One giant leap for Jasperkind
Yep, it’s started. JD is walking.
Right now it’s rarely more than a dozen steps. The breakthrough is his ability to get upright without a coffee table, window sill or chair to lean on.
In classic baby style, the little man puts the flats of his hands on the floor, pushes hard and somehow, with many a wobble and a half-stumble, gains his balance. From there, he surveys his kingdom from a whole new angle, choosing a point of attack before unleashing havoc.
This has led to a rapid organisation of various previously out of reach items. First edition hardbacks have had to climb one shelf higher, potentially dangerous items, such as the knobs on the front of our cooker, have had to be disabled, and the thorny issue of door handles remains on the back burner. JD can stroke these, if he stands on tiptoe, so we have about another month to figure out how to keep him locked up when our back is turned.
On top of all that fuss, he’s eating differently. Blended foods are no longer palatable, unless he’s starving. Jasper pulls out a mouthful, examines it with disdain and wipes it on a random part of his anatomy before complaining.
The frustrating thing is, serve up the same three ingredients whole and he’s happy as Larry (whoever Larry is). Sure, some ends up on the floor, but a greater percentage goes down the boy.
The key to raising a bookish child, apart from resisting the urge to throw a wobbly whenever he pulls books off their shelves and destroys them, is to surround him with his own reading matter and spend a lot of time with our own noses in novels.
Jasper often sees us reading, grabs his own book and brings it over for us to give him a story time. It’s a big leap from here to University, but perhaps we’re heading in the right direction.
Yet another of our peer group delivered their first baby since I last wrote. Congratulations to Pete and Patricia, whose baby girl, Breanna, weighed in at 8lbs 1oz. Mother and baby are doing fine.
So far, all four of our friends’ babies have been girls, so Jasper will one day be spoilt for choice – though in-between, I’m sure there will be years and years when he fails to appreciate how lucky he is! Sleep well.
