first steps.

mercer took his first steps today. he was holding onto the bed as pop was coaxing him from across the room with a toy. mommy encouraged mercer to go see what pop was holding. he let go of the bed and then step step step step step. he did a few more step sessions, one of which included a squat without any support. very impressive.

oh, and he also ate 5 mini raviolis for dinner along with peas and applesauce.

yum...

smear campaign.

mercer started this new move at dinner where he stamps his hand down on his placemat and then smears everything in his path. it's especially annoying when he smears peas all over or knocks 10 cheerios on to the floor. he's probably trying to show off when mom and pop are watching, but no one is impressed. he eats normally after a stern warning and if mom and pop aren't looking directly at him. kids are weird.

we ran out of barley, so tonight mercer had a mish-mash of foods including peas, rice, applesauce, spring vegetables with pasta, some carrot, and ravioli. yum. mom and pop shared their chinese take-out with the little guy, but we're not sure he's into steamed pork dumplings just yet.

sleep tight...

truly ours.

this week, mom and pop have had sandwiches three (!) times for dinner (so far). when we sit down around the table, mercer sees us eating and whines until he can shove his mouth around one of our delicious sandwiches. he has very little interest in Gerber baby food anymore. he loves the delicious taste of tomato sauce, chicken, cheese, and bread! he is truly ours.

he also discovered the joys of ravioli this week. all this on top of his normal beloved noodle soup dinners. lots of carbs for this little boy, but he's still all lean muscle!

wet.

it's been raining all day. it's been pretty wet inside, too. first, pop didn't screw on one of mercer's nipples tight enough and formula poured out all over mercer and his chair. disgusting. it was all up and down the little guy's back. that was the first change of outfits. mercer took a nice nap after his lunch, but woke up wet in the 'ol crotch region. he did drink a lot of formula for lunch, so that's probably what did it. that was the second, and hopefully, last change. mercer has been dry ever since, but pop will keep an eye on it.

after getting some work done, pop relaxed with the little guy to watch some wednesday afternoon football. so far, so good, with chelsea ahead of tottenham, 3-2.

sleep tight...

so close.

mercer is so close to walking now. he is standing for long periods of time playing with his toys thinking that he is safely leaning on something; little does he know he's really standing all by himself. he takes little steps in order to get to the next piece of furniture and makes these cute noises as he does it: "ah gah gah!"

in other news, it's a good thing that mercer's birthday is coming up because he is really bored of all of his toys. either that, or he is REALLY interested in paper, bottles, books, and anything that is NOT a toy.

mercerMusic:
the whigs: "i never want to go home"
the whigs: "production city"
the whigs: "i got ideas"
the whigs: "hot bed"

the best toy ever?

no, not the soda. the bottle! an empty 20 ounce soda bottle is an amazing toy. mom and pop don't really drink soda all that much, but when they do, mercer loves to play with their trash! think about it:

* indestructible for longer play sessions
* nice and smooth so no cuts or scrapes
* makes noises when hit on head, table, or hardwood floor; lightweight so it can't injure
* wrapper is nearly impossible to get off; bright, vivid colors and shapes on wrapper
* bottle itself has curves and shapes for long examinations
* hard, chewable cap
* can fill with small pebbles to make noises
* cheap

the possibilities are almost endless! pop isn't too keen on shoving corporate logos in mercer's face, but that's the world we live in, isn't it? he's going to be exposed one way or the other, unfortunately. we haven't given up on the matter, and we do try to limit mercer's exposure to corporate madness.

anyway, happy weekend to all. mercer and company are visiting grandpa!

getting there.

mercer is slowly getting back to normal after struggling with bouts of coughing, sneezing, and separation anxiety. every time we put him in the crib for a nap, he starts whining and convulsing. that never used to happen. still, he does fall asleep after a few minutes, so we don't know what his problem is. his pouting face is so cute.

mercer was a very good boy for pop yesterday, napping quite a bit and eating all of his food. as pop was sending emails for work, mercer was playing all around the bedroom. without knowing it, he stood for what was probably a solid minute. he's becoming more and more interested in books, too, which is nice. he can also open sliding closet doors and any door that is the slightest bit ajar.

