"so which one of my daughters is jasper in love with?" inquired a small world father to me the other day.

i gave it a second’s thought, and found the answer with my smallest son, who at the moment was sitting on a girl’s lap.

"neither. jasper is in love with his life".

i know that sounds like an 80’s anti-drug commercial, but it’s true.

i started jasper in kindergarten with the hopes his language skills, concentration and independence would grow. the other day, i was talking with georgie and she said, "tess in the few short weeks that jasper has been at kindie, he is really paying attention during art and craft, i can really see a difference!"

his language skills are coming along, i hear him playing with his siblings and he is coming out with full sentences, "that’s my baby batman, sebastian", "give me the puzzle now, sela" "carys, you wash your hands and then dry them". so that’s all good.

but the independence is nothing that jasper amadeus caldwell, age three, wants to develop. he is an effective delegator. he realises that being happy gets him far more than being cranky does, and when he gets things (sweeties, laps to sit on, carried, coats put on instead of having to do it himself) it makes him happy, so he lives in a very happy self prophesising circle.

jasper loves singing and still claps, shimmies and sways when he wishes to. of my four children, he is most devoted to television, and most likely to respond when dora asks her viewers to repeat something. he hath hith little lisp, which is incredibly endearing and which will go away. (sadly for me..i do love it)

his breating is not great, he has five inhalers and to be totally honest, i have forgotten the difference in each one. what is the difference between bricanyl and ventolin? i think he will get away with not doing those 10k runs you have to do in gym class, and likely this will suit him very nicely. despite having a good throwing arm, jasper isn’t a sporty type.

this became apparent when the triplets started multi sport. while sela and carys were loving the concept of kicking the ball around the pitch, jasper sat down on the field and ran his fingers over the grass lovingly. the ball would go past him and he would point at the "ball!" and make no attempt to get it.

although he is loving school, it is the social aspect he is loving. i predict there will be a severe uprising and downward spiral in his attitude in a few years when he realises that school is more than just laughing, singing, clapping, and art and craft. working? "that’th not nice, mummy"

jasper can be not nice himself. he rebells cutely, (surprise)! if i ask him to do something, he will smile adorably and say, "no", and then do such a cute little dance you are laughing and sometimes i have caught myself clapping. clapping that he just disobeyed me? back up, please! seriously. he is very good at sliding out of chores and selectively hearing the commands that please him. and when confronted, smiling until he gets his way. i watch it happen. and i let it happen as well. too often, i admit.

he still loves to sing, and does that throatily. like everyone else who is under four feet, he gets upset if he thinks he has been given approval to sing a solo and someone chimes in. ba ba black sheep is still a firm fan favourite.

he had a haircut recently, and his hair is a blondey-reddish colour. his eyelashes are a bit darker, golden red. jasper lowers them and then looks at you out of the corner of his eyes with a rather devastating effect, and of course the smile is in place too. oh our little man. he constantly is bruised somewhere, big pulsing bruises accompanied by high wailing cries that are so diametrically opposed to jasper’s low pitched voice.

i sadly realise that while this time last year jasper was a bit of a mummy’s boy, that has changed. jasper gets up from a nap or comes home and asks, "where is my dad?" after giving me a cuddle. he really does love his dad. also different from last year is the relationship between sebastian and jasper. they are beginning to play more together, which i love to watch. sebastian has such a creative mind, and if his older brother suggests it, jasper is likely to get off his lazy bottom and participate.

on the playground when sebastian is playing with his friends, jasper will play with his sisters or some of the older girls, who enjoy having him around. jasper is very in touch with all things feminine, much to charles’ chagrin. he loves wearing his sisters dresses, sparkly shoes and hair clips and i let him help me choose my clothes some days, which he likes (he has a good eye).

beyond the musical, jasper has the gift of making people happy, as long as he is in a happy mood. if he is cross, he is a terrible cross to bear and an absolute pain to be around. but when happy, he is a lovely person to have on your lap and in your conversation.

jasper is very easy to love. over the next year our big job will be committing to following through on jasper’s quiet rebelliousnessness. wish us luck. not smiling and melting is the toughest bit. he is quite simply, printh charming.