Making a Mess

Jasper is a really good eater. He's taken to solids well and polishes off amazing amounts of oatmeal, vegetables and fruit. Last night we introduced bananas, and they too were a hit. Feeding isn't a battle, which we consider to be a huge blessing! That's not to say he doesn't get messy.

Jasper has started trying to hold the spoon again while we feed him, and that means sometimes he grabs at the spoon and gets some type of pureed food or oatmeal in his hands. And then he invariably rubs his eyes or wipes his face with his messy hand, smearing his face with something that is bound to dry and then be difficult to wipe off. Last night it was oatmeal. If you look closely, you can see oatmeal on the eyelashes of his right eye. It was classic!
We have started giving Jasper tiny pieces of food: chicken, green beans and sweet potatoes. He doesn't reject them outright, but he generally only eats them if we're sitting there shoving those little pieces back into his mouth as he's trying to push them out with his tongue. By the third time or so, he'll chew up the piece and swallow it. He won't pick them up and eat them on his own. We try to trick him into picking them up by putting Cheerios down on his tray along with the other pieces of food. However, he navigates through the mess of food with the precision of an artillery specialist in a minefield and only picks up the Cheerios. He knows what he wants!



Last night, at the end of a very full feeding of oatmeal, green beans, bananas, Cheerios, pieces of chicken and sweet potatoes, Jasper also drank breast milk. We let Jasper hold the bottle on his own, and he can bring it to his mouth to drink. However, he hasn't figured out he has to tilt his head way back to keep from just sucking air, so we reclined the high chair to help him once the amount of milk in the bottle got really low. He did really well and polished off 4oz!

Blue Eyes

I don't think we've ever taken a photo that showcases Jasper's blue eyes so much, so I can't resist sharing it.

9 months old

The resounding comment people make about Jasper these days is how l-o-n-g his hair is. It's true. His hair is pretty long. When it's neatly tucked behind his ears, it looks adorable. When not, it can look more than disheveled. Guess how it looks most of the time.



I took this 9 month photo while Drew was at work, so please forgive the haphazard nature. It's nearly impossible to keep him sitting in one place for any given period of time. I was bribing him with his x-ray fish, but he still wanted to roll around and try to climb off the couch.

And here he is, practicing that roll. Yep, that's all baby fat on those legs. If it were muscle, he'd be able to pull himself up onto furniture. He isn't yet. Oh well. We're working on it.

see, totally disheveled:

Jasper went in for his 9 month appt last week, and his current stats are:

weight = 22lbs, 3oz (80th percentile)

length = 29inches (75th percentile)

head circumference = 47cm (95th percentile)

Less than an hour before his appointment, I was letting him practice standing unassisted. However, he can't stand like that forever, and I misjudged how close we were to furniture. Yep, you guessed it - he fell and hit his head on a table leg. Thankfully it was on the well worn, round leg of the only antique we have in the house. He only cried for a very short time and then just got mad at me for trying to put ice on it. So, no permanent damage was done, but it sure did leave a whopper of a shiner on his forehead for everyone to see. The doctor's entire office knew about it by the time we left. Oh well.

Pillow Talk

Grandma Jasper made this pillow, and it's pretty indispensable to us. I used it during my pregnancy while I was sleeping. As my belly got bigger, it was my support for Jasper while he was in utero. Now it's our nursing pillow. Jasper has learned this wrestling move that he tries after he finishes nursing. He'll flip over and bury his head in this pillow, and if he finds it on the floor he'll virtually attack it. It's really funny to see. Have a look:

Dinner Table Antics

Jasper joins us at the dinner table most nights. Sometimes he's already done eating, but he just hangs out while we finish eating. On this particular evening, he was a little fiesty! :)

Cheerios!

Initially Jasper couldn't stand Cheerios. He'd play with them a little while he was sitting in his high chair, but once he got one in his mouth he would gag. Seriously! It was hysterical to watch, but he certainly didn't think it was funny. He violently wanted to get them out of his mouth. Now he's warming up to them. He doesn't gag anymore, but he is still working on getting them into his mouth successfully. Most of them end up on his chin or on his shirt. Here is a video.

