Here you see Edward today demonstrating his rediscovered walking skills that have kept him very busy and made him very tired. We had a cold snap over the weekend that sent us in search of indoor play, which included two trips to the mall. On Friday he was in danger of being run over as he crawled around at the Children's Museum (unfortunately located at the mall), but by Sunday he'd found his sea legs again and toddled all around the mall's soft toy play area. Then after he'd had enough of the toys he climbed up the two steps to get out into the open mall walkway and just started walking along like it was no big deal. I kept him corralled toward the side so he wouldn't slow down the actual customers. I hate the mall, especially when I'm trying to get in, get my shopping done and get out and I get stuck behind some slow walker, or worse, three or four slow walkers abreast that you can't get around! I did not want to cause such stress in others, but anything to keep him entertained this weekend was worth the effort.

You might think from the short sleeves in the picture above and in the previous post from last week that spring has fully arrived here in Iowa. You would be wrong. These were his daycare spare clothes left there last week when it was warm and sunny. This morning as we were leaving the house we were pelted by snow flurries. We're not supposed to see 50 again until next week. Then again, some might consider that the definition of an Iowa spring. Oh well. We'll just appreciate the real thing even more when it finally gets here. Meanwhile the daffodils are shivering and the tulip leaves have shrivelled.

The Children's Museum has great potential, but we'll try to go at a less crowded time in the future. This was our first visit after friends had said their kids of similar age enjoyed it. It was "Free Family Night" with lots of family activities at the mall, including free admission to the museum so it was very crowded. Luckily we discovered a little play kitchen kind of tucked in a corner and hid there for a little while. Edward really liked the farm room--maybe I'll have a helper for my garden this year? It was a cute set up, with little holes that the kids could "plant" the plastic vegetables in. Edward was more interested in dumping the vegetables out of the wheelbarrow.

It's funny how Edward started walking a few weeks ago and then gave it up and went back to crawling. It was like he didn't trust himself on two legs. I wonder if he'll always be that cautious-ha! But ever since Sunday he's been walking all over, and even turning around midstream or bending over to pick things up. John also has him working on kicking the ball (which continues his pattern of "lefty" behavior--he uses the left foot.) I am amused by this since John's not a big soccer fan. But anything that keeps Edward active also makes him tired. He's been sleeping like...well...a baby lately!

We're working on getting some video of Edward's latest verbal skills. It's all still gibberish, but he's so emphatic about it, we just know he's trying to tell us something. Stay tuned...