Dear Jasper,

Saturday you turned 22 months!  It was also father’s day weekend and I think that we had the best weekend we’ve ever had together.. Saturday we went to your pop-pop’s family picnic in Pennsylvania, they have it every Summer but the last time we went you were still in mommy’s tummy, and on the way home we had to go to the emergency room because you were causing trouble (again. )

This time around it was much more fun. In fact, I think perhaps this party was designed with you in mind. It had ALL of your favorite things, starting with spending all afternoon in the pool with mommy and daddy:

Your favorite thing to do in the pool was sit on the raft and call it your boat (or “moat” as you refer to it!) and use a shovel as a paddle.

Then, you discovered perhaps the best party treat ever for a teething toddler: Make your own snowcones!  There was a big block of ice with a scoop that had an ice shaver on the back.  You didn’t even need the flavored syrups that were supposed to go with it, you just snacked on ice the whole day long and I bet your poor swollen gums never felt better:

And there were tons of other little cousins to play with..

And even the Mummers came to play music!

As if it wasn’t perfect enough, we then discovered a big barrel full of your favorite yellow whiffle bats and next to that, a whole grassy area full of bubbles and wands!

You were getting pretty good at blowing them yourself, and you also enjoyed watching  your older cousins at work:

A cupcake ended the whole wonderful day, and you were all hopped up on sugar just in time to get in the car to ride home. But you eventually did fall asleep, just like you did on the way there (for a whole two hours!)  All in all, I don’t think it could have gone better or been any more fun.

That is, until the next day (Father’s day) rolled around and we spent the morning at the Bergen County Zoo! You were soooo excited because as we were getting ready to go we told you we were going to the zoo to see animals.  All morning you kept asking for the animals, even waking up from a snooze in your carseat on the way there saying “animals!”

When we arrived, you barely knew what to look at first, from the mountain lions to the monkeys, to the cows, sheeps, pigs, buffalo – it was toddler heaven.

You impressed me so much when you saw the Golden Lion Tamarins (Red lion monkeys) pointed and said “lion!”  You knew just what they looked like.  You also loved the alligators. It look a while for you to spot them, they were all laying on top of eachother, blending in with the mottled background. But when you finally did make them out, you pointed and said “cuddling!” which they indeed were (you also pointed and said “in there!” because you kept wanting to go IN the displays with the animals – not such a good plan little guy.)

Every display was exciting to look at, but the most interactive was the budgie aviary.  We bought a feeding stick and walked inside and instantly a colorful little budgie landed right on the stick:

You were curious and a little cautious, telling daddy to get the birds but then wanting them to go “in there” back away when they got too close! But it was that excited kind of scared and I think we will have many more visits back to see the budgies..

The last thing we saw was a big field with some moose and buffalo!  Here you are looking out onto the field with Daddy:

Even leaving is fun, because the last thing you can do is go for a little train ride around the whole zoo!  You loved the choo choo and kept telling it to go faster.

As if that weren’t enough, on the way back to the car is a carousel:

It was the perfect end to the perfect father’s day morning, I think we will make it a family tradition to go to the zoo for every father’s day.

By the time we left it was getting hot and we were all quite flushed and tired, and we entrusted ourselves to the GPS to find the nearest diner to stop for lunch.  I tell you this because it was perhaps the world’s busiest diner and we had to wait for at least 45 minutes before the food came out.  And during all of that waiting, you sat in the high chair patiently… usually I fully anticipate melt down within 5 minutes or less! I was so proud of you.

And then, later that night – perhaps the most exciting event of all: you peed in your potty!!!!!  In typical Jasper fashion you did it YOUR way, which is standing up (ugh!) until we finally forced you to turn around and sit down.  The best part was that you were soooooo proud of yourself that you didn’t want it to end.. you would pee and then say “more!” and keep pushing until a few more drops came out.  I guess all of our cheering was probably a good incentive – potty training has officially begun!

This was a milestone weekend in so many ways, we traveled, we ate, we played and we had fun, not DESPITE you, but WITH you.. I think this ushers in a whole new era of our lives, one that I am so excited to share with you.

Love,

Your mommy.

