Just Jasper

Off to a great start

2009-06-29T11:46:00.003-04:00

Summer vacation officially started this weekend. Jasper has figured out how to unfold the step ladder, drag it to the freezer, and pull out popsicles. He has been up at least until 10:00 every night (thank you, PBS Kids). And he just found out where I hid the candy. It's all over. Kid Armageddon is here.

King for a day

2009-06-08T23:38:00.003-04:00

It's been too long since I last updated Jasper's blog! Maybe I should have him take over.

This Saturday we will be celebrating his birthday with a party. His birthday was in January, of course, but we wanted to have a party in the park in warm weather. Will he wear is crown?

Snowman

2009-03-11T10:54:00.002-04:00

While we had snow on the roof we built a friend.

The ocean blue

2009-03-04T23:37:00.002-05:00

Corraling the creations

2009-03-03T10:30:00.006-05:00

We have entered a new era with Jasper's room: the era of construction toys. These are Legos, Playmobil, Bionicle, Lincoln Logs, Bonz, little magnet things, the castle you take apart, and on and on. You can create your dream nursery when your child is a baby--but that baby is going to grow up into a child with opinions about his room's decor, with a preference for toys with hundreds of teeny, tiny plastic parts. And that's where the pretty ends.

True, you can corral all the tiny pieces of plastic into baskets etc., but the real problem is that when Jasper builds something he wants it to remain intact for a while so he can play with it. Because we are an artist family (and the over-indulgent parents of an only child), creations are sacred in our home. They are preserved and protected. And of course, Jasper wants to mix it all up together and keep it all out so he can return to his creations. It's especially difficult to manage in a tiny apartment--especially since his room comprises almost half of our total square footage! When I step into his room I can't help murmuring to myself "the horror...."

Where do you put it all?!?

I picked up a little inspiration from Simon's Room in Ohdeedoh. The little shelf holding the cars looked like just the thing for displaying Lego spaceships. I haven't found one exactly like it, but I did come across an even better solution at Target--a shoe organizer!

The compartments are just the right size to showcase the creations like the little Fabergé eggs that they are. Now his table looks like this:

How to stay warm

2009-01-18T09:48:00.002-05:00

Wear your trapper hat upside-down as a mask!

Pipilotti Rist at the Modern

2009-01-15T12:53:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago we saw the Pipilotti Rist installation at the Museum of Modern Art. This is a great show for kids, provided parents are comfortable with some nudity. A video is projected on the walls while there is a giant, round playpen-like seating area in the center where you can lie down and view the video or thow wedge-shaped pillows. All three of us loved it. If you're in New York--with or without kids--be sure to catch this one.

Jasper also loved the Paul Kirps Autoreverse video (here he is watching it just before a guard made him stand up). And I loved the Dreamland architecture show including a copy of Rem Koolhaas' Delirious New York.

He Blinded Me With Science

2009-01-02T00:58:00.004-05:00

One of Jasper's Christmas presents was a science kit from the Young Science Club, and we were not disappointed. Already we have conducted a fascinating experiment with bacteria. Sure, I never got around to taking Jasper to the Nutcracker this year. But he still got some culture! (har har) Jasper is having a blast with this kit so far.

We couldn't let the holiday break go by without visiting our place of worship, the American Museum of Natural History. The highlight for Jasper is watching the Sea Monsters movie. But he is also fond of the dinosaur chicken nuggets (not too bad with mustard, actually).

I indulged Jasper and bought him a jello parfait with gummy shark and octopus. He had about three bites. And now that I've done that I never have to buy him one ever again.

Tomorrow we're hoping to make it to the New York Hall of Science. Our evil plans to steer Jasper away from a life in the arts are going well so far...(mad scientist cackle--bwa ha ha ha haaaaa!)

What Child is This?

2009-01-02T00:53:00.002-05:00

Greeting you with Daddy's tie on Christmas Eve.

With Santa, who visited his class just before the holidays.

Hamming it up at the school holiday concert.

THIS is the science kit

2008-12-14T21:38:00.003-05:00

I've been looking at a lot of kids' science kits this holiday season. First I listed My First Scientist in my little gift guide, but the reviews weren't glowing. So I replaced it with Stepping Into Science, but when I looked at it in a store I wasn't that impressed.

