A guest post from Kayla…

Our son Jasper loves to be part of whatever Dad is doing. We put a swing in the basement so he can “help” Spencer do laundry or work on the updates. He HATES being inside if Spencer isn’t. One day he was fussing and fussing inside with me so I just parked his highchair outside and he watched Spencer change oil. He was so happy!

He loves to clean. It is hard to vacuum with him around because he wants to be close and watch the dust swirl. When we are done cleaning him from eating he takes his washcloth and wipes surfaces. He has a mini cleaning set and walks around the house pushing a broom.

He feels most proud of himself when he can do “chores.” Back in November, we started having him put his own laundry down our chute.

Now that he can walk, any piece of laundry is all his. We have to get our laundry folded quickly or he will pick it up and try to put it down the chute!

It is fun to watch him be so proud of himself over something so simple.

He is at a really fun age where he is showing so much maturity but still reminds us he is just a baby. For example, he goes to put his laundry down the chute but then grabs the toilet paper. He is happily coloring a picture but then randomly eats the crayon.

I knew that I wanted to have a child, but anticipated just bearing the baby years so I could enjoy older kids. We have been really surprised by how much we have loved being Jasper’s parents all along.