Stair Climbing

On a hot tip from my friend Ame, Azalea's mom, we bought some doggy steps for Jasper to practice climbing. He didn't like them at first, so we had to entice him up the stairs. Here is a video of me doing that. I was kind of mean, but he's tough. He can handle it! Now he goes up and down without much work on our part. check it out:

Commando Crawl

Jasper is on the move these days, and he is quick. He hasn't figured out how to get his belly off the ground while he moves, but he can still get where he wants to go with little trouble. It's been dubbed the "commando crawl" by our friend Holly Thurman.

You have to be quick to catch him in the act, and most of our photos on the digital camera catch a portion of the event or some stage just after what we wanted. Oh well. They're still fun.


In the time it took our camera to refresh between shots, Jasper made it from this spot:
to here:

check it out here:

Hanging with Daddy

When Drew comes home from work, he really prioritizes spending time with Jasper, and Jasper loves spending time with his daddy.

Here Jasper and Drew are matchy-matchy. Aren't they cute?!

I just love this photo because Jasper's face is so adorable. He loves the remote control.

Down Time

For the past two weeks we've been doing a lot of just hanging out. Our whole family has been sick at some point or another, so we've been surviving not thriving. First Drew was hit with a bad cold, and while he was on a business trip to Kalamazoo, Jasper developed a bad cough which lasted a whole week! It was a nervous week for me as I waited and watched his symptoms to see if he was getting better or worse. I am rounding out the trio with my version of this cold. Thankfully we're close to being on the mend.

Jasper is a blast to be with these days. He's full of smiles & giggles, and his personality just shines through. We have fun together these days, and he greets his daddy with h-u-g-e smiles everyday when he comes home from work.

For a while Jasper used to be completely mesmerized by my hair dryer. We could set him on the bed while I was drying my hair, and he'd just sit there and watch me. It was great! Now he's not so mesmerized, but he still likes it. He just won't sit motionless anymore.

After they left for Europe, Jasper received a cute packaged from Grandma and Papa Jasper. "What's Wrong Little Pookie" is a cute book.

Pool Party

On one of the hot days that my parents were visiting, Erica had the great idea of setting up a kiddie pool that she purchased. At first, it was a complete non-event for Jasper to sit in the water.





Then, I think he recognized some of his bath toys. He started to splash around quite a bit, and it was interesting to see that he splashed a little more vigorously when he was close to my side of the pool.




Finally, he moved onto his belly, and he spun around the pool playing with the toys as he rotated. He really enjoyed splashing around, and we enjoyed watching.



Here's a short video of Jasper's time in the pool:

Grandparents Visit

Last week my parents made the trip down from Ohio to visit Jasper. They wanted to do this before Hope Preschool starts back up for my mom. While they were here, we purposely didn't plan any big activities because they needed their "Jasper fix".



My parents got to do some fun things with Jasper. On top of watching him learning how to crawl (He hasnt' quite got it figured out, yet.), they got to give him baths...


...read him books...


and help him play in the pool Erica setup in the front yard. We were so pleased that Jasper enjoyed his time with Grandpa and Grandma Gant. I continually tell Erica that Jasper is spoilling us with how well he adjusts to new things.

Overall, it was a fun time. Nobody seemed to mind that it was HOT in Austin. The August heat is in full swing now that the rain has slowed down for a while. We continue to try and train Jasper to crawl with his belly off the ground. It won't be long before he will be moving even faster. Life continues to change, and we are enjoying the moments.

Playtime

By 9 months old, Jasper should be pulling himself up on furniture, etc. So ... just like we did when he was 5 months old and had to be able to sit up by 6 months, we're in training mode. Jasper has shown us that he can completely pull himself up onto us. His legs are very strong, and he's arms are pretty strong too. However, I don't think he has his bearings yet to pull himself onto furniture and completely control the situation to keep from falling. So, we practiced propping him up against the ottoman to see how he'd do. He can stand up along side it quite well, and he can even move along side it. It's probably only a matter of time before he's pulling himself up onto the furniture. Perhaps we'll regret this early training. I don't know.

