Big Boy Toothpaste

On Wednesday evening, Jasper used big boy toothpaste for the first time.  I explained that he couldn't swallow this kind, and he'd have to spit it out after he brushed.  He embraced the idea of spitting!!  He'd make the spitting noise, but nothing would come out.  After a while, he seemed to get the hang of it.  I think I'll get him a kids electric toothbrush for Christmas, then he'll REALLY be a big boy!

He says the CUTEST things!

Tonight, Jasper and I were watching a show on HGTV about how they decorate Disney World for Christmas.  They showed how they cover Cinderella's castle with thousands and thousands of lights.  As they lit it up, Jasper watched wide-eyed, and said, "OOH, I can't believe my eyes!"   I had to call Josh right away to tell him that one!

Jasper also thought the flowers and shrubs in the shape of Mickey and Goofy were pretty neat.  I wonder how long it will be before he starts asking to visit Disney World...

Decorating for Christmas

We began decorating the house for Christmas yesterday.  Jasper loves helping decorate the tree and putting out the decorations around the house.  He's especially into the nutcracker collection this year and wanted to 'play nutcrackers' last night.  I like to have a simple tree with just red ribbon, red, silver and crystal ornaments.  This year, Jasper wanted to put more ornaments up, so I let him do that at his level, which happens to be on the lower branches that you can't see from the main part of the living room since the tree is behind the couch...so that worked out well!  We have this dog with a santa hat that plays music and dances when you push his paw, and last night after Jasper was tucked in, Josh heard the dog singing Christmas songs.  Jasper is so excited already about the Holidays.  It's going to be a great month!!

Thanksgiving

We did a lot of celebrating for Thanksgiving.  Last Saturday, we had Josh's mom's side over to our house.  Josh made a wonderful meal of homemade French onion soup, smoked pork shoulder, baked sweet potatoes, fresh green beans with bacon and pecans and a shrimp/cream cheese dip.  Jasper got to play with his cousin Sklyer (10) who was a great sport, because Jasper kept saying, "Friend, come play with me!"  We all played Catch Phrase, which was pretty hilarious.

Thanksgiving morning, Jasper helped me make dressing and Pilgrim Hats (a fudge striped cookie turned upsidedown with a chocolate dipped marshmellow on top and a little yellow icing buckle.)  We had lunch at my Aunt Joyce's house.  Jasper was the only little kid, but seemed to have fun playing by himself.  Then we went to Jack and Judy's and Jasper was thrilled to play with Sklyer and Carter and to see Uncle Derek and Katie.

Jasper and I spent the night at my parents and Jasper, Mom and I went Christmas shopping on Friday.  Jasper was a trooper, and even said, "I love Christmas shopping!"  He picked out his two exchange gifts right away and also chose his birthday party invitations (Transformers!)

I have so much to be thankful for - a wonderful husband, an amazing son, fantastic parents, in-laws, grandparents and extended family, a nice home to live in, a job (and I'm even thankful that Josh has a part time job) and a God who provides for us and loves us unconditionally.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Night at the "Bounce Place"

This evening, Jasper and I went to one his favorite places - Bremen Bounce.  It is an indoor playland filled with the inflatable jumpy things.  They had a special event going on tonight where kids could decorate holiday ornaments, have pizza and play on all of the 'bouncy things' (as Jasper calls them.)

Jasper chose a dinosaur and a car ornament to paint.  The ornaments will be fired in a kiln and glazed, so we'll be able to pick them up next week.  We met my friend, Mindy, and her family there.  Jasper loved her two daughters (7 and almost 11) and they seemed to enjoy playing with him, too.  They bounced, ate pizza and played video games together.  Jasper kept calling them his new friends.  After bouncing (Mindy and I joined in, too!) we all went to Dairy Queen.  Abbi was nice enough to give Jasper the stuffed snowman she won in the crane game before we left.  Jasper said thank you and gave her a hug.

Jasper and the Computer

Jasper has been using the computer for quite a while now and he is a pro at using the mouse.  Just a couple of days ago he actually clicked and drug something!  He can play all sorts of games on different kids websites.  He's learning lots of things from the PBS Kids website.  His favorite is probably the Dinosaur Train games.  He has his own username/profile on our computer with parental controls so he can go to kid friendly websites.  He can double click on the icon to open internet explorer.  Once I get him to a site, he knows how to navigate to find the games.  He's got various games that are educational.  It's a nice change from TV and I feel like he's really learning!

