"love you"

For months, I've been trying to get Mercer to say "I love you." Usually when putting Mercer to bed - I'd say "I love you" and he would smile and whisper something that sounded like "I know."

Todd says that Mercer said it to him a few weeks ago. I don't believe him (kidding)

But - tonight - Mercer's answer changed... still in a whispered tone, he said "Love you"
He said it 3 more times. Yay!

can a noodle up the nose cause brain damage?!

One day this past week, we were having a dish with noodles in it. We cut up Mercer's food so he can scoop it up and eat it. A noodle fell off of his fork so he picked it up. He looked at it then - in an instant - stuck it up his nose!!! WHY?! We tried to get it out - which only pushed it in further. he sneezed a couple of times... but it didn't come out. later that night - while giving him a bath... i saw a noodle sitting on his upper lip. WHEW!

We had a good weekend. we had lots of socializing, culture, and fun:

Todd and I had a "real" date Saturday night. We decided somewhat spur-of-the-moment to get tickets to the Buddy Guy & BB King show at the Fox Theater. We were in the 2nd-to-last row in the theater -- the nosebleed seats, but it still sounded really good. (And - we got to appreciate ALL of the beautiful architecture in the building on our scenic tour to the top top top.) It's an amazing structure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Theatre_(Atlanta,_Georgia)

We wanted to go because we love blues... we've seen both of these performers before... and figured it may be the last time we get the opportunity to see BB King. He's 84 - and - quite frankly didn't play that much. He talked about his age. He talked about women. His band played more music than he did. Buddy Guy - who opened for BB - did a fantastic job, however, and we'd love to see him again. He's a great performer!

Sunday, we made valentine's day cards for grandparents and great grandparents - which are in the mail & on their way. Mercer helped glue hearts on the papers and he drew all over them. Then we went to see some drawings (done by Leonardo Davinci) at the High Museum / met friends there. Todd and I didn't get to see the show together, however. He went to look at it with his guy-friends while I hung out with Mercer in the children's area. I got to check it out with my girl-friends while Todd watched the little guy. (He looks like a little boy here instead of a toddler.) This children's area kept his attention for HOURS. there are different stations for the kids to explore - if he got bored with something, he could move onto the next thing and the next and the next. There were big blocks that he could stack, climb on, and shimmy under. There were stations for "painting" with markers. Magnetic things. Shape sorting. Puppets. Things to hide behind. And lots of room to run around.

Finally, we went to a neighbors to watch the Superbowl. Mercer was the only kid there and entertained everyone - especially during half-time. He enjoyed the Who's performance as he would dance around and clap. He also would laugh at some of the commercials because everyone else was laughing. I had to drag him away from there to put him to bed.

We always admired some friends of ours who wanted to make their children a part of their lives -- instead of completely altering their lives around the things that were kid-centric. It was an exhausting weekend (in a good way)... but we feel like we accomplished that parenting style this past weekend. We had a great weekend (wish we could "live it up" like that more often). It appears that Mercer had a great weekend as well.

One final photo: This is his "cheese" face.

we survived soup night!

the last soup night of 2010 just ended. it was actually an early night.

we were trying to remember when we started soup night. i think it was in Jan 2002. it begun b/c i had read an article in cooking light magazine about a woman who had been doing this for 20 years one night a week for 3 months. and, after 9-11 2001, it was really important for us to connect with friends that year.

i found on one invitation where we were "bringing soup night back" - which means we didn't have it the year before (due to the renovation to the kitchen. our living room was full of boxes with the kitchen cabinets in them -- and the kitchen was gutted / we didn't have a stove.) doing a little bit of math, i think that this soup night was the 8th one we've done. CRAZY that we've been doing it this long! the demographics have changed quite a bit. the volume is a lot louder as kids run around & scream!

these are some pics taken at the very beginning of the year that we haven't posted yet. mercer is sharing his train with mommy's old teddy bear.

here's a few things going on with the little guy:

mercer is not afraid of the crowd of people at soup night. he does really well. he's pretty social.

he's also become quite the entertainer lately. he has pulled todd and me to sit on the step at the kitchen while he dances around the room. we're his audience and sometimes, he has this funny expression that he does when he's trying to figure out his next move.

