Here is Edward in his pre-bed playtime. He has another pajama layer that goes over this one (a cozy footie fleece) but the feet are not no-skid so he doesn't put it on until right before bed. Otherwise, the kitchen floor is hazardous! He now moves everywhere in the blink of an eye. I've noticed lately that he actually follows us when we leave the room. For instance yesterday morning I carried him to the living room and stood him next to his saucer. Then I returned to the kitchen to get my bowl of cereal so I could eat it and keep an eye on him at the same time. In the five seconds it took me to do this, he had gotten down to the floor and started army crawling toward the kitchen doorway. So today I kept him in the kitchen while I ate, and he pushed his walker all over the floor. This does not always entail standing behind it and allowing the wheels to propel it forward. He doesn't know how to turn around when he runs into an solid object (stove, cabinet, table, etc.) so he just walks around to the side and starts pushing the walker sideways in the direction he wants to go. This is more effective on the kitchen linoleum than the living room carpet.

This week Edward is also working on putting himself to sleep. That's not as independent as it sounds. I just mean that he's really too active to put up with being rocked to sleep, even when he's clearly tired and ready for a nap. So I've been putting him in the crib awake and then listening for when the chatter stops as the signal that he's finally fallen asleep. Sometimes the telltale sound of the pacifier being thrown over the side (or through the rails) signals that I will soon have to go in to retrieve and replace it in its rightful mouth. I wish I could see through the wall to see how he entertains himself in the minutes before he succumbs to sleep.

After a few weeks of picky eating, Edward jumped right back into full vacuum mode last night, devouring a jar of baby food (veggies) and then scooping up piece after piece of the pear I was dicing until he'd eaten the whole pear. Then he proceeded to eat bunny crackers until we finally cut him off after we'd finished our own spaghetti dinner. At daycare they said he loved the spaghetti lunch, which is a bit perplexing since we've tried to give him pasta in many different forms and he's always spit it out. But maybe his palate is maturing (ha!)