Thanksmas!

We had a wonderful week last week celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Shaw side of the family. Not only do we have ShoSho and Babu around, but Aunt Anne, Uncle Michael, and cousin Conner were also here for the festivities. What fun! We ate lots of good food (of course) and on Saturday celebrated together by opening presents around our "Snissmas tree" (Graham's version). Graham is already quite excited about all of the glitz surrounding the holiday, and loves to sit and look at the tree. He was also VERY excited about the presents; I think he already got enough trucks and cars to last him a lifetime, and we haven't even hit the real holiday! We had such a wonderful time all together as a family, and even took some time to do a family photo shoot. What a great time!













Reaching for the bribe, More Skittles!!













VROOM!












The magic of a new book.
Cruisin' in the big truck with Cousin Conner

little moment

I had to share a little moment with Graham with you all. We have so many of these funny little interactions and I know I'm going to forget nearly all of them so here's one, at least:

I was making Graham's lunch today which primarily was turkey dogs. Graham loves turkey dogs.

He was rubbing his hands running around saying "hotdogs, hotdogs, hotdogs" as they were cooking. He then went to the spice rack and pulled off some basil and said, "Basil on them". I was amazed he could pick out basil, and pretended to put some on the turkey dog. He was very happy with this.

I gave him back the spice and he put in on the rack. He pulled off some cinnamon and said "Cimin on them." I mimed it and he returned it.

He then got some seasoned salt and said "Season on them". I mimed it again and he returned the spice.

The then rummaged around in the pantry and pulled out some barbeque sauce and said "Soy sauce on them!" While pretending to do that he got the ketchup and said "Ketchup on them!"

So Graham had turkey dogs for lunch today with imaginary basil, cinnamon, seasoned salt, soy sauce and ketchup (except that last one was real).

Yummy!

Also, Graham continually amazes us with what he can figure out.

Last night when I got home from school he grabbed a copy of the Message, which to me looks like any other book on the outside. He opened it up and said "Words, words" which he always says about a book without pictures. However, he kept reading it and telling me about letters which he recognized, like "A" and "G". After a while he said "God in there", and then "Book about God. Words about God".

I have no idea how he knew that was a Bible, but I appreciated his insights.

Finally, an update

Hello everyone! We're embarrassed that we've become such poor updaters of our blog, and I know we'll look back and wish we had posted more stories from this wonderful period in Graham's life. He brings us so much joy every day, it's amazing how much fun he is! I will post some pictures from the last few weeks, and tell a few stories, too. We have a few from Halloween-unfortunately the camera died so we don't have many of him dressed up. He was very excited about his "Punkin hat" and outfit, and was a huge fan of the Skittles that accompanied trick-or-treating. We went to our friends the Rippy's and enjoyed their very decorated and spooky neighborhood!















A favorite past-time continues to be running through puddles, as well as hunting mushrooms and then "Stompin'" them. I got him some galoshes to make both of these activities more fun and less messy. The first day he wore them he found a puddle big enough to beat the galoshes! He was soaked almost up to his waist...




















Graham continues to relish books and reading time. One of his favorites continues to be his story Bible. Some of his favorite characters include David and Goliath, Jonah, and King Saul (particularly when he throws the spear at David). The other day we were looking through it, and he was naming some of the characters. We came to the Nativity story and he exclaimed "Baby God!" as he pointed to Jesus in the manger. He evidently pieced this description together from what we've told him about Jesus being God's son and being born as a baby. So funny!




















One day last week I was working on my Bible study and Graham went into the other room to play. A while later I realized he had gotten awfully quiet... I went into the living room to find the entire area liberally sprinkled with basil that he had somehow gotten from the pantry and opened. At least it made the vacuum cleaner smell nice!
















Graham has a new baby cousin Carter (Jon's cousin's son) and he loves to give him kisses and gentle hugs. It has been a little hard for him to share the attention that he usually gets so much of, but he's adjusting well. He's just a little more grown-up every day.

Well I could probably think of stories to tell all night, but I will stop for now. We love each of you, thanks for continuing to check in, and for loving us and Graham so well! Kate

Graham Reading

Here's some footage Kate shot of Graham and I reading. We wanted to give you a sense of his real vocabulary, not just his extemporaneous blatherings.

Graham's Monologue

Graham has been making amazing strides in learning all kinds of words and phrases.

The following video demonstrates none of that. He was really enjoying just stretching his lungs out and speaking Grahamish, and we really enjoyed it, so hopefully you will too:

INEXCUSABLE!

So sorry for how long it's been since our last post, we've got lots of excuses, but none interesting enough to articulate here.

So with no further ado ON TO THE PICTURES!!

