looking forward to lounging.

mom is heading out for the weekend, giving mercer and pop free reign. there will be plenty of high-fives, fringe stroking, and toy races. what's a toy race, you ask? well, first, mercer and pop start off in the crawling position at the same spot. next, pop throws a toy across the room and the race is on! mercer usually wins because he is quick, agile, and apparently, has no sense of pain! crawling is hard and painful work for the knees. we have no idea how mercer does it all day long.

other than toy races, pop is looking forward to a nice weekend of lounging, football watching, and more lounging. a perfect weekend.

sleep tight...

going nationwide.

this photo comes to us from our friends jen and john, who were recently in vermont, where, obviously, there was quite a bit of snow. mercer loves it!

where do you live? near snow, sand, or some other material you can write giant letters in? let's start a phenomenon! write mercer's name, take a picture, and send it on in!

face rake.

so, mercer does this thing called a face rake. he curls his fingers and rakes mom and pop's face from top to bottom. it was cute when he was a wee little lad. his fingers were so tiny and so soft. nowadays, however, it's becoming quite a nuisance. no matter how much we trim the guy's nails, his fingers are still sharp. he does it when he's happy or simply exploring. we're trying to get him out of the habit because it's leaving mom and pop's face littered with scrapes and scratches. and forget about it if he gets a finger in your mouth for a good 'ol fashioned fish hook; you're done for.

we give him gentle face rakes right back and he seems startled that we would do such a thing to him. but, our normal reaction is to tell him, sternly, not to do that to people. i could just imagine him greeting the queen of england with a proper face rake. now, that would be bang out of order!

fringe benefits.

not much is new these days. mercer is chugging along nicely. he's being weird with food that he normally eats, but other than that, he's a locomotive; full of power and energy.

since nothing is really new, let's discuss fringe. mercer loves it. always has. any hanging strings, loose threads, stuffed animal fur (or more specifically, lion's mane)...mercer loves it. he'll brush it calmly across his face, smiling all the while. if there's no obvious fringe around, he'll find a replacement. a dry wet wipe or tissue will substitute nicely. a towel, sock, or blanket will work, too. as long as he can gently brush his face with fringe, mercer is a happy little boy.

sleep tight...

like a fish i float.

mercer is getting more and more comfortable in the bath tub each night. he used to just sit there and play with his toys but now he lunges around, splashes, makes waves, and sometimes even lays completely flat on his belly with his head just above water. pop is thinking he does this to try and get water into his mouth. of course, he chokes on it. he'll learn. it's also disgusting to drink bath water, but you try telling that to a feisty 10-month old.

we're gearing up for a supposed giant killer snow and ice storm tomorrow, but we'll see what really happens. whenever the forecasters go crazy with this kind of thing, nothing usually happens.

speaking of feist...

mercerMusic:
feist - "i feel it all"(remixed by britt daniel)

the giving of five.

mercer hit a new milestone tonight! he slaps you five! he loves laying down a cool five to mom and pop. we'll see if he shows his new skill to the grandparents, friends, and maybe even strangers. he's a friendly little guy, so I don't see why everyone can't enjoy his five-giving.

also, mercer knocked over his first glass bottle this morning! hooray! vodka and glass all over the kitchen! not to worry. everyone is alright, except for pop's knees, which are sore from scrubbing the floor.

sleep tight!

stairmaster.

mercer did something pretty amazing today. using the phone as a lure, mom and pop coaxed mercer all the way up to the second floor tonight. he climbed/crawled all of the steps by himself! earlier this weekend, mom reported that mercer was able to climb onto the small landing we have to get up the stairs, but tonight, he conquered the entire set. bravo! especially considering the steepness of the steps. momma and poppa are quite proud.

sleep tight...

visits.

pop is heading to pennsylvania this weekend while mom stays behind with mercer. meMa, aunt becky, hanna, and maybe even jen will all be visiting mercer, however. lots of fun, noise, and messiness will ensue. all will be quiet on the blog until monday.

mercer had a quiet valentine's day. he discovered a new game where he stands up and bounces his head off of the arm of the couch. hilarious! he'll be standing and walking on his own soon. he really wants to do it. when on his belly in the middle of the room, he lifts his butt up into the air and tries to get his feet underneath him. not just quite yet, but close.

