Eating By Myself

You're Fired!

I'm sorry Babcia but "You're Fired!" Hee Hee. I'm just kidding. While it is true that today is Babcia's last day babysitting me, I haven't fired her. You see, Mommy, Daddy and I are going on vacation tomorrow. We'll be in Saugerties for two weeks, chilling out by the Esopus Creek. When we get back, Ah-Boo will be here to babysit me until the end of August. Then...it's off to daycare for me. GASP!

I've gotten quite used to having Babcia here during the week. She takes me out all around town and I get to meet lots of new kids and parents. Plus I'm learning a lot of Polish. But I know that she will continue to visit me all the time.

P.S. Don't worry. Mommy and Daddy are only sending me to daycare twice a week. They think that I need to socialize some more. We'll see about that.

Jasper as the Artist

I'm starting to expand my horizons and dabble in some new hobbies. Lately, I've been honing my artistic skills. I find that it's a great way to express the complex thoughts in my head and communicate them to the world. I'm learning to master two mediums - watercolor and highlighter. I started off with the highlighter as that was the easiest tool to grip with my chubby hands. Now, I can go to the printer in Mommy and Daddy's "office," take a piece of paper and take the highlighter out of the draw and start drawing. Mostly I draw on the paper, sometimes on the floor. Here's my first drawing on the refrigerator door.

And here I am with my watercolor tools and the finished product.

Not bad, huh? Well, my parents didn't name me Jasper for nothing. You know, Jasper Johns? The famous American artist? The one who painted all those series of flags, targets, maps, letters and numbers?

Weekend in New Jersey

This weekend Daddy and I drove down to Dziadek and Babcia's house in South Jersey and had lots of fun playing with Dziadek, Prababcia, Ciocia Ola and Wujek Chris - but no Mommy or Babcia!

That's right, since Babcia comes to our house in Brooklyn two days every week to take care of me, and Mommy takes care of me the other days while Daddy works, the two of them got a well deserved break from me (since if you know me, you know I can be quite a handful...)

Since Babcia and Mommy weren't there, I got to spend extra time and play with everyone else - here I am goofing around with Ciocia Ola and Prababcia (who celebrated her 87th birthday this week!)



And of course with my favorite dog, Saba -


I also got to do things I don't usually get to do at home, like climb all over - here I am climbing the stairs Niunia, (Babcia's Chihuahua) usually uses to get into Babcia's bed. They're also the perfect size for me, don't you think?

I also got to eat in my travel hanging chair, which I of course only get to use when I travel...

And best of all, I got presents! Here I am playing with Ciocia Olga and the portable sandbox she got me, since she knows how much I love to play in the sandbox at the playgroud - thanks, Ciocia Olga!


What a fun weekend I had!

2nd Generation Frost House

On Wednesday, I had a very special playdate. My friend Owen was in the area to attend a wedding in Philadelphia so he decided to drop by for a visit. Since he was making a special trip, Naomi came over to play too! You see, we're all second generation Frost Housers. That's the dorm Mommy lived in at Andover with Auntie Blenda and Auntie Linda, Owen's and Naomi's respective mommies, Auntie Erin, Auntie Emily, Auntie Jess and Auntie Hannah. We represent 3 of the 5 of the second generation. We were missing Tex and Theo, Auntie Hannah's kids. Auntie Jess was in town too to witness the little people gathering.

We had a lot of fun playing together. Since I got to play with all of Owen's toys at his house, I graciously shared all my toys with him. Poor Naomi had to put up with us two rambunctious boys. Good thing that she's a mellow girl and can stand up for herself.

All in all, the three of us got along pretty well, passing toys and snacks back and forth.

Happy Blog-a-versary

Guess what? One year ago today, I started writing this blog. Wow. It's hard to believe that I've been doing this for a whole year. It's been a lot of fun documenting my life, from all the silly little things to the major milestones. I was only four and a half months old then, barely able to open this laptop and type by myself. Let's take a look back. Boy, I was chubby and lazy. Just lying around all day. Maybe swatting at a few toys on my activity mat. Not even sitting up by myself.