• he says "ok" a lot. you ask him a yes / no question... his answer is "ok" - as if you've talked him into something.
• he tries to count. it usually goes something like this: 9. 3. 9.
• we have to step up our baby-proofing efforts soon. he's able to open the door to the hall now.... which mean that he can get to the stairs where his train set is.
• we're branching out on new foods again - exposing him to nuts and chocolate in little bits. chocolate chips in his pancakes & some pumpkin bread that a neighbor brought over... and walnuts in some "carrot cake" pancakes that todd made. so far / so good. don't think he's allergic to either, but we're still going with a little caution. if anyone's interested, here's a link to a recipe that looks similar (ours came from cooking light) http://lunchwithloni.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/carrot-cake-pancakes/
• there are some video links that i meant to post in an earlier blog... last year, mercer was into bows on packages. this year, he was into the paper: http://www.youtube.com/user/ToddGroves#p/a/u/1/CBOLEVY3MF4 and into attacking todd's sister, tonia: http://www.youtube.com/user/ToddGroves#p/a/u/0/oenLzBqFBsU
• at the end of the 2nd video - he's pointing at his nose and his ears. he loves doing that - pointing to his eyes, teeth, hair... and your eyes, nose, ears, teeth, etc
• his vocabulary is growing exponentially. it's pretty amazing to watch. one day he walked over to the wall in the kitchen and it sounded like he said "this is the wall." he was hiding behind me and todd asked: where's mercer. sounded like he said "i'm over here." the phrases aren't totally clear, but - cool that he's putting little sentences together
• we caught a glimpse into the future: one night, mercer threw his pacifier out of the crib & we couldn't find it. (actually, almost a week later, we still haven't found it!) we decided to try to make a go without it. oh - it was painful. after almost an hour of off-and-on crying, we just got another one. as soon as we did, he immediately fell asleep. we've been weaning him off of it a little bit and not let him go to daycare with it (he's in the toddler room now / they don't allow it). sometimes it's a struggle, but he does ok -- and takes a nap there without it. oh - we're not looking forward to the total ban of the paci!
• finally - daycare sent artwork home in his bag on friday. i'm really happy about that!! he got to glue stuff onto paper. he got to do some finger-painting. he got to scribble with crayon. yay! so exciting! can't wait to see what he brings home this week.

This is the 200th blog! Mercer is 23 months old tomorrow.

Wow. 200 blog posts (according to the blogger dashboard!)

Mercer has changed so much over the course of these posts. He's not a baby anymore. He's not yet two, however, he's got "terrible twos" nailed down! He's mastered tantrums. He can go bone-less in a second and drop to the floor. Oh - it's been such a trying week for Todd and me as Mercer has now added biting to his repertoire. So far we've been able to avoid damage.

I think part of why it's been such a tough week, too, is because we're more in tune with what all is going on in Haiti after the earthquake. Watching it unfold has been heart-wrenching... especially seeing the children coping with the disaster. Don't know if it's because now I'm a mother that I think about the children... and the stories of mothers digging through the rubble searching for their babies. It's incomprehensible. I feel helpless here - but I can't imagine what it's like there on-the-ground. Obviously there are ways to give... I just learned about one that was interesting: providing solar cookers and water pasteurization systems for families. http://solarcookers.org/

Speaking of cooking... Mercer has taken a real interest in activities in the kitchen. We've rigged a booster seat in the bar stool so that he can sit up high and watch me cook (a safe distance from the stove or the counter where I'm chopping veggies). Here, he's helping out with pancakes (he pats them with the turner after we flip them).

We got him a little set of wooden vegetables that he can chop himself. He seems into it. He's always saying "I do it."

