Renaissance Man

So lately Jude has been my little Renaissance Man. All you mamas probably know what I'm talking about here. One day your baby is lying there slobbering as usual and the next he's picked up ten new abilities. You're thinking "Where was I when this started happening?" I was talking to my neighbor yesterday about that and she said, "Yeah, three months is one of those times when that happens." Jude is kickin' into high gear development-wise, and it's fun to watch.

Here are a few of the new things he can do:

• Huuuuuge smiles. These days they look like giant slices of watermelon.



• Laughing. When I nibble his cheeks and neck and make scary noises while I do it, Jude give me this frantic, out-of-breath giggle. He also does this when I squeeze his fat little legs.



• Reaching and grabbing. He did this for the first time this past weekend. We were at my parents' house and he was sitting on my mom's lap at the table. In extreme slow motion, he sloooooowly reached for and grabbed onto a ball of tin foil. The look of concentration on his face was hilarious.



• Putting things in his mouth. Now that he can grab things, they make a direct flight into his mouth so that he can find out more about them.



• He's been "standing" since he was three weeks old, but now he can stand up for a long time while holding on to two of our fingers. He looks like such a big boy when he does this, and I can hardly stand it.



• Feeling self conscious and being dramatic. He knows when we're looking at him and starts to act either bashful or needy once he realizes he's caught our attention. He'll also do a kind of fake cry that means he's not really upset... just bored.



• Pulling faces. He has all these new ones now, including one where he pooches out his lips, and another where he sticks his tongue way out so he can feel it on his chin, or catch any airborne lint that might be flying by.



• Playing by himself. He's getting better at this. Now I can leave him under his Baby Einstein play-gym thing, or even on a blanket on the floor, and he'll look around, suck on his fists, and entertain himself.



• Knowing where I am at all times. He follows my every move with his eyes, and will turn his head at impossible angles to keep track of me.



• Being propped. He can hold his head up well enough now that I can prop him in a sitting position. It's a new view of the world and he loves it.
  

Jude is acting so grown up lately that Mona jumped the gun on it a bit. When she wants to play, she'll bring one of us her stuffed weiner-dog toy so that we'll throw it for her. Well, the other day she actually brought it to Jude while he was sitting propped up in one of our chairs. I'm not kidding. She wanted Jude to throw it for her. Of course he just stared at her like, "Duh, I'm an infant."

Jono and I keep saying how we can't believe he's only been around for three months. It seems like he's always been with us now. But then I think about how there are things in my fridge older than he is (like soy sauce, not leftovers), and it seems weird.