by Jeff

Gavin was so enamored of my banjo during our new family music sessions that I decided it was best if he had a stringed instrument of his own to destroy play. Figuring he could quickly develop into a guitar-smashing heavy metal rocker, I thought the primary feature should be low cost. I whipped up a toddler-sized washtub bass, but it turns out that the technique of stretching the string while playing is beyond my ability to instruct at this time. So, I made him a little cigar box guitar. The total cost of materials was around $15, since I had to buy strings and tuning machines (the little pegs that tighten the strings). Time-wise, it was about two or three naps, except I built it at night because I can rarely get both boys to sleep at the same time. No nap-time projects for the next few months, at least.

Anyway, it sounds pretty good - but don't take my word for it, I've never played a guitar before. I left off the frets, figuring he'd break it before mastering any chords. We'll stick to songs where Gavin can get away with playing a G chord throughout. I've got a couple more cigar boxes (left over from my days at a grocery store, I'm not sucking down stogies here) and the other three tuning machines from the six-piece set, so I'll make another, full-featured guitar for stage two of his musical lessons. Or, he could just learn to play bottleneck slide. The tiny amp and effects pedal we used in the video are leftover from when I was learning to play harmonica, a hobby I abandoned because the sound made infant Gavin cry. I better reconsider, because if he's going to be Muddy Diapers, the famous blues guitar player and singer, he's going to need a good harmonica player.

Jasper visited the pediatrician for his four-month wellness exam today and has a new set of stats to share:

• 16 pounds, 2 ounces (75th percentile)
• 26 inches (85th percentile)
• 45 cm head circumference (97th percentile)

He has gained three pounds and grown two inches in the past two months since his two-month exam. Jasper's weight is exactly twice his birth weight. This is the only time in his life when it will be perfectly acceptable to double his weight in only four months!

Jasper has turned into a drool machine. No signs of any teeth yet, though.

Jasper is talking a lot. He has a cute little screech and just seems to enjoy the sound of his own voice.

Jasper rolls to rest on his side often and has almost completely rolled from his back to his tummy several times, but his arm gets in the way.

Jasper adores Gavin and the feeling is mutual. If Gavin is in the room, Jasper's eyes are glued to him.

And, lastly, Jasper would like to demonstrate his new talent: stuffing his big toe in his mouth...

It's one of those things that just makes me so proud to know that half those genes are mine!

Has Jasper really been with us for only four months? It's hard to remember what life was like as a family of three. It's like there was a big, Jasper-sized hole in our family. 

Click on the series to view the photos full-size:

By taking Jasper's photo in the same location with the same prop every month, certain areas of his development really stand out. During the first few months, he wasn't strong enough to sit and always leaned forward if I pushed him back in the chair too far. After he got the hang of sitting with support, he kept stuffing his hands in his mouth last month. Today, the challenge was keeping the frog out of his hands! Since last month, Jasper has started grabbing everything in sight and wasn't content to merely sit beside his froggy friend!

I wonder what new development will make next month's frog photo shoot different than the others...

Attire note: Jasper is wearing the 3-6 month size blue shirt for the first time this month. That's three blue shirts in increasing sizes since the series began!

After a highly unsuccessful return to church last Sunday, we decided to save ourselves the stress this weekend and head to a playground early in the morning. We have visited Main Street Park in Rolesville several times over the past year but it has always been very crowded. Expecting a smaller crowd early on a Sunday morning, the playground was vacant when we arrived and Gavin had jungle gyms and swings all to himself for a while before more kids arrived.

The playground began to fill with children throughout the morning and Gavin again made us so proud by the way he interacted with the other kids. When the first two girls arrived and started playing near him, he didn't run away to a kid-less area like he used to, he just watched them and said, "hi," as they passed by. Gavin didn't mind one bit as more and more kids arrived. He just kept on playing beside them. We are just so, so proud at the social progress he has been making!

Jasper got into the playground fun for the first time!

