silver linings and quilt tops
5 years ago
Warming Up
It took J nearly two weeks to finally get over some of his mama attachment and spend time with his Grandma Seegert. After two weeks, during the last hour of our time there, he warmed up.
Frog and Toad
One of Will's favorite early readers is Frog and Toad. How delighted he was to have his own frogs and toads at his grandparents house! He actually slept one night with a tiny toad in a bucket beside his sleeping bag. Grandma caught him falling asleep with the toad held up to his cheek and saved us from an escape in the nick of time!
Boating Camp
You can see Will there in front of one of the female counselors. He is wearing his blue PFD.
Will spent the week at a kayak, paddleboard and sailing camp. He says it was the best camp he ever attended. He is in love with paddleboarding and wants one of his own. The kayaked across the lake a couple days to have lunch at Ivar's which sounded like a lot of fun.
Jasper: My Treasure
Jasper means "treasure" and this makes it a fitting name for a little one whom I've hoped and dreamed of for many years. It is such sweet dejavu to smell a baby again and watch him make his funny little uncoordinated movements and express his growing personality.
Jasper is running now for certain. Through the house, around and around the park, and towards the excitement he goes...
He also is happily eating food in its unaltered state. He still can appreciate a puree now and then but is in the toddler dipping stage with ketchup and other sauces. He enjoys the summer fruits, fresh squashes, anything pea-like or bean-like, and even cold sliced cucumbers. Unlike Will, he is keenly aware of being left out of food enjoyment. He whines and reaches when Will and I are sharing a cupcake in front of him or enjoying a frozen treat. He wants to eat it all these days, appreciating and savoring new foods.
If he could tell us his food preferences he would say that he likes carbs and fruit mostly with some meat with ketchup of course. Ketchup is not just a dipping sauce but a whole meal in itself. The other night he picked up his plate, laughed uproariously, and licked the ketchup clean off! The other major love of his life right now is blueberries. I could not have imagined a child to eat as many as he has. When we were picking them he steered up to my bucket and would fill his mouth by the handful with berries. For days afterwards he has been pooping blueberry skins and now seems to be having a run of diarrhea. Poor guy overdid it with the berries!
When he eats meals he typically sits across from his brother. He never misses an opportunity to chuck something across the table at Will and then laugh. One night it was an ear of corn. Sometimes it is just a discarded piece of food or an entire bowl of yogurt! Will is learning not to engage-- just nod politely and TRY not to laugh.
He is a proper little guy though about self feeding. He smacks his lips a lot while he eats but otherwise he properly uses his utensils, drinks from his glass and even wipes his mouth with his napkin (after each bite). He has a little sponge and cloth to wipe off his table which he loves to use. I think he has logged many hours watching me clean and wipe things so he knows how it is done!
Jasper doesn't have many words yet. He uses sign language for familiar activities but otherwise does a closed mouth, "hmm.mmmm" sound for just about anything he wants or needs in life. It is funny to try and figure out how to fulfill these general yet very specific requests. The pediatrician agrees with me about how receptive he is to conversation and requests thinking he'll probably just spout sentences when the time is right.
He plays gently with other kids but still really loves to hand them things to play with. Not every toddler knows what he is trying to do and if they don't take his offering after an acceptable wait he will just drop it in their lap or throw it at them. Most of the time he is trying to play ball with kids. He still loves to play ball and does an overhand throw now that is quite fast. When kids come over to the house he immediately brings over the balls and tries to get them to play basketball with him.
Photos of the 15 month old in action coming up soon!
Jasper is running now for certain. Through the house, around and around the park, and towards the excitement he goes...
He also is happily eating food in its unaltered state. He still can appreciate a puree now and then but is in the toddler dipping stage with ketchup and other sauces. He enjoys the summer fruits, fresh squashes, anything pea-like or bean-like, and even cold sliced cucumbers. Unlike Will, he is keenly aware of being left out of food enjoyment. He whines and reaches when Will and I are sharing a cupcake in front of him or enjoying a frozen treat. He wants to eat it all these days, appreciating and savoring new foods.
If he could tell us his food preferences he would say that he likes carbs and fruit mostly with some meat with ketchup of course. Ketchup is not just a dipping sauce but a whole meal in itself. The other night he picked up his plate, laughed uproariously, and licked the ketchup clean off! The other major love of his life right now is blueberries. I could not have imagined a child to eat as many as he has. When we were picking them he steered up to my bucket and would fill his mouth by the handful with berries. For days afterwards he has been pooping blueberry skins and now seems to be having a run of diarrhea. Poor guy overdid it with the berries!
When he eats meals he typically sits across from his brother. He never misses an opportunity to chuck something across the table at Will and then laugh. One night it was an ear of corn. Sometimes it is just a discarded piece of food or an entire bowl of yogurt! Will is learning not to engage-- just nod politely and TRY not to laugh.
He is a proper little guy though about self feeding. He smacks his lips a lot while he eats but otherwise he properly uses his utensils, drinks from his glass and even wipes his mouth with his napkin (after each bite). He has a little sponge and cloth to wipe off his table which he loves to use. I think he has logged many hours watching me clean and wipe things so he knows how it is done!
Jasper doesn't have many words yet. He uses sign language for familiar activities but otherwise does a closed mouth, "hmm.mmmm" sound for just about anything he wants or needs in life. It is funny to try and figure out how to fulfill these general yet very specific requests. The pediatrician agrees with me about how receptive he is to conversation and requests thinking he'll probably just spout sentences when the time is right.
He plays gently with other kids but still really loves to hand them things to play with. Not every toddler knows what he is trying to do and if they don't take his offering after an acceptable wait he will just drop it in their lap or throw it at them. Most of the time he is trying to play ball with kids. He still loves to play ball and does an overhand throw now that is quite fast. When kids come over to the house he immediately brings over the balls and tries to get them to play basketball with him.
Photos of the 15 month old in action coming up soon!
Blueberries!
We picked seven pounds of berries!
He had a huge BM that was all blueberry skins and such when we got home.
Squiggle Dance
First of all, do take note that another one of our children walks around with a spatula in his toddler years. What do we do to inspire this?
The story behind this photo is that a couple days ago Jasper started doing the squiggle dance. Will and I were teaching him how to high 5 and then suddenly he was just so overcome by joy and excitement that he flopped down on the floor laughing and squiggling his body. Now he does this all the time. It looks a lot like a tantrum except that he is laughing and excited. He did it in the doctors office when we were talking and he wanted our attention. He did it tonight when I poured fresh warm laundry on the floor. He does it when we play with him. We call it the squiggle dance.
Happy Birthday Will
Will and his friends had a great time celebrating his seventh birthday. We had lovely weather with a cool breeze over Lake Union. Paul was able to rent a Hobie Cat/catamaran from across the lake and then we enjoyed our favorite cupcakes from Trophy.
