Off to Philly!!!

Kate recently had a work trip to Philadelphia. Mace and I stayed home in DC for a few days and then took the train up to meet her on Saturday.
The trip started with a long walk to the Rhode Island metro station. I happened to hear that our local station was closed for the day and rather than risk a shuttle bus, we just walked the 2.5 miles to the metro station.

We arrived at Union Station in plenty of time and used that extra 20 minutes to practice walking. Maceo's getting much better, especially one-handed. He only falls in those instances infrequently. Finally, our train got to the station and they let Maceo and me board first of all! We got a good seat and played with flash cards, read books, and ate some various and sundry snacks.

Eventually, we made it to Philadelphia. Kate was excited to see us, as it's the longest any of us has been apart! We had a lovely hotel room and a great time. Maceo got some time in the pool, and on Sunday, before we left, we spent some time visiting some good friends in North Philly. All in all, a good trip.

Easter

Easter Sunday was a day filled with activities. I suppose we'll have to start getting used to this kind of scheduling with Maceo. In the morning, we went to Michael and Alycia's house for brunch and an Easter egg hunt. Maceo is not yet up to the arduous task of hunting eggs...

Maceo spies an egg...

He makes his move!

And grabs it! And then discards it a minute later.

...or meeting giant bunnies.

What the...?

Now he's behind me?

 Then, we went over to our friends's Daniel and Lillian's for their Easter egg hunt/lunch. Maceo was not interested anymore in searching out eggs and just sat and relaxed in his fancy pants Easter outfit.

Finally, we went to my dad's house for Easter dinner. Maceo played with their toys for a while and then went to bed upstairs while we ate roast turkey, a neotraditional Easter meal.

First year

April 12th was Maceo's birthday. To celebrate, we invited our friends (most of whom now are also with small children) to come over for some food and drink.

Socializing at the pool

Family members came, too, including my sister and her children all the way from Massachusetts.

Lucy and Dad

Bridget and Maceo

Seamus

 There was cake and discussions of geopolitical importance.

Maceo and Jessica and debates on NGO financing

Kiptyn weighs in on beer choice

There was a little overdoing it.

Julian after a black bean extravaganza

And in the end, the birthday boy didn't go for the cake so much, but like his mother, seems to love doughnuts.

Mami, Maceo, and munchkins

All in all, it was a lovely day with friends and family and we really enjoyed ourselves. The festivities knocked us out for the rest of the weekend, though. The next day, Maceo and Nick both took 2 hour naps!

Maceo & the Little Red Wagon

For Maceo's first Christmas, his great aunt Nene (Kate's aunt) got him a little red wagon.  With the beautiful spring weather finally upon us, we excitedly got to bring this treasure out from its hiding place in the basement and test out its wheels.  Suffice it to say, Maceo has a new favorite mode of transportation.   This wagon comes complete with cupholders, a seat with storage, and another seat for his best friend Julian who lives on the next block. 

Life is good when you have a wagon.

A (Week) Day in the Life

Maceo lately has been awakening at about 5:30. Most recently, he wakes a little earlier and babbles to himself. When he starts to cry, we wait a while, then go in and get him and give him a bottle of milk. It has been over 12 hours, so he's probably hungry, but soon, we think we will eliminate this step. He then goes back to bed and back to sleep for about 30 to 45 minutes. When he gets up this time, he comes to the bed for some cuddling and horseplay. He is mostly in a good mood at this time, though his coordination suffers from being logy. We often sit him up and then give him a little push in the chest to watch him fall over delightedly.

Eventually, enough of that! He and his papa go down stairs to get ready for the day while mama gets a shower and looking all professional. Mace and I feed the cats and play on the floor.

 At about 6:30, he sits down and has a little breakfast.

Maybe someone's not a morning person?

 Lately, it's been a pancake with a little jelly and maybe a little peanut butter on it. Finally, he's dressed for work and we all head out at about 7. I leave work pretty early in the afternoon (3:30 or so, if there's no softball practice) and go looking for the boy at his day care. It's lovely picking him up; he plays and then glances around and sees me and then comes scooting over for hugs and pick ups and cuddles. We get all his stuff together and drive straight home. Kate gets home around 5:45, right at the end of Maceo's dinner

More beets!

and then we often give him a  bath, which veteran readers of the blog will know is one of his favorite times.

Dried off, lotioned up, and in his footy pjs, he's ready for bed. He gets to read two books ( a favorite right now is Pat the Bunny), a bottle, and he's off to sleep at 6 or 6:15.

Concentrating on the bottle, no time for camera poses...

Recently, he's been sleeping right through the night, all the way to the morning. We can all hope that pattern will hold up, though it seems to be that as soon as we get used to a pattern, he switches it up on us.

What happens when he can feed himself beets

The less maniacal photo

Maceo, Beets - 10.5 months old

Old (Bearded) Man River

Bathtime is Maceo's favorite time of day. Recently, we discovered he has a favorite subcategory of activity within his favorite time of day: dipping his face in the bath bubbles. He was tentative at first, oh, yes, they all are when they don't yet know not to inhale when their faces are submerged, and he would pop his face up out of the water with only a little goatee of suds on his chin. But then, oh yes, then, he got much more aggressive....