mimicry.

mercer is really starting to mimic almost everything we do. he knows how to blow kisses, kiss anything that we kiss first, put his finger to his mouth and say "sssshhh!!!," wave, clap, run around in a circle, shake his head "no" (he learned this first), dance, move his head to music (though he does this voluntarily most of the time), and a bunch of other things (wait until pop teaches him a chelsea chant when the soccer season starts).

he tries to mimic any sound he hears with his limited arsenal of grunts, whines, and yelps. at the local diner the other night, we were all enjoying our food (mercer was having turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables) when a waiter standing a few yards behind us sneezed quite loudly. the whole diner was quiet afterwards and without missing a beat or turning from his food, mercer let out a great "HUURRRUMPPHH!" in response.

I must say, it sounded very close to the noise the waiter made and luckily, he didn't notice, but it's little things like that that make parenting fun. mom and pop couldn't stop laughing. it wasn't the noise that was funny, really, but the fact that mercer didn't miss a beat. it was all very matter-of-fact. a man sneezes and mercer mimics it. that's what he does.

and now it's lunch time.

mercer + hanna = summertime.

pop went to pennsylvania this weekend to visit some friends he hadn't seen in awhile. it was somewhat bittersweet since one of the guys is moving to san francisco in a month, but much fun was had. games were played. many cookies were eaten. and, for some reason, spaceballs was watched.

mom and mercer went to new jersey and visited with a whole bunch of family and friends he hadn't seen in a long time. and, as you can see above, mercer had a great time playing in the pool with cousin hanna. it was a perfect day for swimming and beach ball throwing.

mercer is home now, snuggled into bed, sleeping, and re-energizing for the week ahead.

wallpaper.

need new wallpaper for your desktop? love mercer when he's hot and angry? click above for the large version of the photo and use it as your desktop!

clap your hands say yeah.

ever since mercer could sit up in a car seat, high chair, or anything on his own, pop has employed a special way of getting mercer's attention to let him know that it's time to get up and moving. pop would clap and then simply extend his hands and arms out so mercer could jump right in. it took awhile for mercer to get used to this, but guess what mercer does now? he claps and puts his hands out when he's ready to get up! this is an interesting milestone to pop because not only is he mimicking (which he's been doing for a few months), but he's initiating the action, which is very exciting. and scary. so far, he only claps when he wants out of his stroller (all of the time) or high chair, but its a lot of fun to open this new line of communication. of course, mercer doesn't always get his way. that would be dangerous and silly on mom and pop's part.

mercer[music]

clap your hands say yeah - upon this tidal wave of young blood

summer vacation: part 2

well, this is anticlimactic, isn't it? sorry for the long delay, but as you've read, mercer got a little pneumonia so taking care of him actually took precedence over updating the blog! in brief:

wednesday, june 25: honestly, pop can't remember what happened on wednesday. how sad! the weather probably wasn't very cooperative so we visited some nearby towns like wickford and wakefield; very nice!

thursday, june 26: thursday turned out to be a beautiful day. we headed to the beach as soon as we could. mom and pop tried a new strategy that would keep mercer a little further away from the water so he could play in the sand for a little while. and guess what? that's right...it didn't work. mercer was drawn to the water like a baby turtle. he ran towards it every chance he got. eventually, we managed to calm him down and splash about in the surf. we also tried to build a sandcastle, but it wound up looking more like a mound of sand. mercer also flirted with every girl on the beach! what a hound!

friday, june 27: sadly, our trip was coming to an end. before departing, however, we stopped by a U-Pick farm to gather some strawberries for mom (her favorite!). mercer had great fun with this, squatting down and grabbing any plump berry he could find. the farm also had some animals to look at: chickens, roosters, and lots of goats. mercer loved pointing and poking at all of the creatures. he even found a friendly cat that enjoyed mercer's jarring and hearty strokes.

sorry for the brevity, but it's probably best we wrapped this up now!

the fever.

