Just after the first of the year, Mason decided he wanted a helmet "like daddy".  It was a Monday night, close to dinner time, when Mason's mind was made up.  We all loaded into the car and headed to the local bike shop.  After scouring the limited supply of children's helmets (and he was picky), Mason found one he liked.  In fact, he liked the helmet so much he refused to take it off.  He even ate dinner in his helmet! 

A few days later, Mason was showing off his new helmet for the camera.

Late January, after quite a bit of rain, the dogs were restless, Mason was restless, and we all needed to get out of the house for a bit.  We loaded up the car and took a walk on the nearby greenway.  Mason, wearing his helmet and his sunglasses, thought he was the coolest kid.

He isn't pedaling yet and if you ask him why he won't pedal, he simply replies "I'm driving."

Christmas 2008

Christmas this year was a blast!  Mason was old enough to understand giving and receiving presents.  We celebrated Christmas Eve at Grandma Doris' house, as usual.  The front room overflowed with the presents, the kitchen was filled with food, and the kids ran around all night long.  Mason loved playing with his cousins.  Vivian bounced on the giant trampoline with him and his cousins Miller and Harold built (and destroyed) block towers for hours.

Mason helped hand out presents to everyone and then sat down and dug into his own loot.

  

  

We spent Christmas morning at Grandma's house, where Mason once again helped hand out presents before ripping into his own pile.

Granny, Papa, Nana, Uncle Bob, and Anna joined us at our house for Christmas dinner.  However, by Christmas night, Mason was far more interested in opening presents and wasn't much help in handing them out.  

The only piece to the Christmas puzzle that didn't make too much sense to Mason was Santa.  Perhaps we'll work Santa in to the equation next year. 

The Zoo

It was a very cold day at the zoo, but the animals didn't seem to mind much.  Once you've been to the San Diego Zoo it's difficult to be impressed by any other, but the Atlanta Zoo was perfect for Mason.  He was able to walk the entire thing without one of us having to carry him (although once we were out of the park, we did carry him back to the car).

Mason was in awe of the big gorillas!

We saw flamingos, lions, rhinos, meerkats, kangaroos, and then it was off to the petting zoo.

We ended the day at the zoo playground.  No outing is complete without a stop in the playground. And he's picking up the "ladies" already.

The Beanie Debut

Mason likes to put hats on other people.  He even thinks it's funny when the dogs have hats on, but don't even think of putting a hat on Mason's head.

Aunt Melissa bought Mason a cute little University of Richmond beanie months ago, but Mason refused to go anywhere near it.  Much like the coat, it took extremely cold temperatures and a stubborn child's desire to play outside.  

We both won - - I got the hat on his head and he got to play outside.

Finally a coat!

We purchased the "fireman" rain jacket weeks ago, but Mason refused to put the jacket on. I have been worrying ever since that he would freeze this winter...but he now understands what cold means and understands the purpose of the jacket.

Not only does he LOVE the jacket, but he thinks he's a fireman when he wears it and wants to ride his fire truck everywhere.

Man's bestfriend...

Few things are sweeter than watching a 21 month old love on his "pups". Mason roams the yard with Walter, looking for sticks, rocks, and tennis balls. He then sits under the trees to rest with Josephine.



Now, I'm not really sure where he thought he was going to go in the wheel barrel...but it did make for some cute pictures.

Mason's First Halloween

We carved pumpkins Thursday night, roasted pumpkins seeds, ate pumpkin cookies and pumpkin seeds (once they cooled).




Our hopes weren't too high for Halloween festivities. Mason refuses to wear jackets, hats, gloves, or anything out of his normal, daily wardrobe. We bought Mason's pirate costume last weekend and left it laying around the house in hopes that he would "warm" up to the idea of wearing a costume.

He loves pirates, emphatically shouts "arggggggggh" whenever asked what a pirate says. He even tried to get the rest of us to don his pirate costume.

Well, with a little strength and stubbornness (on my end) I got Mason into his pirate costume. Once I had him convinced that he was the "coolest", he relaxed a bit and even insisted on putting the pirate boots on! ...dressing Josephine as a princess helped too!

ARGGGGH!

Trick or Treating is a whole new experience when you're following a 2-year old from door to door. It took Mason 2 or 3 houses before he got the idea that people were handing out yummy treats, just for ringing the doorbell. However, he wanted to eat the candy on the spot. So, as we went from door to door, we stopped every couple of houses and sat on a stranger's stoop and ate a piece of candy. Mason reports that milk duds are "so good!" and "chocolate, good."