For those of you that have been reading for a while, you may remember that Jasper has a bit of a shy streak.. ok, a BIG shy streak. Or maybe it’s more of an independent “I don’t do what I’m asked” or participate in group activities kind of attitude (or just Jasper being Jasper = difficult!).   It was most obvious when we were at gymboree and he would practically CLING to me the entire time, and when he did run off and play it was never to do any of the guided activities, or -god forbid- to tap the airlog like everyone else was doing!

It’s taken him three semesters to slowly warm up to the whole thing, only this past semester has he deigned to tap the airlog or go under the parachute but he still steadfastly refused to ride ON the parachute.. until yesterday!

One of the other moms was commenting on how much he’d come out of his shell the past few weeks and I said we would know he had really improved if he ever rode the parachute.. and then, as if to prove me wrong he climbed on the parachute and went for the ride without so much as a whine!

Yay, he’s not the sociopathic/misanthropic kid I was worried he was headed towards being after all.

As if to further prove the point, yesterday he met the little six year old boy who moved in accross the street who has two ride on cars. The boy (Joey) asked if Jasper wanted a ride and I was pretty sure Jasper would be much too shy to oblige. And at first he was, but within ten minutes he was riding around in the passenger seat next to his new friend.  An hour later the two of them were playing together so nicely.. Joey would make a pretend hamburger to give to Jasper to eat and Jasper would pretend eat it and ask for more!!  It made my heart melt.. and even more importantly, Joey’s mom and I got in at least 30 minutes of nearly uninterrupted discussion while the two of them played.

It was like a glimpse into the distant future when my mommy friends and I will sit on lawnchairs sipping cool drinks letting our kids play together in the back yard for hours.. vs the current “playdate” scenario where we are usually chasing after our toddlers who are running in opposite directions and yelling to each other what’s new in our lives.

So that’s the good news..

The bad news is that Jasper is still crying himself to sleep on the floor at night :(  We had a complete step backwards the night before last when Jasper figured out how to open his bedroom door.  We had no choice to bring him into bed with us pretty much the whole night which meant no body got a good night’s sleep.. last night Jeff installed a latch on the outside of the door so it was back to crying alone, sleeping on the floor. Thank god it was only about 5 minutes last night, but I really wish he’d get into his bed after he’s done protesting!

Have a great weekend everyone..

flyaways front

flyaways side

inspecting his pompadour-with-mullet in the mirror!

the motorcycle was the perfect distraction..

taking a little off the back..

and a little off the side..

fauxhawk!

touching it up.. all done!

He did really really good, the only tantrum he threw was when they tried to put the smock on him, which is why you see him smockless in these pictures. It worked out ok because she was saving the clippings to put in a little baggy they attached to a “first haircut” certificate. Personally, I find the old hair in a bag thing slightly maudlin, but I’m not going to throw it out or anything.

Now that he looks so handsome, I sort of wish we’d done it sooner!

All images shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 50mm 1.4 Lens using available light.

Somewhere along the way I stopped reading those  “What you can expect” books that tell you month by month what your baby should be doing, so sometimes I’m get completely floored by milestones like this.    That’s the wonderful thing about toddlers, they never stop surprising you!

“teatoo for the dental floss mommy!”

This is too funny not to share..

There really aren’t any words that Jasper says regularly that I don’t understand, so imagine my surprise when he started saying what sounded like “boobies” when asking for things recently. I could NOT for the life of me figure this one out. No one says boobies to him (that I’m aware of!) so I just couldn’t imagine what he was saying or why he was saying it.

This morning I finally deciphered his code: Boobies = “more please!”

Why he says some complicated words with perfect diction (including the word more and please) but others he just totally botches is beyond me, I’m just glad I finally figured it out!

Phew.

The funny thing is, at the same time that this “more please” appeared he also started saying “teetoo” (thank you) whenever you give him anything.   Who is this polite little toddler and what has he done with Jasper?

I’m taking the fact that I haven’t gone particularly out of my way to stress manners but he’s still picking them up on his own as a very good sign.  I may just produce a productive, contributing little member of society after all!  Just not sure I can take credit for any of it :)

I'm a big kid now!

When we were shopping for cribs I remember just wanting something clean, modern and inexpensive. Whether or not it could convert to a “big boy” bed wasn’t really at the top of my list of priorities.   Imagining my as of yet unborn child sleeping in a toddler bed seemed like something so far off in the future.. like when hovercraft and teleporting are invented.  In short, something I couldn’t even comprehend.   Of course you don’t need me to tell you that it goes by faster than the blink of an eye and that future is just around the corner!