Gavin makes his elephant sound while riding the elephant...

When my weekend started this morning, I was very overwhelmed, depressed, and feeling sorry for myself. These have actually been my feelings every weekend for the past few months since returning to work with two kids at home. Weekends are about relaxation, right? I saw a long "to do" list in front of me and no time to get it done. Instead, I had a week of dinners to plan, a shopping list to write, and a grocery store visit to complete. Then, it would be back home for the rest of the day watching my boys while Jeff took the car and worked until closing. Home... the same place I'd been all week since it's also where I work, the one place I want to leave when the weekend arrives. As usual, the weekly grocery trip would be the one exciting weekend outing I could count on. I adore my boys, but they are my entire life and I often feel like I'm suffocating.

Several errands around town that have been on my calendar every weekend for months (like finally getting a 919 cell phone number!) were immediately pushed to next weekend again. There would be no time for them this weekend. I was frustrated. I wished I could be a normal woman and hop in the car, run a few errands around town, and be home an hour later. I wanted to take two hours and finally clear off the pile of papers that has been growing on my desk all summer, begging to be organized. I wanted to dust and vacuum and organize the toys (because I really do enjoy cleaning!) so I don't continue living in the disaster area that is our house. I wanted to take a leisurely stroll around A.C. Moore to look for picture frames to finally finish decorating the walls of this house that we moved to over a year ago and then browse the computer for my favorite family pictures hang. Actually, I wanted to take a leisurely stroll and browse at any store - it's just not possible with two little kids! I wished we had two cars so I could take the boys somewhere... anywhere on the Saturdays that Jeff works until closing. I wanted to do all these simple, mundane tasks that women without small children take for granted that seem like impossible tasks for me.

As the day grew on, I began to feel better and now, at the end of the day, my "to do" list is still nearly in tact, the house is still a mess, and my phone number still begins with 239.

But, I remember Gavin requesting one more kiss no matter how many I give him while tucking him into bed.

I have the fresh memory of the smell and softness of Jasper's skin when I place a lingering kiss on his temple.

I remember how cute Gavin says, "oh no," every time Zurg appears on the screen in Toy Story 2.

I can still hear Gavin's teary, sweet, unintelligible "I'm sorry" when he returned to me after I sent him to his room for screaming.

In my mind, I can still see Jasper's amazingly sweet smile that he flashes every time I look at him.

I remember sitting on the couch reading Richard Scarry books with Gavin, teaching numbers, colors, and shapes although he preferred to point out all the bugs.

I remember every detail of my conversation with Gavin as I tried to extract his memories of his first new gymnastics class that he attended yesterday (which I missed so badly!), how I didn't think he was really even listening to me while answering, "uh yeah," to every question until I threw in one about the color of the trampoline and he correctly answered, "wewwow," (yellow) so I knew he'd been listening all along.

I can still feel Jasper's gummy bite as he chewed on my finger to ease his teething pain.

I realized today how much Jasper has grown because he's finally big enough and strong enough for me to hold him in the traditional "baby on the hip" position with my arm around his waist (which means I can carry something with my other arm while holding him now - wow!).

I remember how excited Gavin is to wear his Lightning McQueen underwear as a reward for going #2 in the potty (third time this week!).

I laugh at how ridiculous the baby mullet hair pattern on the back of Jasper's head has become!

And those are just memories from one day! I know I'm incredible blessed and anything that doesn't involve my boys right now just isn't as important because they are going to be this small for such a short, short time.

I would have more time to clean if Jeff had the weekends off, but he works limited hours during the week so that he (and Gmummy) can watch the kids instead of a daycare which means I get to see them a lot during the day while I work at home.

We could travel around the area more on the weekends instead of being stuck at home if we had two cars, but the additional expense would require Jeff to work longer hours (and, hence, the daycare issue).

I could accomplish more in the evenings if I didn't hold Jasper as he fell asleep and spend so much time blogging about the boys, but I'd rather have all those memories documented thirty years from now than a clean house today.

