Cool Kid

Is this one cool kid or what?

(fyi: his shirt says, "I do all my own stunts"

and yes, he's walking around listening to Jack Johnson)

iBert Seat

I don't want Jasper's blog to turn into a product showcase, but I'm a huge fan of the iBert safe-T-seat (http://www.ibertinc.com/). Instead of having your child on a seat right behind you or in a trailer behind, the safe-T-seat attaches to the stem of your bike. Jasper sits right in front of me, and I can see what he is pointing at as we cruise down the road. I had to do some adjustments to Erica's bike to have the seat fit without my knees bumping into the seat while I pedel, but it was worth the effort. Jasper and I went for a ride today, and I had a blast. Jasper had a good time as well. Many thanks to my friend Paul who turned me on to the seat.

Playing in the Park

We don't typically go to the park as a whole family. Usually, one of us takes Jasper to the park while I am at work or when I give Erica time to accomplish a task that otherwise won't get done. However, we have been to the park the past couple of weekends as the 3 of us. It affords us the ability to take some photos that otherwise can't be captured. Despite our sincerest requests, we still only have 2 arms each.

To better keep track of Jasper on the playset, we have him "climb" up the front of the slide. He likes the effort.

Not sure what we were doing here, but it made for a fun picture.

This was a particularly scary part of the swing ride based on both of them screaming.

Jasper is showing off his conga line technique. Actually, Erica caught Jasper while he is trying to catch his balance after a mis-step. He did stay upright, FYI.

Antics of a 14-Month-Old

Jasper is a funny kid. There are some things that he just loves. One of those happens to be the school pictures of his cousins, Linnea and Karin. I have them attached to a clip magnet on the refrigerator low enough so he can reach them. He loves to come up to the frig, pull down the pictures until the magnet hits the break between the frig and freezer and is free for him to take with him. ... and take them with him he does! He carries those pictures all over the house. Generally they stay together, but sometimes I find them separated. They're beginning to show their wear, but he still loves to carry his cousins with him.

This green collapsible sac generally holds all his animals. Lately he's been picking up the sac and, with great flare, emptying it completely. He doesn't generally do much with the animals once they're all on the floor ... but he loves to empty the sac anyway. Yesterday I decided to see what he'd do if I put the sac on his head. Turns out he loved it! It fit perfectly over his head. He walked around blinded by the sac, but he also figured out if he pulled on the front of the sac a little he could see out the bottom to see where he was going. He walked around the ottoman multiple times this way.

Lately I've been working with Jasper to recognize and respond to the command "come." Most of the time he would just stare at me. I knew he could recognize by the tone of my voice that he was suppose to do something. However, he either didn't know what to do or was just going to be obstinate. I don't know which. We're making some progress currently, and I'm happy to say he comes more often than not. I praise him and thank him generously when he starts coming to encourage him to come all the way. This generally works the best.

So he's also started splashing at the sink. No longer is hand-washing the low-key activity that dominated our past months. Now it is an all-hands-on-deck effort to get him clean and keep the sink area from getting drown in water. Never a dull moment.

Yesterday Jasper also learned how to use his spoon. Lately he's been showing interest in using his spoon when I feed him yogurt. So I decided to let him try using it completely. I got a little yogurt on his spoon and then handed it to him and said "take it to your mouth." He quickly figured out what to do, and it was pretty funny to watch him. Our spoons have a small spoon surface, which is great for his small mouth. However, they are long - so it took him a long time to get it spun all the way around to his mouth. His anticipation while the spoon was turning was visible, and I was pretty much on the edge of my seat waiting for the spoon to make it to his mouth. It did, and we both were thrilled! This is how his tray looked after the yogurt (and after multiple interim wipe-ups by me). It was a mess.

Tonight Jasper used his spoon again to eat the yogurt. Now that he's done it once, he's not interested in just being fed by me. This should be interesting because he's still not getting much into his mouth. It didn't work too well to record this myself while helping him eat. We kind of made a mess. :)

Tonight after dinner Drew started doing some "wax-on, wax-off" moves also similar to the motion Jasper makes to clean off his tray. For whatever reason, Jasper thought it was hysterical and laughed and laughed. Here's a clip.

