'ats!

Grady is a guy who is really fond of hats. It was one of his very first words, though we were confused and didn't realize it at first because "that" was also one of his first words and in Grady's perfect little voice, they both sound like 'at.

Sometimes, Grady will realize he is not wearing a hat and then he must go get one immediately. If he is, say, behind a baby gate and unable to access his hats when such need arises, he will probably weep.

Other times, he needs to wear ALL THE HATS. Clearly.

He is also a pretty big fan of his shoe collection, which is ridiculously large (thank you, hand-me-downs) and lives in a cube with a monster/dinosaur/something-stereotypically-boyish face. However, if left to his own devices he will always choose the same pair of sneakers. Always.

Grady looking at pictures of Grady

One of Grady's favorite things in this whole big world is looking at pictures of himself. It's almost as good as looking at his photos of his dead ancestors. (Another time...) When he is down in the dumps, we can usually cheer him up by offering to show him pictures of himself. Such a darling little narcissist... He even knows how to swipe his finger on the iPhone screen to scroll through them. Kids these days!

Taste

Chopsticks make vegetables delicious. (Mr. Puppet clearly thinks he should have a turn eating off my chopsticks too...)

Pommel moose

We recently went to Ikea, in order to get Grady a toddler bed (no, of course he doesn't sleep in it; don't be ridiculous). We also had to buy all the other adorable things they had, because IT'S A ROCKING MOOSE, OMG.

He now rocks the heck out of that moose, and glides on and off with relative ease. But initially, he spent a lot of time perfecting his mount and dismount. (So many points deducted if you take a step on the landing!) And, of course, saluting the judges.

 

As Grady would say: "at da!"

Easter Catch-up

We didn't really know what Grady would make of the Easter egg hunt this year. And from the outset, he didn't care for it one bit. You see, there were all these people. At his park. And crowds are something Grady still cannot abide. Particularly when they are ruining the typically placid ambiance at his park.

So, he thought he might bail. Hook up with some older boys who had a basketball.

But we persisted and once Grady learned that there was a job and it involved cleaning up the park, he was all in. He also thought the eggs were balls, and a world covered in balls is pretty enchanting if you are Grady.

Grady loves to find and pick up garbage at the park (my favorite, I'm telling you) and it turns out egg hunting isn't really all that different. 

He filled two whole buckets.

Flashback to the egg hunt last year:

The day after the egg hunt was actual Easter, and we gave the kiddo an Easter basket. Mostly because there were some randomish things we wanted to give him and rounding them up into a basket seemed tidier and more ceremonious than just snagging things here and there when we went to Target.

So, he got a basket:

Looking like a little man

I keep thinking that I will find the time and wit to share more than just a pile of pictures of Grady the Gus, but that doesn't seem to be happening, so here's a pile of photos.

Seemingly overnight, the vast majority of the "baby" is gone from Grady and he is all little boy. He loves balls, dogs, carnitas, and Feist. He looks just like Jasper, and as such is staggeringly handsome.

Also, yes, beautiful spring weather for us. 

The winter that never was

Every year in winter, there's this weekend in January or February when you find yourself running along a trail in the sunshine and you are wearing shorts and short sleeves and you just think, "Enough with this nonsense, Bay Area, you pricey vixen. How will I ever quit you?" And then the following week is 50 degrees and rainy and we all nod in agreement that we need the rain and who's going up to the snow this weekend? (It's really, really hard living here is what I'm saying.) (Except that it will be when we really and truly run out of water.) (But until then we will play like grasshoppers!)

But this year, winter just gave up entirely after December and we've had what seems to be nonstop spring, along with plenty of concern for the snowpack and the reservoirs. And now, just as I was thinking the rain had to be coming soon, it's just about time for spring to be here properly anyway. And the baby never even got to wear his galoshes!