Yo, yo, yo!
Since half this blog is a desperate attempt to get up to speed (I feel like we're constantly going 37mph in a 45 on this thing), below please find, in no particular order, photos of our Thanksgivingstravaganza. Below, Ann grins like a tourist posing in front of the Empire State Building. Man were those potatoes good. Sadly, none of the leftovers lasted long.
More excitement, no doubt food-related:
And below, the first of what will hopefully become an ongoing installment in the Pillow Fort: "cute when you do it, crazy when I do it." Mercer and I sometimes talk about this phenomena--Rowan gets social approval for performing actions that would be considered . . . well, a little wacky if one of us got to behaving that way. Grabbing a pair of socks and using them to bang on a department store display whilst singing a string of consonants? Cute when you do it, crazy when I do it. Obsessively staring at another person's toothbrush and attempting to pull it out of his mouth? Cute when you do it, crazy when I do it. So without further ado, cute when you do it:
Crazy when I do it:
See how that works?
So yeah, Thanksgiving ruled. The piece de resistance occurred when Ro, Buddha-bellied from all those 'taters, crawled right out of his pants & diaper:
We were so happy to have Nick & Ann here. We miss them tons!
So, in a very un-slick transition, here's today's scoop. We ran some errands and did some semi-successful Christmas shopping. Ro chilled for a short while with his cute little buddy Henry, who lives down the street. He's getting really interactive with other kids and tries to engage with them in play (okay, so often engaging means sticking a finger into the other kid's nose and crying when said other kid pulls his hair, but still).
Ro also spent some quality time with door bink. Door bink was a decoration at a fun baby shower that my mom's friends threw for me. I tied him to Ro's bedroom door and lately Ro has been obsessed. He crawls up and gets a fix whenever possible:
The other major event of today was that Ro stood unassisted for a good 6 or 7 seconds! He remains completely unaware that this has happened, but I was sitting with a little bauble in my hands. He came over, grabbed the bauble, and stood there with it in his hands, then resumed leaning on my knee. Wow, we're gettin' vertical!
So Mercer blogged about rejection and I guess I'm here to fill in the rest of our activities. Mercer may not have scored big with the editors of Orange Brains and the Writing Bunch (or whatever they're called), but he has been cooking up a storm. Mmmm! Food never really translates well onto camera nless you got a bunch of nice filters for your camera and spray-on shellac for your food, but the dumplings and broc combo below really was a taste sensation. 
Okay, so I feel like half the photos of Ro these days are of him in his high chair, but that's where he stays stillest (not that he'll sit still for very long even in the captivity of the high chair).
These days, he enjoys brocolli, cheese, sweet potatoes, and yogurt. And he loooooves waffles! He's a regular Aunite Gromads. The other day this fetching insect appeared on our doorstep. He was a holiday gift from Nick & Ann, but Ro (okay, Mercer & I) couldn't wait. Ever since Senor Bumble's appearance, Rowan has been entranced. Thanks Nick & Ann! Rowan can scoot Bumbles along, or sit on him like a tricycle while Merc or I push him. No wonder parents get back backs. 
We had a really fun weekend this past weekend. We hadn't been in Farmville in quite a while, so we headed up to see Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Hannah. On Sunday morning, pre-waffles, Grandma and Ro spotted each other while they built up an appetite pumping iron.
Afterward we headed to a nearby lake to feed the ducks. Rowan excited all present by making very distinctive noises after being told the monikers of duck (duh) and goose (ooh). We tried to create an idyllic childhood scene by feeding some stale bread to the waterfowl, but said fowl were not really having it. Snobs! So we amused ourselves by observing some skaters at a new skatepark section of the park (okay, so it's probably several years old, but in Farmville time any structure under a quarter of a century old is brand new). 
Rowan was very taken with the big kids& their noisy skateboards. You can see the wheels turning. He's pondering all the tricks he can do on his wheelybug back at home.
Before we left, Vanessa, who has been my friend for 25 years to so, stopped by. She's expecting a baby in a month and a half. I think she decided it was time for another because her other baby is now practically in middle school! It was great to see her.