Here's what I'm looking for: serious content, not just "mix these things together and make colored crystals." Something that will actually teach my son the process of investigation. Substantive and varied experiments.

But then, at a local toy store, I found science kits by The Young Scientists Club. This is it! The problem is, there is no one, ideal, all-encompassing science kit. There's just too much...science out there to be contained in one little kit. The Young Scientist Club has a series of kits. Each kit covers three different themes (like volcanoes or recycling). You can sign up for a monthly kit, which I would do except that my local toy store sells most of them--I'd like to support them and avoid shipping costs. But the YSC website has great additional resources.

Jasper meets Santa 2009

2008-12-14T18:42:00.001-05:00

The Jasper Christmas/Birthday Gift Guide

2008-11-19T12:03:00.012-05:00

Wondering what to give the boy for Christmas or his birthday? Here's a few ideas!
Stepping Into Science Kit

Matchbox Shuttle Mission

Lego Deep Sea Quest

The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer, or any other titles by Ungerer.

Backhoe by Bruder from Diana Toy Store

Zoom to the Moon playset from Modern Tots. This one has already been ordered for Jasper, but I'm leaving it up in case anyone else in the blogsphere is looking for ideas for their own lists.

He keeps asking for this Ariel doll, which is currently on display at our local drug store. I think he has a crush.

Mars Mission MT-61 Crystal Reaper (this has been ordered)

Mobilehome dollhouse you can decorate yourself, from The Pajama Squid

Superstructs Castle Set (this has been ordered)

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T17:11:00.003-04:00

Last year he was a Blood Monster. The year before, a red M&M. This year Jasper's brilliant idea for a costume was an Alien Eyeball.

Where The Wild Things Are

2008-11-01T17:07:00.002-04:00

Jasper did a fantastic job playing Max in his class play of Where The Wild Things Are. His classmates were most ferocious as well.

He finally let me give him a haircut

2008-10-16T13:13:00.002-04:00

Don't get me wrong -- I looooved Jasper's long hair. But the tangles were making me batty.

We like to hypnotize Jasper with PBS Kids first thing in the morning.

Gray

2008-10-12T15:52:00.002-04:00

I love how Jasper's eyes turn gray when he wears gray.

He loves the way this blurry picture makes him look like Gadunka.

Bored? Today is Fun

2008-10-03T18:32:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Twitter I just discovered a great new blog, Today is Fun. It's a dad-authored blog filled with fun things to do with your kids. And because it's dad-authored, it's got a great boy vibe to it (imho).

Jasper and I made the parachute and it was a big hit. I reinforced the punched-out holes with tape, fyi. We had a lot of fun with this and his "superhero" Playmobil guy on our apartment building's banisters. Check it out!

This explains a lot

2008-09-20T13:19:00.002-04:00

Jasper looked over my shoulder as I was reading the news on my laptop. He saw a photo of Sarah Palin and said "Mama, that's John McCain."

First day of school!

2008-09-04T09:13:00.005-04:00

Jasper started school this week! He's attending Pre-K at our local elementary school, which means all day, every day. I was worried about this, but I think he's going to be just fine. His teacher is the warmest, most lovey-dovey teacher you could ask for, and her assistant also seems sweet.

Ah, but public school in New York City... I knew what was coming but I was still a little surprised at how much the class needs. We parents picked up items from the teachers' wish list, things like a small refrigerator, a printer, and computer software. I may pick up a few plants over the weekend. There was a bare-bones feeling to the clean, tidy room. Soon it will be covered with kid art classroom charts.

It was a quick lesson on how important parent involvement is to the public school experience. I have friends sending their children to private schools and couldn't help imagining how different their classroom experiences must be. Still, this seems to be the kind of teacher who makes love and imagination go a long way. I think it will be a great year.

Rodeo and bungee

2008-08-23T22:22:00.006-04:00

While in Colorado we went to a rodeo! Yeee-haaaaaaaw! Uncle Greg picked up a hat and some boots for Jasper and he wore them with the cowboy shirt Aunt Angelica got from Rockmount. In addition to roping there was bull riding, a bouncy tent, pony rides, face painting, a petting zoo, and treats.

(Image blurred because I dropped Jasper's snow cone on the camera while trying to photograph him on a pony.)

