Rudy's growing up!

Last night, Jason and I fell prey to the stomach flu that has been menacing our little man this week. We woke up miserable and entirely unprepared to take care of ourselves, let alone a rambunctious one year old. We were desperate, so we called Jason's sweet Mom at 5:45 am on a Saturday and begged her to come get Rudy. She came right away, and kept Rudy all day long. (Hooray for weaning! And Hooray for Mom!!) By the middle of the afternoon, my fever had broken, my stomach had quieted, and I began to miss our little man. It was so quiet in the house. So empty. When Mom brought Rudy back, I couldn't get enough of him. I gave him an extra long hug, and let him stay in the tub 'till his fingers, toes, and soles of his feet were wrinkly, just so I could spend more time with him. Both Jason and I felt like he'd grown an inch since we'd given him to Mom this morning. I know he doesn't really grow that fast, but sometimes it sure feels like it. Rudy's made a bunch of growing up progress lately. Here's a quick recap:


Rudy gave me his very first spontaneous thank you yesterday. It was even after changing his diaper of all things- something that is often a bit of a battle for us. Here are some more of the words he's saying these days:
Home, bubbles, please, no, yes, momo (for lawn mower), grandma (sorta...it was a two syllable word he said after I asked him if he could say grandma. He seemed pretty pleased with the pronunciation, so we decided to count it.), turtle, noodle, basket ball, DVD (DD, to him), ta da, more, peaches, and Daddy (he's been saying Dada about as long as Mama, but just this morning has put the two different vowels together to say Daddy).
Last week Rudy started climbing up on things-chairs particularly. He gets to the top of whatever it is he's scaled and chirps, "Ta da!"

With his increased mobility comes increased opportunity for mischief. Just putting things up on the table doesn't mean they are safe anymore.

Sigh. At least he hasn't figured out how to drag chairs and things over to places he wants wants to reach.
Having some time away from Rudy (conceivably the very longest amount of time I've ever had away from him) as been refreshing and given me more than just time to get over the stomach flu. It's given me a reminder of just how precious a part of my life Rudy is. I love that little guy!