To Stitch or Not To Stitch?

Yesterday morning Jasper took a tumble. He was in his bedroom, and I was in the kitchen - so I did not witness the actual deed. However, the cry he let out definitely alerted me to his pain. I ran in to comfort him, and after holding him only a short time noticed the cut on his face near his eye. It really bled only a tiny amount. No blood ran down his face, so initially I didn't think much of it. Well sort of. ... I did freak out initially and took a photo on my cell phone which I immediately sent to Drew (on a business trip to Michigan). But in the time in took for Drew to call me back (and after I had considered calling Uncle Jon to get his medical advice) I had recovered my senses a bit and felt it wasn't too bad.

So then I spent a little (lot) more time thinking about this cut. I looked up in the childcare books what was to be done about cuts and read that face cuts should be stitched for cosmetic reasons, especially ones over the eyebrow and lip lines. This cut did not cross the eyebrow line, so I didn't think it was of much concern. However, I considered that this cut might leave a scar on Jasper's face. I'll admit that "chicks dig scars," often quoted by Ryan Connelly, ran through my head over and over throughout the day as I contemplated the risk of leaving the cut untreated. I mean, was this really true? What if my son wanted to be an actor or a model? What if my decision to not have this treated left him with a really noticable scar? Or would he grow up (hopefully) with no vanity about his gorgeous Scandinavian-inspired good looks? How could I know?

So I called the pediatrician's office and was advised after multiple phone conversations that I should take Jasper into the ER to get stitched by a plastic surgeon. (The nurse did actually call multiple plastic surgeon's offices to see if we could get in, but we couldn't.) After a tearful phone call to Drew I gathered up my confidence to stock our diaper bag for a potentially long visit to the ER. Our friend Teri Burchfield was heading to our house for a visit, so together we conferred about the cut and examined it more carefully. It was no more than 1/4 inch long, and the fact that it did not bleed much led me to believe it was pretty superficial. Because I just didn't want to expose Jasper to the ER if we didn't need to but was concerned about my selfishness getting in the way of taking care of him completely, I couldn't decide what I should do. Therefore I thought I'd leave the decision to our pediatrician. She wouldn't be able to stitch it up, but we were really hoping she wouldn't even think it needed stitches.

Thankfully Dr. Sharp didn't think we needed stitches! woo hoo! She cleaned it, tried to pry it apart to then get it closed more tightly with steri-strips - but she actually couldn't get it to pull apart. So she covered it with a steri-strip and called it good. Here we are after the doctor visit.

A Visit from Papa and Grandma Jasper

Last week Grandma and Papa Jasper made their annual winter pilgrimage to Texas. They got some great sunny weather, and the very first day they were here we enjoyed lunch on the deck. It was picture perfect! They got lots of one-on-one time with Jasper while I was at MOPS on Friday morning and while Drew and I spent the majority of Saturday out shopping.

Grandma is the best at giving positive feedback! While she was here, Jasper started building with his blocks as well as knocking them down. Each time he knocked them down Grandma cheered and exclaimed so loudly & excitedly that Jasper was just about overcome with excitement and he'd squeal with her. It was a (loud) hoot-hollerin' good time. :)

Here Jasper and Papa are playing with the new fire truck Papa bought:

For Valentine's Day, Jasper got a Tonka truck bowl from Grandma and Papa. Here he's pointing out the trucks which were revealed when he finished eating the grapefruit in the bowl.

On Sunday we enjoyed another glorious day outside. We lunched at Phil's Ice House which is ranked one of the top places to eat for kids. The playground equipment and Amy's Ice Cream next door of course contribute to that ranking. Jasper loved running around outside, and Drew took the opportunity to test how far he could be from Jasper before he really noticed Drew's distance. He likes doing that kind of thing - running simple experiments with our son.