mercer has had a fever since sunday. he's been in and out of the doctor's office and hospital a number of times. the hospital visit was to get bloodwork and x-rays done and it's probably a good thing we did it. we caught an early form of pneumonia in his left lung, but that sounds more serious than it is. it's serious in an advanced form, but we were on top of it. the doctors prescribed antibiotics, but even before he took them, mercer started to look and act better. we'll take our time and let mercer get his rest. he's giggling, laughing, eating, drinking, and doing everything else normally. he does have a hoarse cough and runny nose, but even those symptoms seem to be subsiding.

sleep tight!

playland.

part 2 of the summer vacation rundown is on it's way, but in the meantime, mercer had a pretty good 4th of july weekend. on friday, the gang went to playland, which has been on the to-do list for awhile. it's the nation's only government-owned amusement park and has been around since 1928. that also means it's probably been subsidized by county taxpayers since 1929. mom and pop are used to six flags/great adventure, so playland seemed small. but, for a regional park, it's actually very nice. they have a beach, a boardwalk, some roller coasters, and a history of injuries and deaths, which any decent amusement park needs for an authentic, frightful experience.

they also had a kiddie land, which mercer took some advantage of. pop took him on a submarine ride that went up and down and then on the fun slide, which pop clearly enjoyed more than mercer. an overpriced lunch was had and then we went home for a nice nap.

later, mercer went to a local park that had some water elements to it, but it was a bit too chilly to run around in. maybe later this week...

sleep tight...

summer vacation: part 1

vacation came a little early this year, so the water was a bit chilly and the air had some bite to it, but mercer and the gang had fun. we headed to the south coast of rhode island with plans of spending a few days at the beach while exploring our old stomping grounds in providence and trying out block island for a day.

saturday, june 21: we arrive, drop our stuff, and head off to the beach. it's a beautiful day and mom and pop are anxious to see mercer's reaction to the sand and surf. mercer takes off like a rocket towards the water. as anticipated, it's chilly, but mercer loves it. mercer gets a bit of a runny nose and a shiver, but we take him back to the beach and warm him up. mercer loved to run around on the beach and talk to people.  he went up on dad's shoulders for a stroll and pointed to every single wave that lapped ashore.

sunday, june 22: it was a bit cloudy and cool, so we skipped the beach and took a drive eastward to narragansett where we found a fun art fair and ate at the delicious crazy burger.  mercer didn't feel like eating too much, but the burgers were really delicious, as were the thick milkshakes and smoothies.  hard to beat that on a muggy summer day.

afterwards, we visited beavertail state park, which is at the very southern tip of conanicut island.  mercer got out and ran around the grounds of the lighthouse there and expended much energy, which is good because he hates being cooped up for too long.  we crossed the big bridge that took us to the bustling seaport of newport.  mercer saw all kinds of shops (including ice cream he couldn't have), tall ships, and meet some nice ladies from lafayette, indiana who thought that rhode island was a "fine place."  mercer agreed.

monday, june 23: again, a very cloudy and cool day, but no rain. we headed north to providence and showed mercer where pop used to go to school.  most of the campus of brown university was under construction already, so it wasn't the same as mom and pop remembered it, but it was good enough.

mercer ate his first falafel at east side pocket on thayer street (brown's main drag of sorts) and loved it. we took a driving tour of the lovely university neighborhood with its amazing architecture.  then, we stopped off and did a little shopping at the brown bookstore, but by then, it was starting to rain, so we decided to call it a day and relax for the rest of the evening.

tuesday, june 24: most of the clouds had passed, so we went ahead with our plans to visit block island, which is a beautiful island just off the coast of rhode island. after the hour-long ferry ride, we rented bikes and took a ride down to mohegan bluffs, which are gorgeous hills that overlook the southern shoreline of the island. mercer fell asleep in his bike seat, but woke up in time to see the bluffs after the morning fog had burned off, as well as the nearby southeast light. we rode back into town (old harbor), inhaled a lunch of lobster roll and fish and chips, and caught an afternoon ferry back to the mainland. all in all, a good day.



stay tuned for part 2, where mercer takes over the beach again and visits a farm!

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