So, everything that frustrates me about my weekends now is preferable to the alternative. Just one year from now, the boys will both be more independent and not require my constant attention while I'm the only parent at home. There may be a day in the not too distant future when Gavin and Jasper decide to play together and declare, "No Moms Allowed!" and I'll wish for days like today when they can't get enough of me. So, I'm going to keep trying to forget about the fleeting wants in my life and enjoy every moment with my babies even if that means the laundry piles up and there are cat fur tumble weeds lurking under the couch.

Today was one of those days that I'm grateful for digital photography or else we'd go broke paying for film and processing (or I couldn't take as many pictures *gasp*)!

Once I got started, I just couldn't stop!

Snap, snap, and snap some more!

Jasper loves to laugh at Gavin! It's SO cute to see them interact now.

It's difficult to get a photo of Jasper smiling at the me because he'll flash a huge smile and then it will immediately fade when my face disappears behind the camera. I had to prepare the shot and then peek from behind the camera and snap these blind to get the smile!

Jasper isn't the chunkster that his brother was at this age, but he still has plenty of adorable pudgy thigh rolls!

A new bluegrass band coming soon to a playroom near you...

Gavin's playgroup got together today for a bit of arts and crafts. The goal (besides playing nice and having fun) was to make simple yet exciting toddler toys: magic wands. Okay, they aren't really magic, but it doesn't matter. A mere decorated tube can entertain a toddler for hours as he runs about slashing the ribbons through the air, tickling his own face, tickling his brother's face, and teasing the cats.

Gavin casts a spell to summon a garbage truck...

Like everything small, fast, or frilly, the wand doubles as a cat toy.

 As you may have guessed by the pictures, Gavin did have a bit of help (that's "hup" in Gavin-speak) assembling his wand. Not having any appropriate wrapping paper on hand, and aiming for something befitting Gavin's current "likes", I went with a truck theme. I put the basic striped wand together, and then left it up to Gavin to decorate it with some truck stickers we had brought. Gavin was a fair shot at sticker placement, but couldn't manage to peel them from the backing. Luckily for him, one of his friends was kind enough to peel the stickers and hand them to Gavin, as well as assist with decisions on sticker placement.

That brings me to the true point of this blog entry. Gavin is fortunate to have such a group of nice young folk to interact with. We are new to the playgroup, and this was our first event that took place in a relatively confined area, a house. Without a gymnasium or a museum to run around, Gavin has more contact and gets to know the kids better. It warms my heart to watch him run around and play with other kids, jumping, laughing, communicating, and occasionally (we're still working on it) sharing. More so than any books or flashcards, his interactions with others will forge his character and determine his success in life. So what if the wand is not magic; the other kids are. Happiness and success - isn't that all you'd ask for if you had a magic wand, anyway? 

 "Hmmm, seems a little frilly for a truck wand, Dad..."

"We couldn't have made one with chains?"

"Oh, well, I guess the ribbons are fine. They are Safety Yellow. As long as it brings the trucks..."

It's hard to believe that it's teething time already, but Jasper has been showing the signs lately. Aside from the constant stream of drool, he'll cry now and can only be comforted by gnawing on a finger. He doesn't like to chew on teething toys and why should he when chomping on a clean finger or his own grubby hand will ease his pain?

This afternoon, the only thing that could make him feel better was sitting on the front porch, watching the rain fall, and chomping on Daddy's finger. Jasper loves the front porch. Whenever he is upset, he is usually calmed quickly just by stepping out the front door.

Gavin's first tooth erupted at just 4 1/2 months old, so Jasper could well be on his way to cutting his first tooth within a few weeks.

by Jeff

I promise you that I didn't coach Gavin on this. Watching the two play together just made the question pop into my head. I wasn't even sure that Gavin knew what "best friends" meant. The only place he's been exposed to that phrase is in the movie, "Cars," when Mater says he knew he made the right choice picking Lightning McQueen as his new best friend.