We've noticed lately that Jasper's manual dexterity is increasing. In particular, he uses just his pointer finger to touch the piano keys, point to people in the mirror or to features on our faces, flip on / off the light switch and (his favorite) push the garage door opener button. That one he learned all on his own. After watching me hit that button every time we came in from the car, one day (w/in the last few weeks) as we were about to walk through the door between the garage and the laundry room, he reached out his hand, finger extended, to push the button (which is back-lit red). It took a little work b/c he didn't realize the amount of force needed, but now he totally has the knack for it. He pushes the button with either his index finger or thumb, whichever one seems right at the time. He loves to hear the door rumble to open or close and gets a h-u-g-e smile on his face. It's a regular part of our day. I actually look for opportunities for him to open or close the door since he loves it so much, and because it's one really small way for him to help.
Another example of his increasing dexterity is his ability now to look at books on his own. He can turn the pages by himself. He's always been able to grab the page we held out and turn it while we were reading to him. But now, he'll sit in his room and look at books all on his own. He'll carefully separate the pages with his thumbs and look at one page after the next. (This is kind of hard to do with those board books.) He knows on which side of the book to find the pages, so he can do everything on his own. He'll easily sit for 10 minutes or so and just look at books by himself. It's great! On Friday night I fed him dinner and then we went out to grab a quick dinner while the car was getting new tires installed. While Drew & I ate, Jasper just sat in the high chair at Jason's Deli and looked at page after page of his truck book. On Sunday, we brought him into our 4th grade Sunday school class (again), and he sat for a good portion of the class in his stroller just looking at his truck book. He loves that book! There is one book he has a little trouble with. Autumn Walk is shaped like a leaf, so he has a hard time figuring out which side of the book has the pages to turn. But, give him time ... I'm sure he'll eventually figure that one out too.
Kisses all around. You should see him now. He knows what kisses are and routinely gives them to his fishes (Orlando, Goldie, Leeland, Brooks, Roberta and Wynonna), to the baby in the mirror and to mommy and daddy. You do have to be careful that the kisses don't turn into bites. But generally if I tell him, "give ___ a kiss" he'll turn to face the person or thing, open his mouth and lay a slobbery smacker on the target. It's pretty adorable.
Commando who? The days of the commando crawl are slowly coming to a close. Jasper really does prefer to crawl on his knees now and can change speeds without collapsing. Previously his hands couldn't keep up with his legs, but he's got that under control now. The funny thing he'll do is transition onto his feet with his hands still on the floor for bursts of time. He has also started pushing all sorts of toys around the house (either on his knees or his feet), and he gets the most help from an empty diaper box. I guess it's time to bring the walker out of hiding and let him work on his walking since crawling is quite under control.
Another example of his increasing dexterity is his ability now to look at books on his own. He can turn the pages by himself. He's always been able to grab the page we held out and turn it while we were reading to him. But now, he'll sit in his room and look at books all on his own. He'll carefully separate the pages with his thumbs and look at one page after the next. (This is kind of hard to do with those board books.) He knows on which side of the book to find the pages, so he can do everything on his own. He'll easily sit for 10 minutes or so and just look at books by himself. It's great! On Friday night I fed him dinner and then we went out to grab a quick dinner while the car was getting new tires installed. While Drew & I ate, Jasper just sat in the high chair at Jason's Deli and looked at page after page of his truck book. On Sunday, we brought him into our 4th grade Sunday school class (again), and he sat for a good portion of the class in his stroller just looking at his truck book. He loves that book! There is one book he has a little trouble with. Autumn Walk is shaped like a leaf, so he has a hard time figuring out which side of the book has the pages to turn. But, give him time ... I'm sure he'll eventually figure that one out too.
Kisses all around. You should see him now. He knows what kisses are and routinely gives them to his fishes (Orlando, Goldie, Leeland, Brooks, Roberta and Wynonna), to the baby in the mirror and to mommy and daddy. You do have to be careful that the kisses don't turn into bites. But generally if I tell him, "give ___ a kiss" he'll turn to face the person or thing, open his mouth and lay a slobbery smacker on the target. It's pretty adorable.Commando who? The days of the commando crawl are slowly coming to a close. Jasper really does prefer to crawl on his knees now and can change speeds without collapsing. Previously his hands couldn't keep up with his legs, but he's got that under control now. The funny thing he'll do is transition onto his feet with his hands still on the floor for bursts of time. He has also started pushing all sorts of toys around the house (either on his knees or his feet), and he gets the most help from an empty diaper box. I guess it's time to bring the walker out of hiding and let him work on his walking since crawling is quite under control.
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