My favorite part was the "mutton busters." Parents placed their 3-to-7-year-old children atop lambs and the kids held on as long as they could until the lambs bucked them off. Supposedly the lambs leap over the kids, but from where I was standing it looked like they were jumping on them. Wow, I'd love to see the neurotic helicopter parents of Park Slope try that!

"What a bad idea!" I couldn't help yelling when I saw it. "Yeah, it is a bad idea," said the woman standing next to me. "But my kids love it, so we let them. Tomorrow we're doing bungee jumping."

Bungee jumping? It turns out you can do that at Beaver "not exactly roughing it" Creek. Jasper loved it. My sister's family outfitted Jasper once again, this time in cousin Garrin's old leather biker jacket with Batman painted on the back. What a tough guy.

Toothpick sea urchins

2008-06-13T09:27:00.003-04:00

Jasper noticed a fun project in one of his Magic School Bus books (we both love the series). Toothpick sea urchins! Simply roll clay into a ball and add toothpicks all around. Jasper's sea urchin is "the most dangerous ever seen by mankind."

We also made sea stars, robot kelp, baby mola molas and a bola bola kolakakoma. Guy Cousteau, Jean-Michel's young renegade nephew, discovered these creatures.

Look out of the man-eating sea urchin, Guy!

Big, beautiful sunshine boy

2008-05-29T22:51:00.003-04:00

Random spring pictures

2008-05-29T22:46:00.002-04:00

Lego spaceships

2008-04-02T15:03:00.003-04:00

A few favorite things

2008-03-26T12:02:00.004-04:00

It's still spaceships, spaceships, spaceships around here. Jasper especially loves building them with Daddy. I'll post a few examples soon. Most important element: they HAVE to be symmetrical.

I got a copy of The Meatrix, which I highly recommend for all adults. Jasper happens to love it, too. As it turns out, it's a pretty good teaching tool for kids.

Another mania is pretending to hatch from an egg. Jasper pretends to be all sorts of animals, pteranodons, bats, birds, humans. Yes, we know some of these animals do not actually hatch from eggs. Jasper pretends to be the first bat, human, etc. to ever hatch from an egg. I do a news report.

Jasper also loves the "golden lady" in front of our neighborhood Indian restaurant.

A castle for my son

2008-03-05T13:00:00.005-05:00

Jasper has been asking for a castle and/or dollhouse for a while. Inspired by this post and this post I decided to try making one as a surprise while he was at school.

There's a dragon's lair.

Lookout towers.

A long, orange, modern sofa.

I thought we'd eventually buy the usual wooden dollhouse furniture, but Jasper is not interested. He'd rather construct his own.

I had to add some support structures.

Don't forget the gardens!

See you at school

2008-02-28T23:15:00.002-05:00

I loved this article by Sandra Tsing Loh about enrolling her children in an urban public school. We're about to enter similar territory in the fall. Our local elementary schools is a "magnet" school, the best of a rather dismal district. After the school tour and a PTA meeting at this little-engine-that-could, though, I became a believer.

Frozen bananas

2008-02-28T23:08:00.002-05:00

This was Jasper's idea. Let's make frozen bananas! I suggested coating them in chocolate first. Here's how to make them.

Step 1: melt some chocolate chips and butter in the microwave.

Step 2: put peeled bananas on a posicle, chop, or other stick.

Step 3: spread chocolate on one side of banana. Turn, and coat other side of banana. Place bananas on parchment paper over a piece of cardboard.

Step 4: Freeze for at least an hour, then eat 1/4 and return to freezer where said banana remains to this day.

Jasper's 15 seconds

2008-02-21T15:03:00.004-05:00

Jasper has made his film debut in this Howcast.com video. Marisa, watch out -- there's another movie star in the family!

P.S. Step 8 is impossible for those of us who do not have live-in nannies. Also, we only use a stroller for long walks.

Four days of spring

2008-02-19T20:14:00.004-05:00

We just returned from a short trip to Houston, Texas. We went there to help Jasper's great grandma celebrate her 90th birthday! After two days of rain (and tornado warnings) the sun came out and we enjoyed the gloriously warm, southern weather.

