Favorite Things

I'm a stay-at-home mom. So what does that really mean? It really means that, basically, Jasper and I get to do whatever we want. So, being no dummies and since we get to choose, we choose to do our favorite things.

We have normal "favorite things", such as eating, sleeping, play dates with friends, trips to the park, and so on.

And then we have the day-to-day "favorite things". And these day-to-day "favorite things" are what really fills those long, witching hours from 4-7 pm and gives us much laughter and things to look forward to in our day.

Some day-to-day "favorite things" include:

- watching bubbles.

Jasper has discovered that the screen saver on our computer is bubbles that gently float across the screen. He's absolutely, totally, completely addicted to the bubbles. I got him out of his crib this morning and he instantly and quite forcefully squirmed out of my arms, ran to our computer, and shouted, "MAMA!! BUBBLES! BUBBLES! BUBBLES!! Mama?? Mama?? BUBBLES!!". We spend many an hour watching the bubbles. (seriously, can life get more exciting than this?)

- brushing teeth.

Not only brushing our teeth, but Jasper sneakily uses his toothbrushes (yes, plural) as toys when he knows I'm distracted. It's just so cute, I haven't the heart to really enforce the "do not use your toothbrushes as toys" rule. We brush and brush and brush (probably 15 times a day if we're home all day) and even then, I have to finally tell Jsaper, "all done brushing. No more toothbrushes." and he gets quite sad.

- looking in the fridge.

This is a relatively new "favorite thing", but I suspect it will be a life-long "favorite thing" of Jasper's. He really is a good helper and loves to put his milk, left-over grapes, or cheese back in the fridge. He will also get things out of the fridge for me on command. But then other times, I'll randomly walk into the kitchen to find him just staring into the fridge, gazing longingly at all the goodies in there (IE pickles, mustard, 5 week old sloppy joes, etc). Also, I'm starting to find the occasional toy in the fridge, which is always an amusing surprise to me.

- marching on the scale.

I know, this sounds really, really odd. But it is most definitely a "favorite thing" for us. Let me preface this by saying that Andrew and I never, ever weigh ourselves. In fact, we never even had a scale till we had Jasper (ignorance is bliss, right?). But we bought it because we thought we would weigh Jasper on it to make sure he was gaining weight properly. Well, Jasper just discovered the scale. He loves it more than life itself. He carries the scale with him everywhere (yes, even to watch bubbles) and when he gets on the scale, he marches. Always. He never gets on the scale just to stand there. He always has this compelling need to get on it and march. It's the cutest thing you've ever seen. I really should take a video of it.

- doing the pens.

Doing the pens involves Jasper getting the pen box thingy off the shelf, bringing it into the kitchen, asking me for a mixing bowl, transferring all of said pens into the mixing bowl, asking me for a spatula (usually I give him a whisk for old times' sake), and then stirring the pens with the whisk. Then Jasper transfers said pens back to the pen box thingy, carrying the pens back to the shelf, comes back to the kitchen, puts the mixing bowl away, puts the spatula/whisk away, and then he does it all over again. I'm not quite sure how this all got started, but Jasper loves anything involving steps or a process, so we do the pens all the time. It's my go-to when I'm trying to get dinner on the table.

- chasing.

Jasper lives and breathes to chase. Either for him to chase me (not likely) or for me to chase him (most likely). One way or the other, though, we end up chasing each all through the house, all the time. He'll get that mischievous look on his face, start slowly inching away from me, then with a shriek of laughter, he'll break into a dead run, regardless if I'm chasing him or not. But, seriously, how can I refuse? So I chase him. And chase him. And chase him. This could be a reason why we both take very good afternoon naps. :o) Chasing always ends in laughter and giggles unless Jasper happens to spot the pens, the bubbles, or the scale during the chase. If that's the case, we put the brakes on the chase and play with whichever "favorite thing" Jasper just spotted.

At any given moment during any given day, if you think, "I wonder what Natalie and Jasper are up to today?" now you know. :o) It's a very, very precious life.