Hudson is SO BIG. It's like he turned 2 and became a bona fide
toddler overnight. He is also super smart. I'm not just saying that because I
am his biased mother. I've had four kids now and he is the most advanced 26
monther yet. He knows all his colors. I will catch him singing the alphabet to
himself. If someone counts to 3, he follows it up with 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Hilariously, the other day we were watching a movie where they said "uno,
dos, tres" and Hudson responded with "cuatro, cinco, seis." Ha
ha. The kid has some mad learning skills. He is also SO assertive. If he wants to
sit on my lap and it is already occupied by someone else, he is not afraid to
start attacking that person yelling, "my lap!" If he wants a book
read to him, he will pull me by the hand and literally drag me to the
couch saying, "Mommy, come." He knows what he wants but he can be
reasoned with as well. I can say to him, "First Judah's turn, then Hudsy's
turn," and he will stop yelling and sweetly say, "K." Our family
just listened to "Beezus and Ramona" and in the book Ramona is
naughty and takes just one bite out of every apple in a box of apples. Not one
week later, we are in the back yard, and I have gathered up a pile of perfect
apples that had fallen off our tree for us to bring inside and eat. Chad
called, I got distracted, and when I get off the phone, I turn around to find
Hudson sitting in a small pile of apples, each with one bite out of them. :) He
has a little runny nose today and he said to me, "Bothering
me." I said, "What's bothering you?" and he said,
"Nose." How cute is that? I think he learned the word bothering me
from the Jungle Book "I Wanna Be Like You" song. "I reached the
top and had to stop and that's what's bothering me." Hilarious.
Hudson has hit his independent phase and he also speaks so
clearly. He is using full sentences and his little voice is just adorable.
He calls himself Ya Ya and refers to himself in third person. He likes to let
me know that he wants to try to do things by himself and not with my help. If
he pulls the thing off, he exclaims triumphantly, "Ya Ya did it! Not
Mommy did it! Ya Ya did it!"
Another something that is so cute I can't even handle is the
way Hudson says the color orange. He knows his colors cold now and
whenever he sees something orange he says "oranges." For example,
"Where oranges socks?" (where are my orange socks?) Gets me
every time.
Hudson also likes to say, "How about me?" when he sees
others getting something he wants. If I give Judah ibuprofen, Hudson is
all in my face saying, "How about me?" If someone gets a cookie
in their Primary class, Hudson quickly asks, "How about me?" If the
kids are getting their snow boots on to go outside and play, "Hudson comes
running over, "How about me?"
The Light of the World statues at Thanksgiving Point
Over the holidays, when the kids and I walked into Candlelight Christmas, like
hadn't even crossed the threshold of the gift shop to get our tickets, Hudson
tripped in his clunky snow boots and hit his head on a cabinet. I picked him up
because he was crying and felt something wet all over my face. I looked at his
head and he was bleeding everywhere! I rushed him downstairs to the bathroom
(where the hilarious kid started screaming, "No watch a
movie!" because we had watched a short film on the Mormon pioneers last
time we were there), and cleaned him up. The cut was about a 1 cm linear
laceration, just behind his hairline. I thought we should get it stitched up.
We have never had a child get stitches before. I didn't think it would be a big
deal, so I stayed with the kids at Candlelight Christmas and had Chad run him
down to the Holladay location of Medallus for stitches. Unfortunately, Phil
didn't feel comfortable doing it because Hudson was screaming and being his
crazy self! Ugh. Phil encouraged Chad to take Hudson to Primary Children's ER
but I said I would rather do it myself. So Chad came back to This is the Place
and switched me spots. He stayed with the kids while I brought Hudson down to
the Sandy location of Medallus. Daniel Offret was there, and he used to work in
the ER so this was no big deal for him. He stitched Hudson up while I held
him tight. That Hudson is a fighter and he screamed his little heart out til he
fell asleep. I felt so peaceful and grateful that we had it taken care of, and
were also able to keep him out of the ER. Poor little guy.
Scofield
Hudson. Hudson. Hudson. Oh my goodness. He is our most
"spirited" child by a million miles. I don't know what to do with
him. Everywhere I go, it's a disaster. Yesterday, Judah had gymnastics and
Hudson was running all around the mats with his shoes on, and jumping on the
little trampolines yelling, "I in nastics! I in nastics!" It is cute
but he absolutely refuses to listen to me, so things like this always
end up ugly, with me hauling him off while he is kicking and screaming. I try reasoning
with him, I try bribing him, I try humor, and occasionally something works, but
typically he has a mind of his own. He is incredibly demanding, but
simultaneously extremely polite. When he is done with his meals, he starts
screaming from his high chair, "Get me outta here!!!" This scream is
on repeat until either Chad or I can get ourselves over to him, whereupon he
immediately gives the sweetest smile and with the friendliest voice says,
"Thank you." This is all very funny to me as I am typing this, but in
the moment, when 3 other kids are also screaming for things and the phone is
ringing and pots are boiling over, I get so flustered and frustrated and I just
want to explode.
