Appreciate the Arts

When Ryan and I went to Paris a couple years back, I remember being proud to announce that we 'did the Louvre' in about an hour. We grabbed a map, hit the highlights and were on our way. When you're running on a time limit, you do what you can!

Looking back though, I feel like it was such a shame for us to not spend a little more time taking in the art and finding pieces that interested us instead of just crossing things off of a list. The Louvre after all is one of the most famous art museums! Who are we to down grade it's importance???

So, when making my 101 list I decided I wanted to actually walk through a museum and appreciate the art. When asked if I wanted to go to the Philadelphia Art Museum, I thought it was the perfect chance! Well, one thing led to another, the morning was rough after Jude hardly slept and when my company bowed out, I figured I too would take advantage of the rainy day and sit at home. But at that point, we were dressed, lunch was packed, and we were ready to walk out the door. So, I for in the car not sure where I was headed. Would we detour at the mall for story time? Meet Ryan for lunch? Try out the Children's Museum? Go to Philly alone? Once on 95 we were decided on the Children's Museum. However, getting off the exit to the riverfront, I passed 'The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts'. Then I saw the big 'free!' sign and decided to stop.

Aparently DCCA is ALWAYS free and has regularly changing exhibits! They also have program for young kids in a children's classroom! All of which was very interesting to me!

Jude and I browsed the 5 or so rooms of different collections. I pointed out colors, laughed at the asking price of some of the pieces and was puzzle by what some consider to be art. Some of the stuff was really neat though. One exhibit had a tape playing, where someone had take a photo of JFK and somehow moved his eyes and lips so it looked like he was talking... And had him giving a speech. That was jude's favorite. He also liked this plush wall of polyfilled colorful fabric.

I'm pretty certain my favorites were some oil paintings that had some geometric/optical illusion stuff going on and a series of digital prints. I'm sure I love to visit a museum of just photography after that one room. It's amazing what one can do with the camera.

All in all we were there about an hour before Jude decided it was time to go. I think it is something I'll keep in the back of my mind as a place to visit on other rainy days.

Where has the time gone?

I often wonder at what point your baby becomes your toddler... when does you toddler become a child? a teenager? an adult? Is it those milestone birthdays?

For someone you don't see every day, these transformations happen in segments. You see the infant grow into an adult in pieces at thanksgivings, Christmases and Birthdays. Then, before you know it, you're marveling over how quickly the time has gone. I'm currently doing this with my younger siblings. One is about 10 years younger and the other 15 years younger. I see them every now and then and always catch myself wondering when the little kid who used to tag along behind us turned into this rebellious teenager. I remember at the rehearsal dinner for my wedding, my brother Scott was standing next to me. For some reason I looked down and realized he was not standing on the curb next to us. He was in fact standing on the same level ground I was. However, somehow in a matter of a couple of months he had grown a whole head taller than me.








It then makes me wonder about my own child. At what point will he come running into my room in the morning without the soft round features of a child? Or even worse, at what point will he just not run into my room in the morning? When will those hugs. Those deep, amazing, loving hugs disappear? When will he start to be embarrassed at the thought of HUGGING HIS MOTHER IN PUBLIC? At what point will he not want to nap on me? But instead will prefer the solitude of his bedroom. Perhaps even locking the door behind him so that I can't creep in just to watch him peacefully sleep? When will the nursery become his bedroom - and eventually be plastered with posters and other relics of his interests?

Already, it feels like he's been part of our family forever... while other times it seems like just yesterday he was born.







At what point in his life will it come time to pack up all of his toys and eventually turn his bedroom into just another guest room... in what will be an over sized home for just Ryan and I?




What about making him laugh? Everything I do makes him laugh... he laughs just because I laugh. He laughs at the dog running down the steps. But even I know that eventually... I won't be funny to him.






Every day I look forward to discovering new pieces of Jude's personality - his attitude, his taste, his cuddly-ness. I look forward to seeing the types of friends HE choses for himself, instead of the ones that we chose for him. But, it's times when I sit here and wonder about his future that I try to hold on to who he is today too. It's times like today that I want to hold him instead of holding his hand while he tries to wabble around. That instead of going for a run, I sit on the couch and let him nap in my arms. That I don't regret the decision to let him sleep with us in bed - and that I'm grateful for the times that he lets me carry him. It's times like today that I put the camera away and instead of making a memory through film, I'm making a real memory.