Mercer jumped on the bed for the first time this week. Last week, I saw him picking his nose! (But I didn't make a big deal about it / haven't seen him do it again). He drew on the wall for the first time this week. He keeps pointing to it and saying "Daddy." Is this the first time he's blaming someone for something? We're trying to teach him to say I love you. Sometimes he whispers back to me something that sounds like I know. He's taking an interest in potty-training. So far, he's just sitting on the little potty in his diaper. He also keeps putting toys in the pot. We'll have to make sure he stops doing this once he's sitting on it without his diaper!

Here, he and some of his friends have jumped on Todd at a soup night. It's been tough wrangling with the little guy, but he's definitely a lot of fun. It's hard work, but great at the same time! We'll see what adventure awaits us in the coming weeks. - candice

a new year

Since it's been so long since I've blogged - I'm sure a lot of details will fall out from the past two weeks... but this might not be a bad thing. (Some of the previous posts were too verbose; I'll try to be more succinct in the new year!)

We wrapped up the end of 2009 in our home spending time with neighborhood friends & their kids. We made it to midnight - but, of course, we put little guy down before the year's end.

We enjoyed the long weekend at home settling back in. (After the unpacking & laundry, that is.) We took Mercer to the Georgia Aquarium. (He's seen here in a bubble behind one of the tanks.) He hasn't been since his first birthday. He was impressed, but - unfortunately - not at his best. Maybe he was tired? Or since it was a holiday weekend, maybe there were too many people around? He threw quite a few tantrums. We'll try to go again soon, as he "oohed" at a lot of things... and was excited by the fish.

A couple of our friends from out of town stopped by one night and brought their 10 month old. They went out to dinner while we watched the baby. It was interesting to see Mercer react to Todd or me playing with the baby. (He was jealous at times.) Sometimes he had a hard time sharing. If the baby started to play with something, then Mercer would want to play with that exact item! Here, Mercer is sharing daddy's hat with Saber, putting it on him. Overall, the two had a good time together... and we enjoyed the time with the two of them.

As has been our tradition for a number of years, we have begun the new year with friends - and now a lot of kids - in our home. Soup night has begun! We'll post about the soup events later. Goodnight!

Our Christmas Travels

We made our annual whirlwind trip up the East Coast... luckily without incident. (Amazing considering there was snow on the ground from South Carolina all the way up to New Jersey). Our first stop was in North Carolina to visit my family members.

My mom hosted the Nunn family party. My mom's parents were there, as were my aunt, two uncles, and their families. It was a house-full of folks, for sure! Mercer got a train comprised of alphabet and color blocks. He enjoyed building it and pushing it around.

Last year, Mercer was fascinated by the bows that were used to decorate the packages. This year, he seemed to be into the wrapping paper. At one point, he grabbed some large pieces of wrap and started squealing / waving them around. Aunt Sandra is pictured in back. Here, my mom is bringing out a stack of presents. Ho Ho Ho...

While in NC, we also visited my dad's mother at her nursing home. My aunt and uncle happened to be visiting while we were there, so we got to catch up with them too! He was very entertaining / the center of attention while we were there. Also, when we were in the parking lot - about to enter - we were greeted by a "Mercer!" from one of the nurses. That was pretty cool!

We continued our journey north and stayed overnight in DC (well, technically, a suburb of DC in Maryland). Todd's brother and sister-in-law live there as well as nephew N8 (Nate) and Marley. They had approximately 20" of snow a few days before we got there. We were supposed to go to a holiday talent show at Nate's school, but it was cancelled. Instead, Todd's brother Jimmy brought the talent to the evening by playing guitar. Mercer tried to keep up by strumming along too... this was his first experience with a guitar. He was fascinated!

Our journey continued northward still to NJ to where Todd's parents live. Todd's sister and 5 children stayed there in the house with us, so it was pretty chaotic! Todd's brother Bobby and his son live in the area and didn't come over 'til Christmas morning. Todd's brother Jimmy and family came up from DC later that day. There was definitely a house full of adults and children (from ages 22 months to 18 years). Here's Mercer "slaying" Jim as his son Nate looks on.

