parents of the year!

Sometimes Jasper has food on his face all day long. Like, all day. He'll usually eat yogurt and fruit in the morning, and then nurse an hour or so later. About three hours after that, he has some kind of vegetables. These vegetables nearly always spend seven or more hours on his face. Not smeared all over, but there. In the folds of his chins and cheeks, on the rim of his nostril, behind his ear or in his hair. You know why it's always there? Because even though we clean his face after he eats, we don't make sure it's 100% spotless. Because you know what else? He's a baby. This is how our baby rolls.

Today we accidentally left Jasper's coat and hat at Andy & Ashley's record shop, and didn't go back to get it. You want to know why? We had already been to the library, hit up story time, been to the record store, and then went to see Alice in Wonderland (my verdict: I didn't see most of it because Jasper decided sitting down is for CHUMPS. He woke up about 30 minutes in, and then he and I spent another 30 or so minutes wandering around outside in the hallways before we all decided to vacate. But Jasper enjoyed the girl who plays Alice, so much that he kept telling her "hey" whenever he happened to be in the theater and she was on screen, and he also clapped every time he saw Johnny Depp, and said "hey" once to Helena Bonham Carter, but mostly acted freaked out. Sean liked it ok. A little too action-y for his taste, especially since we have come to expect only the weirdest and most far out from Burton, and this one tasted like he had/chose to give in a little too much to Disney. WOW. That was long.), and by the time we got finished with our BIG GIGANTIC DAY, we were tired. So. We'll get the coat tomorrow. It's not even that cold right now. And we're inside. And it's nighttime.

Jasper has worn shoes once. And he wore these because Sean's mom gave them to us, and I thought it was cute because THEY WERE SEAN'S SHOES! So it's sweet to see them on Jasper's feet. They're too big for him right now, so you know. We'll use those until they don't fit, and then...I guess I'll get him shoes. We're doing good if he wears socks. Do you know how many people comment on his socklessness? So many. Too many. I want to make it known that he has socks on when it's cold outside, but as soon as it's warm? BAREFOOT BABY! Because why should they have to wear shoes and socks? I get it if they're walking, but crawlers? No way. Baby socks are the bane of my existence. I never match them up and can rarely even find two to go on his feet in the first place.

Don't you love it when people talk/blog about different things that don't really go together but do? Yes? Me too.

I have a HUGE problem called I Can't Blog When It's Sunny Outside.

I keep starting these heavy posts about a few topics that I really want to talk about. Specifically, unschooling, nutrition, and what's going on with Jasper's platelets. BUT we've been dealing with some pretty foul weather (nothing out of the ordinary for February/March) up until the last few days, and now it's glorious and sunny and I can't bring myself to commit to big, serious posts, when I could just put up a smiley photo of Jasper and talk about birds and sunshine instead.

So here's a run-down:

Unschooling: I really am going to talk about this in great detail the next time it rains and I'm stuck inside, because I have a lot of questions about unschooling/homeschooling/private schooling/public schooling/charter school-schooling, and I think the great, glorious blogosphere can help.

Nutrition: We get a lot of random baby-related things in the mail. I'm assuming this is because we have a baby, though I'm not sure how these companies got our address in the first place. Regardless, they're usually thinly veiled propaganda used to sale the products of the company, and I usually just throw them away. Our most recent one was a "Start Healthy, Stay Healthy" nutrition guide from Gerber. I kept this because I saw an incredibly startling statement on the front: studies (sponsored by Gerber, natch) show that the most commonly consumed vegetable by toddlers (15-24 months) is FRENCH FRIES.

Excuse. Me.

Where do babies get their eating habits? Their parents. So if your toddler will only eat french fries, I think the appropriate thing to do is to examine your own diet and see how this happened. French fries are not an every day food. French fries aren't even a special occasion food, because they're not very good for you. They should just be a randomly eaten food that you don't make a big deal about. BEFORE I go further, let me also say that I know I don't have a toddler yet, and I don't know what it's like to have a picky toddler, even if you eat healthily and always have and one day your toddler woke up and was like "NO. ONLY MACARONI AND CHEESE." And I'm sure this will happen. And everything I'm saying will be blown out of the water, and I'll give Jasper macaroni and cheese so that he's happy, but seriously? That mac and cheese will be laced with kale or something, because we're not skimping on the good stuff just because he may or may not decide to be picky. Am I even making sense anymore?

