Sixteen Months
Marcus is sixteen months old tomorrow. At his (late) fifteen-month checkup about ten days ago, he measured in at 31 inches tall and 22 pounds. He's still a happy boy, and this month we've had all sorts of fun together. Below, from left to right, he's double-fisting water with his sippy cups (we always leave one within his reach on a shelf); playing with "Small Dog" (like "Dog," but smaller, and in different colors--note the matching sweater); cuddling me in my Christmas-present wrap from Robert (hand-dyed, with legwarmers dyed to match); and sleeping in the mei tai just after we came home from running errands on a super chilly Decemer day.
Grandma Judy came to visit from Illinois this weekend, and she got a lot of quality Marcus time in during her short stay. We went to the Children's Museum, dim sum, and b.good on Friday, and then on Saturday we took her to the Chocolate Bar buffet at Cafe Fleuri at the Langham downtown. Marcus (below middle) there gnawed on a caramel apple, picked at a strawberry, and ate tiny nibbles of pretzels (meant for the chocolate fountain) and whoopee pie.
On Sunday, Judy's last day in Boston, we woke up to six or more inches of snow on the ground--the season's first Nor'easter dropped them overnight, which was fitting because we had decided to declare that day an early Christmas--Marcus woke up to greet a red and green Rody inflatable rocking horse under the tree, and then he opened presents sent by Auntie Jennifer, Uncle Joe, and cousins John and Emily. Robert opened his presents from me (including father-son black geeky tees, Robert's saying "Do or do not; there is no try," and Marcus's saying "I void warrentees"), and we had a nice warming festive breakfast together in our pajamas.
By the middle of the day, with the snow starting to slacken, we ventured out down Columbus to Titus Sparrow Park, where there was a neighborhood sledding party (on a very gentle hill), complete with cocoa, candy canes, cookies, a bell choir playing Christmas carols, and a Santa who arrived on a fire truck, sirens blaring. Marcus was not 100% in favor of the snow: the walk over was very snowy/blowy indeed, though I draped my double-layered wool cloak over baby (he was wearing three shirts, including a hoodie, plus the wrap, plus two of my hoodies zipped over him, plus snow pants, two pairs of socks, snow boots, legwarmers to cover those leg gaps, my jacket, my scarf around us both, a fleece hat, and then my cloak).
When we got to the park, he just wanted to watch for awhile; at last, ready to get down, we popped him into his puffy winter jacket, and he walked around in the snow a little. After his second step, he promptly fell, belly-first, and made a mewling pitiful little sound until we rescued him. He still had trouble moving his arms in all of his layers, and although he perked up to see all the pretty dogs out enjoying the snow, he screamed at the sight of Santa, so we bundled him back in the wrap for the walk home. He was asleep before we left the playground!
Finally, here are four videos from the month, for your pre-Christmas viewing enjoyment:
Thanksgiving in NY: Marcus "plays" the piano next to me. I'm not certain he's helping, but he's having fun.
One Tuesday morning in December, Marcus plays around the bouncy house at the Park Street Church Downtown Playgroup. He's a little hesitant about the house, preferring to bounce himself on the outside of it, and even pound on the sides and yell at the two-year-old boys inside, rather than actually go in. Even though he's the youngest kid there by about five months, we've been having fun going to this, and it gives us a nice warm place to play on winter Tuesdays!
This is the "Christmas" morning we had on December 20th, when baby meets Rody (in our house) for the first time. I'm an idiot with the video camera, and cut off baby's head for part of the video, but I did eventually manage to get all of him in the shot. Needless to say, Rody is indeed a hit.
Here we are at the Titus Sparrow Christmas party, walking around in the snow with Grandma Judy.