Where Has Fall Gone?

Fall has been a busy season for us and I haven't kept up with the blog.  I'm going to do a quick catch up and try to get back on track!!

9/09
Jasper is:  32 pounds and 38 1/2 inches tall!


As Josh and Jasper approached a train track on the way to daycare, Jasper said, “What are those men doing?”  Josh told him they were fixing the tracks.  Jasper thought about it and then said, “I don’t want the train to hit those men!”  How thoughtful J  We’re seeing him really develop some critical thinking.  He’s considering cause and effect.  He asks ‘why?’ ALL the time now.  We try to give him thorough explanations, but after several ‘whys’ in one conversation, I said, “because.”  He said, “What’s because mean?”  I said, “it means as a result of”  He said, “what’s that mean?”  I said, “something happened to cause something else – there’s a cause and then an effect.”  He said, “oh”


At daycare, Jasper made a footprint picture.  It was blue paint on yellow paper.  When we went to his cubby to get the artwork before we left, he said, “That’s not my picture.  My feet are blue.”  I tried to explain that blue feet plus yellow paper equaled green feet.  He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “No, Mommy, my feet are BLUE!”  I tried to explain it again, and I think he sort of believed me.  


10/09

Prepared all month for his Halloween Party!  Jasper had a great time buying favors, decorations, goodies and crafts.  He enjoyed making invitations and then actually decorating and preparing for the party.  He had 7 friends come to his party and they had a great time.  It was very cute to see all of them in their costumes.  They did a ghost craft, played a few games and had snacks.  


We visited the pumpkin patch and carved a pumpkin together.   We made a scarecrow out of some of Jasper's old clothes.


Jasper dressed as a pirate for Halloween and enjoyed his GENEROUS grandparents when he visited all of them the day before Halloween.  On actual Halloween, he dressed as a fireman and stayed home to pass out candy to 'twick or tweaters.'


Japser loves his pets and has begun playing with Herman more.  Around Halloween, Jasper began calling Herman a 'haunted creature.'

Working on Jasper's tummy troubles.  He saw the doctor and has been on a Miralax/Metamuscil regimen.  We're back in pullups for the time being, but he still pees in the potty.  In fact one day at Walmart, he announced he had to pee, so we hurried to the bathroom.  In the full women's restroom, he said, "Mommy, I have a lot of pee in my penis!"  I tried not to laugh, and had to agree with him!


11/09 


Jasper is: 33.8 pounds 39 inches!!

Jasper loves dinosaurs and enjoys the PBS show 'Dinosaur Train' where he's learning a lot.  He told us that a dinosaur that eats plants and trees is a herbavore.  He can identify several dinosaurs including stegosaurus, brontosaurus, tyranasourus rex.  He told me one day as he was pretending to dig that he was a paleontologist.

Jasper knows all capital letters by sight, some lower case (mostly the ones that resemble the captials and a few others) and he knows most letter sounds.  He can come up with words that start with certain letter and vice versa.

Earlier this month he rhymed!!  He was asked what rhymed with cat and he said rat and mat.

He continues to SING!  Jasper makes up own songs including the tune and words.  A lot of times the words even rhyme.  He likes to play or pretend to play drums, guitar, horns,  He also likes to dance.

His memory continues to amaze us.  About a month ago in church the message was about the burning bush and there was a picture of it on a screen in the front of the church.  He was intrigued.  This morning, the pastor mentioned the burning bush, and Jasper began craning his neck looking for the screen and picture.

He loves to draw and make crafts.  He will tell us what he's drawing.  He can make rough faces, shapes

He pretends to write and read.

Jasper recently discovered he LOVES everything.  He will often say, "I do love helping Mommy!"

He likes to help wtih 'recipes' (we made buckeyes recently and he enjoyed the whole process)

Jasper enjoys helping wash dishes especially using the sprayer and lots of bubbles.  He actually does a decent job of rinsing things before I put them in the dishwasher.

He enjoys helping daddy outside and in the garage.  Last week we raked leaves and he loved taking a 'leaf ride' in the trailer.  Today, he and Josh built a bird feeder and painted it.  (Jasper's color choices were bright green and orange!)