Mercer still brings us books and "backs" up to us to sit in our lap as an indication that he wants us to read to him. It's really cute! He's been, perhaps, a little more clingy lately in that he wants to hang out with us more... hugs us more... and grabs my or Todd's hand a lot to drag us somewhere / show us something. Right now, we have a box from a delivery sitting in our dining room floor. The cat likes to sleep in the box, but when it's empty - Mercer likes to stand in the box. Often, he will grab Todd's finger and drag him over to the box; daddy AND Mercer can stand in the box at the same time. (This makes Mercer giggle too.)
Mercer also likes to get into bags. Brown bags. Reusable grocery bags. He thinks it's funny. (Here, as seen in his Flintstone's Bam-Bam shirt, Mercer found juice boxes in the Harry's bag. Scary thing is - he knows how to pull the straw out and tries to jam it into the hole on the box!)Also, as we've been carrying him under umbrellas, he smiles and gazes upwards. He's definitely becoming aware of the space around him as well as over him.
I really love how he has no inhibitions right now. He hears music and -- it doesn't matter where he is -- he starts dancing. (At the Mets/Braves game earlier this week (the one that we went to that DIDN'T get rained out).... at my company retreat during dinner last weekend.... at our house with dance music playing on the t.v.) He's very entertaining and everyone smiles when he dances - which encourages him more! Plus we love that he actively engages people and makes them smile.
There was even one instance a few weeks ago where we were playing up at the square one night. We heard music so walked towards a restaurant that had an ensemble of banjo players, a violinist, and even ukulele players outside. We asked what they were doing - they were having a bluegrass jam. As it turns out - there are 20 - 30 of them that meet there regularly and just hang out / play / etc. Mercer had his very first serenade on that night! One of them played the Itsy Bitsy Spider for him and another sang / played some sort of nursery rhyme. Other musicians and passer-bys on the sidewalk enjoyed watching Mercer dance and cheering him on. : - ) It was great!
His vocabulary is really growing fast as he repeats us a lot. I know I've put this on the blog, but I can't get enough of this one: He says "cockle" when he sees a motorcycle or bicycle. He has recently added "stack" and "block" and "arch" when playing with his blocks. He just said "purple" today. I have no idea if he has concept of color yet, though. (Does he think the object in the book we were talking about was a "purple" or was it the color "purple?") He says "noise" and "mess" and "dirty" as these are all things we say around him, for sure. It's really quite amazing.
He eating less and less baby foods and more regular foods although we still mix in some "slime" with his vegetables because he likes it like that. Last night, we were at a friend's house & they made custom pizzas (in lieu of a cookout which got rained out). Cut into bite-sized pieces, he ate a full meal of pizza. It's not the healthiest, but good to know that he will it - should we walk up to the square and order a slice in the future.
Also under the "not so healthy" category: last week at my company retreat, someone brought Ritz crackers. Mercer kept walking up to the table and grabbing them one by one. We - of course - did not want him to make a meal of it, so we kept pulling him away. One time he saw me coming towards him and his eyes got big / he shoved a whole Ritz cracker in his mouth before I could get to him. I'm not 100% sure what was going through his head, but he's starting to learn cause and effect. He grabs a cracker, we pull it away from him. He knew that if he shoved it in his mouth, we couldn't take it from him! WOW.
He's really growing up.
Yesterday, I got to do something pretty cool. Todd watched Mercer so that I could take a (free) 3 hour tour around town. It was a tour of a redevelopment project called the Beltline. It took 3 hours because the Beltline project is 22 miles long. It's the largest redevelopment project in the country and is really fascinating. Less than 10 years ago, a Georgia Tech architecture student proposed as his thesis project redeveloping infrastructure along abandoned rail lines throughout the city. There's a lack of (good) public transportation in Atlanta and he identified a line within 3-4 miles of the city in which could support light rail. This line goes through some industrial areas, some "de-invested" areas which are largely abandoned and run down, the beltline goes through some up-and-coming / trendy areas of town, and goes through an upscale residential area too. 
Valued at 2.8 billion $, the Beltline project provides a solution that addresses traffic relief in certain areas, access to public transportation in other areas, and overall offers connectivity of trails, parks, and transportation to 40 different "neighborhoods." There are even large tracts of land that are going to be turned into greenspace - including a 300 acre park which will include a 2 billion gallon reservoir in part of the park which will serve as a 30-day back-up supply should we need it. (This actually has been in the works for years, but they're going to turn it into an amenity b/c of the beltline.) If in Atlanta -- I'd highly recommend the tour. It's one of the most unique tours I've been on. (You get to see the good and the bad.) http://www.beltline.org
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