63 weeks, 3 days.

Graham demonstrates some of his animal sounds, including a new one--a fish!

63 weeks, 2 days.

Graham woke up from his morning nap extremely listless and with a 101.6 fever. He spent the entire afternoon resting/napping in our bed, with Marlon on guard. I finally gave him tylenol around 4:30 and by 5, he seemed up for a trip to pick up sick food (apple juice, etc.). We went to Trader Joe's, where he suddenly was 100% fine. After not eating since breakfast, Graham sucked down 2.5 packets of applesauce and a cheese stick in line. I think his canines are rearing their ugly heads.

63 weeks, 1 day.

Graham took his first tire swing ride this morning with a playground friend. Later in the day, we did some weeding at our community garden. Graham helped by taking the weeds and putting them in the weed bucket. He can follow simple directions--"Come to Mama and take the plant. Now put the plant in the bucket."

63 weeks.

Graham loves opening and closing doors right now.

62 weeks, 5 days.

Playgroup was a reading group today.

This week, I've dropped Graham's after-nap nurses, bringing us down to 2 nurses per day. Graham isn't very pleased about the change, but is managing with a lot of snuggling, snacks, and out-of-the-house playtime. It's a pretty sad change for me, too, but I think it's time for us to start tapering, even though that means I don't have a baby anymore. Sob.

62 weeks, 4 days.

Graham spent more time scribbling than eating chalk today! He also called "Mamamamamama" when he woke up in the morning--I think he's getting "Mama" down.

62 weeks, 3 days.

Graham on the bouncing pony at the park.

62 weeks, 1 day.

We took a family trip to Philly this weekend to see Nana, Molly, Aunt Emily and Uncle Bob. We had a jam-packed Saturday--Graham met the Philly Phanatic! tried a Philly pretzel and a Philly cheese-steak! played (actually interacted) with Molly for the first time! lounged like a Roman emperor on Mama and Aunt Emily! learned to play hide-and-seek! Thanks for having us, Nana. We had a great time.

62 weeks.

After meeting Daddy for lunch, we stopped to watch two street performers play jazz. Graham drew a crowd of his own by dancing up a storm.

61 weeks, 6 days.

"Whale butt" (as dubbed by the other playground moms) demonstrating his favorite slide position.

61 weeks, 4 days.

Graham and Eliana spent the morning together--wagon time, music class, and lunch! Graham particularly enjoyed riding in Eliana's double stroller (which holds two kids, facing each other). He tickled Eliana's toes and stole her snacks. Good times.

Thanks for the new spring outfit, Nana! Short-alls--couldn't be cuter!

61 weeks, 3 days.

Graham made a doggy friend at the park today.

61 weeks, 1 day.

It took Graham a few licks to decide he likes chocolate ice cream, but now he's sold.

New tricks: Graham roars like a lion, says "mmmmm" to express pleasure over yummy things (ice cream...) and points to his nose when asked where it is!

61 weeks.

Daddy got out of jury duty early this afternoon, so we took a trip to the carousel at the Brooklyn Bridge park. Graham wasn't quite sure what he thought about the ride at first, but didn't want to get off his horse by the time the it ended. Later, he enjoyed a snack in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge.

60 weeks, 6 days.

Graham loves Bella's ball pit. He also loves chairs of all kinds--kid chairs, grown-up chairs, benches, sofas, etc. He climbs up if he can, begs for a lift if he can't, and then wants to hang out and watch the action from his perch.

60 weeks, 5 days (aka 14 months).

Graham continues to practice his climbing skills. Please note that he dragged his blue blanket along with him for both of these shots. We are trying to enforce a nursery-only rule for the blanket, but he sneaks it out pretty often. If he can see the blanket but not get it (e.g., if it is on the other side of the baby gate or back of the crib), Graham is inconsolable.

While reading a book today, Graham pointed to a picture of the moon and said, "moon"!

60 weeks, 3 days.

Sam and no-pants-Graham hard at work at playgroup. Graham has a new animal sound, complete with arm gesture: an elephant with a trunk!

60 weeks, 2 days.

Happy Easter! Graham loved digging through his Easter basket (thanks to Nana and Grammy for your contributions to it!), eating his jelly beans, and looking for eggs at our local church. He also said a dog noise ("woof woof") for the first time while walking home from the egg hunt.

60 weeks, 1 day.

Graham practiced for tomorrow's big egg hunt by carrying around his Easter basket and a couple eggs. Thanks Grammy for the beautiful basket!

Huge new word/phrase today: "all done"!!!! Graham declared he was "all done" with breakfast this morning instead of his usual signal of hurling of food on the ground. Let's hope he starts using this one consistently.

60 weeks.

Graham showing off his climbing skills.

In honor of Daddy playing hooky from work today, Graham had a record-breaking night of sleep--14 hours! From 7:30 pm - 9:30 am! Knock on wood, Graham has been on a really amazing sleep schedule since early March: we've been limiting his naps to about 90 minutes each and this seems to have encouraged him to sleep later in the morning. He's been waking up at 7:30 - 8 consistently, which is a huge improvement from the sub-6 am wake-ups he was having when we let him take 2 or 3 hour naps.

59 weeks, 6 days.

Graham spent several happy hours at Pier 6 this afternoon, where he tried out a medium kid swing and rode the choochoo train at the sandbox. He then broke my heart by waving a sweet goodbye when I put him down in his crib and said good night to him.

59 weeks, 5 days.

Graham-in-the-box at our last music class.

59 weeks, 4 days.

Graham is a pot-banging, bag-ripping, climbing and adventuring toddler.

59 weeks, 3 days.

Graham climbed around the playground today before having all his friends over for playgroup. Normally, he loves having his buddies over but today he seemed a little distressed to be sharing his toys. He did enjoy playing a strange game of alternating resting on the pillow pet with Rowan, though. He cheered up once there was just one kid left and played catch with me.