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

mr. independent

My mom came down for a visit, but we were so busy doing stuff that we didn't get any photos!

Possibly the highlight of the visit was the three of us (Todd, mom, and me) going to the beautiful, historic Fox Theater to see the Phantom of the Opera. It was an excellent performance & we are all glad we saw it / got a little culture in our lives.

While mom was in town, we all went to a pancake breakfast fund-raiser for a "friend-of-a-friend" who is in the process of adopting two girls from Latvia. We took an adoption class earlier this spring to learn more about additional avenues for adoption. It was there that we even learned that people did fund-raising for adoption. We're not sure the direction we're pursuing / if we would need to go down that road, but it was interesting to meet this family (who already has 5 or 6 kids, two of which are adopted) and talk about ideas with them.

Also, we provided mom & Mercer some one-on-one time while Todd and I were "forced" to go out to a movie. : - ) I think we wore her out, but we know she enjoyed seeing the little guy.

A couple of pics just before & just after the weekend capture two things that Mercer LOVES doing now. He likes to "drive" my car and play with the buttons on the dash, the mirror, the overhead light, the seat belts, opening the console, etc. There's also a sunglass holder above the driver's seat. His glasses were in it, so he put them on - upside down - but he's pretty cool with his shades on. (Oh yeah - I take the keys inside the house because I have a proximity sensor for my car & don't want him to accidentally turn the car on while he's playing!)

The other thing he is really into: playing with cars. He recently got a pack of matchbox vehicles (thanks grandma & grandpa groves). He is so enamored with them that he takes them to daycare with him... rushes to the car-park as soon as he gets home so he can play with them... and even takes them to bed with him. I can't recall if I've written about this, but Mercer is becoming quite demanding. He wants Todd or myself to come play cars with him. He'll run & grab us, "come" "come" as he's pulling on our hand. "Play" "sit" "sit on bottom" (if you're squatting or not really sitting down he can tell).

He's also becoming very independent. Most anything he says "I do it" (sometimes screaming and wailing 'til we un-do what we did so that HE can do it). He doesn't want to sit in his booster seat anymore. He takes his dishes to the sink sometimes. He carries his (almost as big as he) daycare bag into school. He's starting to TRY to pull his shirt over his head. Take off his own shoes. He is becoming very independent about most things - but still wants us around to play with (which is ok, as we like playing with him!)

His speech is really pretty good for his age (we think). He seems to try to repeat almost anything we tell him. Recently, he tried to repeat ridiculous / he slowly said "re-dic-us" with a slight inflection at the end - as he's a little unsure. That's a big word for a little kid. There are dozens of others like that which he at least takes a stab at saying. The development is AMAZING to watch.

We heard from his birthmother, Danielle, last night via email. It's been maybe 4 or 5 months since we've heard from her? We don't know too much about what she's up to because there's not much in the email - mostly how is Mercer doing? We gave her a full update right away & hope she is doing well. We'll send a scrapbook page in the coming month as Mercer will be turning 2 1/2. YIKES!

Have a great weekend.

busy busy weekends.

Two weekends have passed since the last post. Mercer is ALL BETTER. (so am I)

We delayed our 4th of July trip by one day to make sure neither of us were contagious any longer. We're really glad we went on our trip instead of cancelling. We went to Tennessee to visit my childhood friend, Susan, and her family.

After a picnic in the gardens of the Chattanooga Choo Choo & a quick visit to the miniature train muesum, we continued on to our friend's house. They took us to a nearby town for dinner, a walk around the downtown area, and for frozen yogurt. Mercer warmed up immediately to Susan's kids. Here he is seen holding Caeli's hand. It was really cute to see him grab her hand -- he shy about it and kind of brushed her hand a few times before grabbing it. After walking, we spent quite awhile in a church courtyard where Mercer, Hunter, Caeli, Rune, and baby Saber played "tag" with each other. (Yes, the kids are soaking wet!)

The next day, we went to visit a children's museum - but because it's the 4th of July - it was closed. Instead, we played on the grounds of the museum which had a water feature. The highlight of that visit was feeding 5 baby ducks broken-up Goldfish crackers~ We actually had a very relaxing visit.

