I've fallen behind again in my blogging, but lucky for me I have lots of encouragement to keep going. No excuses this week as our illnesses seem to have passed and we're none the worse for wear. Edward is back to normal eating and sleeping for the most part (though he did have a 3:30 a.m. wake-up call for John the other night and then refused to be put back in bed. Thankfully, these are relatively rare.) Here's an example of some "normal" eating. The other night he ate half a "squished ham & cheese sandwich," a whole clementine orange and eight grapes for dinner, with about three or four ounces of milk. For the uninitiated, "squished ham & cheese" is one slice of bread, one slice of ham and one slice of American cheese. You fold the bread in half over the ham and cheese and the press down to "squish" it all together so the component parts can not be picked apart by curious fingers. Then small pieces are broken off and left for said fingers to find on the tray and deposit in the mouth. This might not sound like a lot of food, but here's some perspective: without revealing too much, let's just say that I am roughly six times Edward's weight, and I am not accustomed to eating that meal times six--that is, three ham & cheese sandwiches (squished or not), six clementines and 42 grapes! He doesn't always eat like that, which makes meal preparation quite tricky. Some days he drains the bowl and demands more, and he doesn't take kindly to having to wait for the next portion. Other days he just kind of plays with what's offered and subsists primarily on Cheerios, which he now likes to serve himself by the fistful from the bowl.

Another new trick is crawling under things--anything will do, tables, chairs, even the walker, which is not terribly satisfying given that your head is all the way through before your butt even enters the tunnel. Needless to say, this is not a favorite parental activity as it means lots of chasing and redirecting, since there are generally cords or other dangerous items accessible from under the tables. Also, chairs have been, up to now, useful in blocking access to things like bookshelves, not all of which have been Ed-proofed. But sometimes he just likes to tunnel and doesn't get into trouble. Then it's kind of funny to see the effort it takes to crawl through the chair legs and maneuver from crawling to sitting position under the table, looking out with a satisfied mug.

Above you see him looking out the bedroom window. This is in the 1920s era section of our house, where the long double-hung windows are low enough to the ground that he can pull himself right up on the sill and check out what's happening in the yard. This provides minutes of enjoyment. Then he realizes he's in our bedroom where there are SO many things to explore and destroy. The door to this room is most often closed so whenever he can he likes to see what is behind it.

We may get out to the yard for real pretty soon. Temperatures in the 40s this week are quickly melting the snow. Of course that means lots of puddles so I'm not too sure how outdoor play will work. First we have to get Ed up from his afternoon nap and fed his afternoon snack with enough daylight time left to accomplish an outdoor adventure. He's been taking substantial naps these days, clearly exhausted from all the effort he's putting into walking. Yes, walking. He's not fully independent yet, but he's definitely advanced beyond the "step-step-flop" phase. He'll now arrive at his destination upright, turn around and walk back. He still has balance issues though so he needs a soft surface to land on. You'll notice that the video ends abruptly, which was due to my needing to catch him as he fell tooth first into my knee. This was unpleasant for both of us, but only drew blood on one (he cut his lip.) No worries though--a little TLC and a few minutes of pacifier sucking and he was on the go again.