On the first rainy day we went to the Space Center (see next post). Monday we went to the lovely zoo, toured a pond in a paddle boat, and wandered the Japanese gardens at Herman Park. We're glad to be home again, but we certainly did love visiting Houston and hope to return soon.

Houston, we have contact

2008-02-19T20:07:00.003-05:00

Vaccinations

2008-01-22T22:42:00.001-05:00

Jasper got the last of his early-childhood vaccinations Friday. Four shots! We were a little behind. I am ambivalent about these immunizations becasue I have a friend whose son is autistic (she believes it was caused by thimerisol in his vaccines) and because four different shots is a lot of funky juice to be running around a small boy's system at the same time. But they are required by the state and I plan to enroll him in pre-K later this winter, so...

Jasper was brave and took it well. Actually, he screamed his head off.

It was traumatic and afterwards we went home and ate a lot of ice cream. Both of us. The next day Jasper's legs were sore so we spent the day at home. He seemed fine, though way less energetic than usual. Sunday was spent in sloth as well, with one leg still sore. Finally, by Monday, he was back to his usual self.

Since it was horribly cold I thought we should go see a movie. (Museums are typically crowded on holidays.) I trudged uphill 20 blocks in the cold, giving myself a mild asthma attack, just to find out our movie had sold out. Bah! Jasper's next idea was to play in the park. This is what we should have done in the first place, considering how little exercise we got the previous days. We had a grand, though chilly, afternoon exploring Mars, trying out alien spaceships, and collecting rock and other samples from volcanoes.

Jasper took these photos by himself while I was cooking dinner

2008-01-22T22:38:00.001-05:00

4th Birthday Party

2008-01-16T13:21:00.000-05:00

Do I really have a four-year-old now?

We had a fun party Sunday. Somehow we managed to get the perfect number and age range of kids in our tiny apartment. Most of the time the kids had fun just playing with Jasper's toys, but there were a few games and some treats as well.

I know a pooh-pooh'ed the Space Shuttle as a party theme in my other blog. Least you think we are not fans of the Space Shuttle, Jasper has accumulated at least four in the past few weeks, including one made of Lego-like bricks. I just wanted to expand beyond that black and white color scheme. By the way, I had a dream last night that I was taking a science class taught by David Bowie -- something about epistemology, the body, space.

Anyway, that's not what you're here for. You're here for pictures! Many thanks to Margaret who had the presence of mind to pick up the camera and snap away. If it weren't for her we wouldn't have any images at all!

By the way -- no pictures of our guests because I felt awkward about asking permission. What would you say if I asked if I could post pictures of your kid on the Internets? Parents are getting really cautious.

Space games

2008-01-16T12:58:00.000-05:00

You've heard about how getting organized activities going at a kid's party is like herding cats? That's why I organized only two.

The first was "Pin the planet in the solar system." The idea was that we would blindfold each child and let them guess where the planet goes. Then we could talk about where the planet really goes, but not move it because the fun is putting it in a silly place. I soon discarded the blindfolding and the one-at-a-time and just let them have at it, handing out planets and asteroids. As a result we have a funky picture to hang on Jasper's wall.

The second activity was making aliens out of dough (Crayola's model magic, which doesn't crumble), pipe cleaners, googly eyes, markers, and glitter glue. A lot of the aliens came out looking like the one below only filled with glitter and color. Jasper made a minimalist alien which you can see in his hand on my other blog.

At the end we popped confetti crackers which are, actually, kind of dangerous. Note the look of sheer terror on my face.

Birthday boy

2008-01-16T12:55:00.000-05:00

On Jasper's birthday we went to the museum, saw Dinosaurs Alive! and made pizzas for dinner. Dad brought home some special treats, ice cream and Izzy sodas.

Jasper turns four tomorrow!

2008-01-09T09:20:00.001-05:00

We are all made of stars

2008-01-02T11:53:00.000-05:00

I may have mentioned that we make a trip to the museum of natural history/planetarium nearly ever week. Jasper and I love it there (so does Lane, when he can make it). Jasper was browsing through his Internet bookmarks a few weeks ago and discovered Sonic Vision -- the music and laser show at the planetarium. (Do they even call them laser shows anymore?) He became obsessed and would watch the preview over and over again. Then he started asking to see the show over and over again. So we finally took him.