French fries=bad. Kale=good. This thing also said that 25-30% of children 9 to 24 months don't eat ANY fruit and 20-25% don't get vegetables. Why. Why. Why.

Jasper Platelets: We really don't know what's going on, so I'm not sure where to start. No one thinks he has leukemia or a kind of cancer, so we're not exploring any kind of bone marrow tests. He tested negative for Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, which is a potentially very scary syndrome, but they want to send us to the main St. Jude's and get him checked for a genetic mutation of it just to make sure. I think that is the scariest thing they think it could be, so they want to definitely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, rule it out. I don't think it's that because Jasper doesn't exhibit a lot of the characteristics, so I'm not as freaked out as I was when we originally found out about all of this. All of the previous test results we had taken in February came back negative. So we're either dealing with something VERY rare or something that will go away. Or both. He's healthy, happy, doesn't bruise unless he's crawling a whole, whole bunch (which is normal), and...we're just trooping along. We'll know more in a few weeks, after we visit. So that's where we are with that.

NOW. On to the sunshine!

bloggityblog

I had a big huge post half-written about unschooling and public schooling and private schooling and charter-school schooling, but now it's 60something degrees outside, sunny, gorgeous and complete with singing birds and butterflies, and sometimes (all the time) the sun and butterflies are more important than figuring out where your not-even-12-months-old child is going to go to school. Sean is home because he took a brave step today and actually stood up for what he believes in, which is truly a rare act when you think about it, so we're all going to go traverse the great outdoors. Just as soon as we can get everything that is remotely a choking hazard away from Jasper, because today is one of Those Days, the days where he can find anything and everything that could be deemed dangerous by one parent or another, and he can also crawl quickly towards the objects and shove them in his mouth.

I'll finish the other post tomorrow! LYLAS.

i think these are my top 50 favorite songs

 I had zero intention of blogging this today, because I actually had a whole topic and everything, but maaaaaaan, sometimes you just roll with what your brain dishes out.

Also, I really don't think these are REALLY my top 50 songs, but they're the first ones that came out.

Smokey Robinson - I Second that Emotion
Beck - I Think I'm in Love
U2 - Pride
Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry
The Beatles - Dear Prudence
Ryan Adams - Come Pick me Up
Pavement - Spit on a Stranger
The Wallflowers - One Headlight
Quiet Company - How Many Times Do You Want to be in Love?
M. Ward - Poison Cup

Beck - Timebomb
ABBA - Mamma Mia
MIA - Paper Planes
Erykah Badu - Penitentiary Philosophy
Erykah Badu - The Healer
The Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday
The Rolling Stones - She Comes in Colors
The Black Crowes - Soul Singin
Chris Robinson - Better than the Sun
Beck - Cell Phone is Dead

Beck - Where It's At
Beck - Girl
The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down
Weezer - El Scorcho
Phantom Planet - California
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Mary Jane's Last Dance
U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name
Curtis Mayfield - Keep on Keeping On
Bob Dylan - Sara
Curtis Mayfield - Think

Beck - Lost Cause
Coldplay - Swallowed in the Sea
Outkast - Hey Ya
The Doobie Brothers - Listen to the Music
Grateful Dead - Cassidy
Tinariwen - Cler Achel
Curtis Mayfield - We Got to have Peace
Curtis Mayfield - The Makings of You
George Harrison - Stuck Inside a Cloud
Billy Bragg & Wilco - California Stars

George Harrison - Brainwashed
George Harrison - Apple Scruffs
George Harrison - Let it Down
The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
Paul McCartney - Maybe I'm Amazed
Jackson Five - ABC
Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant
The Clash - London's Calling
Bob Marley - One Love
The White Stripes - We're Going to be Friends

Jasper's Top 5 are:
Gwar - Womb with a View
Neil Young - Old Man
Bob Marley - Iron Lion Zion
M. Ward - Poison Cup
Michael Jackson - Rock With You

I really, really like being alive.

yay! from stephanie kaloi on Vimeo.

