Tuck!! Tuck!!

To the 2 people who read this blog, I apologize in advance for the following post. :o) This is a complete, unfiltered "I'm-a-mommy-and-my-little-guy-is-absolutely-amazing" post. :o)

There will be nothing witty or "story-like" about the following post. I just have a (totally adorable) little guy who does (totally adorable) antics that I don't want to forget a year or 5 years from now. While I recognize that to the world at large, his antics are completely normal for a 1 year, I (as a biased mother) think that Jasper is totally brilliant and get MAJOR delight out of his antics. So... if you don't really care about what Jasper is doing these days, read no further. But if you don't mind learning his little words and his little antics, then this is the place for you to be. :o)

Jasper has 3 main things that he delights in talking about. Constantly. His favorite topics, in order of importance (to him), are:

- balls. He LOVES balls. He lives and breaths to identify balls. He could be doing or eating anything, and spotting a ball immediately takes priority. It sounds kinda like "ba! ba! ba! ba!!" and for Jasper, a ball is anything that even remotely, sorta, kinda, maybe resembles a circle. When Jasper spots a "ball", he says "ba! Ba! ba! ba! ba! ba!!" and won't stop until we respond to him. Our responses usually go like this: "Jasper! did you see a ball?? That's awesome!!! Good job seeing it!!"" Jasper's favorite "balls" include: light bulbs, car wheels, door knobs, stones, round-ish flowers, actual balls, balloons, etc. Sometimes we'll tell him things like, "this actually isn't a ball. it's a doorknob. Isn't that cool?!" but sometimes we don't. :o)

- keys. Again, Jasper LOVES keys. He knows the drawer where we keep our spare house and car keys, and VERY often throughout the day, Jasper will stop what he's doing, suddenly look up and say "KEYS!!!!" and run to the drawer, open it, and wait patiently for me to get the keys out (he's not allowed to touch anything in the kitchen cabinets or drawers). When Jasper says "keys" it sounds more like "deeees".

- stuck. and this one is my absolute favorite!! I LOVE it when Jasper identifies something as "stuck" (aka "tuck!! tuck!!). I have no idea how Jasper learned the word and meaning of "stuck" b/c I can't recall ever using it with him, but he is always spot-on when he uses the word "stuck". Normally, I'm in the kitchen getting dinner ready or whatnot, and Jasper is in his room or the living room playing, and all of a sudden I'll hear his little feet coming my way and he's saying "tuck! tuck! tuck!" and he comes to me. But when he comes to me, it's so utterly precious! He doesn't bother to look me in the face or anything. He toddles up to me saying, "tuck tuck tuck" and he grabs my hand and looks at my fingers. He always selects one of my fingers (normally my index), he wraps his little fist around my index finger, and pulls. He's never once looked at me yet. He just pulls and pulls. And when I start walking, he very resolutely walks ahead of my, pulls my finger really hard, and says "tuck tuck tuck". Eventually, we get to the "stuck" item, he finally looks me in the face and says "TUCK TUCK TUCK!!!!" and is pointing at the object. I get down on his level and say, "Oh Jasper!! Is the ball stuck?? Do you want me to get it unstuck?" and he breaks into a huge grin and signs "please" like crazy. I get the object "unstuck" and by then, my heart is totally melted, so I normally sit down and play with him instead of going back to the kitchen (maybe it's all an elaborate ploy for Jasper to get me to play with him). Jasper says "tuck!!" when his toys are really stuck, and also when he can't get things to move such as the dining room table, the couch, a wall, the fridge, etc. :o) It's really precious.

Other words Jasper can say:
-Momma
-Dadda
- Nana
- Papa
- Grandma
- Cadeo
- hot (Jasper says ALL food is "hot! hot! hot!" until I say, "No Jasper. The orange is not hot. It's cool." and as soon as I say that, he eats the orange, fully trusting my word. I don't take that kind of blind trust lightly.)
- hi
-bye
- banana (bananananananana)
- duck (he LOVES his duck)
- hat (he LOVES to wear his hat)
- yuck (which he says "KAAAA!!!" and sticks his tongue out wildly)
- baby (while simultaneously trying to give desperate hugs)

Animals sounds Jasper can say:
- dog = ruf ruf ruf ruf
- sheep = baaaaaaaaaa
- snake = hssssssssssss
- cow= ooooooooooo

body parts Jasper can point to:
- hair
- belly button
- toes
- knees
- ears
- Mommy's eyes
- Mommy's nose
- Mommy's teeth
- Mommy's elbow
* side note- Jasper loves my elbow, squeals with delight when I "make" my elbow pointy, and then proceeds to hug my elbow. constantly. not stopping, even for food. And Jasper gets the BIGGEST kick when I make my elbow disappear by unbending it. It's adorable.

Actions J can perform on command:
- clap
- smell
- blow (if a food is hot)
- jump
- click (his tongue against the roof of his mouth)

A few odds and ends:
- Jasper loves books that have animals in them and is beginning to show them to me often.
- Jasper lives to go out to the garden, pick red tomatoes, and eat them.
- Jasper loves his crib.
- he's crying a lot less when we drop him off at the nursery at church.
- he loves COSI, swimming, parks, playdates, and anything that involves playing or moving.
- he loves to laugh and to play games. EVERYTHING is turned into a game and Jasper just giggles and giggles (when he's not tired).
- when I say, "Jasper, do you want to take a tubby?" he INSTANTLY looks down at his clothes and tries frantically to pull them off. He keeps trying and keeps trying until I take them off him.
- when Jasper is hungry, he walks to his high chair and tries to climb in. I take that as my cue to feed him.
- when Jasper wants to go outside, he gets his shoes, brings them to me, climbs on my lap, and waits patiently.
- when Jasper is tired, he walks to his crib and signs "please please".
- Jasper would a million times over rather have a peach or grapes or an orange than a cookie, doughnut, or cake. He did not get that from his parents. :o)
- apparently sitting up is too tiresome for Jasper now, so he often chooses to "lounge" instead of sit. He somewhat resembles a huge man who's had too much to eat, so he lays back on his elbows and puffs his stomach out. This is what Jasper does. :o)

he's a pretty amazing little guy :o)