Yikes, where did the last week go? I received a gentle reminder from Ed's fan club that new pictures were needed. Luckily Mother Nature cooperated with a gorgeous 70-degree afternoon (quite a treat in an Iowa November) and Ed cooperated by taking an early nap leaving some daylight time when he woke up. So we headed over to our little neighborhood park. It was our first trip there since Ed started standing and cruising. I wasn't sure how he'd do on uneven surface (woodchips). It took him a little while to get comfortable but then he was on the move. He used up so much energy that I just put him to bed at 6:45--at least 30 minutes earlier than usual. (Hoping this doesn't bring an early wake-up call tomorrow, but we'll be heading to bed early ourselves tonight since we were up late watching election returns last night!)

These next two pictures illustrate Ed's ability to move from one object to the next. This is a very slow and careful process as he is still working out exactly how long his own reach is. He'll see an object to move to, reach for it, realize he's not close enough, bring both hands back to the original object and move a couple of steps before trying the whole process again. Once he reaches the new object with the lead hand, he stands for a bit considering the situation before deciding it's OK to let go of the original and trust the new object as his sole support.
After his dinner he was cruising around the living room and I finally decided I'd untangled his feet from his pants for the last time and just stripped him down to his t-shirt. It was warm enough, plus that provided exposure for a thigh photo shoot. This was the best look I got even though the top of his head is cut off. He would not sit still to display them in all their glory!

And finally, here's one from a few days ago that I held off on posting after I realized it showed him sitting pretty close to the sidewalk. I didn't want Ed's protectors to worry that he was in danger of hurting himself if he happened to tip over. Never fear...after I captured this shot, it occurred to me to move him further into the grass. He was only leaning forward in search of leaves, so no real danger of a back dive. I will never deny Edward's rotund figure, but this jacket really exaggerates the effect!