Real men wear pink panties.

Daycare ran out of Marco's diapers. The first day he came home in Brooke's size 5s. I thought it was a mistake. But the second day when he came home in pink princess pull-ups, I knew we had a problem. Ha! He showed his disdain in a way inappropriate for blog readers.

Christmas Hangover

Family visits
Road trips
Christmas meals
Christmas treats
Christmas songs
Presents
Presents
Presents

May I present the Christmas hangover?

Yo love.

So Marco is 11 months. Uh, can this be possible? Due diligence...

Walking. I can't believe what a difference a few weeks make. When he goes to move, even if it's to conquer a distance of a foot, he stands up to walk there. Inevitably he falls and he crawls from there. It's pretty impressive to me, but of course, I'm the proud Nuhna. Daycare has requested that we bring him in shoes. Sock trips no more!

Eating. His insatiable appetite has slown down to the range of normal. Phewf. I've been retiring lots of clothes lately after seeing him wear them in public. Oops - too short! Oops - too tight! And, he's very interested in feeding himself. I said interested, not talented. Here he is whining to feed himself risotto.

Talking. He's been a fan of incessant chatter for many, many months now. Nature or nuture? :) You decide. But just recently, we're recognizing words in there! Daycare says he's very interested when Brooke does her flash cards in the morning and has started repeating her. So far, they say he's picked up one Spanish word from Brooke. Eight. Or "Och" as Marco calls it. Not gonna to get him far in Mexico, but I hear it IS Brooke's favorite Spanish number.

Cooks. He cooks! And by that, I mean that he's learned how to open the cabinets and more recently, drawers, in the kitchen. Tin pie plate, tupperware, pots and pans. The kitchen becomes a WRECK, but hey, solo entertainment comes at a price.
Charm. As if this needs an explanation, but here goes. At a restaurant, he loves to crane his neck to the next table to see if anyone is interested in flirting. Everyone is always so surprised that he'll keep hats on and honestly, I think it's because people give him so much attention when they're on. He's honestly just a happy baby. We're so lucky!

The Nectar of the Gods.

Candy canes.

To my credit, I didn't actually think he could get the plastic off. Not totally sure what I was thinking. His six giant adult-sized man teeth made quick work of it. And still I was a little in denial - not quite sure why he was squealing and dancing.

World's Strongest Man

It's hard to believe we ever posted a video of him rolling over. Sorry about the picture quality.

Shhhh... Marco speaks!

Marco's words:

Dada
Uh-oh
Cat
Cup
Nuhna [to read: mama] That's right folks. As they say, don't call me late for dinner.
Duck - referring to any yellow rubber duck outside the tub and anything floating inside the tub.

Me about a toy boat inside the tub: "Boat"
Marco: "Duht!"
Me: "Boat"
Marco: "Duht!"
Me: "Boat"
Marco: hahahahaha

Deck the halls.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. It's a wonderful life. Joy to the world. Fah-ra-ra-ra-ra... I'm out of Christmas cliches.
Marco and Daddy got the tree!Santa came to SI!Bonus points if you can find.... the Cecchin cousins, the Stechers and baby Goose's cousin. It was an SI rager.

Hohoholiday happy hour

Neighbor Brad made this fabu video for us - love it!!

You should see the other guy.

Learning to walk is a dangerous game. Marco's latest injuries include a giant bump on the side of his head courtesy of a stair fall (upper right in pic) and a red scratch, scab and bump on his forehead which I think is from a street fight. I don't know when the street fight happened, but we do love Rocky IV around here.

Ho ho hurry up and get festive.

Since we just finished the last bit of our turkey (soup), Marco was a bit confused about having his first Kroeck Christmas party already, but he rolled with it. I think it's like the 50th annual and the party was a rager as usual. The party was at my cousin's house in Morgan Hill. The house is is basically like Disneyland, except instead of mice there are chickens. Chickens, swings, toys, and cousins as far as the eye can see.

Soooo many blond cousins that I honestly think we should consider tattooing their names on them. At the very least for the twins. No? Personalized t-shirts?

I was in charge of salad for 50. This is the bowl. Ha! Don't worry, this was after the party, after the salad.

Little cousin Maggie is only two days younger than Marco! But being the youngest of four, she totally beat him up.

Gr-Grandma is always picking up friends at these things.

Uh, is there a weight limit on this thing?

The season is officially kicked off!

I'm thankful for...

This year, I'm thankful for other people's cameras. I had to lift all these pics - so thanks folks!

We celebrated (and celebrated and celebrated) at home, in Gilroy for Grandma Eda's funeral and rounded out the long weekend in Sacramento to meet the great nephew.

Here's the proof (as told by others):

Walking with G-Gma/Granny/Gr-Grandma (still working out the kinks). Who's holding up who here?Marco was a cranky one at Thanksgiving. I was very excited to feed him all our food and he was, er, less excited. Luckily, G-pa Art speaks "Marco" and got him the drumstick. He was TRYING to tell us that he's a dark meat man.G-pa Art holds court.
Yes, I'm a great aunt. Not just an adjective... Note Nick Jr's little hair shave. Marco's eyeing NJ like a drumstick.

Who do ya look like?

I think it's clear. Handsome fella.

Vrooom, hey handsome.

Since I'm not a hair stylist, it seemed like it was time to send Marco to the professionals... Cool Tops for Tots in Rockridge.

Although it was a lightning speed $15, Marco smiled the whole time. He even giggled once. The hairdresser said, "Wow. I've never seen someone so happy to have a haircut."

Apparently she's never met a vain baby. He LOVED looking at himself in the mirror sitting in the yellow race car. If it was a real car, he would've driven it closer to the mirror to give that handsome devil a smooch. We left with a lock of his hair, a hot new look and a penchant for flashy sports cars. Beep beep.