I don't know what else to say.

eee! LOST.

INTERNET. Do you know about the EEE PC?

Let's discuss.

The EEE is named so because when you see it, you go "eeeeee!" because it's so TINY and CUTE. Or not really, but maybe, I'm not sure. I mean, I'm sure that it's tiny and cute, but I don't necessarily think that is how the name was derived. And I don't care enough to look up how they came up with it. Anyway.

Sean has an EEE. He's had it for a while, but we recently got a wireless router, so now he can finally use it. He got it mostly so he can play Risk on it, because Risk takes up a lot of space that I need for photos and cool photo editing things, and not for Risk. Not that Risk is a bad game, but truth be told, I've never gotten that into it. Anyway, Sean is home today because he's not feeling tip-top, and I was using his EEE just to check it out, and you know? Even though it is tiny and cute and goes against the fascist computer regime, it is really, really hard to type on.

SO. NOW let's talk about LOST.

Last week's episode was, and you know it's true, pretty lame. The whole thing was basically about Jack and this kid that we didn't even know he has, because he didn't have him in his life pre-original plane crash circa Season 1, but now that we're post second plane crash and Jack (and the rest of the crew) are living in sideways parallel universes, he has a kid. So last week was a little lame, and we were more than concerned that this week might be lame as well. BUT. This week was all about SAYID, aka The Number One Badass On Lost (although Sawyer is awesome, too), so we knew it would be good. And good it was.

 

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, I'm sorry. Not because I don't make sense, but because you're not watching Lost, and that's a travesty. And this is coming from someone who doesn't even have a TV, who watches it the day after it comes on at Hulu, because wow, Lost is that awesome.

My whole point, at least what I'm trying to say is this: I really dig the whole good vs. evil thing they're setting up. I think it's going to come down to Evil John, Sayid, Kate, Jin, and Claire vs. Jack, Hurley, and whoever else is on the island, and I hope JACK GOES DOWWWWWWN. Although I can't figure out where Sawyer will play in, other than he might be the Jacob candidate, and Jack might be the dark guy candidate, if there are even two different people--Sean theorizes that Jacob and the man in black are just the same person, even though they've both been on the screen before at the same time & when he explains it, it makes sense--and even if it would be more predictable (and therefore probably what will happen, except this is Lost, a show in which the predictable rarely happens) to reverse it.

WHAT DO YOU THINK is going to happen? If you've read spoilers, you can't participate, because that's cheating. And please don't tell me anything. Thanks!

Oh, and ABC? I'm totally available for hire to write your episode synopses, because I'm sure I make 100% sense and your readership and/or viewers would love it. I think a Lost column is in the works. Get your people in touch with mine, Jazz takes phone calls between 10 am and noon.

it comes slowly

Jasper is showing hints of the child he will be in the future.

You can see it in photographs now--he's still a good bit baby, but there are traces of an older child. His face, which is still lusciously rotund, is slimming down ever so slightly. His hair is growing out, lightening up, and his expressions are more focused. It's all over the place physically, in his movements and actions. He's figuring out how to turn book pages and open drawers, he has favorite sounds and places, and he recognizes subtlety in language and tone.

It is seriously blowing my mind that this baby, this sweet, gorgeous, gentle, crazy, insane, beautiful, vibrant OCEAN of a soul is nearly a year old. I already told Sean that this month is going to be a gigantic roller coaster, and that's not even counting our impending visit with St. Jude's and the results we'll get from that (I promise, I'll talk about this another day, and before we actually go. Just not today.). Jasper is a huge roller coaster, in the best way possible, and he has shaken up our world before him, and I am 100% sure I can speak for both of us when I say we can't imagine it any other way. We'd never, ever go back to our lives without him.

I mean, look. You can see it here:

 

There is an older child beginning to creep up in that face.We're getting to know him every day, learning about him, and helping him. These are still the very early stages of the majesty of parenthood.