A Pagan No More

I was baptized today! Baptism is the sacrament in which one becomes a Christian. In my case, I became a Roman Catholic because that's what Mommy and Daddy are. Many of my closest relatives came to help me celebrate. The most important ones were my new Godparents - Ciocia Olga and Wujek Chris.

My grandparents, Great-Grandma and Coufou were there as well (Coufou is taking the picture).

The highlight of the ceremony was when the priest poured holy water over my head. He complemented me because most other babies he has baptized cry during this part. But I loved it. If you haven't figured it out yet, I love anything and everything that has to do with water. I am a Pisces after all!

A very good day

You may remember that not too long ago, I had a very, very bad day.

Well, I'm glad to say that today was a very good day. First off, as soon as I woke up and read the morning newspaper, I learned that the Yankees clinched a playoff spot - yay!


I'm so happy because it will be so much fun to watch my very first baseball playoffs - and since it's the Year Of The Golden Pig, I'm sure I will bring much good fortune to the Yankees and they will win the championship for me. To celebrate the Yankees victory, I even got to wear my favorite outfit today, almost erasing the terrible memory of having to wear that other outfit recently (it makes my stomach turn even thinking about it.)


Don't I look like I'm ready to play?


The day kept getting better and better when the mailman came, and delivered something for ME! It's so exciting when I get mail! Today it was a postcard from Babcia - she is traveling in Italy, and remembered to send me this postcard from Milan. I hope I get to go to Italy with Babcia someday when I'm older - she makes it sound great.


But the best part of the day came at the end - Mommy was going out with some friends, so it was just me and Daddy. Things sure are different when it's just me and Daddy at home... For example, I was surprised when my bath was filled all the way with water -


Mommy only fills it half-way and says that baths are for getting clean, but Daddy says that's "nonsense" and that baths are for having fun...



I never hear Daddy talking this way when Mommy is around, but he sure opens up when she's gone... we talked about all kinds of "man to man" things and about "how the world really works." Daddy also said that I could stay up to watch TV and have a beer with him, but it's been such a good day that I think I'm ready for bed - I know I'm going to have sweet dreams. Night-night everyone!

Sitting Up and Hanging With the Girlfriend

I know I know. I've been delinquent in my blog posts. But I guess that's what happens when you're busy exploring the world, playing in the grass and swinging on the swings in the playground. I've neglected you my dear readers and have denied you my cuddly cute pictures.

Since my doctors visit a week ago, and when the doctor called me "lazy," I've been working on my sitting skills. I'm trying really hard but still can't quite get the hang of it. I think that my belly gets in the way. Here I am doing a pretty good imitation of a tripod.

But then I get tired and fall over. Ah-Boo calls me humpty dumpty because of my propensity for falling over when I try to sit up.

Here I am again trying really hard to sit in my little chair. But it just takes too much effort and there's not anything interesting to look at. Shhhh - don't tell Mom and Dad but really I can sit up pretty well when I want to. It's just easier to have Mom, Dad or Ah-Boo prop me up.

Other than practicing sitting up, it's been a pretty quiet week. Ah-Boo is here visiting so it's fun to play with her. She's not familiar with all my tricks yet so I can get her to do pretty much anything I want her to. I'm crafty that way. She'll carry me around, play with me and give me my toys so I don't have to move a muscle. Hee hee.

Beatrice and I also went out for a drink. We haven't hung out in a while so it was nice to get together and catch up. We've both been finding our voices and practicing rolling over. She also started teething so we discussed different ways that we've been coping with our tender gums. Aren't we a cute couple? I think that Mom and B's Mom hope that we get together. Gee, I look much bigger than B, don't I? You wouldn't have guessed that I'm only 2 weeks older than her, huh?

Swing Time

Swing Time. That's such a good movie. You know, the one with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It's one of their best dance musicals and set in New York City. I love watching them dance. So I was so excited when Mommy told me it was Swing Time. I thought that we were going to go dancing. But then she and Daddy put me in the stroller and brought me to the playground. I was very confused. I wanted to dance! Instead, they put me in this black plastic bucket seat and started pushing me and whooooooooaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!



It was so much fun. I can't wait to go on the swings again. It's a good thing that there is a park and a playground across the street from our house.