Boy these things have come a long way since the Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd spiralgraph doodles of my youth. Jasper loved it -- loud music! Dancing robots! Floating eyeballs! The first thing he said when it was over was "we have to see this again!"

I think we will go again -- probably several times. What a jaded young man we're raising here in New York City. He'll be sick of it by the time he's five and start writing letters to the museum to come up with a new show. But for now he'll have to make do with watching the previews online.

Speaking of online, Jasper loves playing kid's Internet games and watching You Tube cartoons (SUPERVISED, OF COURSE). This has prompted me to hatch an evil plan. I keep thinking about all the work and writing I could get done if only we had another laptop. So I bought Jasper his own laptop from the One Laptop Per Child program. There are so many reasons to love this program and the innovative laptop itself, but I still can't believe I've purchased a computer for an almost-four-year-old. Is this going to turn him into a 'net potato? Nevertheless, it should arrive sometime later this month and I CAN'T WAIT to have my laptop back to myself. That is, until Lane comes home.

The glory of it all

2008-01-02T11:51:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to all

2007-12-24T15:24:00.000-05:00

Proof that he's our kid, chapter 1

2007-12-10T10:56:00.000-05:00

It looks like our obsession with eradicating visual clutter has trickled down the Jasper. He wants everything in his life to be "plain." This means I have to turn all his shirts inside-out before he'll wear them. No more cute, monochromatic chimp face, no more adorable Italian scooter, no more sweet velveteen reindeer -- it's all solid colors.

When I replaced his slippers I bought plain black ones (black hole slippers!). And I got a lot of guff about the new Sigg bottle I bought Jasper because it has a dinosaur on it. Sigh. What is he going to do with the new Hannah Andersson pajamas I just bought him for Christmas, the ones with the lovely winter birds?

Christmas tree

2007-12-10T10:54:00.000-05:00

Jasper, why did you pull off the nutcracker's arm?

2007-12-02T11:03:00.001-05:00

"Because I wanted him to be an arm-clops."

Christmastime is here

2007-12-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

The Red Balloon

2007-11-16T09:27:00.000-05:00

The Red Balloon will be showing in theaters Thanksgiving weekend! Starting November 23, it will be screening with White Mane. I'm so excited!

The Big Orange Splot

2007-11-16T09:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Jasper and I were in our building's foyer when he had me sit down on the stairs and pulled up a chair facing me. "Let's talk about our feelings," he said.

"Oh, great idea," I said, recovering from my shock. "Where did you get this idea? From school?"

"No," he said. "From The Big Orange Splot."

We went on to talk about scary feelings and regular feelings, what they look like, what makes us feel them. Jasper projected his scary feelings on the wall next to us and we pressed pretend buttons to shrink them. How does he come up with this stuff?

Apparently we owe something to The Big Orange Splot. It was one of my favorite children's books -- our copy was actually my brother's, but I stole it from my mother's house when I came across it this summer. (I'll send him a new copy of his own.) It's about a man named Mr. Plumbeam who lives on a street where all the houses are exactly the same. One day, he wakes up and finds a big orange splot on his roof. His neighbors expect that he'll get rid of it so they can keep having a neat street.

Instead, Mr. Plumbeam paints a fantasy on his house, with crazy colors and images. He plants palm trees, strings up a hammock, and gets a pet aligator. The neighbors are scandalized. One by one, they visit Mr. Plumbeam and try to get him the change his house. Instead, they stay up all night talking about their dreams. Each neighbor follows his visit to Mr. Plumbeam by painting his house with his own fantastic vision. Soon, their street is no longer neat; but it's a great deal more interesting.

"My house is me and I am it. My house is where I like to be, and it looks like all my dreams." I love this sentiment so much better than that cleanliness is next to godliness line. Anyway, that's how I hope all three of us feel about our home.

I guess those magnetic letters really work

2007-11-11T18:48:00.001-05:00

I taught Jasper how to spell "mama." It could just be a fluke. He asks me to spell things out with the magnetic letters all the time, and last night it was "mama" and "mommy." Tonight he put "mama" together on his own. Yeah, he gets it! It's just so exciting to witness him learning new things.

Welcome to Just Jasper

2007-11-10T14:07:00.000-05:00

This is a blog for grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Welcome!