mercer playlist.

here's some music that mercer has been dancing his pants off to:

high places: from stardust to sentience

koushik: lying in the sun

miniature tigers: cannibal queen

andrew bird: oh no

vampire weekend - ottoman

sign language.

we're teaching mercer sign language. so far he knows how to communicate "more" and "please" (pictured). it's quite useful when trying to figure out what mercer wants and it's never too early to teach good manners.

next up: milk, thank you, you're welcome, and all that kind of good stuff.

apple chips.

the other day, mercer was holding one apple chip in each hand. pop could tell he was thirsty, so he offered mercer some milk. mercer acknowledged that, yes, he wanted the milk. however, mercer was in a bind when he realized that both of his hands were already occupied with apple chips, thus leaving no space for the milk cup.

watching his mind race, pop tried to solve the problem by taking the half-eaten, mushy, mangled apple chip out of his left hand so it was free to hold the milk. pop went to the garbage can and threw it out. mercer saw this, but didn't make the connection that he could now hold the milk in one hand and hold a fresh apple chip in the other. instead, he took the perfectly good chip that was still in his right hand, lifted the trash lid, threw the chip in the can, and clapped his hands.

this boy loves to mimic.

apple picking.

mercer and the family went apple picking this past weekend at barton orchards in dutchess county, ny. there were plenty of apples (macintosh, empire, jona mac, rome, granny smith, golden delicious, and more), but there were also pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, peppers, berries, fudge, and apple cider doughnuts. the orchard also has a theme park, corn maze, playground, ponies, and lots of other fun stuff for kids and parents.

we stuck to apple and vegetable picking this time around, though. mercer had a blast picking the apples off of the trees and throwing them into our bag, but he also loved running all over the place. it rained the night before and mercer got plenty dirty. a good day when all said and done. the fall can never come too early.

politics.

pop has tried to keep politics off this blog because, so far, the election hasn't had too much to do with mercer's day to day activities. however, the content of this article in the los angeles times just can't (and shouldn't) be ignored. if you don't feel like clicking through to the article, here is the first paragraph:

"Soon after Sarah Palin was elected mayor of the foothill town of Wasilla, Alaska, she startled a local music teacher by insisting in casual conversation that men and dinosaurs coexisted on an Earth created 6,000 years ago -- about 65 million years after scientists say most dinosaurs became extinct -- the teacher said."

just like the flintstones.

pop sure doesn't want mercer being taught this garbage in school, so as of today, politics are fair game. pull a lever for mccain/palin and you're voting for creationism being taught in schools, book banning, and witch doctors. and that's just sarah palin.

mccain owns 12 houses. how many do you own? he also owns more than 11 cars. how about you? think he's really in touch with what you and your family needs? he can afford to lose, say, 5 or 7 houses and cars and he'll be fine. he also cheated on his first wife to marry a rich heiress (over 100 million), graduated near the bottom of his class (894 out of 899) at the US naval academy, had a less than stellar military career, and has a history of flip-flopping on important issues to gain himself more votes as needed. if that sounds too elitist, ask yourself, why shouldn't we be demanding the most (magna cum laude, harvard law) from the people who want to run our country? is simply being around for 40 years good enough? experience only counts if you've learned something.

oh, and in 2000, he lost the republican primary to someone who would become the worst president in this nation's history.

on another note, do you know what kind of people understand the struggles that regular americans are going through on a daily basis? community organizers.

that's not to say that pop is an outright obama supporter, but having mccain/palin as one of the main choices for americans to choose from in 2008 is a real failure of the american political system. pop will try to keep the politics to a minimum from here on out, but there's only so much one can take.

sleep tight...

fresh from the blackberry

here is a photo fresh from mom's blackberry. it's a sick mercer trying to get into pop's cookbooks! down, boy!

did you know?

mercer sleeps from approximately 7:30pm to 6:18am every day.