Jasper

I just got to spend a week in the presence of my five-year-old nephew, Jasper. He is a very cute and sensitive little chatterbox. His constant refrains:

"You know something?"

"You know what?"

"Excuse me..."

"Aunt Katherine?"

Jasper is very good with his alphabet and letter sounds, but hasn't yet started putting the letters together into words. I wanted to test out his readiness for that just out of curiosity (having taught my own kids to read years ago), so I wrote C A T at the top of a yellow pad. Jasper was able to tell me the names of the three letters, and their sounds. When I told him to put them together and see what word it made, he came up with "Chrysalis?" Wow, that's a fancy word! Then I tried again with B U S. Again, he perfectly stated the letters and sounds, and then decided it must read "Snake." Okay...

On hikes and drives, whenever we passed a river, lake, reservoir, pond, or stream, we would all be treated to a cheerfully excited, "Wook! Water!"

Jasper is a very busy fellow, setting up bakeries and post offices, and planning surprise parties (to which he openly invites the special guest and then delightedly calls out "surprise!" as they enter the room). My favorite cooking moment of Jasper's this week was when he announced he was putting the finishing touches on the chocolate ice cream cake - by baking it in the oven.

It was fun getting to know you better, Jasper! I'm glad you liked my "flower" made out of apple slices and grapes, and ate it all up. You have a handsome smile and entertained us all so well this week.