Jasper's First Thanksgiving

I can really only think of one thing I'm grateful for this year, and its my little boy. We had a very nice Thanksgiving, despite the fact that my poor boy's parents dragged him all over the Bay Area today. We got up early and ran a 5k Turkey Trot in Walnut Creek this morning (okay, I ran the 5k while Morgan and Jasper waited for me at the start/finish). And then we headed into the city for dinner at my mom's. And of course, photos were taken:

Harriett and Jasper



Tim and Jasper



Jill and Jasper




Walla and Jasper



and finally, Grandma and a very tired Jasper

Snip

I've always hated those baby boy's first haircuts - the ones that take them from sweet baby to sullen looking toddler. I love the kids I know whose parents have just let their hair grow. Clearly, I am revealing my hippie roots.

But. On Saturday, when Morgan and I were getting our hair cut, Susan offered to trim Jasper's hair a little to even it out. Jasper was born with a full head of hairs, and the top has continued growing. But the sides and the back have fallen out, giving him a patchy look. Morgan calls it his fallout look. Morgan plays too many post-apocalyptic video games. But I don't suppose I'm any kinder when I call him our Donald Trump baby. Or comb-over baby.

Anyway, Susan did a lovely job, snipping off just the ends (without snipping our very squirmy baby) and he looks much better as a result. Because this was entirely unplanned, Jasper's first haircut was entirely undocumented. But I can provide the following photo of evidence of how distinguished our boy can be.

Proof

substantiating my previous post, plus a demonstration of the Dodge mouth:

Thfft

Jasper's latest skill? Blowing raspberries.

His latest little facial tick? Sucking in his lower lip, making him look like a little old man who took out his teeth.

My current favorite thing? When he tries to do both these things at the same time.

His favorite toy

and some pretty good grabbing skills.

The photo spot

I'm realizing we have a lot of pictures of Jasper on his changing table. It makes sense since in addition to changing his diaper there, we also change his clothes there. So any cute outfit tends to get photographed there. Plus, its a spot he can't (yet!) roll off, so when we want to set him someplace for a quick shot, it tends to be there. The problem is, he tends to get some crazy baby looks on his face when we just hold the camera out over him. See?



We were trying to get a picture of the door knob name plaque that Morgan's Grandpa made for Jasper (thanks, Great-grandpa!). But we went through a few takes before we got some thing that looked a little less... demented:



A little better:



Okay, as close as we're going to get to smiling:



It happened again this morning when I was trying to get a post-bath picture of Jasper. Crazy baby:



Cute baby:



Okay, maybe more gangster baby than cute.

Since this is a gratuitous photo post, here's one more, demonstrating Jaz's peculiar pattern baldness. Also, his adorable little profile.

My favorite thing

is watching Jasper wake up in the morning. He'll lie there looking around the room, all serious faced, as if checking to make sure everything is where it was last night when he fell asleep. And then he finds us in his sweep of the room, and he breaks out the biggest grin.

I've never had anyone always so happy to see me.