Merry Christmas

Mason,

Today we celebrated your second Christmas!

For some reason, you had a hard time falling asleep on Christmas Eve, but we had to wake you on Christmas morning. We took your picture at the bottom of our steps--a tradition we started last year--before showing you the tree.

Santa left two gifts near the tree. Initially interested, you toddled over to them.

But you immediately lost interest, and took off to find your familiar books and toys, so Daddy and I opened your gifts for you.

I made goose this year for Christmas dinner, a first for our family. You're not a meat lover, but you ate it anyway. We enjoyed our meal and spending most of the day with Grammy, Grandpa, and Auntie.

Merry Christmas, Mason! Lord willing, we look forward to celebrating many more with you!

XOXO,

Mommy

holiday fun

Mason,

Grandma and Grandpa drove to DC to celebrate Christmas with us, and we had a blast doing all sorts of holiday-related activities with them.

I made Christmas cookies and you helped decorate them.

We went to National Harbor and looked at the pretty decorations at the Gaylord.

We literally chased you around the gargantuan Gaylord hotel, which resulted in a lengthy afternoon nap for you.

We admired the poinsettias and other plants at the U.S. Botanic Garden.

Then, it was off to see the trees. The Christmas tree in front of the U.S. Capitol is our favorite.

At the National Christmas Tree site, we found your home state tree: District of Columbia.

The National Christmas tree is a little chintzy, but we braved the scarce parking and massive crowds to see it anyway.

We returned to the U.S. Botanic Garden to see their famous train exhibit. It was worth the long, cold wait in line. You loved it! (We did, too! This outing seemed to be everyone's favorite and we plan to make it an annual tradition from now on.)

Grandma and Grandpa played with you and read you lots of books. They even allowed Daddy and me an escape so we could see Les Miserables when it opened on Christmas Day.

You may have met your energy match having Grammy and Grandpa around for several days. They can go and go and go, just like you can. I'm not sure who won, but I know you all had a great time trying to wear the other one out!

Love you!

Mommy

life at 15 months

Mason,

At 15 months, you are in constant motion.

What would we do without nearby parks to stroll to each day? Spending time outdoors trumps any toy you have.

You can now pick up items in the middle of the floor without grasping anything for support. You also recently learned how to stand up independently, without using people or furniture to pull yourself up. Watch out, world--Mason's fully mobile!

You were too busy to stand still for a picture when we picked out our Christmas tree over Thanksgiving weekend.

We captured you for about five seconds before you yelled to get down.

At home, after multiple attempts to take your picture in front of the tree, this was the best we could do. We adore this picture though because it perfectly captures other characteristics of life at 15 months: disobedience and temper tantrums.

Speaking of tantrums, you had a fit when Daddy passed you over to Santa Claus.

Rather than continue to cry and carry on like a baby, you instead turned your back and ignored the man in the red suit. You'll smarten up in a year or two if you continue to snub Santa.

In the last couple of weeks, you've begun making a concerted effort to talk. You're now up to about 12 words that you use in the appropriate context. Two of our favorites, besides Mama and Dada of course, are read (ree-ree) and night night (nut-nut). You also learned to sign the word please and you've begun putting two words together in sign language.

At your 15-month checkup, you weighed 23 pounds, 12 ounces and were 32 inches long. You're still in the same percentile ranges as the last couple of appointments, 25th-50th for weight and 75th for height. We're thankful for your good health and consistent growth!

Unfortunately, carsickness has begun, so your rear-facing days in the carseat are numbered. We hope, for your sake as well as our sakes, that turning your seat around will help.

Even on no-nap days, you go and go and go. Your energy knows no bounds. We suspect you get these traits from Mama, and the two of you compete with each other every day to see who can wear out the other one first. You win a lot, but Mommy's a pretty good match for you. Daddy recently acknowledged how exhausting it was for the two most important people in his life to need such little down time.:)

Through these stages of running, talking, kissing, discovering, learning, disobeying, throwing fits, getting into everything, and destroying most things in sight, you continue to be the light of our lives. We love you, sweet Mason!

XOXO,

Mommy and Daddy

celebrating the holidays with Grandmom and Granddad

Mason,

As mentioned before, we traveled to Tennessee for Thanksgiving to visit Grandmom and Granddad. You had a ball. Grandmom and Mommy worked hard to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for us. In this first picture, it's a little hard to tell if the bird in the pan or you is the bigger turkey. 

After our meal, we did a little photo shoot, in which you begrudgingly participated.

Mommy and I even took the opportunity to get a picture with just the two of us. We don't get those opportunities much anymore. What can't be seen is you throwing a fit just beyond the camera that we would dare leave you out.

Then Mommy and I got a special treat. We got to go to a movie! We used to spend the holidays seeing every Oscar-watch movie. Somehow our schedules and priorities have changed. And while we wouldn't have it any other way, we hadn't seen a single movie together since you were born. So we took advantage of the opportunity and snuck away to see Lincoln. You had a great time playing with Grandmom and Granddad while we were gone. But you were glad when we came back, too, which always does our hearts good.

On our last night, we celebrated Christmas. You're still a year or two away from fully embracing the whole present thing. You were more interested in your milk and your snack than your presents. But you still enjoyed running around with your new toys and book.

We had a fun time visiting Grandmom and Granddad and celebrating the holidays. But you were a little exhausted from all the excitement and pretty thrilled to get home and back to your crib. Now you get a few weeks to recover before Grandma and Grandpa arrive and we do it all over again!

Love,
Daddy

touring Daddy's old stomping grounds

Mason,

For Thanksgiving we traveled back to Tennessee to visit Grandmom and Granddad. This was your second visit to where I grew up, but I'm sure you don't remember much about your first. You were a little more active this time around.

As part of our visit, we gave you a tour of some of my old stomping grounds. We started at the house where I grew up. It's been a few years since we'd stopped by. Some things looked the same, others not so much. Unfortunately, it was kind of early and nobody was out, so we couldn't knock on the door and invite ourselves in. Regardless, you were duly impressed.

After cruising through downtown Powell we made our way to the University of Tennessee. Our first stop was Hess Hall, where I lived all four years of college.

Then it was on to the Torchbearer statue, the revered symbol of campus.

I'm sure you were carefully studying the inscription at the base of the statue, which reads, "One that beareth a torch standeth in shadow to give light to others," as you sucked your thumb.

Next it was on to Neyland Stadium, which should always be spoken of with reverence. It was a Wednesday, so there wasn't much activity around the stadium. Actually, it was pretty indistinguishable from most Saturdays these days. I don't want to tell you what to do when you grow up, but there's a decent chance the head football coaching gig at Tennessee will be open. It pays well, especially if you're not very good at it.

We finished our day with dinner at world famous Calhoun's. I don't actually know if it's world famous, but it's at least famous all over East Tennessee. You enjoyed your first experience with catfish.

As always, you were a trooper on the grand tour. Thanks for indulging me!

Love,
Daddy