This past week...

Probably one of the *best* things I should report that Mercer did lately: he discovered fall! One day when getting him out of the car, he stepped on some leaves that crunched under his feet. He looked at me as if to say -- what is this noise? I am doing this?! Then he launched into a full shuffle through the leaves grinning ear-to-ear.

Mercer is also becoming quite the parrot. He probably repeated 20 or 30 new words right after we said them this week. He watches our mouths as we talk and sometimes will repeat a sound as he shapes his mouth to make a similar sound. It's very interesting to watch. Guess we're at the point where we should really watch what we say around him!!

Little guy got to do some cool things the past week or so:

On our drive home from the reunion in NC, we were hoping to meet up with my friend in Greenville and her two boys, but one of them was sick, so we did not. Instead, we went to the new children's museum in Greenville and Mercer ran around for several hours. This first shot is outside the museum - it's an interactive wall that makes noise and moves. The museum is definitely suitable for kids his age -- maybe all the way up to 8 years old? They had some specific areas for kids 5 & under and, of course, they had some activities that were restricted to the really young kids. I thought that this would be his favorite part - driving the Caterpillar "tractor" - but he didn't like riding it so much... he liked looking at it and getting behind it to push it. (he LOVES heavy equipment (bulldozers). when we approach a jobsite, his voice will lower and he'll say in an excited gruff voice: tractor) He got to "operate" a crane, plant a garden, and play with a really large light-bright. His favorite part was the water table. He went kicking and screaming from that part as I had to pull him away and hit the road. We make keep this in our back-pocket for future road trips if he needs a break / blow off some steam before we get home.

Last weekend, Mercer and I went apple picking in the north Georgia mountains. He picked a lot of apples up off of the ground (yes, the hat is too big!!). Occasionally, I would raise him up so that he could reach for the apples in the trees, and he would grab an apple - but didn't quite get the hang of tugging on it 'til it would come off of the tree. He was a bit too young for this activity (the other families we went with had kids from 2 - 5), but as he gets older it will be interesting for him to see where apples come from.

Finally, this weekend, we went to a local industry party (architecture / interior design) where families were invited and encouraged to come. They had a bouncy house, face painting (although we didn't get Mercer's face painted... he just won't sit still long enough), and pumpkin carving. It was nice to see some of the people that we know and their families. I think this is the first picture that I have had where I'm wearing glasses. I had to get them this year (for tired eyes, mainly); I wear them occassionally. My first week of work was last week... and I worked a lot (even overnight) on a presentation. I did, indeed, have tired eyes throughout the weekend - hence the glasses. Oh well!

We tried Mercer's halloween costume on this past weekend too... I found something really cute at a consignment sale earlier this season. We'll save those pics 'til the next post. : - )

Have a great week.