud than a dazzler. We arrived at the parade, gave Jude his miniature flag, only to see a little league team on a truck, a firetruck, and the street sweeper cleaning up at the end.

We put Jude back in the car and headed to our church potluck and party. But the scorching heat had them packing away the food and festivities a few hours ahead of schedule. So we arrived to watch them clean up. At least Jude got to splash in the kiddie pools for a bit.

Next up was fireworks. We put Jude to bed at his normal 7pm and planned to wake him in time to drive to fireworks. But by 8:15 it was raining, hard. We decided not to risk an awake kid and no show. But the skies cleared at 9 and we were at home, only hearing the booms and seeing the faintest flickers above the treeline.
Guess this year was our family fourth. Next year we vote for fireworks

red frosting and news

Kara did not expect red frosting to create the memorable photos from Jude's birthday parties.
You may recall, we celebrated with a family backyard gathering and a round red tomato cake.

finger lickin good

On Thursday, May 27th, Jude's actual birthday, Kara invited moms and kids that Jude knows from music class and church groups. This time she served veggies, fruit, and cupcakes with red frosting. Kara had a great time chatting with mom friends while the kids enjoyed the sand table and a kiddie pool.

my lips match Elmo!

Parents got creative with attire to let their kids splash in the pool. In the aftermath, Ellie enjoyed her red frosting too!



Now to some news from the Millers. While Kara was busy preparing for Jude's party, Greg launched his own acoustics firm with a business partner. He and Evelyn can now be found at Pin Drop Acoustics, www.pindropacoustics.com.

celebrating a birthday and a business

We are excited to see what God has planned for us the rest of this year with Greg's work and Jude's development.

take a breath

One of my new favorite phrases I tell Jude is "take a breath." Which is my answer when he starts to get fussy, runs around crazy, or gets frustrated.
I can't say it helps mister jude much, unless mommy makes funny loud breath in and out sounds. But it helps mommy handle the situation better.
I wish I had time to write about how busy, challenging, and joyous the past six months have been. Mister Jude continues to be an amazing happy friendly guy. But raising him has challenged Kara more than expected. We are all happy to enjoy this cute age of TWO where Jude can run around with fewer falls, practice his first words and try many new summer activities.
Here is a look back at Jude's birth-day milestone photos.

Birth May 27, 2008

Let me tell you about our first Miller family tradition. We plan to take a photo at the time Jude was born, every year on his birthday.

First Birthday May 27, 2009

We have already decided just two years in, that it is acceptable to adjust the time on the clock a bit as long as its within an hour of the birth time. :-) That way we still capture the photo.

Second Birthday, May 27, 2010

Wow Jude has grown and Kara has new hair. This may be a fun memory for more than just Jude's changes :-)

Thanks for sticking with us, despite the draught of posts.