Video Montage: Jasper

I wish I could adequately grasp even myself how much Jasper is growing up and maturing. I'm with him all the time, so I just can't pick out the nuances. However, it's been striking me lately every so often how he's growing up.

His thought level is increasing. He's so articulate and can explain himself well and ask for things with such insight and definition that I do forget that he's not even three years old. Of course, one bout of disobedience usually reminds me. But even then I struggle thinking, but why can he be so "mature" when we're talking about item A and then act like a baby when it's time for item B?

I do not want him to stay little forever. I want him to grow up, to figure out his place in this world and to shift his dependance from Drew and me to God. But, with each realization that he's growing up I mourn the time I have not spent as earnestly playing with him and just enjoying him as a kid. Life goes on and there are other people and other needs to be met. I cannot play with my kids all day every day. But I still want it all and regret that this cursed life does not allot for that.

With that in mind, here is a video montage of Jasper from the past month or so. I can only bracket the videos to a certain span of time since our camera won't record the date. It's so annoying, and clearly I need to figure out some system to identify the date. But oh well ... until then, this is what you get: a hodge-podge. Enjoy!

This is for those of you who have not experienced the depth of Jasper's affection for the Cars movie.

One of Jasper's favorite songs is "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Chris Tomlin. It's on his Hello Love CD. Jasper loves to play it really loud and dance / jump around to it. It's great exercise, and it's a great message for him to have locked into his head. Here are some videos of our dancing.

Since Jasper always gets such a glowing reaction from Benjamin, he sometimes plays to his audience. While Benjamin is in his dinner chair, Jasper has a captive audience and loves to play around. Check it out:

This is one of my favorite videos.

For Drew's birthday, I made cupcakes during the week and carrot cake on the following weekend when we celebrated with our friends. I offered to let Jasper try the buttercream frosting I made for the cupcakes, and he was a huge fan. This is a shift, because up to this point he has turned down all things sugary. (And trust me, this frosting is sugary!) Yes, we have not pushed the sugary stuff, but even when we do he has been completely uninterested. Well, there is a new sheriff in town, and frosting is now high on his list.