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.