Thanksgiving 2009
We spent Thanksgiving week this year in New York visiting my parents. Marcus had a great time visiting Grandma Connie, Pop-pop, and Aunt Mary, while also enjoying satellite appearances by cousins Rie and Steve (the latter a.k.a. the belly-kisser). Below you see him sitting in one of the many boxes that got delivered (we sent diapers, etc., straight to NY rather than hassle with bringing them or buying them there) and also patting Pop-pop's funny smooth head from one of his favorite perches.
It was really warm for November, with some nice sunny days in the high fifties that felt even warmer to us, so we spent some time in the apartment complex playground. No mere backyard swingset, this playground is nicely maintained and always deserted, so baby had plenty of space to run around and climb. One day I wore him in my new poncho, which I made with separate head-holes for me and for baby, and we were both cozy under it while Robert shivered outside. On another day, we went to the H-mart and brought back Korean goodies, and on another day we dressed up Marcus in Christmas colors and posed for Christmas-card pictures on the green leather couches. I had a cute green hat with ears, but baby made his feelings quite clear about that hat, rejecting it utterly.
Rie and Steve couldn't keep their hands off our baby, and kept ferrying him around the apartment (and even, ahem, up and down the building hallways) in Rie's wheelchair.
On Thanksgiving, just before the FreshDirect turducken went into the oven (never fear, in these pictures it's completely vacuum-sealed while on the floor), we tried unsuccessfully to recreate last year's famous "Marcus and the turkey" shot. Below left: LAST year; below center and right: THIS year. This is as close as we could come with our wiggly fifteen-month-old boy who doesn't want to be contained. He would bend down and pat the turkey (ducken) as well as stand above it brandishing a spatula, but he absolutely refused to even so much as stand in the roasting pan. Smart boy! In any case, we got some fun pictures and we all had a lovely Thanksgiving.
