Hung-ee, Hung-ee Surgeon

Yes, we are overdue for a Jude update. If I were not so busy alternately cuddling him and keeping him out of trouble, I would have more time for writing about him!

Many people have commented on Jude's large and fluent vocabulary for his age. He still has the toddler pronunciation going on, and he's not, usually, talking in complete sentences, but he does have a lot of words. I love to hear him say "Hung-ee!" as he charges for the fridge several times a day for his favorite snack—the cheese stick. (Well, I love to hear his cute way of saying "hungry," but I do not love the autonomous attempts on the fridge!)

Jude communicates pretty clearly and politely most of the time. He generally minds his P's and Q's. He (sometimes) says, "Okay," when I ask him to obey. He has also started really singing prayers and hymns with us and clearly knows the words. He was having a pentecostal period for a while and would spontaneously shout out, "Praise God!" (This is very fitting, since his name means "Praise.") Some of my favorite words to hear from his mouth are the request, "Mama, big hug!" He is more and more a big boy but still likes to cuddle.

Others have commented on his fine motor skills. A couple who sat behind us in church one Sunday watched him draw tiny circles and lines in his church notebook. Afterwards, they remarked in awe, "He has the hands of a surgeon!"

He has loved drawing circles and doodles since at least 16 months of age, when he would voluntarily sit for up to 30 minutes drawing. When he draws his little circles now, he recites, "/o/, /O/, /OO/," the three sounds of the letter O, in order of frequency of occurrence in English. He can't help learning his phonograms along with Katherine during homeschool. He even begs to do his own version of "Penmanship!" when she does hers. He also loves to sign and is working on signing his letters and numbers. He thinks it is great fun and laughs when he gets a new one for the first time.