General Observations

One of my favorite things about Jasper is that when he's hungry, he will throw back his head and shape his mouth into a perfect little "O." I call it his baby bird look. I promise I do not drop worms into my baby's mouth.

I also love the way he sometimes wrings his hands together while he's nursing. He looks like the most anxious baby ever.

At one month of age Jasper has mastered the ultimate pout. His lower lip juts out and his eyes are just the saddest thing ever. If I were a better mother, it would break my heart. But I'm clearly heartless because it makes me laugh.

Which leads us to the many cries of Jasper. There's the general "I'm hungry, I'm fussy" cry. There's the in pain cry, thus far really only witnessed when Jasper does "The Becca" - he grabs a fist full of his own hair and pulls. The harder he pulls, the tighter his grip gets. The tighter the grip, the more he screams. Fun cycle. And then there's the pissed off cry. This generally follows a failed pout and is most frequently heard on the changing table, in a stationary car, and when his food source is not presented in a timely enough manner.

In addition to all the other features that Jasper and Morgan share, they have the same shape hands. And the same shape thumbnail.

Yesterday, we took Jasper on his first four mile stroll in Walnut Creek. He did wonderfully - meaning he slept through the whole thing. He woke up at Starbucks afterward, which led to our first public breastfeeding effort. Which went very well, I'm happy to say.

A One Month Birthday Adventure

Today is Jasper's one month birthday. We decided to celebrate by going and visiting Dad at work.

First, we got dressed up in the outfit that Morgan's manager Tasia gave us, waaay back before Jasper was born.



(I refrained from taking a picture of my baby's butt, but the backside of this outfit has another frog prince, with the phrase "Once upon a time..." Also, why are baby socks so freaking cute?!)

Next we bundled up in the blanket Cousin Erin gave us and the hat Aunt Virginia made. Because, after all, San Francisco is colder than the East Bay.



Okay, not that much colder. The hat ended up in the diaper bag pretty quickly. Its in the 70s over here.

We walked down the street to the BART station, and Jasper had his very first public transit experience. It went well; he maintained a slightly alarmed expression for the first part - and a death grip on my finger - but he sacked out before we hit the Transbay Tube. Which is good - I was worried about his little ears. (I thought about taking pictures of him on BART, but decided that would be silly.)

Once we arrived downtown, Jasper got to meet his legions of fans at GGU. All right, more accurately, his legions of fans came and gazed at him... while he slept. It was pretty entertaining to learn that grown ups who are not related to my son are just as content to stare at his sleeping face as I am.

Next, Morgan took us to his regular Starbucks, where the manager shrieked upon seeing Morgan with a stroller. Apparently they know him there or something...

Then Jasper and I headed home, braving unknown liquids on the floors of the BART elevators and even venturing into Safeway for Luna Bars and ice cream. At home, we found a package for Jasper from his great grandma Connie and his great aunt Maurine - which contained, among other things, a pair of booties made by Morgan's great grandmother.

We changed into something cooler, as befits the warmer suburbs,and I tried again to convince Jasper that his cute cloth diapers really do fit him.



I don't think he buys it.

All together, not a bad birthday. And, yes, sweetie, Mommy really does love you.



Okay, a few more gratuitous pictures...

Morgan is master of the baby sling.



and of the kitties...



Our voracious baby trying to eat his mat during tummy time:

Four Weeks!

and the little guy keeps growing...

Future Blackmail Material

Jasper has a lovely range of expressions; here are just a few:




(Mary, I hope this is almost as good as being able to hold him.)

Vampire Baby

My son is a beast.

A typical feeding involves him growling as he attacks my breast. His eyes open wide, his mouth follows suit, then "Grrrr," he latches on. When he gets tired, he tends to clamp down and shake his head violently. Barbarian. I don't know where he gets it from.

Actually, I do. Yesterday, I caught Morgan coaching the little guy in a variety of growls and roars.

Tummy Time

So one of the important developmental things that They say babies should do is tummy time - basically, you lay the kid face down, and they strengthen their necks by learning to pick up their heads. Jasper's had a few sessions of tummy time, which usually result in him screaming his head off. But, he spends lots of time on his tummy when he lies on me, and he has been able to pick up his head since the day he was born (ridiculously strong baby we have; I'm going to enter him in the circus as the Strong Baby), so I haven't been too concerned. Most of our tummy time has been on the mat of his activity gym on our bed. But today I tried putting him down on the floor.

Pace is definitely this kid's dog. As soon as Jasper was on the floor, Pace was there, standing guard. Herding away the cats. Keeping an eye on me in case I was going to do something inappropriate like leave the baby unattended. Of course, as soon as I pulled out the camera to take a picture of Jasper, Pace practically trampled him as he tried to get past him and to the backdoor. Lesson: if the baby is on the floor, make sure he is not between Pace and his escape route in case of doggy panic attack. (Don't worry, he didn't actually trample Jasper.)

And how did Jasper do during tummy time today? Well, he didn't get his head off the mat much, but! This kid is going to be an early crawler. Or at least an early scooter. He managed to move himself about seven or eight inches across the mat with his powerful baby kicks. All right, I didn't measure it, but he moved from gnawing on the seal nose to gnawing on the third elephant. Epic distances when you aren't even four weeks old. The kid has skills.

And yes, I took pictures, but I haven't uploaded them. Soon, I promise.

Happy Three Week Birthday!

Celebrated with a series of age appropriate meltdowns and visits from his great aunts Virginia and Harriett.

The cyber version of Jasper's birth announcement, designed, of course, by Jasper's amazing father: