big news...

We think that Mercer is on his way to being potty-trained!

I've been out of town for work a lot lately... in West Virginia last week and in Alabama this week. While I was gone most recently, Todd was giving Mercer a bath & he pooped in the tub. Todd drained the tub / put Mercer on the toilet / and told him that this is where he is supposed to poop. And... Mercer did! Todd said he made a big deal about it, let him flush & wash it down, and gave him a fruit juice popsicle afterward to encourage him to poop in the toilet more often.

The next day, Mercer had to stay home sick (croup-y cough & wheezing). Todd stayed home with him and Mercer said he had to go to the potty. Todd put him on the toilet... and he pooped in there again! Woo hoo!

A couple of weekends ago, we took a trip to middle Georgia where we hopped on a train. We thought that Mercer would like the experience. He wasn't terribly excited about riding the train - rather - related activities like handing the attendant his ticket and getting a train sticker in return... or seeing the other trains that we would pass along the way. The train took us to a small historic town called Americus (with the BEAUTIFUL historic Windsor Hotel in the center of town). Just outside of town is Habitat for Humanity's corporate office and their Global Village - with examples of houses, huts, and shacks from around the world. The next stop was in Plains, GA where former President Jimmy Carter now lives. There, we stopped for peanut butter ice cream and a "smiling peanut" stamp to put in Mercer's letterboxing book. This pic is of our train and Carter's presidential campaign HQ -- a pretty small building! You can't go to Carter's home, as it's supposedly a heavily guarded compound. We passed through some industrial areas, farms, a Georgia DNR park, and over a large body of water where these really weird bugs with wings and long tails attached themselves to the train (here Mercer is trying to blow it off the window). Our final stop in Archery, GA where Jimmy Carter grew up. His family's house and farm are now run as a National Park Service site. Behind Mercer is a windmill that powers a water pump. I was really amazed -- looking at his roots -- that he made it as far as he did. Pretty impressive! After this stop, we took the slow (and thus long) train ride back to the city where we started. EVERYONE else's kids on the train fell asleep... but not Mercer! He remained wide awake - that is 'til we got off the train & loaded back up into the car. Within 2 minutes, he was fast asleep for the 2 hour ride back home!

A couple of other things to note - Mercer is counting now very well to 5. He's also becoming interested in letters. While scribbling one day he kept saying "T" "letter T." (but it was just scribbles). He picked up a puzzle piece in the shape of a "d" and identified the correct letter, amazingly. (He also said "d" when we picked up other letters too, so we're not quite sure what he's getting / what he's not... but it's still interesting.)

Finally - we were having some people over to the house for a pizza party. Before the party, Mercer saw the juice boxes that we had out for the children of the guests. We let him have one. During the party, he "snuck" a drink box and went to hide under the chair to drink it without us seeing (or so he thought). He "snuck" another one, but we were able to grab it before he got it open. He did not need 3 juice boxes in one night!! It cracked us up!

Mercer is 2 1/2 years old today!

I don't have time to post a blog with pics tonight (that will come later in the week), but there are some interesting things that we're noticing about him and his personality.

- First of all, he is a pistol. He is a very active kid -- constantly on the go.
- He is a very loving kid. He likes to hug us and the cat. He now likes to give me big slobbery kisses and sometimes he likes to cuddle.
- He is a daredevil (climbing to the top of an inflatable slide that's 20' tall over and over again.
- At the same time, he is a little apprehensive of doing things... after successfully sliding 5 or 6 times on his own... he then "needed" to have his daddy go down the 20' slide with him.
- He is extremely independent. "I do it" he says all the time.
- He likes to have us around (he wants us to play with him & be in the same room as he is most of the time)
- He doesn't listen to us (he thinks it's a game when we tell him to stop running from us in public places.
- He listens to every word we say -- he is extremely perceptive and repeats things -- even really big words.
- He loves to be the center of attention
- He gets shy sometimes

It's been an amazing 2 1/2 years. Exhausting, but at the same time... wonderful!

