15 months!

1.25. that's how many years mason's been on this side of the womb. unbelievable! our little bundle of joy is proving more and more that he is all BOY.

highlights from this month include:

• climbing in and out of everything... the wagon, the highchair (after we've unbuckled him), his car (he now refuses to use the door and instead jumps in "dukes of hazzard" style), on top of the music table, the car seat, etc.
• throwing his cup, bowl, spoon, plate, or any other item nearby when he's done with them.
• jabbering up a storm. he's still a little limited on actual words, but i swear he knows exactly what he's saying and gets frustrated with us when we don't understand. new words are: c'mon, cow, ball, strawberry (only once, but we were impressed), and that's all my tired little brain can remember right now!
• running. we thought he was running before; we were wrong. the kid now chases cassie, us, and especially special k when she's around all around the house.
• throwing balls. brad's still hoping for a lefty, but he seems to favor his right arm a little more frequently now. time will tell!
• wrestling. we thought it was just with brad, but apparently mason's been practicing at school. according to his teachers, mason and his buddy derek wrestle with each other daily and it is quite the class spectacle. word on the street is that our scrappy boy had derek in a head-lock. impressive, considering stocky derek outweighs mason by a good 3 or 4 pounds.
• dancing. what can we say? he's got the beat! if mason hears music, his face lights up and he does the head bob at a minimum and the full body bounce if time and space allow.
• extended play with toys. mason has really started "playing" with toys. instead of picking them up, licking them, and then throwing them across the room, he enjoys sitting with one toy - like his farm, piggy bank & coins, or his ride-along train - and playing. his attention span is still less than 10 minutes, but definitely improving.
• playground fun. mason has always enjoyed the playground, but these days we can't walk past one without him pointing and trying to steer us toward it. he especially likes to go down the slide head-first. surprisingly, he gets far less head bumps going this way than the traditional feet-first method.

how blessed we are to be the parents of such a wild, but happy boy!

i bite

... not people (thankfully), but mason has mastered the art of taking bites. we've tried time and time again, but he would stuff the entire mass of food in his mouth at one time. until this past weekend. way to go, big guy!

fun with the reeces

papa threw a party the last night we were in town and grilled up 10 pounds of steak. yes, you read that right... 10 POUNDS of steak. sorry cows, but it was delicious!

mason found lots of playmates that night (and lots of plates to beg bites from)! it was a fun night and our little night owl stayed up with the big dogs to get to spend a little extra time with granny & papa. (we won't mention that he was a bit grumpy the next day.)

down on the farm with papa

aunt jeannie & mason

block party

plotting my next move

good thing these are squishy blocks!

granny's nooks & crannies

just so you know, i explored every nook & cranny at granny's house...

climb in

we managed to pack everything except the travel high chair for our trip to louisiana. after trying our luck without one, we decided that it was well worth the trip to wal-mart to remedy the situation.

we bought it thursday night after mason was asleep, so he didn't see it until friday morning. mr. observant noticed it right away. and despite the fact that the tray was in place, it didn't stop mason from squeezing himself in for a trial run...

cutie

u-pack, i-visit

thanksgiving day brought a special treat when my college roommate jennifer and her family drove through tallulah on their way to family festivities. we planned to meet at mcdonald's to save time, but it turns out that even mickey d's is closed on thanksgiving!

plan b was to meet at the u-pack-it across the street. with a in-store subway and a separate eating area, it was quite the swanky gathering place!

i haven't seen the childs family since cole was 2 weeks old, so needless to say, he's grown a bit! i vividly remember marveling at how big he was as a 2 week old (he weighed 9 lbs, 15 oz. at birth!) and looking down at my own belly which was housing a very tiny mason. jennifer assured me that my baby wouldn't be that big. ha! he was .3 ounces smaller!! :)

this time around, we just hugged and hung out while our 3 monkeys (ok, 2 monkeys and a rather sophisticated almost six year old) played.

it was a short visit, but oh so worth it! we miss you, childs family!

local hot spot

college roomies

daddy & mason

ever try getting 3 monkeys to look at the camera?

the childs fam