When we came home, we had a nice visit with Cioca Olga. She's going to be my Godmother so she came to drop off my Baptismal outfit. It's a very fancy white suit. I hope I don't slobber all over it. We had lots of fun playing together. See, she likes playing with Freddie the Firefly and Sophie the Giraffe too! They still have me in that damn Bumbo seat. I guess they are determined to have me learn to sit up by myself.

Bye Bye Goldilocks

Since I was born, I've had a full head of hair. While some of my hair has rubbed out in the back of my head, resulting in two lovely bald spots, I've managed to keep an impressive amount on the top of my head. Dad refers to this as my "comb-over." Most endearing are the little curls right above my ears, as you can see in the picture below. They get really curly when it's hot and humid outside. Other times, they lie nice and flat against my head.

Well, Dad had enough of the cute curls. I guess one too many people commented on "what a pretty little girl" I am. He decided to take matters into his own hands:

Let's just say that I wasn't very happy. I thought that you weren't supposed to get your first haircut until you were at least 1 year old!! I know that I'm advanced but come on. So here I am post-haircut. What do you think?

Bad day

Today was a bad day. A very bad day. The kind of day when you would not want to be Jasper Henry Yu-Dawidowicz. Trust me.

It all started well enough, when Mommy and Daddy took me for a nice walk, but then things took an ugly turn, when instead of going to the park like we usually do, we instead somehow wound up at the pediatrician's office. I had been to this place a few times before, once soon after I was born and again about 3 months ago, and every time we go, I get stuck full of needles. They hurt! A lot. Mommy and daddy call them "vaccines." I call them "bloody hell."

This is how I wind up looking after one of these visits:


Then, after we got home, Daddy put me in my Bumbo seat for a while, on the pediatrician's orders, so that I would learn to sit up right better, since apparently I'm a little behind in that category. I believe the word that I overheard the pediatrician use was "lazy"...

Since Daddy wanted to be able to keep an eye on me while he did a little work and I was in the Bumbo chair, he put me up on the bed... which was not very steady... let's just say that things once again turned out badly for me...



But the biggest indignity of the day was my attire. Not only was I stuck full of needles, not only was I allowed to tumble head over heels out of my chair, but I was forced to wear this:

Red Sox? RED SOX???!!! What were Mommy and Daddy thinking? I hate the Red Sox! Yuck, yuck, yuck! Don't they know my plan to become the short stop for the *Yankees*??? Daddy got to wear a Yankees shirt, what about me? Just because I can't dress myself yet does not mean I enjoy being mocked.

And to add insult to injury, this bib was added to my ensemble at dinner time - need I say more about my day?


I guess the only silver lining on this very, very gloomy day was that the pediatrician, before sticking me full of needles, measured my head circumference, and I am happy to report that I have made spectacular progress - my head has grown from the 23rd percentile of babies my age at the last visit in July, to the 64th today. Ha! Soon I'll be able to use my big brain to make sure days like this are not allowed to happen to me anymore.

Toes Toes Toes

This past weekend, Mommy and Daddy went to a wedding in Maine and left me home alone with 4 Yee Pau, 5 Yee Pau and 6 Yee Pau. We had a jolly old time. Here's a picture of Mommy with Aunt Sarah who got married over the weekend. I hope that I get a chance to meet her and Uncle John soon.

But even thought they left me behind, everything reminded them of me.

While they were gone, one of the things that I discovered were my toes! If you haven't noticed already, I want to put everything I come in contact with into my mouth. It's the way that I get acquainted with things and get a feel for them. Before, I couldn't quite get them into my mouth. I could only do my happy baby yoga pose (which I love) but as hard as I tried, I just wasn't flexible enough.

Now I've managed to increase my flexibility and can reach my toes. People always say how delicious and succulent my feet are and boy are they yummy.

As I sat back and played with my toes, one song kept going through my head:

Moses suposes his toeses are roses
But Moses supposes erroneously
And Moses, he knowses his toeses aren't roses
As Moses supposes his toeses to be

Moses suposes his toeses are roses
But Moses supposes erroneously
A Rose is a rose
A Nose is a nose
A Toese is a toese

(come on, you know the song from Singing in the Rain)

Yummy in My Tummy!

One of the perks of turning 6 months old is that I now get to start eating solid food! Mommy made me wait this long because she doesn't want me to get any food allergies. But I think that I'm definitely ready. I watch Mommy and Daddy eat all the time, putting all these interesting and colorful foods into their mouths. Then they do something to make the food disappear. I'm so curious about how all this works.

