late winter/early spring

Mason,

These past two months have been busy, but here are some moments we don't want to forget.

the state of our kitchen on a daily basis

helping Mama sow lettuce seeds

helping Mama prep the yard to plant grass seeds

what a hunk (love your shag)

two blondies walking home

feeding the birds at the Capitol reflecting pool with Dada

on a mission

with your glamorous mama:)

frolicking with Dada

fun with Grandmom and Granddad

contemplating being naughty

cooking with Mama

a little snow

You mastered our in-house egg hunt!

Happy Easter!

cherry blossoms

hanging with your pop

blossoms with your peeps

play group at National Arboretum

Real snow! Real mountains! (We're in Colorado.)

You liked it there.

Luke and Kim got married!

Cuddles with Grandma and Grandpa

Auntie survived two flights and a night in a hotel room with you, where you threw up all over your little bed. She's a trooper!

We love you, Cupcake.

recovering from your eight-day stomach virus

Love,

Mommy

life at 17 months

Mason,

Life with you is as busy as ever. We still spend ample time outside most days, but have also been exploring museums and libraries on very cold and/or rainy days.

You've also dabbled in coloring, finger painting, and painting with a brush. Eating the finger paint is your favorite part.

We are in love with your beautiful, blond mop. We're never cutting your hair, by the way, so we're thankful that shaggy hairdos are what's hip right now for little guys.

You helped both of us celebrate our birthdays this past month.

You're becoming increasingly more independent, preferring to sit by yourself, next to us, rather than on our laps. You're as bossy as ever, and have recently gotten your first spanking. You now come when we call you and you've learned to walk unassisted up a set of stairs at the playground (while holding onto the railing) and have dabbled in climbing/crawling up our basement stairs, but you're not quite proficient at stairs yet and still act rather scared of them. Everything goes back to your not crawling before walking, doesn't it? Will that haunt us forever?

We think you contracted the Roseola virus (high fever and a full body rash upon the fever's breaking) with one night of a stomach bug thrown in for good measure. To top things off, two of your two-year molars broke through your gum that same week, bringing your total number of teeth to 18. (Only two more to go and you'll have your whole compliment of baby teeth!) Those six days we were homebound because of sickness were long and miserable for all of us. But Mommy felt sorry for you and allowed an exception to the no-blankie-outside-the-crib rule.

You've officially transitioned to one nap, giving you more awake time each day to pitch in around the house, and you're becoming a great little helper! You love helping Mommy water the plants and assisting her in the kitchen. You stir whatever's cooking on the stove and peer through the oven's window to check the dish's progress. With firm and consistent instructions, you can also assemble our salads. However, you've been known to snatch craisins and blue cheese crumbles every chance you get!

Your appetite remains healthy, but you're sometimes willful at meals, causing dreadful dinner drama and resulting in your going to bed hungry. However, you recently tried sushi and much to our delight, loved it!

You have two new developments that make our hearts melt: humming/singing and pretending. Your favorite song is Baa Baa Black Sheep. You can't say the words, but hum the tune with the "bah" syllable to the point where even strangers can recognize the song. You're also experimenting with Row Row Row Your Boat and (Mason) Had A Little Lamb. Your imagination has taken off. We've recently noticed your pretending to cook, usually when Mommy's making dinner. You use Mommy's set of mixing bowls, and measuring cups and spoons. You babble and sing while you stir and pour, and then you offer us bites of your magnificent creations. You're quite the chef! Just last week, you began "reading" to your animals. Books are still your true love.

You're so much fun, Mason, and such a handful at the same time. But we love you more than we ever dreamed possible and truly cherish each season of your development, even with the inevitable challenges. Happy 17 months!

XOXO,

Mommy and Daddy

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