Jasper has two cribs, one at becoming home and one at my parents’ house. The one at my parents’ house is really high – I can’t imagine him being able to climb out of it anytime soon – but the sides of the one at becoming home are really short in comparison.  When he stands up the side only comes up to like his belly.    So I’ve been thinking about whether or not that means he’s “ready” for a big kid bed?  Or, more importantly, ready or not if there’s a possibility he might try to climb out and fall! Is this something that needs to be anticipated well in advance to avoid potential injury, or do we wait for signs that he is actively trying to climb out (and risk a fall in the meantime)?

He’s sleeping on a cot at daycare for naps, so I know he’s capable of falling asleep without bars.. I’m just not sure I’M ready!  I have visions of him getting just climbing out of bed and pulling on the door crying instead of sleeping. Unpleasant visions.

So here’s my question to you all, if your toddler has already made the transition to big kid bed what made you decide to go ahead and do it? How did the transition go?  If like me you are just thinking about it, is there a specific age you are waiting for or are you waiting for some sign that he or she is ready?

Seriously, he’s OBSESSED with happy birthday. It started when one of his daycare classmates had his first birthday last week and everyone sang happy birthday to him. It’s a little surprising how he remembered “Happy birthday” from just hearing the song once because he came home from daycare and said it clearly enough to me that I knew what he was trying to say. Then I put two and two together about his friend’s birthday being that day.

Ever since then he demands that we sing it in the car the whole way to and from work/daycare.  Well, actually he demads that I sing it, his contribution is shouting out the people we have to sing happy birthday TO, including bear, mum-mum, pop-pop, daddy, mommy etc.

Then, once we’re home he runs to the computer and insists that I play him the video I put together of his first birthday party which has a song that says “Happy Birthday” in it a whole bunch, but his favorite part, of course,  is at the end when everyone is singing Happy Birthday to him.

I may be a bit burnt out on Happy Birthday, but on the bright side I’m happy he’s s already starting to appreciate my meticulous video documentation of his life! :)

Neither of us ever taught him or showed him how to use a twist top, so when he did it once I RAN to get the video camera, quite sure it was a one time fluke I’d never catch on tape. But then he did it about 4 or 5 times in a row!

Isn’t it just the best thing in the world to watch these little scientists make their discoveries?

He’s been saying mama and dada consistently when he means us for a while now, but two weeks ago he started saying “uh oh” which sounds a bit like “ah oooh” when he says it. It’s the cutest thing EVER. Somehow, even though he walks around repeating it for 20-30 minutes at a time I have STILL been unable to capture it on video! Lately, my attempts with the video camera provoke all out tantrums when he sees the video camera and can’t have it. Hence the lack of videos over the past month or so.

So I have to distract him with things like food, or in the second part of the clip playing with the toilet and the toilet paper holder. Yeah, I’ll do anything for the blog (or let jasper do anything apparently!)

He still didn’t say uh oh, or his most recent language acquisition “no” , but he does grace us with several bye byes (which he says as bah bah) and banana (which is usually nana or sometimes nadah) and throws in a daddy too.

The thing is that he’s an incredible mimic – EVERTHING we do gets mimicked back to us (yawns, snorts, sighs – you name it!) so I have no doubt that now that he’s begun to form words they will start flowing pretty rapidly.

But for now, we have “bye bye banana” and that’s good enough for me:

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

I took so many photos of Jasper this weekend that I wanted to share but haven’t had time to edit them properly so a video will have to do!

My dad reminded me that I should be taking more videos of Jasper walking before he gets too good at it so we remember what his little wobbly walk looked like.  Jasper was happy to oblige, and even added in two bonus skills: Doing the baby sign for “eat” (hand to mouth) and demonstrating his understanding of sequences by putting the comb on his hair.

The crazy thing is that he understands EVERYTHING now. If I say “Jasper go get the monkey book” he will actually go and get it and bring it back to me. If I say “Jasper, where are your shoes?” he does the same thing! I’ve actually found myself starting to spell things already.. things like S-I-P-P-Y, because if I mention the word while he’s in his highchair still eating he stops and goes CRAZY until I give it to him!

I guess it’s all downhill from here..

:)