Your Royall Blogness: 15 Month Letter

Dear Judie -

We said we would never call you "judie" but it is the main thing that you are called these days. It used to be "Judie with the bootie" but you don't have much of a bootie anymore so it is just Judie.

You turned 15 months while Pop and Gog were here for March Madness, and I'm going to be honest, March 18 came and went and we celebrated Pop and Gog's 38th wedding anniversary but there was no mention of you turning 15 months! It snuck up on me as the 18th has every month since you have been born. 15 months!

You are a boy on the move! If you are not snuggled up on your mama nursing, you are exploring your surroundings. You and your sister are usually in the nude as soon as you get home and you love you go outside and explore and play together. You are my little free range chicken. You like to dig in the dirt, mud and soil. You like to take the rocks from the flower garden border and move them other places. You love to run in the sprinkler and drink from the sprinkler. We have filled the plastic pool and silver tub up a few times. We have even painted. Which was 5 seconds of painting and then you running around and dumping out all the paint into the grass. You are also a little soccer stud! You love to kick the big, purple ball all around the yard and you can kick the ball squarely and with force! Always with your left foot. You have played some basketball too, and you like to dunk it.

You went to Mammoth for the second time in your life! I hope we can keep this yearly trip up. We have declared Mammoth our mountain town, and we had so much fun. You had a fever, but you managed to have some fun while we were there. You played in the snow a bit, loved the snow tube park, and got in the hot tub.

first attempt at "real" painting

popsicles in the backyard

We made it to the beach a time or two this month. One evening we packed a picnic dinner and headed to the beach for the sunset. It was cold!!

Your hair! It still cracks me up. It is longer and the puff in the back is puffier. I finally bought some no more tangles which helps with combing it out, but it is dreaded up again by the end of the day. I am not ready to cut it yet though!

At Arrow's first birthday party. He is your best bud. And you look like twins.

You love to go around the backyard and pick one flower at a time and bring me each flower with a sweet kiss.

We checked out the new neighborhood ice cream shop

"helping" with waffles. You love the batter!

After a skateboarding session we hit up one of our favorite places....On the Waterfront Cafe.

Arrow Orion + Jude William

Cruising the mean streets of Venice, CA

You are a goober. We call you a goober smoocher on the daily. You love to smile and flash it regularly. Even with strangers. When something gets you laughing, you will laugh and laugh and laugh. You are rough and tumble but you give the best, most passionate, open mouth kisses and fierce hugs. When you disagree with something, you will show us immediately by crying and hitting. Even if you are across the room, you will march right over to us and give us a wack. We are working on this...

You seem to be wanting to nurse more these days. I can feel your back molars coming in and this is probably why. You have started to sleep on your crib mattress on the floor in your own room this month, but you are usually in bed with us before midnight. You are up and ready to nurse by 5:30. You like food sometimes. You really love fruit: strawberries, oranges, melon, dried fruit, bananas, berries. You are also an Avocad-HO we like to say. You would it for every meal and sometimes do. You love beans but you are hit and miss with meat. Unless it is from Chick-Fil-A...

You have been giving us a more consistent nap, but it is usually just one a day around 10 am. It can last 30 min-2 hours but it is usually on the short side. We have been putting both you and your sister to bed around 6:30-7.

You are loving books more and more and will SOMETIMES let us read to you and turn the pages! You are communicating more, but you aren't saying many words. Your repeat words have been: uh-uh (for no), mama, dada. You sign with your hands for "milkies" and "all done" (although you tend to cry before you sign). You will hold up little mermaid or another doll and sing the Little Mermaid song "Ahh Ahh Ahh, Ahh Ahh Ahh Ahhhhhh!" and you hold up your mickey mouse doll and do the mickey mouse laugh "ha ha!" and you recently started making "car sounds" like "vroooom vroooom"

We spend a lot of time with the Hintons...

One of my most favorite pics ever. The Royall Kids.

You brought me these jasmine buds one by one with a kiss for each.

You and your sister are best friends and worst enemies. She loves you and dotes on you and is usually looking out for your best interest. She also purposely hits you and pushes you down and screams at you when you touch her stuff and slams the bedroom door in your face, but you know...she loves you. You love to dance together, play ring around the rosie, chase in the backyard and through the house, and you have even started to like watching cartoons together (but you only last through the opening song before you get bored...) I have caught the 2 of you exchanging the sweetest hugs and kisses. When we pick B up from school, you two run up to each other and hug like you haven't seen each other in years. It is so sweet.