It took quite an effort, but we finally captured Edward sitting still long enough for his traditional couch corner birthday shot today. As noted last month, it's very difficult to keep him in one place long enough for a photo, much less a photo where he has his eyes open and is looking at least sort of in the direction of the camera.

For your amusement, here are some of the bloopers of the last few days:
Now that he has his walking toy (see video below) he's really impatient with the sedentary lifestyle. At the same time that he's mastered this new skill, he's also figured out that he can pull himself to standing on objects other than his parents. He's been able to use our legs (or bodies if we're laying down at his level) to pull up for some time now, but this afternoon I watched him use the exersaucer to pull up for the first time and his teacher at daycare said he also pulled up on the table there for the first time this morning. It's amazing to see him coordinate all the necessary movements--things he's done separately before--and achieve something that in his world is monumental. Then he just does it over and over until he collapses into an exhausted, crying heap and I haul him off for a nap.

Here also are some shots of Ed's first Thanksgiving, which we were lucky enough to celebrate with a majority of my family at my parents' house in Evanston (only the Arizona contingent was missing.) If ever there was a year for them to risk a northward venture for the holiday (and there likely never will be!) this would have been it, as we had a balmy weekend with daytime temps in the 60s. What a treat. It was nice to be able to enjoy the daytime because our nights were a bit challenging.

Edward developed a low-grade fever on Wednesday and it continued through Thursday and early Friday. I noticed it first when I picked him up from daycare on Wednesday and decided I'd better call the doctor to see if he needed to come in. I couldn't remember what the threshold was for worrying about fever. His was only 100.5, which they said normally they wouldn't worry about. But given his history of ear infections and the fact that they would be closed through the long weekend, they said to come in just to be safe. His ears were fine and he had none of the other symptoms of the various bugs that are "going around" so they said just to watch it and let him ride it out. Fever, after all, is the body's natural defense against intruders. The doctor did say that we might want to reconsider travel plans, though she agreed that driving probably wouldn't be as bad as flying with a mildly sick child. We decided to go ahead; we'd been looking forward to this for too long to abandon the plan.

Well, no one was sorry we went, but Wednesday and Thursday nights were rough enough that we cut the visit short and came home Friday after dinner. Ed normally wakes up only once in the night, nurses and goes right back to sleep in his crib. The two nights away he woke up two or three times, screaming, refusing pacifier and food, and then even when we finally managed to rock him back to calm, refused to sleep in the crib. Both nights we brought him to our bed in the early morning hours, which is really not restful for anyone, but an act of desperation. Even if we're not really sleeping well, at least we're laying down and he's not screaming.

We had a great time during the days though with my mom's delicious traditional turkey and trimmings on Thursday and then a big pizza party with my aunts, uncles and cousins on Friday. Friday afternoon John and I even snuck out to see a movie (our first in the theater since March!) leaving Ed in PopPop's expert care. I had thought that our Thanksgiving meal would be smack in the middle of Ed's afternoon nap, but given his weird nighttime patterns, his day sleeping was a little different too, so he joined us in the highchair. He tried the turkey and some broccoli, but I think mostly ate his favorite puffs and pushed the rest around. A few bites might have made it from tray to mouth to tummy though. (The festive bib was a "too cute to resist" gift from Aunt Diana.)

Friday night when we got back, Ed was still in his non-sleeping mode so that was another rough night, but Saturday was so gorgeous we couldn't resist the opportunity for a long walk and some park visits. Then later, of course, naps! Saturday night was a little better and then last night he was back to normal. So he must be over whatever was bugging him and feeling nice and comfy back in his own bed. So are we, and glad to have it to ourselves!