I'm starting school up at William and Mary this coming week, and we've come to like gallivanting about campus from time to time. Graham's favorite part is the cannon which sits outside the Wren Building.

























































We also recently got a bike seat which he loves to ride around in. At first he was a bit tentative, but now he grabs his helmet and yells, "Hat! Bike!" when he wants to go on a ride. Today we went on a long bike ride to the grocery store and back, and as soon as he got down he grabbed his helmet again and yelled, "Hat! Bike!" with a huge smile on his face.
















His vocabulary is expanding at an amazing rate, and everyday he picks up a couple more words which he'll throw into conversation every once in a while.

If you'd like to commune deeply with Graham's innermost spirit, please watch the following video on youtube and try to relish it as much as he does:

Fire Trucks!


We'll do our best to keep up more regularly on here.

Thanks for checking in.

Manni, Daddaddy and Emlaerley

Graham saw some of his favorite people this weekend and had an amazing time with them. One of the memories captured in photos is Graham being awoken from a nap by Granna, who he now calls "Manni" or "Manna":


































And I nearly forgot a wonderful one: Graham "sharing" a corn on the cob with Aunti Em:
















Thank you so much Brandons for spending the weekend with all of us.

I was just watching this video clip I'd recorded of Graham earlier in the day, one in which he is throwing a wet pair of his shorts (from an impromptu swimming adventure) at Kate and I and laughing and laughing when it hits us, and part way through his gales of joy I had to stop watching it.

The intensity of emotion that stuck me while thinking about what a wonder and magical delight this boy is, the sweetness of him, that toe to head tension of his little body when he is hugging me with all his might, overwhelmed me, and the thought of him feeling any pain, or not feeling loved, or feeling lonely--all these human things--was so painful. Too painful.

It's hard to be a parent, even this early, because of the fact that you can't always be quick with a band-aid, and realizing that someday when you snuggle him tight as his eyes brim with tears that love just won't fix it, whatever "it" will be.

It's hard to realize that from the second Graham was born, eyes open to the world, he was ebbing ever so slowly, but relentlessly, away from me. Into his own family, into his own life, out of the fullness of my arms someday, into this world so full of the chaos and confusion of being human...

To think that I will someday lose these days, this particular moment of Graham's life, is heart breaking.

But the amazing thing is that I find I somehow enjoy him even more the next day, and that delight is not a finite thing when it comes to loving my son; that I can somehow love this small man with even more of a full heart tomorrow, and the next day...

and the next.

Is this too high?

So Graham and I love to play a game where I throw him in the air and catch him. Often when I do it Kate gets very nervous, but I've never really understood why until I saw this picture that Debbie (more about her in a moment) took of us at the beach:




















Yikes! That does seem a bit too high!










Just kidding, that was photoshopped, but the real one is a bit alarming to me anyway:




















I'm reconsidering whether that height is necessary to provoke baby giggles. More experimentation seems in order...

Anyway, we've had a wonderful few days with one of Kate's very best friends, Debbie Head:















Graham really loved Debbie a lot, and one highlight was a trip to the beach, were Debbie took some pictures so I can prove I am actually Graham's dad and do spend a bit of time with him as well:












Anyway it was an awesome time with her and we miss her already, but we're so excited about seeing Grandaddy, Granna and Aunt Emily this weekend. Yipeee!!

a special message from Graham

1r555rtrtrt4544444ztxstttttttttcttttttttttt10141362t
j vjj aaaaaaaaaazzv v v vz hnbyggg[-03

love,

Graham

Phrases!

Hello Everyone!

Just wanted to do another update with some fun new details: Graham said his first 3-word phrase today! He has been putting two words together occasionally (his favorite "lights out" started maybe 2 weeks ago) but today he repeated "that's the ball" many times. Very funny! He's actually pretty good at the "th" sound, it sounds somewhere between a "d" and a "z". It is SO much fun to hear his vocabulary expanding, and to watch him realize that he can communicate.
This has, of course, brought its own challenges as well. Graham is now aware that he has an opinion, and that if talking about it doesn't work crying might be worth a try. He is already pretty responsive to reasoning, unless he's tired or hungry. In fact, today he made his first really obvious positive decision to behave; when asked whether he wanted to put on shoes and go outside, or else stay inside (this was after throwing a brief fit about having to put on shoes), he went over and chose the shoes! What a smart boy...
The above pictures are from a few days ago, we were filling up water balloons for our Ridley Soccer Team's cookout (we coached 7-9 yr olds, which Graham LOVED). We looked up from our balloons to find that Graham had taken the opportunity to make leaf soup, and then pour it over his head. He loves to be dirty!

Some writing at least!

Hello All!

Amazingly, time seems to be going by even faster lately, and somehow it's been forever since we've posted some new details about Graham's life. He continues to grow and change so rapidly, it's hard to know where to start. Sometimes I wish we could freeze these moments in time, because it is such fun, and he is still so innocent and sweet, I can't believe some day he won't want to hug me and kiss me in front of his friends. I guess that's all part of growing up!

