Puddle jumping and other adventures...

Jasper has been a busy boy lately. Over the weekend he went to a birthday party for a neighborhood friend and visited Cousin Nathan's Farm, where he discovered that it just may be his destiny to drive a John Deer tractor. He LOVED it. Thanks, Dad, for playing with him up there!

After several sunny days in a row, Jasper got used to going outside, to the park and in the backyard. It's hard to explain why we can't do that when the rain is coming down. Fortunately, we had a nice sunny break between showers. I decided to put his little green froggy rain boots on him and head out the door. Just like it was instinct, he took to jumping in puddles with no instructions or encouragement. About 25 minutes later the boy was soaking wet, his little jogging pants sagging with the weight of the water. He screamed for a few minutes when I dragged him inside!

Watching my boy playing in the street didn't lend itself to me taking pictures. If I had, I might be getting a visit from child protective services. I'm sure the rain will stick around for a few more months, so I'll have to enlist Dad to take some pics next time.

Here are a couple of others, though:

Turns out I do like spaghetti.

Thanks to the puddle jumping, we did a bath before dinner -- big mistake!

Is this what I'm not supposed to touch?

Cheeeeeese! I love chocolate covered bananas.

Enough with the pictures, Mom, more bananas!

Catching up

What has happened to the time? It seems to fly by these days. Between play dates, naps and work, I struggle to find time to do just about anything else. Like blog.

In the name of brevity, here's a quick rundown of what's going on in our little world. If you just care to see pictures of the cutest little boy ever, scroll down.

• Jasper will be 17 months old in a couple of weeks, and I can hardly believe it. The boy is a hoot. He can climb stairs, run, ride his bike and dance like no other. He's pretty happy most of the time, and mostly just gets upset near the dinner hour when I'm working like mad to finish cooking. Lately we've been happier when I pull up the stool near me and let him play on the countertop. He'll pile carrot peels and onion skins in his own bowls and stir them with a spoon.
  
• A blood test confirmed that Jasper is not allergic to eggs but just had the sensitivity that is not all that uncommon in babies. He would have loved to hear this news, but he was too busy stuffing muffins, waffles, chocolate chip cookies and pancakes into his mouth.
  
• Seth is surviving the grind and continuing to commute by bike and train despite the cold, wet weather. Kudos to him, I think, as I watch him ride off from my spot inside the warm house with a cup of coffee each morning.
  
• I always have a little slump this time of year thinking that winter just might take me down. It seems to have been a little less this year, so that's good. Soon my birthday will roll around, and then I can hang on until spring officially arrives. Our mild winter around here means we're already seeing daffodils and tulips poking through the soggy mud.
• I am in the process of starting my own, very part-time business. It's called Larapin Creative, and I'll be doing marketing and communications work for food businesses. It's basically what I've been doing, but this will allow me to take on other clients. It seems very scary and fun all at the same time. I'm hoping to have a web site to show off before too long.
• OK, enough of this, let's see those pics I promised!

Strawberry saute anyone?

My homemade squirrel feeder outside of the breakfast nook.

Jasper loves to look out the window at the squirrels. We've named him Skeeter.

Running at the park on a recent sunny afternoon.

This chair in Jasper's room is possibly his favorite spot to sit and "read."

Jasper the fireman.

Did I mention he's cute?

Peek-a-boo.

Yee-haw or maybe it should be hee-haw!

Cheeeeeeeeese!