And here I am now. 16 and a half months old. Walking upright and causing lots of trouble. Developing into quite a little character. I can even speak...in my own special language. You try learning Chinese, Polish and English at once and see how confused you are!

I can't really imagine my life without the blog. Can you? I mean, what did you do with yourself all day when you didn't have cute pictures of me to distract you? So Happy Blog-a-versary Jasper's Blog. Many happy returns.

Silly Daddy

Mommy can't leave Daddy alone to do anything by himself. Here's what happened when he tried to dress me in the morning - both of my legs were shoved into one pant leg! Silly Daddy. I'm not a mermaid. What am I going to do with him? Regardless, I am happy that he's home from San Diego.

Full Fledged Toddler

I'm no baby anymore. Let's just say that these two pictures sum up my mood of late. I have very distinct opinions and desires and when I don't get what I want, I get very upset and frustrated. I also am developing a very distinguished palate and will only eat certain foods. Too bad those foods aren't the same each day. I think that Mommy is longing for the days when I didn't move and would sit quietly and play with my toys. Ahhh, the good old days. But it's all just a phase, right? Doesn't the saying go, "This too shall pass?"

New Computer for Jasper

I got a brand new present today!! A new laptop! And it's not one of those fake kiddie laptops that makes noises and has colorful blinking lights. It's a real MacBook. Isn't it pretty? It's so much faster than our old computer. That means faster posts for you!

New York City Waterfalls

I bet you didn't know that there were waterfalls in New York City. You must be thinking, "Jasper, that's crazy talk. There aren't any waterfalls in New York City. Seriously baby, you must be imagining things." Alas my friends, there are waterfalls in New York City this summer - The New York City Waterfalls, a work of public art by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. There are four waterfalls, built from scaffolding, located in New York Harbor - one on Governor's Island, one at the Brooklyn Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, Pier 35 in Manhattan (north of the Manhattan Bridge) and Piers 4 and 5 in Brooklyn (near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade). This past weekend, we went to go see the waterfalls and frolic around Brooklyn Bridge Park in Dumbo.

The waterfalls are supposed to remind us of all the water around us. Living in the city, sometimes you can forget. Here I am looking at the waterfall at Pier 35. Can you see it in the background? The four waterfalls range in height from 90 to 120 feet tall (taller than the Statue of Liberty!) and churn 35,000 gallons of East River water per minute. Don't worry, there's a filter that ensures that fish and larvae aren't harmed or pulled into the pumps. Here's Daddy and me in Brooklyn Bridge Park. If you look closely at the Brooklyn Bridge, you can see the water cascading down from below the roadway right by the tower.

We also got to see a preview of the planned expansion of the park from Dumbo down the East River to Atlantic Avenue. They've set up a mini outpost of the restaurant Rice, picnic tables and a sandy beach! I got to play in the sand and have great views of New York Harbor.

Gosh, I love the sand but I got a little obsessed this time not with letting the sand run through my little finger but with smushing all the clumps of sand that were in the playbox. There were clumps of sand everywhere! There were so many to squish. I didn't know how I was going to get to them all. It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it.

P.S. Happy Bastille Day!

New Favorite Toy

The one thing that I forgot to mention about my trip to the Midwest was that I discovered a new favorite toy - my diapers! Don't worry, I only play with clean ones but they are so soft and cuddly. I can't help but snuggle up with it.

