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.