Monsieur Frankenstein, I presume

 Maceo is now 13 months old and based on some semantics, I can't, with a clear conscience, say he's walking.  Is he practicing his Frankenstein impression on a semi-frequent basis? Why, yes, yes he is.  Will at some point he morph from the monster into the (walking) maniac and will I, at that point, regret wishing for a little more walking these days?  Yes, yes I will.  So be it.  Until that point in time, we bring you:  Monsieur Maceo Frankenstein, defiant 13 month old who refuses to walk on command, loves to ignore his mother, and  who likes to have his defiance filmed for the world to witness.    Can you see him ignoring me?  It hurts, it hurts so much....

Chillin' by the pool

This past Sunday, we were invited by Abby (14 months old), and of course, her keepers and our friends Bridget and Jason, to come play in her inflatable pool complete with an inflatable slide!  Abby had Maceo at "inflatable."  Maceo came, he saw, and he owned that inflatable slide.  We present you with the evidence. 

I'm (kind of) walking!

Oh hai.

It's just me.  Maceo.  Yeah, I'm kind of walking now. It ain't no big thing.  I toddle. I fall. I get up to toddle another day.  I like to think of myself as a modern Frankenstein.  Some say I channel him pretty well.  I'm not one to brag....

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.