There’s no happy way to bring up the subject of constipation. Our little man has suffered quite a bit from this in the last couple of weeks. We haven’t been able to pin down the cause, but we suspect the combination of more powder-based formula and his first meat meals could be to blame.

There’s nothing so heart-rending as hearing him straining and watching his face turn scarlet. We know there are remedies that can help – prunes and oatmeal for breakfast (“prunemeal” in my book) and plenty of water or prune juice if things get really bad.

Thankfully, the little man is totally unperturbed by all this. It’s just another part of his uncomplicated life. Once throwing up is a regular feature of your day-to-day existence, when it happens it makes no odds. Jasper seems to have grown accustomed to the occasional chunky bowel movement. It’s certainly not put a dent in his appetite.

In fact, it’s getting embarassing to eat in front of him. He stares enviously at every bite we take, even if he’s just packed away a decent meal of his own. We can’t eat as a family, because he can’t even hold a bottle on his own yet, and his early efforts at spoon maneouvering would be potentially fatal if we didn’t maintain overall control.

Jasper has the basic idea correct. He grabs the spoon in one chubby fist and gets it into his mouth without too much difficultly. From there though, there’s no stopping him. The danger is he’d choke or trigger the gag reflex. Either way, it wouldn’t be pretty and it looks like being a while before he masters this useful skill.

Certain aspects of life in Quebec continue to astound me. It’s impossible to buy a car at weekends, when most customers are available to seek one. House buyers, too, shop only in the bleakest, most miserable months of winter. This gives us a scant few weeks to finish improving our home if we want to list it this year.

Fifteen years from now, the little man might be a useful extra workman, but I think we should wait until he masters eating implements before we set him to painting walls! Sleep well.

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