Mason the Good Host

Jeni is trading babysitting with another Mom in her playgroup. Her daughter Audrey comes over to play with Mason for a bit each Monday and then he goes to her house later in the week.

Mason was a very gracious host and shared some water with Audrey.

Apparently Audrey and Mason were dancing, but by the time Jeni got the camera out, the popcorn was more interesting.

Anyone got an idea for a hobby for Jeni? She has an hour and a half each week to kill now...

Family pictures

Mason's grandparents (Jeni's parents) came down last weekend. We thought about going to the Beer Tasting and Chili Cookoff, but the warm weather and two-block line just to get in gave us second thoughts. We ended up relaxing on the patio of a restaurant in Champaign. It was probably more fun without the lines we would have had to wait in for beer and chili.

While they were here, we tried to take some new family pictures.

I thought this was pretty good, but Mason isn't looking at the camera and apparently sunglasses are a bit of a faux pas.

So we tried again Sunday morning.

We really need to bring Hogarth to the vet to see if they can get his tongue back into his mouth.

Mason also posed with his grandparents.

Spoonman

Mason insists on using a fork or spoon at every meal these days. He also wants to drink by himself (that doesn't sound right does it).

He seems to prefer his right hand, but his left hand has to help sometimes.

He's pretty proud of himself. Sometimes he even puts the spoon down and gives himself a round of applause.

He usually needs a refreshing drink to cool down after all that work.

Music in the park

Last Friday, we went to the local park to walk the path and listen to some bands that were set up along the way. Jeni invited the families from her playgroup to tag along and then come back to our house for dessert and drinks.

This guy was kind of weird...

Jeni got a haircut and showed it off.

Mason's friend, Leo, from across the street wanted to ride in Mason's wagon, but wanted to face forward as well.

Miscellaneous pics

Mason has been struggling lately with some major teeth trying to come in and a little head cold. He is also becoming more clingy and a little tougher to get to sleep at night. It remains to be seen if these two items are related. The cold is abating and the teeth have to come in sometime don't they?

First up, who doesn't love waffles?

Mason loves to "vacuum" with his new toy and to play outside now that it is a bit cooler.

Mason and Hogarth are turning into quite a team. Mason is getting better at being gentle with Hogarth while still maintaining a steady supply of food from his plate to the floor. Hogarth also continues to get lots of kisses.

Finally, Mason does pause once in a while.

It's my Chunx in a box

I pushed Mason around the family room in a box tonight. He laughed and smiled a lot until I stopped to take these pictures.

Check out his new kicks! Mason is wearing "big boy" shoes now.

At the zoo again

Mason has been to Brookfield Zoo twice now. Apparently, last year one of the giraffes was pregnant, because now they have a little calf. The rest of us were excited, but Mason was not too impressed.

We bought him a hot dog which pepped him up a bit, as did a new hat.

He was quite excited to see the polar bear cub playing in the water. Here he is showing what a bear says, a growl with its paw up in the air.

I think that he ended up having a good time.

At the apple orchard

Jeni and Mason have joined a nice play group that tries to have little field trips at least once a week. A few weeks back, they went to the local apple orchard.

Mason is starting to like trains and trucks and things, but apparently this wooden one was a bit too abstract for him.

He doesn't look like he's having much fun here, but Jeni assures me he had a great time.

Here Mason tries to rally everyone to go look at the goats, to no avail. You can also see his curly hair in back.