I'd have thought that my next blog entry would have been about Jason's swimming lessons, which started the Saturday before last. And, to be sure, they were a whole lot of fun for all of us. But while I've been procrastinating about writing, Jason seems to have turned another big developmental corner and has become an almost entirely new baby. In the past two weeks, he's figured out how to scoot himself from one place to another, how to pick himself up on his hands and knees, and he's tantalizingly close to learning how to crawl for real. He's also figured out how to sit up on his own. He almost never does sit up, though, because he's constantly on the move.

It's amazing the personality changes that have come with his newfound mobility. I guess Jason's always been curious and into exploring, but now that he can actually get around a bit, he more or less constantly wants to be checking things out and pulling himself around. What's astonishing is how obvious that desire is--he really wants things all of a sudden. Unfortunately, he still hasn't quite figured out crawling, which means that he's nearly constantly frustrated. If we pick him up, he squirms to turn around and see out, or even to get out of our arms. But when we put him down, he rapidly gets upset at his inability to get his arms and legs coordinated. He gets this really intense look on his face when he's trying to crawl and you can tell that he's really focusing and trying to figure it out. What's more, you can see that he knows how close he is, which is all the more frustrating for him.

What's even harder is that Jason has no way of expressing what it is he wants, so things have gotten a little more challenging. Too, he's so interested in all the stuff around him that feedings and sleeping have gotten more difficult again. On the other hand, it seems like his language skills are also starting to develop. He's been responding to his name for a couple of months now, I think, but we noticed that lately he seems to be understanding more of the words and signs we've been using. The other day I asked him if he wanted some milk, along with the sign, and he immediately (even a little franticly) turned and looked at Juliette. His babbling is also including a lot more sounds than it used to.

When I think about how fast this is all happening, it just blows my mind. I mean, it's only been a few weeks since he wasn't even able to turn himself over. I feel like I can hardly keep up--no sooner do I get used to one thing than it's different again. But, man, it's so cool to see it happening.

We've managed to more or less get Jason on a sleep schedule. It seems to be working pretty well--he gets a bath at 7:30 every night, then Juliette reads to him and puts him in his pajamas, then she puts him down at 8. He usually falls asleep in less time than it takes her to walk from his room to the living room. It's great because we get some time in the evenings to catch up on chores and spend some time together, and he sleeps right through the night. He does wake up earlier than we'd like most days--usually around 5:30--but Juliette is up by then on the weekdays anyway and he actually sleeps later than that often enough that I'm hoping the early rising is something he'll grow out of.

The one problem, though, is that it's often hard to get him to wait until 7:30 to start his bedtime routine. Especially if he hasn't had a late nap, or if the nap he did have was short, Jason starts getting tired around 6:30. Usually that means he's fussy, though lately we have been able to keep him entertained enough to distract him. If he's really tired, though, sometimes we get a scene like this:

I'm pretty sure that the fact that we're laughing in the video means we are terrible people.

A couple of weeks ago Jason finally started showing interest in solid foods, and we got some video of one of his first really good meals. These days he's up to three meals a day, and he often gets through an entire container of baby food.

On a mostly unrelated note, Jason's second tooth showed up today. Hopefully they'll be visible in pictures before too long.

Jason has been extra fussy for the past few nights, for no reason that we could quite figure out. He would continue to fuss even after being changed and fed, but unlike before, he didn't have a fever or a particularly stuffy nose, and nothing else seemed to be wrong. But he has been extra-drooly lately, so Juliette and I thought that perhaps he might have a tooth coming in.

Bingo.

Last night started off a little rough as Jason had a poop escape his diaper in a massive way--it ran all down his legs and up his back, got all over his clothes and onto his Exersaucer. A little bit even got into his hair, I think. This is mainly our fault for leaving him in his Exersaucer without any pants. I have no idea why, but being in that thing makes him poop. It's incredibly reliable. Any time we need him to poop, we just stick him in there and a couple of minutes later, it's done. Maybe he thinks it's a toilet or something. Last night he was certainly grunting like it was.

But back to the story at hand. We eventually got him cleaned up (and the Exersaucer) and managed to sit down for dinner. Lately, we've been starting to put him in the high chair while we eat, giving him a toy or pacifier or a piece of fruit in his safe feeder. When it works, it's great, because we finally get a chance to both eat at the same time, rather than trading off holding Jason and rushing through our meal. But, the past couple of nights, as I mentioned, he's been too fussy. Juliette managed to hold him on her lap while we ate last night, which of course meant that Jason spent most of his time trying to get her hand into his mouth. I was just starting to clean up when she exclaimed, "I think you've got a tooth in there!" I rushed over and felt around and, sure enough, there was the beginning of a tooth poking through his gum--the bottom left front tooth, to be more precise. I tried to get a look, but between the tooth being so small and Jason being uncooperative I could barely see it.

It's all moving so fast, it's hard to keep up. This week, a tooth. Next week, I'm betting he'll be asking for the car keys.