We've had our dear friend Mike here with us again for the last little while which has been great. Graham really loves him and thinks he's so much fun to climb on and play with. He is so much more aware now of what's going on in conversations and situations, he loves to watch the guys work on their computers, and of course tries to push all of the buttons (Jon is learning the hard way to SAVE OFTEN).

Graham's vocabulary also continues to expand--I couldn't count how many words he says now, and can locate an almost endless number of things on the pages of his books when asked. He still loves to read, and will sit for many minutes to do so; this is pretty much the only time he will sit for many minutes. He has recently learned how to run, so will zigzag back and forth across the room, arm swinging, head down for the thrill of it. He also likes to "hide" behind his hands now and then peek out at us--I think the concept still eludes him that just because he can't see us doesn't mean we can't see him.

Graham continues to relish long hugs and wet kisses, and we are fortunate to get lots of those each day. Every time he falls down now or drops something, he says a rather matter of fact "Uh-Oh", if warranted adds an equally stoic "Ow", picks himself up, and runs along his merry way, sometimes leaving us gasping behind him. Although today he did have a short cry; he is learning to throw things, so decided while we were outside to throw a rock as straight into the air as he could. You guessed it, it came right back down onto his nose, Poor Graham! We gave him lots of comfort, but it was a little hard not to laugh, too!

There are many favorite foods now, although in general he eats just about anything. Watermelon, tomatoes, and grilled sausages have been some summer faves so far. He has a sweet tooth like his mother, but also eats veggies like a pro.

It's getting harder to catch him on camera because he is so interested in the apparatus he stops what he is doing. He absolutely loves to dance and will turn on music himself and try to get us to join in, so hopefully Jon will get enough on video soon to share some.

We miss our dear family, and have also really been pining for our home in Washington lately. It feels so far away and we wish we could get back for a visit. Know that we are thinking of you and miss you!

Quick One

So, sorry for the lack of updates, but we're working on a music video starring Graham and he's been reticent to put his dancing shoes on when Dad pulls the camera out.

We'll get it one of these days, but here's one from a couple days ago while you wait:

Puddles

Here's just a brief one from a few weeks ago when Graham found a puddle in our yard after a heavy rain. I went around the corner of the house to grab something and when I came back I found this scene:

Graham Puddles from Jonathan Shaw on Vimeo.

If you cant see a video above, click the word below:

PUDDLES

Luckily I had my camera with me....

Wedding!

It's been ages since we updated this blog, and we're sorry. So to make up for it we have a photo extravaganza! We've been taking pictures this whole time, so we'll try to keep you updated more frequently in the next few weeks.

The big news is that Graham went on a long car trip with Mom and Dad up to Kate's cousin's wedding in Connecticut last weekend.

He loved seeing his family again, especially his Granna...














and Grandad...




















and Aunt Emily:














As you can see in a couple of those pictures, he was wearing his first ever tux, courtesy of the Moore family!

It took a little doing to get it on on the way to the wedding:














and he gave us his best James Bond look when we put on his bowtie...




















Half on now...




















There we go! What a cutie! But what's this weird thing on my jacket??




















Now I'm looking good:



























Graham's big job was to carry the ring down the aisle. He was PERFECT in practice:














and there you go!














But he got a little overwhelmed when it came to the big show, and threw the pillow across the room and lost a shoe before he made it to Mom. It was still very cute though, and he loved the attention.

Afterward, he was a little overwhelmed and needed a good snuggle and nosepick:














He loved seeing his Mom with her cousins and sister:















And when things got boring, Grandad was always good for a ride around:
















At the reception he learned a new word, "Dance" or as he says it, "Dahntzzz". His favorite dance partner was a college friend, Kwadwo:















He also loved playing peek-a-boo with his great-Grandmother (thanks for the great pictures, Emily):













He is very eager to share his boo-boos with all who will listen. Listen, and then, of course, kiss it better. Here he gets solace from his Auntie Johanna:














When we had to leave everyone was sad, but it made us all feel better to stop and smell the roses.
















Thanks for everything, family!

Stacking Blocks Video

Now that Graham is officially 15 months old, he has a new absolute most favorite activity in the whole world:

STACKING BLOCKS

(click the words to watch a video)

Sometimes it takes multiple tries to see the video; sorry, we're not sure what the problem is, so we'll keep working on it from this end! Jon suggests if you click the link and nothing happens, try refreshing your browser a couple of times.

Shosho and the Whites!

Graham got to see his cousin Conner, and was initially a little dubious...




















But as is usually the case with our sweet boy the uncertainty quickly turned into affection:















And some more affection:
















And one last piece of affection (on the ear no less):














He also got to see his wonderful Shosho and loved being with her again. He had all his new books to show her:




















And made sure there was plenty of time for snuggles too...















They just left a few hours ago and we miss them already!