Toddlerhood is....

Toddlerhood is finding evidence of your sick day- everywhere....

Toddlerhood is hiding in every toddlersized nook and cranny...

Toddlerhood is lots of smiles, especially when you're caught doing something you shouldn't....

Toddlerhood is lots of rolling...

Toddlerhood is wild hair and silly faces...

Toddlerhood is lots of climbing, sometimes falling...

Toddlerhood is a new take on 'office supplies'...

Toddlerhood is your own personal organizer...

Toddlerhood is finding, holding, and using all the pacis you possibly can at once....

To be continued...

My Sweetest

Jude and I both officially have the flu.  However, prior to him getting sick, I just want to get out some of the sweetest things.  For being 15 months, he seems to get empathy well, at least with me.  I was laying on the couch yesterday morning feeling miserable.  He came up and brought me one of his favorite books.  I set it down, and he just looked at me with the sweetest face and said 'no?'  Then he just cuddled up in my lap and held my hand.  Such a sweetheart to try to make me feel better.  He is such a gift sometimes!

Momma loves Jude Pie- Flu/Shots edition

I have been sick for 3 days now.  Your basic fever, body aches, nausea, coughing, no appetite deal.  The hardest part is that mommahood does not stop when I get sick- especially since there's no dad to give me a break.  Thankfully, I have a sitter with whom I could drop him off all day Wednesday and part of Thursday while I slept.  The annoying thing is that I'll start to feel better and then out of nowhere get hit with it again.  Yuck.

Today Jude spent the whole day with me.  He had his 15 month check up early this morning.  He got 2 shots this time- dtap and polio.  He cried for a minute then just went right to sleep.  He slept for a couple hours.  Once he woke up, he was all systems go.  However, this evening I am seeing a change.  Very momma love.  Very cuddly.  So neither of us feel so hot....

Sad day for us, but I do love my JudePie cuddles...

Addendum- Literally as I was typing this and Jude was cuddled in my lap, he fell asleep.  He is now in his bed asleep, before 7.  Poor baby :(

15 months

Jude Dylan is 15 months old today.  We go to the doctor on Friday for the stats and a couple shots.  (Dtap and Polio).  I'm taking the day off in case he doesn't feel good afterwards.

Anyway, where did the time go?  Jude is such a toddler now.  He's completely weaned himself off all nursing except at night and early morning.  I'm hoping the rest of the weaning will go just as easily.  He is noisy, rambunctious, into everything, and has lots to say.  Some of it I can understand.  He's begun perfecting no, but hasn't started using it in defiance yet.

We had 2 temper tantrums today in the course of 1.5 hours.  They only lasted 30 seconds, but heaven help us when it gets worse.  He is such a crazy child.  He is always jumping and making noise just for the sake of making noise.  He is always climbing now too.  Or dancing.  Never still.  Always entertaining.

Quite a wild and interesting kid.  Childhood is most likely going to be a wild ride with this one.

Here comes trouble

Look who figured out how to climb into the chair and reach the computer.  Can you say let the fun begin?  Or perhaps here comes trouble.  Or welcome to toddlerhood.  Just in time for the 15 month birthday.

Relaxing

Jude decided sitting in his kitchen cabinet would be a good place to relax with a bottle after a long day of playing.  Cozy...

Vintage + Cooking

I bought this apron a couple weeks ago in my fave Texas town for vintage treasures.  It was only $4.50! And now I will be trying it out while I make chocolate chip cookies.  Hurrah!

Fox Shirt- A look back

This is a picture of Jude at 5 months.  Oh the sweet baby cheeks.  You can't actually tell, but he's wearing the same fox onesie as in the bottom pictures.  Unfortunately, at 5 months Jude was a rolling vesuvius, so most of his outfits were covered with little bibs.

The fox onesie was one of my very favorites.  I would put him in it as often as the clean laundry would allow.  I'm sure I stretched it on to his growing body for awhile, because I am always hesitant to let go of my favorites.  It seems like they barely get to wear them and then they're gone.

Luckily for me, a teacher at my school gave me some of her 2 year olds clothes.  Lo and behold, the fox onesie was reincarnated in 18 months.  I died.  I squealed.  I may or may not have overreacted with joy.

Jude is wearing it today while I am at home to enjoy him in it all day long.  And I can't help but marveling at how different he is now compared to then.  No more sweet little baby.  He is a wild toddler through and through.

Now all that is left are little hints of the baby rolls that once were.