pop has been able to watch a lot of movies recently for some reason. some of them are ones mom and pop saw in the theater before mercer was around: thank you for smoking (to the point, great cast, very good), munich (preachy, but worthwhile), the break-up (why does pop love terrible popcorn movies? this, along with just married, ocean's eleven, etc.), blood diamond (very good. dicaprio was surprisingly good), breach (OK, if not predictable thriller), and probably some more. blah.

mercer will be 11 months old next week!

good, bad, ugly.

mercer developed a bit of a cold over the weekend. he's coughing a little bit, sneezing, and we're constantly wiping his tiny, runny nose. all this comes with poor eating and light sleeping, too. he'll cry for bottles, but doesn't seem too interested in his normal feasts of peas, baby food, cheese, bread, and barley at lunch and dinner. he's woken up in the middle of the night 2 out of the past 3 nights and mom has had to let him sleep in bed with her. still, he tosses and turns.

it's probably just his cold bothering him, but the good news is, he still likes to play and cruise. he's standing for longer periods of time now (4 seconds or so). he's also pushing his lounging chair around the living room and becoming more vocal. hopefully, the cold will pass soon so he can focus on regaining his strength to start standing and walking better. his face still lights up during playtime, so he can't be all that sick.

pop can only marvel at mercer, though; if pop had a cold with new teeth bursting through his gums, he'd be stuck in bed, whining worse than mercer.

holy cuteness.

mercer was probably the cutest he's ever been this morning. not sure why, he was just very cute. once he woke up, pop grabbed him for some morning play time in bed. he lounged with us, played with our hair fringe, squeezed various parts of our faces, and gave us his typical gentle smiles. there weren't many face rakes or punches. just a calm, cuddly mercer.

in other developments, mercer is starting to learn how to play peek-a-boo. he'll pull a blanket close to his face, though not totally covering it, and whip it away really quick as pop says "peek-a-boo!" mercer giggles and does it again. and again. and again.

he's also standing for longer periods of time without any help. i think the longest he's stood for was about 5 seconds yesterday. he'll be walking (and falling) in no time.

mean pop.

hot on the heels of a positive post about mercer being a happy baby, it seems as though mercer and pop have had their first fight. well, there wasn't really a fight at all. it's pop's fault, because at the end of the day, mercer is only 7,200 hours old.

mercer decided to wake up last night at 2am. in doing so, he woke mom and pop up, too. he whined for a good while until mom worked her magic and got him sleeping again in his crib. it's hard for pop to fall asleep in the first place and even harder to try and go back to sleep at 3am. so, when mercer woke up this morning at around 6:30, mom and pop were very tired. very tired. we brought him into bed with us as we normally do for some play time. he was playing, but mom and pop didn't do much of anything because they were resting. anyway, as previously mentioned, mercer loves to rake pop's face and then try to stand up on the bed and knock the painting over the bed down on the floor. well, pop lost his cool and threw some rather stern "no's" in mercer's direction. he also had to grab mercer down from the standing position because, in all honesty, it's kind of dangerous for a 10-month old to stand on a bed. ever since this morning, mercer has been giving pop the stink eye. no smiles, nothing.

pop deserves it. he lost his cool. some bonding, forgiveness, and begging needs to happen tonight. pop will try harder in the future, but to be honest, he never really gets upset.

mercer, when you're old enough to read this, pop is sorry. it's a shame, too, because you're so cute today.

happy baby.

mom had to cancel her plans this weekend due to some illnesses and bad weather. no matter, as we had a fun few days anyway. we were all able to visit with one of mercer's best friends, sydney, on saturday evening. mercer showed off as any boy would around a cute girl. he was vocalizing, shaking his pack n play, and cruising around the apartment. we're not sure sydney knew what to make of all his foolishness, to be honest. she enjoyed watching his antics, though.

mercer has been very happy recently and mom and pop couldn't ask for more. he's had lots of giggle-fests and it doesn't take much to make him smile. he's also started to wave, however oddly. his hand kind of curves inward, but he does wave his arm back and forth when he sees friends and strangers. very cute.

mercerMusic:
tapes n tapes - "hang them all"