While they were still here, we celebrated my birthday with Grandma and Papa, Andy & Kathryn Rouse and Mark & Teri Burchfield. As a dear gift to me, Mark did a portrait of Jasper in pastels. It is so beautiful and so captures Jasper's inquisitive spirit.

Reading Books

To our surprise and delight, Jasper still loves to read. Goodness this boy can't get enough books! My friend Denise had breakfast with us a couple weeks ago. Jasper kept bringing her books to read to him. She thanked him, took each one and set it beside her plate saying she would read it when we were done eating. By the end of breakfast, she had quite a stack of books and Jasper held her to her word.




For Christmas, Jasper got some new books from Grandma and Papa Jasper. Two "Five Little Monkeys" books and a lift the flap Elmo book. I didn't expect them to be such a hit, but they are regular reading material. He can pick them out of his crate of books just by the binding. I pretty much have them memorized. The monkeys can't bake a birthday cake without making a mess and eliciting the fire department, and they can clean the bathroom well but then are totally oblivious to how they make a mess when they come running in from picking berries at the swamp. There you have it. I'm sorry if that spoiled the endings for you.

Waiting for Daddy

One of the things Jasper looks forward to every day is when daddy comes home. He LOVES his daddy, and as the time draws nears I encourage him to watch for daddy at the front window. When Drew pulls up, Jasper bangs on the glass and starts squealing, almost crying with eagerness and frustration that he can't be with daddy right now. We meet Drew at the door and do a hand-off. He hands me his bags, so his hands are free to take Jasper up in his arms. Sometimes Jasper then goes outside with Drew and plays in the yard. They have a good 'ol time while I try to get dinner pulled together. Here are some photos of their play time in the yard.

Jasper likes to bang on the tires of the 4Runner:
check out the plants:
climb on the rock:
and generally run about the yard:


he's also been working on stepping up and down, and he's getting pretty good:

14 months old

Despite the fact that we're actually one week away from Jasper turning 15 months, I realized we still hadn't posted his 14 month photos. Sorry faithful blogging friends! So, in a flurry of blog postings, I'm going to try to get us up to date.

These photos were actually taken on February 3rd. (Shockingly pathetic it's taken me this long to get them posted, isn't it?)

Here's a little twist on the standard couch photo:
Here are my boys, playing and laughing together:

Jasper's Process for Napping

These two vidoes tell a story of how Jasper fell asleep for one of his naps. It starts with him singing and moving around. The final video shows him sleeping. The singing is very common as he falls asleep, and we wanted to capture it for sharing.

Clow's visit for dinner

We had Jonathan, Sarah, and Zaylin Clow over for dinner last night, and the evening was fun but interesting. Zaylin is 10 months old, and the evening started off very well. Zaylin and Jasper didn't interact much, but things were going well. We then sat down for dinner, and something odd happened.

Zaylin would call out to have her parents give her more food, and Jasper would start crying. Not just a little crying, but crying enough that he would bury his head in Erica's chest while he would gasp for air. We still can't figure out why Zaylin's loud calling upset Jasper so much. In the end, Jasper hardly ate anything, but he still slept through the night despite being hungry. Maybe we need to seek out more opportunities where Jasper shares a meal with kids near his age. He has eaten out with us, but not with other kids. The pictures below are from after bath and before bed.

In black and white, they look like prisoners making a break for it.

Playing with the parachute!

One of the attributes that I love about Jasper is that he is willing to try and make almost anything fun. That attempt may be short lived, but he loves to inspect things looking for how he could use it. He is ALL about texture when it comes to food and often with toys.

We recently discovered that Jasper loves a game that Erica invented. I like to call it, "Playing with the Parachute." While it may be foolish to most if not all of you, we often play this game before bath and bed. When I come home late, this is often the only play time I have with Jasper each day.

The game is very simple. We have a bed sheet on the floor, and we move it around Jasper as he moves around. Sometimes the sheet is under his feet. Other times, the sheet flies over his head.

