Several of Edward's biggest fans got to see him in person this weekend when he and I went to Evanston. But for the rest of the blogosphere, we apologize for the lag since the last post. It's been a busy time. Spring arrived while we were gone and by last night when John got home from work it was actually shorts weather. (Living in a college town you tend to get a skewed view of this since the college kids pull out the shorts and flip flops as soon as the mercury rises above freezing.) It was almost 80 yesterday and Sunday with breezes and sunshine. So refreshing to get outside. John got home early (still recovering from his weekend Ed withdrawal) so he and Ed went for a walk while I made an early dinner before my class. They made it about half way around the block, but since Edward needed to stop and explore every set of steps along the way it was slow going.

That's what he learned at Gram and PopPop's over the weekend--steps! He could go up pretty well, based on his experiences at the park and on the daycare playground. But he needed a little coaching on how to go down and he had the best available teachers plus a pretty rockin' staircase. His own house is woefully lacking in stairs, except for a few outside. He does have a ramp outside (remnant of the former owner of this house, a senior citizen; we thought we'd get rid of it when we bought this house five years ago, but we took one off and it was such an enormous pain that we decided we could live with the other one!) He likes to crawl up and down, but it makes us nervous because the sides are wide open. It's not high, but still, we'd rather not have him tumble, so we walk practically on top of him as he makes his way. John also noticed that there were some nails that needed a few extra whacks with a hammer to make them flush with the wood. So he took care of this while Ed and I explored other parts of the yard. Then Ed found the hammer when we came back and thought he'd help.

Note the outfit, complete with sandals (we don't think "mandals" is appropriate terminology for such tiny footwear, Joe.) The benefits of having a cousin nine months older who lives in Arizona!

Later, after a chili dinner that sent his pants straight to the washing machine, Ed was lounging in his t-shirt when he thought that a puzzle piece would make an excellent dessert. I believe there was also an NCAA tournament game on the TV that he found quite captivating.