Hungry Hungry

This morning Jude ate:
* all of his breakfast cereal
* a thing of bananas (Jude will still not touch real fruit.  Veggies he loves.  Fruit he hates.)
* 2 large handfulls of puffs
* one egg
* half a piece of French Toast

I'm wondering if he is hitting a growth spurt in time for his 15 month appt.  We shall see.

Jude's funny phone convos

Haha... Jude's conversations from Ashley Doner on Vimeo.

Freight Train

One of Jude's favorite books is Freight Train by Donald Crews.  It was one of the very first board books he got.  At first, I think he liked it because the pictures were so bold and easy to see.  Now he just honestly loves trains.  (Convenient since his nursery is decorated with vintage train things...)  Anyway, it's funny because he really just likes this page.  Oh sometimes we will read other pages, but pretty much it's just this one page.  I sound like a broken record "red caboose at the back, orange tank car next, yellow hopper car".  In fact, I just typed that from memory.  Today I kept repeating this and Jude just smiled in sheer delight.  I guess he likes warm colors.  I'm not sure why else he would be that interested in this page and none others.

Hanging with Pops

Walking in the snow- Dramamine Required

Walking in the Snow from Ashley Doner on Vimeo.

Leaves

Leaves from Ashley Doner on Vimeo.

Kissy Kissy

Jude loves to look at himself in the mirror.  He has also started giving sweet, slobbery, open mouthed kisses.  This morning he discovered himself in the overflow drain of the bathtub.  He kissed himself.  So sweet!

Book de Jude

Last night, I caught Jude crawling in to the empty bookshelf.  (incidently, the bookshelf is empty because Jude insists on destroying everything in it.)  Anyway, lately he just crawls in to places and will lay down for about 30 seconds.  It's so cute!  You can't exactly tell, but he is completely laying down in this picture, resting his little head on his hands.  So adorable!

Snuggles

This past week our nights have been consistently down in the mid teens.  Very good snuggling weather. Typically, even when its 12 degrees outside, Jude will not ever sleep with any blankets on.  This picture of him all snuggled is rare, and thus, even more precious.  No matter how many pictures I have him sleeping, it never seems to be enough.  There is nothing sweeter.

snow serious

Here are some extra pictures I wanted to post of last weeks snow.

Jude's deep in thought about snow look.

Still thinking...

A cool blurred look picture.

Holly like plant covered in snow in my front yard.

Art pic: I thought it looked really cool how there was this seemless angle and line between the snow on the rooftops and the gray of the sky.  The picture is of the roofs of 2 houses.  You can't really tell where one ends and one begins.  It just all blended together in the white and gray.

Momma loves Jude Pie

Momma Loves Jude Pie- Snow Day Jan 2011 edition

Mooseblood

While at first glance, you may assume this boy has red koolaid, you would be wrong.  When M brought this to me, I asked him what it was.  He replied, "it's what we drink."  I asked him what we drink.  He said, "Mooseblood", with as much seriousness as he could muster.  Although most moose live in the arctic, this particular moose was walking along the path behind our school that in theory will one day be paved in to a road.  It was a big moose, and it was shared with other wolves.

GoGoGo

Go Go Go Go from Ashley Doner on Vimeo.

Ky Ky and Chicken

KyKy and Chicken from Ashley Doner on Vimeo.

i wanna play this... no this.... no this....

I Wanna Play This... from Ashley Doner on Vimeo.

CRAASH!!!

Cars crashing from Ashley Doner on Vimeo.

Epic Snowfall- Toddler Meltdown

Snow Pout from Ashley Doner on Vimeo.

Epic Snowfall- Toddlerhood

Snow 1/9/11 from Ashley Doner on Vimeo.

My favorite pics from Christmas

Jude got a Thomas the train ride from Santa.  He is so obsessed with this toy.  I now have all the songs memorized.

He also got some new cars.  He's learned how to say vroom vroom with them too.  Not sure when he picked that up...

One of the cars became a new 'ornament'.  Isn't Jude so sweet to help with the decorating?

Too sweet!

Momma loves Jude Pie- Christmas morning edition

Momma loves Jude Pie- Christmas outfits edition

More of the same

Sorry, I was trying to take good one for a frame...

Jude Bunyan- the lumberjack

More Christmas presents- Tip to new parents: I staggered Jude's presents alllllll day long.  Actually several days.  Jude would get overwhelmed by too many 'new' things.  He just wanted to enjoy what he had.  So I staggered them.  The reason this ended up being so awesome was anytime he was bored or being a 'toddler', I just gave him a new present.  Tantrum solved.

Play set- his other favorite thing

Aunt Jamie

Uncle Joel