happy birthday!

mercer is one year old today. unbelievable, really. mom and pop don't quite know what to say. it's cliche to talk about how amazing babies are and all that nonsense, but let's take a look at what mercer accomplished during his first 365 days of existence, in random order. we think he deserves a cupcake or something.





laughing
teething (ouch)
smiling
rolling over
high-fiving
understanding "no"
crawling
standing
walking
running!
squatting to pick something up without falling over
turning his head when his name (or millions of nicknames) is called
eating with his fingers
eating a variety of foods (pork, chicken, bread, tomato sauce, mushrooms, milk, cheese, eggs, waffles, pancakes, berries, cheerios, goldfish crackers, pudding, pretzels, crackers, chips, cookies, peas, pasta, lemon, seltzer, wine, yogurt, apples, bananas, pears, oatmeal, turkey dogs, broccoli, mustard, ketchup, grilled cheese, eggplant, beer, potatoes, olives, chocolate, squash, green beans, and many more)
clapping
sleeping through the night
biting off appropriate pieces of crackers for himself
throwing a fit
playing independently
dancing
guitar strumming
chewing
playing with others
throwing
holding
sharing
pinching
playing peek-a-boo (by himself and with others)
working through pain
watching chelsea with daddy
bar-hopping
flying (on a plane - not magic...yet)
traveling (been to new jersey, new york city, pennsylvania, connecticut, and florida)
mimicry
punching
craning (his neck to see who's there)
facial recognition
fringing
snuggling
kissing
pointing and laughing
reading subway maps

...and more! there's so much!

what a year it's been....and what a year ahead we have planned for our little mercer. stay tuned!