Back to yesterday. The only other place at gymnastics besides by
the mats, is upstairs on the...bleachers. The worst! Hudson is running and
climbing all over those things and falling endlessly. He screams and cries when
he gets hurt, and then immediately returns to his kamikaze ways. I am chasing
after him, weaving through people, it's a nightmare. His diaper was stinky and
he simply would not come to me so I could change him. He kept crawling higher
and higher up the bleachers with a come-and-get-me smirk on his face.
Finally I tackle him and get him to ground level, and he is screaming because he
doesn't want to be changed in the private hallway around the corner, he wants
to be changed right in front of the entire bleacher crowd!
Despite this exasperated rant, I do love Hudson. He can be so cute and cuddly. I love when he
crawls into my lap or arms and puts his head on my shoulder. He is getting into
picture books instead of board books and I am so happy about that. No more,
"This is a dog. This is a hippo." I can actually read him the words
and he is interested. The other day Chad was putting Hudson to bed and he said,
"I'm going to get your banky (blanket) and bop (paci) and we are going to
go to bed, ok?" Hudson looked Chad defiantly and said, "No K!"
Judah was recently helping Hudson say a prayer (whispering the words
in his ear) and when Judah would say, "Um," Hudson would say,
"Um."
Hudson gets attacked in the mornings. As soon as he wakes up, Chad
or I are usually holding him, or we bring him to our bed with us. As
the other kids wake up, they immediately start clawing at Hudson, pulling on
his legs if he is in our arms, or climbing all over him if we are in our bed.
Poor Hudson screams, "No! No! No!" but the kids can't help
themselves. They just want them some Hudson hugs when they wake up. I do too.
He is so nice to cuddle.
Hudson is such an amazing talker. He basically speaks fluently
now. It's so impressive. I think he's gonna be a smart one. His little voice is
just to die for. And he leaves the "s" sound off the first of words.
He is OBSESSED with the Scripture Scouts CD and as SOON as he puts his foot in
the van, he starts screaming, "I need cripture couts!" It's so cute.
And sometimes annoying. I have OD'd on cripture couts. At bedtime he says,
"I need a tory. I hate songs! I need a tory."
He is one bossy little 2 year old. All the kids will be on the
tramp, and he has no problem getting on and immediately yelling, "Top (stop) jumping
guys! I said top jumping! Let ME jump!" Or if we are in the van and
all talking and he can't quite understand everything, ye yells, "Top
talking! No talking!" He thinks he's in charge. And he kind of is.
He is also very exuberant about life. He can get excited about
just about anything, and he jumps and skips around and runs into my arms with
excitement. He has this happy little "Yep!" instead of yes when I ask
him questions, and sometimes it’s a cute little, "Yeps!" He also has
a really perky "Welcome!" for you're welcome, followed by him running
away on his cute little legs. He often uses "welcome!" for please,
which is just the cutest. I'll set him in his chair to eat and he'll say,
"Welcome!" Or I'll give him his sippy cup and he says, "Welcome!"
Last Monday I said, "After we get dinner cleaned up it will
be time for FHE." Hudson, who had been silent the entire meal, yells out,
"Why Mom?!?!"
Another day, I had told him that Rosie Spencer was 2, and when he
realized that he and Rosie were the same age, he got a big grin on his face and
said, "She's a baby!" Ever since then, he has been much nicer to her.
He has accepted her into his circle and they play so well together. The
Spencers sit on the row in front of us in church and Hudson gets under the
bench and says, "Rosie! Where are you Rosie?" and then she will get
down on the floor, "Here I am!"
Hudson decided to inquire about the other Spencer children as
well. One day he said to me, "What Eliza's number?" At first I
couldn't figure out what he meant, and then I said, "Oh. You mean her age?
She's 7." Hudson smiled big and said, "Ooooh." Then, "What
Isaiah's number?" "Isaiah is 4 honey." "Oooooh."
"What Charlie's number?" "Charlie is 9 sweetheart."
"Ooooh." Hudson felt very enlightened and knowledgeable.
We had booked tickets to see the children's production of the
Wizard of Oz with my parents before my mom's big heart attack. We ended up
still going and then Dad spent the day with my kids while I spent the day
helping Mom get settled (she had come home from the hospital the day before).
The wicked witch of the west was scary!!!! She had a deafening cackle and
they played loud music and smoke and it was very intense! I had poor little
Hudson on my lap, and the first time she came on, he practically jumped from my
lap to on top of my head and clung on for dear life. His heart was pounding!
Then I began to smell a stinky smell. The poor thing was so scared, he pooped
his diaper! Just a little squirt. But, that's some real fear! I took him out.
Poor little thing. I feel bad subjecting him to that. I hadn't anticipated the
witch being so intense!