Because I find it difficult to take action photos with our digital point-and-shoot camera, I'll let this video do the rest of the explaining. I think you will see and hear that Jasper has a good time.

Eating Us Out of House and Home

Not long ago Drew said, "I'd really like to take a picture of all the food Jasper is set to eat for a meal - because it's just so much!" So here are a couple snapshots.

I wasn't quick enough to get this completely recorded for posterity. This tray is actually his second installment of quesadilla pieces. (And yes, he has multiple quesadilla pieces shoved in his mouth - perhaps three. I wasn't watching closely.)

This is the remainder of the food (pears, peas, quesadilla pieces & yogurt) ... of which he ate almost all of it. I think he actually only had some peas left over. :)

And then for you inquiring minds, this is a typical day's food:

breakfast

1/2 banana

1 medium-size grapefruit (whole thing, minus the extra juice)

1-2 strawberries

~1 1/3 package of instant oatmeal (a 2-1 combo of regular and apple/cinnamon)

sips of whole milk

chased with a handful of Cheerios or cut-up waffles

lunch

1 slice sandwich meat (turkey) or 2 meatballs or 2 silver dollar-sized slices of ham

1/2 sweet potato or ~1/3cup cooked peas (not much variety in the veggie department)

1/4 - 1/2 pear

1/2 cup plain pasta or more macaroni and cheese or 1 slice whole wheat bread

1/2-1 oz cut cheese: monterry jack, colby jack, cheddar or havarti

sips of whole milk (sometimes gulps)

afternoon snack

8oz whole milk and/or ~3/4 cup whole yogurt (fruit yogurt mixed with plain)

dinner

This is often very similar to lunch, just in a different configuration of items.

However, a current favorite item is: chicken & cheese quesadilla (the size of 1/4 a large tortilla). To this we'll add pears, peas and milk.

Recently we've been able to get him to eat just what we were having for dinner. There was no special meal made up for him. I don't generally cook things that translate well for him, especially since our main vegetable is a green salad. But I made a chicken and rice cassarole with cheddar cheese, carrots and ... peas. He generally does not like to mix his food. He will go around the high chair tray and stack up like things, but not dissimilar things. However, he ate the casserole - a lot of it. I realize it's a small thing, but we were pretty excited. :)

Jasper Loves Peas

We have talked with a few of you about how much Jasper LOVES to eat peas. It has been the solid food that he has consistently liked from the beginning. He never would "give pureed peas a chance," but once he took to the real thing he never looked back. We have noticed that Jasper sometimes picks up the pace a little while eating peas. Erica caught him motoring through some peas during a recent evening meal.

First Haircut

Although we know many of you love seeing Jasper's crazy hairdos, it's come to that point in time when we really needed to get his lovely locks clipped. We were getting too many questions of "is it a boy or a girl?" And really more significant is that his hair was hanging in his face way too much. I was often surprised that he didn't spend more time trying to wipe it out of his eyes.

So ... we took the plunge yesterday.

Before the haircut we took Jasper to get professional portraits taken. We don't have thousands of photos of him already, but of course professional ones are considered compulsory. So, to document the last day that he looked like a baby instead of a little boy, we did the deed. Then at lunch, I took Jasper down to the salon at which Teri Burchfield works so the salon owner could trim Jasper's hair. We wanted to retain all the curls in the back and just trim the front and the side pieces that flip out the most.

Jasper did pretty well but definitely didn't like something about the process. He didn't cry the whole time, but it would come in fits and starts. Overall he did pretty well. Teri documented the event for us. Here's a quick recap of what his hair used to look like:



Here we are at the salon. Jasper was not comfortable sitting in the chair alone, so I held him in my lap.

Immediately after the cut was over, Jasper was fine. Here he's making eyes at our photographer, Teri.

Back home Jasper is doing one of his favorite things - playing with my cell phone.

This photo is from this morning. It's not only a look at his hair after it's been washed at home, but it shows off his new molars well too.

Here is a short video of the haircut.