sleep tight...

pitooey!

mercer had a normal day today. mommy stayed home to watch him while pop went into the office. mercer was in fine form, giggling and laughing from morning to night. for some reason, mercer particularly liked it when pop said "pitooey!" he started laughing at pop doing this in the morning, but at night, pop tried it again. mercer started giggling so hard that he lost his balance and fell over!

then mom and pop realized that mercer was really tired because he started laughing at everything they did; he was delirious! so, we started the process a little earlier tonight (7:15) and he was still a little cranky. so, tomorrow, we're going to give it a go at 7PM. i'm sure mercer won't object. he's so active during the day, it's a wonder he doesn't sleep even more.

we hear it's valentine's day tomorrow. i have an idea who mercer has his eye on.

sleep tight...

snow day.

mommy picked mercer up from day care early today as there was a threat of some serious snow and ice in the area. it did snow, but nothing too dangerous. another case of local news overreaction. it was, however, very cold outside. luckily, mercer was nice and toasty all day.

we think we should start putting mercer to bed about a half hour earlier from now on. by 7:30, mercer is just too cranky for his own good. he doesn't sit still and just whines until he hits that clean, cool crib sheet. the problem is that mom and pop get so little time to play with mercer, the evening just flies by. the only time mercer really whines is when he's extremely tired...which is right now. it's a shame, because we can't even read him a book! maybe tomorrow.

sleep tight...

a busy weekend.

mercer saw lots of friends this weekend, old and new. the family held a memorial for grandma in new jersey and lots of people showed up. mercer-sized friends included sydney, hanna, caleb, and jayden, the last two of these being little guys that mercer hadn't even met yet. no matter, because mercer was very well-behaved and enjoyed everyone's company. all of the grown-ups oogled and ahhed at mercer all afternoon. he was in good form. that's not to say the other babies weren't gorgeous as well; they were. it was a great group of kids.

mom, pop, and mercer are back home now, relaxing. mercer had some great new foods tonight. on top of tender chicken with stars baby food, he also tried some of mom and dad's dinner: baked chicken, steamed broccoli, and israeli couscous. mercer enjoyed all of them, but couldn't eat as much as mom and pop would've liked because he was so tired from not napping at day care.

mercer is slumbering away now. pop is thinking about joining him.

sleep tight...

well behaved little boy.

mercer has been doing well the past couple of days. he and pop are having fun while mom is away. mercer has been in day care all week and when pop comes to pick him up, he cries until he's safely secured in pop's arms. very strange. there's not much time to play once at home, though. mercer usually needs a nap as soon as he gets home, then dinner, then bath, then sleep. very rigid. pop tries to squeeze some roughhousing in here and there and mercer loves it. he follows pop around like a little duckling. mercer thinks everything pop does is so exciting and fun, even if it's throwing something in the garbage.

mercer also loves the phone. he has his own toy phone but prefers the real thing; especially when mommy calls. he wants to hold the phone in his hands while mommy is talking on speakerphone. this usually results in hanging up, but that's mercer!

he's been eating his baby food, but we've tried to mix other stuff in there, too. he loves goldfish crackers and can shovel them down at an alarming rate. watching him try to coordinate his hands to his mouth is better than anything on tv. watching him eat a saltine cracker is hilarious. somehow, he knows just how much to bite off! incredible! the cracker is so big in his tiny little mercer-hand!

bleeding gums mercer.

with mercer crawling around all the time, he takes some painful spills. he's bumped his head a few times, gotten a scrape on his chin, and now, he cut his gums! ouch! it happened on friday (2/1), but we think he re-opened his wound this weekend. there's little bits of blood on things that he bites. plus, his upper teeth are coming in, so it's a nasty combination. it doesn't really seem to bother him, though. he is eating normally and teething away at anything he can get his mouth on.

speaking of eating, mercer tried some new foods last night. he ate some chicken noodle soup and bits of prosciutto. he liked both, but really loved the noodles. we added our own tiny bow tie noodles and he was slurping them right up. yum.

mommy is away on business for the next four days, so it's just the boys hanging out. we've already ordered a keg and let the dishes pile up in the sink.