This past weekend, I had another mini-reunion with some girls I grew up with & went to church with. All three of us girls (and sometimes husbands) get together maybe once a year? Amy is someone who I didn't think was going to have children, but she has a cute baby girl now! (the one in the middle with the chubby little cheeks). Our friend Allison's girl with bright red hair is adorable too. Mercer liked looking at and talking about the babies, but they're too young for much interaction at this point.

The next day Todd, Mercer, and I went to the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, GA. Bank of America has free museum admission days for some museums in our area (www.bankofamerica.com/museums). Mercer is honestly too young at this point for the science museum - but at least we didn't have to pay anything to find this out. He wanted to run around the exhibits, but didn't even look at many them. Several of the exhibits that he did like, however, were interactive. One was panning for minerals in water and an excavation play area where kids get to find things by brushing away small rocks. He also liked the kids discovery zone as well. Overall, it was a pretty cool place. I'm sure we'll be back. They have dinosaur exhibits, a zero-energy house, a big minerals exhibit, and a planetarium. Also, outside, they have a HUGE dump truck on site as well as other utility vehicles.

A final photo of little guy for the week: Mercer decided to put on his fireman boots and life vest one night before going to bed & march around. He's pretty proud that he can put these boots on by himself. Thankfully, he was content with taking both the boots and the life vest off before laying down for the night.

Reunions

This past week, some of us girls from college had a mini-reunion. It's been 8 years since my friend Cindy, Ali, and I have gotten together. Since we've all been together, Ali had her second son, Cindy has had 2 sons, and we - of course - have one. There was lots of talk about boys. Sounds like Mercer's going to be wound up for another 5 or 6 years!!!!!!! (We're all exhausted, but having a blast.)

I had a high school reunion this week as well. There was a group of people that I didn't recognize, as we had a large graduating class. There are only a few people that I regularly keep in touch with -- two of which were there. Todd knew them and their spouses at least, so he had someone to talk to while I was catching up with others who I haven't seen since graduation. A few good connections were made from some of my classmates who I've lost touch with - one who lives very close to us, one who is interested in adoption, and one who seems to have similar values on living lightly on the earth. All-in-all, I'm glad we went.

Mercer stayed with his friends Glady & Jackson while we had a night out. All afternoon, he talked about seeing Glady. So cute. Other cute stuff he's doing is being really sweet lately. He will often run back into the house to give me a hug before Todd takes him to daycare in the morning. Oftentimes, too, when I am putting him to bed - he will "order" me to lay down on the floor & he drapes a blanket over me then pats me (really hard, actually) and tries to put me to sleep. Then the sweetness fades and he jumps on me and yells "Got you!" He's started to banter back-and forth with us. If he does something funny, we tell him he's silly - he'll retort "no, you're silly." This usually goes on and on 'til we stop the banter.

The above picture is of Mercer eating his first ice cream sundae / first banana split complete with whipped cream and sprinkles. He seems to be enjoying it very much. And - the next couple of pictures are of Mercer at a pool party. A 5-year old boy at his daycare was having a birthday party & his younger brother, Cameron, is in Mercer's class. Cameron asked his mom if Mercer could come -- that he's his best friend. When we asked Mercer, he said no - Cameron is not his friend. He doesn't have any friends. Another boy from Mercer's class was there - George. George was biting a couple of months ago & got Mercer twice. Since then, Mercer is constantly saying "George bites. He's BAD!" They were buddies at the pool party, though. Oh.... I guess daycare parties are just beginning. Good bye weekends~!

Speaking of loss of weekend... this is how Todd spent a couple of days off from work & all day Saturday / all day Sunday last weekend. The contractors who built the addition to the back of the house 7 years ago failed to close up a connection of the sheathing at the roof and the wall. Water had been slowly migrating in / getting between the exterior siding and the interior wall until it came rushing INSIDE the house. Unfortunately, there are other spots around the house that Todd is planning to tackle that look like they can be potential problems - but hopefully when it's not 95 degrees +/- outside. It's been a scorcher of a summer this year!

Stay cool ~ Candice & Todd