Jasper and I play together everyday, but with no one else here - it's often not documented. I think we've said this before, but Jasper is becoming responsive with us. He laughs in response to what we do and even does things he knows will elicit a response from us. It's great fun to play with him. But beware: with 6 teeth, those playful chomps can pack a punch!

Jasper's bedtime routine is managed by daddy. Drew gives him his bath, gets him dressed in his jammies, feeds him a bottle, reads to him, sings to him and puts him down. It's a long process, but Drew's got it down to a science. Jasper LOVES reading time. He peers over the side of the rocking chair looking down at the basket of books, waiting for Drew to pick one up to read. It's even sometimes a distraction to eating his bottle. Currently he's really trailed off on how much he takes of his bedtime bottle. Sometimes it's only 2oz, when before solids he sometimes took up to 10oz at night. Oh well ... we think he's continuing to grow, albeit slower than before.

Jasper loved green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots and oatmeal. Meats and peas are still routinely rejected. However, tonight we successfully got Jasper to eat about 1.5 tsp of beef ... disguised with sweet potatoes. Have you ever smelled baby food meats? Wow! They do not smell good. I don't want to think about how they taste, and no I am not one of those dedicated parents who think it is required to taste all food given to their kids. I say, just go with Gerber for now. Once we establish a normal palette, then we'll feed him from our own food (which we will have obviously tasted).

We're not giving up on meats, though. With enough training, soon Jasper will be ready to eat at Rudy's.

So Much Activity

Jasper is growing more and more active these days, and by that I really mean mobile.

He climbs on us all the time, and our legs have the bruises to prove it!


His inch-worming skills continue to improve and quicken. He moves off the play blanket with ease and is really not content to be contained in that small area, when there is so much more of the living room ... and the rest of the house to be explored.


After I feed Jasper his solid food, we have a fun little routine. I creep toward him with a wet washcloth saying "I'm gonna get you." He loves that & laughs! I wash his face, and he sticks out his tongue so I can clean his teeth and tongue, too. I also tickle his hands when I wash them, so all in all it's a laugh-a-minute clean-up session. But what he loves the most is to take the washcloth after I've cleaned him up and suck on it or move it from hand to hand, shaking it like a maracas.

8 months old!

On Wednesday, Jasper turned 8 months old. I love the fact that his birthday is December 1st. That way, whatever day of the year it is, is exactly how old he is. For example: February 1, he was two months old exactly. September 15th, he'll be 9 months and 15 days. Apart from him being born at the height of cold and flu season, an RSV outbreak and Whooping cough outbreak in Austin which kept us conservatively home bound for those early weeks of his life, I like this not having to think about how old he is all the time. It's one less math calculation I have to do in my head.

Tonight, while taking his 8 month photo, we had his nighttime bottle on the table next to the couch. He noticed it, and pretty quickly he moved to get his hands on that bottle. The bottle was sitting on a bib, and just as Jasper grabbed hold of the bib to drag the bottle to him, I picked up the bottle and thwarted his efforts. Don't worry ... he got the bottle eventually, and really he isn't going unfed. :)

Jasper is a total green bean fanatic, but he is also showing a growing appreciation for carrots. Sadly, he is unwilling to ... give peas a chance.

Cue the flutes ... this is Jasper's Mission Impossible pose.

Inchworm

In just the last few days, Jasper has dramatically improved in his "inchworm mobility." Maybe all those days stuck inside last week were the trick. Now he's pretty darn quick. Just have a look at this video for living proof. :)



Speaking of last week, amid all the rain and gloom I decided it was time to bust out some new toys. Jasper (and I) needed new stimulation. We got out the Fisher Price Animal Zoo, and Jasper has enjoyed exploring all the animals. The giraffe is an early favorite. It must be the long neck which gives him something to really stick into his mouth. Other than that, the alligator and flamingo are high on his list. I personally find the quail to be adorable. She (yes, I'm claiming it to be a female) looks like a nun in a habit. So cute!

Apart from inchworming, Jasper also spends a lot of time generally rolling around the floor either trying to get to a particular toy or just having fun. He's quite proficient.