Jason, Jay, Jay Jay, J. J. Abrams, Jables, Jableston, Jasón, Jason von Jasonson, Jason Michaelson, Son, Sonny Boy, Sonson, Son-san, Boy-o, Booby Boy, Baby, The Baby, Baby Jay, Baby Booboo, Boo Boo Bear, Baby Boy, The Boy, The Jason, Jason Boy, Dude, Duder, Snorty Snooterson, Poopyhead, Poopybuns, Poopoo, Poopooloopoo, Poopy, Puppy, Pants, Mr. Poopypants, Mr. Moo, Mr. Moopoo, Mr. Man, Little Man, Little Guy, Little Dude, Buddy, Buddy Boy, Bubba, Bubbaloo, El Babalao, Babalaba, Ramalamadingdong, Jammalammalammalamma, Fussypants, Mr. Fusserson, Man, Manimal, Manderson, Mangia Mangia, Dr. Manhattan, Chuck Mangione.

Despite all this, he seems to be learning his name.

After almost six weeks, Jason finally seems like he's getting over his cold. What's more, he slept through the night last night--we put him down at 7 PM and he didn't wake up until 5:30 AM. It was glorious. All three of us have been exhausted lately, and to finally get a full night's sleep was simply amazing. Granted, Juliette and I both actually woke up several times in the night, expecting to hear Jason crying, even worrying a little when we didn't. I still feel a little like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the excitement we're both feeling at the prospect of getting good sleep can't be denied.

I tell you, though, the last couple of days have been great. With all of us being better rested, we've all been in better moods, and our time together has been much more fun. I even had Jason laughing last night during a game of peek-a-boo. I'm not sure whether we've truly entered a new phase with Jason's sleeping, and even if we have, I'm sure something will come up eventually that we'll have to deal with, but for now I'm just enjoying it.

The other day, when Juliette picked up Jason from day care, one of the women there commented how cute it was how he "kisses" people. They aren't really kisses, of course--what he does is sort of mash his open mouth against your face, sometimes with his tongue extended, sometimes not. Jason has reached the stage where he wants to put just about everything into his mouth, and if he can't bring something to his mouth, well, he'll bring his mouth to it. Sometimes he can't reach, so he settles for licking it.

Aside from putting things in his mouth, Jason also loves to grab things. Our female friends and relatives have all discovered how much he loves to grab their hair. And I have found that my glasses are a bit of a mixed blessing--on the one hand, it's one more thing for him to go after, but on the other hand, they do help protect my eyes from his sharp little fingernails.

Every once in a while we'll have this tender moment where I'm holding him and he leans back a little and looks at me. He'll extend his arms and sort of stroke my face. It's usually just about the moment when I'm thinking how cute he is when he locks onto my lower lip and tries to tear it off my face. I tell you, the kid has a good grip.

In other news, Jason is finally starting to learn to put himself to sleep. He fusses a bit when we first put him down, but it actually seems like he sleeps better when he lulls himself to sleep rather than when we do it. The last three nights he slept for over 11 hours, only waking up once each night. By comparison, we were getting up with him at least three or four times a night before that. Now, if only I could figure out how to get myself into bed on time, the bags under my eyes would finally start to go away.

One of my favorite things that Jason does comes at the end of the day. I have been putting Jason to bed for the past month or so, and we have a little routine all worked out. I change his diaper and put him into his pajamas, then zip him into his sleep sack. Then I rock him in the rocking chair while I give him a bottle, and I feed and rock him until he falls asleep.

It doesn't always go smoothly, since Jason has become easily distractable as he's gotten older and can actually focus on the things around him. Often times, he's more interested in staring at lights or his toys or me than in eating. But he does eventually settle into it and take the bottle, and he usually falls asleep with it in his mouth.

And that's where my favorite thing happens. Just before he falls asleep, just after his eyes have finally drooped shut, Jason gets this huge, blissful smile on his face. It's easy to miss since it only lasts about a second, plus he still has the bottle in his mouth. But it's got to be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

I think it's not going to be too terribly long before I stop seeing that look, because he'll be putting himself to sleep. It's kind of a mixed blessing--I'm really happy and excited to see how he grows and develops, but, still, it's kind of sad to know that these times are so short. In this case especially so, since the smile is so fleeting and the room is so dark that it's more or less impossible to capture it on film.

Still, for every thing that Jason leaves behind, there's something new to appreciate about him. In the past few weeks he has found his voice, and he's constantly "talking" now. It's absolutely adorable--I'll post video as soon as we can get some.

Last night I sat down for my first tub bath with Jason.  Lately, we've been bathing him in the regular tub instead of the little infant basin we started with.  Since he still can't really sit up on his own, one of us will get in there with him.  (And, of course, up until last night "one of us" was Juliette.)

Afterwards, Juliette asked me if it was fun.  I told her that, on the one hand, yes, it was fun because he liked the warm water and was in a pretty good mood the whole time.  On the other hand, however, he also managed to kick me in the testicles no less than four times, which made it somewhat less than completely enjoyable for me.  I think Jason may have found it amusing, so I reckon that once he's old enough, he'll probably appreciate the Three Stooges.  And, on the bright side, I can tell that his leg muscles are developing well.