Santa Baby

Our family has matching stockings; maybe you do, too. Because this is Mason's first Christmas, we had to order his stocking and it came in the mail a couple of days ago. Jay opened the box and called Mason over to him. When Jay realized the stocking was almost as tall as Mason, he packed him inside. What a darling stocking stuffer! I'm not sure he'll hang securely from the mantle, though.

Little House Under the Barstool

Madeline often pretends that she has her own little house under our barstools. And lately, Mason has been joining in the fun. Sometimes he will crawl over, pull up on the bars and stand up. But then he realizes that he can't get down and he cries for help. Yesterday, he crawled up inside the barstool and sat there contentedly while Madeline played house with him. He didn't interact much but he had fun gnawing on the bars and watching his sister talk and make "pancakes".

Grandpa, will you bring us your tools?

I walked in to get Mason up from his nap today and, boy, was he up. This was the first time he has stood up by himself in his crib and, by his expression, he didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. It was just at the beginning of August that Grandpa lowered the crib some because Mason was getting up on his knees. Now we will have to lower his bed to its lowest setting before Mason starts to crawl out of it.

No Butter or Syrup

I'm constantly amazed how much growth takes place in Mason's life in just one month! Just a few weeks ago he gagged when trying to eat small bits of cereal. Now he's snarfing down pancakes! It took him a while to get the food pried out of his fingers and into his mouth, but he quickly saw the advantage of loosening his digits. Hmm...gone are the days of a clean highchair tray, but I'll gladly wash it while trying to grasp these beloved moments of his development. By the way, if you click on the bottom picture to enlarge it, you can see his first two (bottom) teeth that came through on Sept. 5 and 15. We just praise the Lord for such a beautiful, maturing baby boy.

Where's Waldo?

Madeline loves to give Mason toys to play with when he's in his crib. Sometimes she overdoes it but he doesn't seem to mind.

Swing (S)low, Sweet Chariot

Today was Mason's first trip in the swing at the "big" park. Our neighborhood park doesn't have a swing, but the park about 2 miles away does, so Madeline always wants to visit that one. Mason seemed to enjoy himself. What do you think?