At first, I was a little confused. I just thought that she was giving me a new toy to chew on. I just wanted to grab the spoon from Mommy's hand. But there was actually something on the spoon! Rice cereal! It might not sound all that exciting to you, but hey, all I've had so far in my life is breast milk. It was a little runny and mushy and felt a little funny in my mouth. Definitely a texture that none of my toys have.


I admit that I'm little bit of a messy eater but I'm definitely a natural. I figured out how to get the food off my spoon and then I like to swish it around my mouth. Sometimes I like to let it drip down my chin. Other times I like to spit and sputter and make the rice cereal go all over my face, nose and hair and onto Mommy too. She thinks that it's pretty funny when I do that. I can't wait to try fruits and vegetables next. It's a whole new world!!

My New Babysitter

Since I've now managed to roll myself over on my belly consistently, wedge my legs between the mirror and arch of my activity mat, and pull down my overhead animal friends, Mom realized that she needed to find a new "babysitter" for me to keep me out of trouble. Enter the exersaucer Mom swore that she would not have such a garish looking thing in her house, but alas, here it is.

When I first tried out the exersaucer, I wasn't too crazy about it. I had to support myself with my legs, hold my own head up and actually reach for the toys. I mean, come on. That's just a little bit too much effort for my style. I admit, I was a bit sloppy when I first got into the exersaucer. But after we got back from the Berkshires, I loved it!! I've totally figured it out now. It's so interesting and keeps me quite busy. I can even spin myself around to check out all the different toys or to watch a little TV when Mom's not looking.

My favorite is thing to do is to try to stick each of the toys in my mouth - especially the blue duck. Ah-Boo thinks that I'm going to like eating duck one day. Sometimes though I can't quite reach all of them so I end up bonking my head on the side of the exersaucer. That kind of hurts.

Peek-a-Boo with Daddy

At long last, I've learned how to edit movies and upload videos to my blog. Mommy thinks that I'm too young to be playing with computers (supposedly affects my language development) but Daddy thinks that this is nonsense and helps me when Mommy's not looking.

So here is the video. Daddy was so relaxed while on vacation in the Berkshires that he even got down on the floor to play with me. Peek-a-boo is such a fun game. You should try this at home sometime.

Happy Half Birthday!

Yesterday, September 7th, was my half birthday. I'm 6 months old! Can you believe it?? To think that a few short months ago I was just a squirmy worm who couldn't hold my own head up. And now I can...well, more or less. For my half-birthday, Mom and Dad took me on a nice hike up to the top Monument Mountain. There were beautiful views of the Southern Berkshires where we have been spending time over these past two weeks.

On Thursday, we took a drive out to Northampton, MA to have lunch with Mommy's friend Carey. We walked all around downtown Northampton and around the Smith College campus. It was a hot and humid day so we topped it all off with yummy ice cream from Herrells - some of the best ice cream around. Aunt Carey and I had a good time playing together.


You must be asking yourself, "Jasper, what can you do now that you are 6 months old?" Aside from holding my own head up, I like sitting and standing up (with some help from Mommy or Daddy), although not for too long otherwise I'll spit up too. Standing up is kind of fun - I'm getting used to supporting my weight on my own two feet. I also like to roll over a lot now from my back to my belly. Mommy and Daddy used to be able to put me on my activity mat by myself for a few minutes so they could get something done. But now, as soon as they turn their head, I like to roll onto my belly. hee hee.


The only problem is that when I'm on my belly, I don't remember how to roll back onto my back. I know that I figured that out when I was only 3 weeks old but I forget sometimes and then I get upset and cry. But being on my belly has given me a chance to try to figure out this crawling thing. I'm determined to figure it out sometime soon. I've managed to figure out that I need to lift my butt up off the ground but I can't quite lift my belly yet.

I also like to play peek-a-boo a lot, especially with Daddy. I get quite a kick out of it. I have a video of me and Daddy playing our new game but I have to post it when we get back to Brooklyn and have a faster internet connection.

My other favorite activity is staring at the trees and playing outside.

No pictures please.

Here I am blogging from the coffee shop in Great Barrington, MA. I know that you all have been wondering just where I have been blogging from these past 2 weeks.