I also went to see a new allergist this week. I've been waiting quite some time to see this doctor - they are supposed to be the premier pediatric allergy and immunology practice in the country. The nice doctor agreed that I am "special" and that I have a very unique allergy profile. After doing a skin test, the doctors confirmed that I do have a new allergy - mustard seed! Who knew that someone could be allergic to mustard? Well, apparently me. That means that not only do I have to stay away from mustard but probably all other seeds too like sesame, sunflower and poppy. The tricky part is that mustard seems to be in a lot of spice blends and other products (possibly Heinz ketchup!!) and isn't always identified on ingredient lists (you know, sometimes it just says "spices"). Geez, I guess I might as well be a boy in a bubble.

Chicago!

On the last day of our trip, we drove down to Chicago to visit Auntie Chrissy and Uncle Sudhir. Auntie Chrissy is an old friend of Mommy's from Stanford. After a lovely brunch and a restful nap, we took a walk around Millennium Park, a 24.5 acre park that features work by world-renowned architects, artists and designers. Since it was such a warm day, our first stop was the Crown fountain, designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa. It's these two 50-foot glass block towers which video images of Chicago residents are projected onto. It's quite clever because sometimes it looks like the images are spitting out water from their mouths. Everyone in Chicago seems to like to play in the fountain as much as me!

The other cool piece of art in the park is the Cloud Gate aka The Bean, designed by British artist Anish Kapoor. He doesn't like that everyone calls it The Bean but really, that's what it looks like but made of highly polished stainless steel. Plus, it doesn't give you gas. The neat thing about it is that it reflects the city's skyline and the clouds above.

I had such a fun time in Chicago, especially playing with Auntie Chrissy and Uncle Sudhir. They are a silly pair. They kept making faces at me and funny gestures to make me laugh. I hope that I get to see them again soon! Boy was I pooped, but my day wasn't over yet. We still had to travel home to Brooklyn! Here I am at the Chili's at O'Hare airport on the way home grabbing a bite to eat before getting on the airplane. Even though I was tired, I couldn't fall asleep on the plane so Mommy and Daddy did their best to distract and entertain me.

What a fun vacation! Where to next?

Milwaukee

Milwaukee is quite an interesting place. Actually, there are quite a few things that seem to be unique to Milwaukee and Wisconsin in general - 4th of July fireworks held on the 3rd of July, Friday fish fry and round pizzas cut into square slices, just to name a few. It's also the home of Harley Davidson, Laverne and Shirley and Happy Days, not to mention cheese, beer and bratwurst.

Lucky for us, Summerfest was going on while we were in town. It's the world's largest music festival and was happening right across from Auntie Tracy's apartment. On the 4th of July, we decided to walk around the festival grounds. My favorite musician was Geri X, a Bulgarian-born singer-songwriter. Since it was Friday, we got to have fish fry for lunch too.

We then took a walk to see the Milwaukee Art Museum which is right on Lake Michigan. The amazing Quadracci Pavillion was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and blends architecture, sculpture and nature. The building looks like a bird with its moveable, wing-like brise soleil or sunshade which open up to a wingspan of 217 feet and closes at night. The wings even "flap" at noontime. Inside the building, it felt like a cathedral. Daddy really liked the building, almost as much as the Sydney Opera House.

A trip to Milwaukee wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Miller Brewing Company. Ahhh, the High Life!

I also made a new friend - Aidan. He's the one who was nice enough to loan me his toys and highchair. We got along splendidly. He beat me at tic-tac-toe but only because he hid the X's and O's behind the wall molding.

Auntie Tracy's House

Auntie Tracy just moved into a new apartment in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It's quite a nice place with views of Lake Michigan and the river. Not only that, it was quite spacious and seemed to be perfectly suited for me! I had my very own room (Auntie Tracy's walk-in closet) and a Jasper-size counter for me to eat off of and play on.

I also had my own assortment of toys to play with courtesy of Aidan, Auntie Tracy's friends Alysandra and Dave's son.

The best part was that I got to meet Derek Jeter! He's much bigger than he looks on TV. I only come up to his knees.

And here's a view of the sunrise from the terrace. Unfortunately, we saw the sunrise more than we wanted to. Since I was sick, I would wake up early in the morning.