Santa Claus came to visit on Christmas morning. When Mercer came down, he went right for a battery-powered Thomas the Train running on a track that was pulling a musical caboose. Mercer was pretty excited. He got a number of presents from the family as well, however, he was more impressed with the wrapping paper at times.

Todd says that one of the highlights of the trip was taking Mercer to the Train Store in his hometown. It's in the basement of a building and has several rooms that you progress through. When we got to the room with 6 or 7 trains running, Mercer started squealing.... then started screaming at the top of his voice, "Oooh Oh Oh Oooh Oooh Oh Ohhhh Oooooh" He just couldn't contain himself. It was hilarious to us and to all of the people that were there.

One of Mercer's highlights of the trip was learning how to slide down stairs. He would crawl up and slide down -- over and over and over and over again! (here with his cousin Ryan while Ryan's mom, Tonia, watches the two)

On our way back from NJ to NC, we got to stop and have lunch with my step sister in Roanoke. On our way back from NC to GA, we got to stop and have lunch with my friend from college, Cindy, have Mercer run around and play with her sons' toys. It was a great break for Mercer to run around and for us to catch up. Actually - that was key - stopping ever 4 hours or so for a 1 - 2 hour break.

We made it home on Monday night - after 10 days of travel. We had to go to work on Tuesday morning. We enjoyed seeing our family and friends, but are so glad to be home! Mercer did pretty well in the car for the most part, but there were definitely times that he wasn't that thrilled about being confined.

On Sunday between VA and NC, the odometer turned over 100,000 miles on the Prius! We got the car just over 5 years ago. We don't think the car could make this trip again... not because of age or mileage, but because every square inch of it was jammed packed!

We have sent out - in our Christmas cards - notices that we're hoping to adopt again in 2010. That's another reason why the car will be too small on future trips!! We'll post a link and additional information about the future adoption.

2009 has been a great year for our family. We hope that you "and yours" have a blessed, fulfilling, fun, and healthy year ahead in 2010.

merry christmas!

We're in NJ right now. Made it up through the few inches of snow in NC... the twenty inches of snow in DC... and the foot +/- of snow between DC and NJ. Amazingly, we saw very few accidents on the road -- but some of the ones we saw were bizarre.

We'll do a big Christmas blog, but there are some things that we've been wanting to post. We joined a church this month: Marietta First Presbyterian (up on the square). We tried out several churches trying to find a good fit between Greek Orthodox and Baptist. The "Presby" seems like a good middle-ground. We've been visiting their contemporary service off-and-on since the beginning of the year.

Mercer is 22 months old (as of yesterday) and he's doing great at eating messy food by himself. We've been stalling for awhile on the yogurt / applesauce / spaghetti with red sauce / etc - but he's about 80 - 90% accurate with each spoonful. NOT BAD! (we have pulled the bibs back out - funny how those go in phases).

We think he's teething again (2 year molars). He's drooling a ton... keeps gnawing on his pacifier at the side / back of his mouth... chews on a lot. Problem is - we can't see inside his mouth all the way at the back to tell if anything's popped through or not.

He's becoming SO independent - constantly saying "I do it"

We both still LOVE the open palms when he says "where?" Also, he thinks he's tricking us sometimes by turning the light on / off. When the light goes off he says "where?" with his hands up in the air.

He's very helpful, as he enjoys throwing things away... putting things in the sink... sweeping... and clearing the table (hands us his dishes when he's done).

He talks so much (repeats much of we say now). And - he's answering questions now. Did you have fun at school today? "No" with a big grin on his face. (Sometimes he says yes.) Do you want milk? "OK"

He's addicted to movies now, sadly. We got a DVD player for the car for our 10-hr Thanksgiving trip and the 15+ hour CHristmas trip. (Trip times are 1-way). He knows to pick up the remote and say "movie." He picks up phones, puts to his ear and says "hello."

He's been an absolute joy and this is SUCH A GREAT AGE!!!!
We're planning on doing this again next year. Check back at this blog for updates in early January on our 2010 adoption info.

Have a great holiday, all! Merry Christmas.