DMA and an Indian beat

Last night was both mine and Jude's first trip to the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA). I went there with a couple friends for a girls night out. They have this pretty awesome set up for late summer nights where everything is opened as well as some special attractions such as live music, spoken word/poetry, movies, etc. Very interesting and lots to see, although I confess I would have enjoyed it ever so much more while not pregnant. Too much walking with my swollen feet. Boo.
One of the live music scenes was in a particular gallery that focuses on Indian/Tibetan art. One particular highlight was the free samples of this Indian dip with crackers. Cannot remember what it was called. Regardless, delicious. Jude's favorite part of the Indian experience was surprisingly not the food. He seemed to enjoy the music the most. We were listening to some Indian musicians play music using various folk instruments. During one particular song, there was a lot of percussion. Jude started going nuts inside during this song! From what I read, it is not unreasonable to assume he could hear the music and the beats. He sure seemed to enjoy them.
This isn't the first time he has actively responded to a strong beat. During one of our many weddings this summer, he reacted the same way to a hip hop song with a strong beat. Very interesting. For those of you who don't know, Michael was originially a drummer, so the fact that his son appears to really respond to strong beats in music prenatally is worthy of note. Like father, like son? Possibly. Only time will tell. In the mean time, Michael and I are trying to think of songs to 'experiment' with and see how Jude responds to them. Stay tuned!

Jude kicks butt

Funny story of the day:

Jude has been really active today. He's super active when I am just sitting or laying around. Today was my first teacher day back to school. I just sat around mostly. He jumped around.

Anyway, this evening, back at the apt, Michael was standing at the counter eating chips and salsa. I came up behind him and was hugging him. Jude decided to remind us he was the monkey in the middle when he up and kicked really hard. Hilariously enough, Michael felt it, jumped, and said 'Ahh, he just kicked my butt.' No pun intended. I was laughing to begin with, but when we realized the gravity of Michael's statement, it became loads funnier. Awesome!

Jude kicks butt!

Athletic Punches?

As you know, we have entered that final glorious trimester and are counting down the weeks until we meet Jude. This has been a rough week for me because I have had teacher inservice every day. Sitting from 8-3 while 7 months pregnant is NOT comfortable. Talk about back pain! However, Jude has not found these activities quite as tiring. In fact, it appears when I am sitting alllll day, he begins to play. Nowadays, this little kid is packing some heat with these punches and kicks. I was actually almost self conscious while sitting in class that someone would look over and see him having himself a grand ole time in the middle of the lecture. My stomach was a constant montage of vibrations. Punches and kicks left and right and highly visible. Some of them would actually catch me off guard and make me jump a wee bit. I cannot even imagine what I'm going to look like in another month. My kids aren't going to learn anything- they'll be too entranced by my dancing stomach!

Michael has a very different perception on all this. He's just plain proud that his son is that strong already! As amazing as it is to feel and watch this ball of cells completely and miraculously transform, it's equally amazing to watch the guy you fell in love with transform into 'that dad'. You know the one- that's my boy making the touchdown (although with Michael's soccer/hockey obsession it would be the goal). I really didn't expect him to say that, and I still think it's funny.

We'll have to see if this turns out to be any true indication of athletic talent. In the meantime, it's fascinating to watch everything unfold.