The past couple of weeks I have been filling every waking hour with preparations for Jude's first birthday. Finishing touches on the house, landscaping the front yard and deciding on details for the party. But I think about it and wonder if I'm just filling this time to avoid the truth. My son is turning one. The first year of his life is quickly coming to a close. This first year, he has probably learned and experienced more for the first time than he will for the rest of his many years to come. He has more than doubled in weight, acquired a variety of motor skills, is beginning to communicate and recognizes those people who chose to make themselves a significant part in his life. While his future holds an endless amount of possibility, I'm pretty sure this first year is the most significant part of his future. I'm so thankful that I've had the opportunity to spend this time with him.







But even though I'm nervous about the future... about growing beyond this period of infancy, I'm excited. I'm excited to see the person he becomes and the interests that he has. I look forward to teaching him more and watching him grow.






And yes, I'm even looking forward to his teen years. The years where I'm sure I'll want to pull my hair out and scream. I look forward to reading back over these blog entries and thinking about all of the things that he's done. How our family has matured and become complete with him.






As I say every month, I wish I could just bottle up a little bit of this 11-12 month old Jude. The Jude who just the other day was peacefully sipping away from a cup on the floor - and then I walked in the door. He threw the cup and if one can 'run' while they crawl, he ran, to me.





This Jude who is learning what things are and how they work. He loves using 'real' things. By real things, I mean things that grown ups use. He'll get his own screw driver while Ryan's working and mimic him. He'll grab his own wash cloth and dust like mommy. He'll try to figure out how to hook the hose back up to pop-pop's nail gun - because he knows it won't work without it.




Our outside time is teaching him new things too. He helps me pull weeds, he throws rocks and he eats strawberries (that aren't quite ripe) right off the bushes.




At one year, he has eaten at least 1 pound of dirty, but when tempted with a cupcake at his 1st birthday photos, he didn't want anything to do with it.

He still sucks his thumb, he still nurses and he still fondles my breasts as a source of security. He goes to sleep easily at night, but some how he know JUST when we're going to bed, because he begins to stir in his room to indicate that he wants to be in bed with us.

He says "what's that?" points and says "that" when he wants something and is just all together amazing. I look forward to the next year and can not wait to see what that brings for us.

But for now? I have a birthday cake to decorate :)

Side note: I'll be posting Jude's 12 month toy box picture later.

In his arms...

This morning has been a busy morning. Spring has given me a new spirit to "get shit done".

For example: the other day, for no apparent reason, I decided to paint the laundry room. You might be wondering why I chose the laundry room, when there are so many more important rooms to paint/decorate. The only reason: I already had everything I needed to do it. I had glossy white paint (to cover the pea green/yellow cabinets and touch up the trim), flat white paint (for the walls and ceiling), and a collection of other colors left over from other rooms in the house (to add an 'accent wall' behind the washer and dryer). So, probably two-three days ago now, I began painting this 4x5 (ish) sized room.

From previous painting experience, this should have taken 4-5 hours of one day... start to finish. But as I said, here we are days later... and it's still not done. I'm pretty sure I've spent just as much time cleaning brushes and setting up as I have actually painting.

This morning though, I woke up with the drive to finish it today. So, I throw on some old clothes, put Jude in his high chair, put breakfast on the tray and got to work. Well of course by the time I got the supplies back out, paint poured into the tray and washer moved out of the way, Jude was ready to get down. So, I stopped what I was doing, cleaned him up and made sure there wasn't anything he could get into - and set him free.

I thought for sure I'd need to stop at least a hundred times to redirect him from one object to another, but I was wrong. He played all by himself for a good 1.5 to 2 hours! I kept peeking out at him and he was just as busy as can be. He'd look up at me, smile and get right back to what he was doing. I'm pretty sure a good 30 minutes of this was spent with him crawling through my laundry pile.

Before long, I found a good stopping point and decided to put him down for a nap. I washed up and walk into the living room where he was busy playing a reached down for him. Then it happened. The best hug a mother could ever ask for. He wrapped his legs around me, held onto my neck a squeezed. After a good thirty seconds or so of squeezing, he let go, stuck his thumb in his mouth and cuddled close. Now, I've had plenty of Jude hugs before, but this one was just so special. Just when I thought to myself "look, he's perfectly fine playing all alone", he reassures me that "no, I still need you mom".

Ahh... the simple things in life.

Happy St. P's Day

Today was BEAUTIFUL!

Jude and I started our day by meeting Katy for lunch and then spent the afternoon in the park. It was great! The weather was amazing!

Katy and walked the park and then we took Jude to the playground to play on the swings and crawl around a bit on the play sets.

We ended the day with a last-minute BBQ.