Our holy ritual of getting the "make"

London and I (Marcus) do love our special time of getting the mail. We get it pretty much every day. That used to be a chore -- something we could easily forget -- but with our special time, it's definitely a highlight of both of our days.

It started out with my carrying infant London to the mailbox when he was a wee, immobile lad, out of convenience. Then, when he got a little older, I let him hold the keys. Then, older still, he started walking and was able to stick our key in other people's boxes.

These days, our ritual goes as follows:
- "London, do you want to get the mail?"
- "Make!" (he calls it "make" for some reason... thinking he may combine "mail" with "key")
- He motions to the door. "Keys?"
- I grab the keys, then grab the boy. We walk along the parking lot as he points out cars.
- We approach a sign that says "NO Skateboarding, Bike Riding, etc." He has learned to point to it and say, "NO!!!!" Already reading, eh?
- We get closer to the mailbox and he says, "Hi, Make!"
- I grab the keys and he watches as I get our actual mail.
- Then I set him down and he attempts to open everyone else's boxes.
- When a car goes by, he'll point at it and say "CAR!" or "UH-COCK" (his word for "TRUCK") and as it passes he says, "BYE-BYEEE!"
- He basically does the same thing for any bicyclists or passersby. It's interesting to see who responds to him and who pretends not to notice. If they pretend not to notice, I either say, "They can't hear you," while in earshot, or just address them and say, "Hey, he's saying hi to you!"
- Nowadays I entertain London by jumping off the retaining wall onto the sidewalk nearby. He counts before I jump: "TWO... TWO... TWO!"
- Eventually he gets bored and we go back to the apartment.

This is a constantly evolving thing, and it's really one of the more special times of my day :-)

Diaperless and Dandy(lions)!

On sunny days, we often enjoy going to parks, soaking up the rays and being carefree with one another.

Recently, at Bella Vista Park, London shed his diaper and gave himself some air while he picked dandelions and provoked a wrestling fight with Daddy.

Enjoy the video!

What amazing weather!

We've been really blessed with some fantastic weather lately. We thought April 6 and 7 was good... April 19 and 20 were record-breaking, dancing at around 80 degrees!

Daddy has Mondays off, so we went to Jamison Square Park in Portland's Pearl District to do some splishing and splashing. London loves wading in the fountain water and climbing the terraced fountain steps. There were a lot of other kids around, as you might expect (especially since school wasn't in session that day), but London didn't mind them... and they didn't mind him.

After playing for a while, all four of us went to Ben & Jerry's (and a day before Free Cone Day, darn!) for some waffle cones of cookie dough and mocha chip. Mmmm! What a day! We thank God for these days because they're probably the closest thing to paradise Earth has to offer!

Watch London as he plays in Jamison Park!

First sprinkler run!

When we have a 70-degree day in April, you'd better believe we're going to take advantage of it. A nice, sunny day found London and Daddy in the yard, as London enjoyed his first sprinkler run! Enjoy the video!