Afterwards, however, we went on an adventure like none that we had tried before. We have begun a new hobby called letterboxing. It's sort of like geo-caching, but it's all about stamps in books. You look up clues on a website of where people have hidden boxes. Most of the people have hand-carved a stamp to put in their letter box. You take an ink pad and make an impression of their stamp in your own journal. There's also a journal inside the letterbox in which you're supposed to put your stamp in / sign / add a message. Our first letterbox was one in which you had to follow clues (requiring you to go through a small city park / around metal sculptures / by a water feature / then dig to retrieve the box out of a bush next to a bench. There was a man eating a tub of ice cream on the bench... so we couldn't retrieve the box until he left (one of the letterboxing "rules" is to be discrete so no one sees you with the box. People who don't know what it is may take it).

Enclosed is a picture of the journal and the stamp. Mercer likes the stamp we picked out for him (a frog) and he likes looking in his own journal with the stamp impression from Tennessee.

This weekend, we went on another letterboxing journey - this time to a field of sunflowers. Earlier in the day, the three of us got up early and drove to a state park. Todd played a round of golf with a friend of ours - Mike. His sons and Mercer decided to help their daddies with their practice round on the putting green before the first tee. Mike's wife, Sara, and their boys (Aaron & Alex) joined Mercer and me at a park playground, then at the park's beach. We beat the crowds and the heat by going early. By lunch-time the guys were playing golf so we all had a picnic lunch together.

Following lunch, we all parted ways. Todd, Mercer, and I went on our 2nd letterboxing journey. The box and stamp were hidden in an accessible area of the foundation of an old sharecropper's house located at the front of field of sunflowers. It was pretty easy to find -- not as exciting a hunt as our first experience -- but it was a beautiful place & we're really glad we went. The immediate grounds surrounding the house were lush and covered in thousands of blooms of various types. Then there were acres of sunflowers small and large that you could go though & cut. There was a table with plastic vases on it, clippers, and a box for depositing money for the sunflowers on honor system.

This site, as we have learned, hosts an annual sunflower festival every 4th of July. If you're east of Atlanta during the summer, we would certainly recommend a visit! The letterbox stamp - of course - was a sunflower! We think this will be an interesting hobby for the little guy. He likes stamping the impressions in the book... but we think that it will add a level of adventure in his life and create some unique experiences.

We've got to look up a location for a letterbox here in our town so we can go on another journey next weekend~ Have a great week.

sickness in the house

A quick post to say "WHAT A WEEK!" and it's only Thursday...

Sunday afternoon we noticed a rash on Mercer's face. Sunday night after his bath noticed that it had spread... so began the research on rashes. Sunday - middle of the night when checking on Mercer - the rash had spread more & the original rash had changed to blisters. By Monday morning some of the blisters were crusted over and there was more rash / more blisters appearing.

Middle of the night Sunday / Monday morning we were thinking that Mercer had chicken pox. We called the pediatrician and she told us not to worry about anything... he's contagious... keep him away from others.... but bring him in if he's infected or if it gets on his eyelids.

All right. Here we go.... Chicken Pox. By Monday night, Mercer had one bump on his eye & by Tuesday morning it was bigger. Todd called the pediatrician and off they went for an office visit. But... Mercer didn't have the pox. He had a "really really bad" post-viral infection. Upon further research on his papers from the pediatrician - a bacterial infection called impetigo. The picture here looks way more like c.pox than what I've seen of impetigo (in fact - impetigo pics look way way worse / much grosser than what his rash / what c.pox look like!). I was very suspicious 'til the antibiotic cream for his face actually started working & healing the blisters. Sooo...... Mercer's fine. He's acting his normal self (has been for the past couple of days).

I've been feeling bad the past couple of days, though. I learned after switching my research gears to impetigo that it can come from the streptococcal strain of bacteria. So, I put a call into my doctor after looking up some symptoms I've been having... and I officially have strep throat! I'm on antibiotics now, so hopefully in the next day or so our family is feeling 100% back to normal?!

What a crazy ride it's been~~~~~~