the sky is falling... the sky is falling!

We got snow. For Atlanta - we got lots of it: 3 - 4 inches of big fluffy powdery stuff. Mercer and I played out in it for awhile.... at least 'til he was "over it" and started wailing. He did pretty well. He lasted 20 minutes or so.

He did not want to try to make a snow angel; he probably thought I was nuts for laying on the cold ground. But, he did enjoy grabbing snow and throwing it up in the air. And - he had fun throwing the ball around outside and running through the snow to try to fetch it. (the gloves made it a little hard)

Todd and I have noticed several interesting things as of late that's interesting. Mercer seems to recognize direction. IF we divert from the usual route from daycare to home, for instance, he starts moaning Daddy... Daddy... Daddy... Daddy then will bust out into a full-blown cry. Daaaaaddddeeeee! He knows that we're not going straight home and seeing his favorite person in the world.

He's starting to understand the difference between 'big' and 'little'. He'll say in a deep drawn out voice "beeeiiiiigggg" and in a much smaller voice "little." He sometimes puts his fingers together near his eye too as if trying to peer through a small gap between his fingers. Somebody must do that at school? He also says "beeeiiiiigggg" a lot and gets a funny animated face that goes along with it.

At school, they must also sing and dance to the Wheels on the Bus. I was singing it to him one night along with a CD he has and he started to move his arms around-and-around. He could move his arms a little for the "wipers" that go swish-swish-swish. And I think there's a part that goes hooray... he threw his arms straight up in the air. The best part, though... how his face lit up when he heard the song.

The next stage of baby-proofing really needs to take place. Grippy things on the door knobs. Latches on the closet door. And removing the crib rail? Ugh... we're not ready to do that one yet - but the other day when putting him in time-out, he tried to make a break for it. When I went back in a couple minutes later -- he was on TOP of the crib rail. One leg on the inside. One leg on the outside. Yikes!

We'll wait 'til after the hoopla this weekend. We have lots of family members coming to town to celebrate Mercer's 2nd birthday and to be a part of his baptism. He's going to have a really big weekend!

Had to throw in some winter wonderland shots around the house... it only stuck around for 1 day. By mid-day Saturday, it was beginning to melt quickly. Ahhh it was fun while it lasted!