mardi gras!

take a moment and just check this image out. really soak it in. this is GOLD.

so first things first: our child was the naked baby running around at thoth at magazine and bordeaux yesterday. (if you've never spent time in new orleans, especially around mardi gras, that's the name of the parade [thoth] and the intersection we stand near to watch it.)

we drove down to new orleans yesterday morning to spend time with grandpa and watch the parades. where we sit, there are three parades that roll back to back (okeanos-midcity-thoth) so it's a great seat for some family friendly parade-going. john loved the first two parades -- he loves all parades, really -- and wore his tigger costume proudly as he became accustomed to riding on grandpa's shoulders or mama's shoulders to run up to the floats and, in his words, "get cool stuff."

in the downtime between parades two and three, john was running around exuberantly and generally being cute. suddenly, he stopped dead in the middle of the street (don't worry -- it's blocked off and safe to run around) and tore his tigger costume off. like ... as if it were a breakaway costume. in one fell grasp he undid the two velcro tabs on the back and dropped it at his feet. 

clad only in his pull-up and sneakers, he continued running around like a mad man.

and suddenly, he was the hit of the crowd. strangers were taking pictures of him. everyone was laughing and grinning. he's a clown, that naked child of ours.

so keep a look out - if video of a naked baby at mardi gras goes viral anytime soon, it may well be john.

***

some other (more clothed) mardi gras weekend highlights:

southdowns parade in baton rouge

every year we go to my aunt's house for loading up the float for spanish town the next day, then head to my good friend B's house for the southdowns parade. she lives right on the route, so we party at her house for a bit then head outside for parade fun. john LOVES this parade - it's pretty lowkey, not too crowded, plus his uncle-brother ben and lovely wife mallory ride in this parade and drown him in goodies every year.

snuggling with daddy as we wait for
the parade to arrive

"throw me something, mister!"

spanish town parade in baton rouge

saturday of mardi gras weekend is marked by my husband and i riding in the spanish town parade, which is a lovely debaucherous day of beer, semi-nudity (ok, just scanty costumes, but still) and throwing beads to the throngs. it's the one time of the year when, if a strange man asks to take a picture of a group of you and your girlfriends posing together scantily clad, you say "sure" and make sure you're properly displayed -- and don't even ask for payment. and this year marked the first "good weather" parade we've had in years, so the crowd was huge and energetic and it was awesome.

i'll find a pic or three later, hopefully.

epilogue: our kid is so much fun

it was a full and exhausting weekend of hanging with family and friends, enjoying the revelry, and cutting loose. and one of the most fun parts, for me at least, is enjoying experiences like this with john. hearing him tell my husband and i that that purple camel he caught is named "camelly" (which is pronounced cama-wee), or that the fleurs de lis beads he got are "really awesome," it just strikes me that we are so blessed to have a cool kid to share all this with. and whether he's naked in the streets or hiding in a suitcase (see below), he's always a heck of a lot of fun.