Here's Edward surveying the scene this weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's in Des Moines. John's extended family gathered New Year's Eve during the day for holiday festivities. We had a good time through the afternoon, but were cursing the weather forecasters who had inaccurately predicted the timing, track and temperature of a weather system for the day. It made for a treacherous trip home for John's aunt, uncle and cousins, but they all eventually got home safely so we're thankful for that.

Edward likes the toys at Grandma and Grandpa's house and thought John might also enjoy the full sensory experience, including taste. Ed now enjoys offering toys, books and other objects for someone to take and hold until he asks for it back. It's a never-ending cycle. He also started a new vocal experiment that sounds kind of like a siren, but is not used in conjunction with any toy emergency vehicle. I think he just likes hearing the different tones up and down the vocal register.

Today was Ed's 12-month check-up where he weighed in at just under 22 pounds and measured 29 1/4 inches long with 18 3/4 inches in head circumference. The height and weight are proportional in about the 30th percentile, but the head is a bulbous 77th percentile! Lots of room for that expanding brain. Actually, John notes that maybe he's not really as bald as people think, it's just that he has so much surface area to cover it looks sparse. Hmmm...let's think about that for a bit.

The print-out they give us to take home (so we can remember all these vital stats) includes all his official measurements since birth so we can see that we also spent time last Jan. 3 in the doctor's office, when he was a tiny 5 1/2 pounds at nine days old. My sister points out that he has quadrupled his weight this year! He's also grown 10 inches in length. Just for the record, his nine-day-old head was only in the 6th percentile.

One amusing thing about the doctor visit--Ed picked that moment to demonstrate his crawling skills. That's actual hands-and-knees crawling, not the commando/army-style he's mastered at home. We actually have never seen him go more than two or three "steps" (?) on his hands and knees, but he got down on the floor while we were talking to the doctor and was motoring around. It was almost like he had an internal monologue going, "OK, time for that 'crawling' think they've been pestering me about. I don't know what's so great about it, but for some reason it's important for these big people to see it. Whatever..." Then he did it again while we were waiting for the nurse to come back with his shots (yes, three more today.) The room was getting stuffy so I opened the door and let him go out into the hall where he proceeded directly toward the receptionist/schedulers' desks. They were quite amused with his antics. What a flirt he is!

A final observation--with the doctor's light shining in his mouth, we could see how close the two upper front teeth are to emerging. The gums are puffy and he's practically drowning in drool. Any day now...