Jasper's first toy

Mummy introduced a new little creature into Jasper's world -- a stuffed blue dog -- and it has quickly become a favorite. Just look at how he both sleeps and um ... wakes with it.

More Jasper noises

Just a cute video we thought we'd like to share.

Highlights from a Jasper Thanksgiving

For Jasper's three-month birthday and first Thanksgiving, we went up to our friends PJ & Elena's house in Northridge (see original video here) to celebrate with the usual crew, and some new faces as well. There were 11 adults and 8 children all told, though our photo-taking happened to be pretty Jasper-centric, not surprisingly. Here are some of the highlights.


Dan carefully descends the turkey into the deep fryer as Loretta looks on. (Jasper not pictured.)


Here he is. Happy little boy enjoying an unfamiliar play mat belonging to Donovan Donnelly (not pictured).


Uncle Dimo has a soothing influence on the little guy.


Scott and Loretta enjoy a sweet moment with Jasper ...


... until he says something extremely ribald and cracks everybody up. That little wiseguy!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Happy Thanksgiving from Jasper!

Also, happy three-month "birthday"!

An awareness of elephants

Jasper seems to be reaching out and making contact with some toy-like things. He can be occupied for pretty long periods of time in his bouncy chair now, and he seems to be enjoying himself. That's two elephants, one giraffe and one mouse-like thing, if you're keeping track.

Beyond cooing

In the last week Jasper has started really testing out the sounds he can produce with his mouth, from high-pitched delighted squeals to the kind of vocal playing you see here. The first few noises are Daddy trying to imitate the sounds Jasper made, to get him to make them again. But you'll be able to tell when Jasper himself takes over. This video was such a joy to record ... it was one of those "jackpot!" moments when you know you're getting the exact footage you were trying to get. Hooray!

How we're all feeling right now

Sleepy, and with a need to bundle up! It's supposed to be a wet and blustery weekend, and Jasper's gotten a head start ...

Welcome Uncle Alan!

This past weekend Jasper received a visit from his Uncle Alan, who married his Mum and Dad. (To be clear, Alan is not a blood relative, but as Daddy's oldest friend, he might as well be.) So we're doing our best to confuse the boy -- he's got two grandfathers named Alan or Allen, and now an uncle as well! A fun weekend was had by all, in a quick and action-packed 48-hour visit. Thanks so much for making the trip, Alan ...

Sleep-laughing

One of Jasper's cutest new habits is smiling and laughing in his sleep. Of course, whenever a little sleep-smiling and sleep-laughing is cute enough for you to pull out the video camera, you've missed the best part. But the parts we did get are pretty good.




But even babies can have a sixth sense when someone's watching:

Catching up with Momo

Got a little behind on my updating this week, so we'll catch up now with some great photos from Momo's visit, which ended on Tuesday night. Thanks for the wonderful visit, Lucy!


Out cold!


Our only non-video from going to Paradise Cove.


Possibly funniest expression I've ever seen Jasper make -- it doesn't even really look like him!


Three generations ...

Momo arrives!

Lucy, Clea's mum, arrived in town on Friday night. Having just been on a trip through the "Stans" in Europe, she was struck with inspiration by the grandmother name "Momo," which is a Lithuanian term of endearment for grandmothers. Jasper took to her right away!

And we took a trip right away on Saturday to Paradise Cove in Malibu, where we had lunch and did some sight-seeing ... whether the sights were open to the public to be seen, or not.

Bath-time fun

Jasper goofing around in the bath, with some help from us of course.

Elusive signs of happiness!

In case you were wondering whether our little guy has his jolly moments -- they've been a bit fleeting this past week -- here are not one, but two examples of his happy demeanor for your enjoyment!

(And to answer Grandmommy Armstrong's question -- we tried the Nuk pacifier and he does not seem interested in it.)



And here!

Daddy tries to elicit coos

In vain, unfortunately.

Looking and kicking

One of the most recent phases in Jasper's development is that he loves what we refer to as "looking and kicking time." This activity got its name for obvious reasons: It involves Jasper looking around and kicking his legs. And it tends to be located on the left-most cushion of our couch. He can remain occupied with it for relatively long periods of time. And by that we mean up to and including ten minutes.

As seen here: