when he grows up, jasper wants to be like The Jungle Book’s Baloo the bear.

baloo gets to sing, play around, laugh and eat. that’s pretty much jasper’s guide to good living.

although he’s our oldest triplet, jasper has a firm, unshakeable belief that he is the baby. and thus should be accorded privileges like being carried everywhere, not having to stand up in his crib when it is time to get out, and singing row row row your boat endless times in a, well, row.

if you understand jasper’s belief that he is the baby, you understand jasper. he doesn’t like to complicate life by thinking. that’s someone else’s, like a grownup’s, job. he spends a great deal of time looking perplexed by life’s odd ways.

you would imagine that jasper would very much desire to be spoon fed, but as a matter of fact, jasper enjoys feeding himself. largely because the size of mouthfuls shoved into his mouth (with straggly bits pushed in by fingers) his mother would not allow.

although he was the last of the triumverate to walk, jasper doesn’t walk or run a lot. unless he wants to, like when a bowl of popcorn is brought into the room. he has this helpless face that makes people stoop over him, lift him and move toward the direction he needs to go. his wail is pathetic, and considering how growly his voice is, very high pitched.

physically, jasper is a winner. his body shape is very much like sebastian’s, broad shoulders and stocky build. he is slimming down now that he can walk, but you know he is going to have considerable shoulders. jasper is the one child who has my mouth and my oval face shape. (carys’ is my dad’s, sela and sebastian have caldwell face shapes.) jasper can look like mcharles at times (the nose), but he also has a look of my brother about him. jasper’s hair is a blondey-ginger. his calling card is probably his big blue eyes. long ginger lashes surround the eyes, and jasper is not adverse to giving you slow flirtatious looks out of the corner of his eyes, combined with a half smile. he likes people, and he likes people helping him.

while jasper is very easygoing, he is also very quick to tears when life doesn’t go his way. being forced to walk is a prime example of life’s cruel backstabbing measures that reduce the jay to a mass of quivering sobs.

he is musical and amongst the helpers jasper and sela tie for the favoured baby award. sela because she talks and sings, jasper because he smiles and dances. they sound like a reduced jackson five, don’t they? he’s adoring of sebastian, and mummy. he’s not a mummy’s boy, per se, because jasper has realised that loyalities and labels like mummy’s boy limit his options as to who might carry him around. he’s anyone’s really. he likes younger kids and unlilke his sisters has no desire to play with older ones.

i gave quite a detailed description of carys’ personality, but i cannot do the same for the jay. i’m sure there are still waters running deep, but at this stage of the game, he is no shakespearean figure. he is quite simply, and lovably, jasper. with a grin, and a game for everyone. he is absolutely charming.

he’s not planning on running the universe,(or a marathon) unless you can do it sitting down, while eating. but he will certainly cheer on the person who does.