Eat your heart out, Nora. I received some negative feedback about last week's one-photo blog post. So I got right to work the next day taking pictures to ensure I'd have an assortment this week. These demonstrate some of his latest skills and, in one case, what passes for entertainment amid the sweltering summer heat.

In addition to knocking down towers, Edward now likes to participate in their creation. He hasn't quite mastered the art of scale, however, as you can see him trying to stack one of the largest blocks above one of the smallest. Today he put his sippy cup on the block and then tried to put other blocks on top of that. Live and learn, Edward.

He also loves music, and seems to be interested in creating as well as listening. For the last two weeks the "theme table" at the front entry to the daycare has held an assortment of rhythm instruments and it is a struggle each day to get him to move past the front door back to his classroom. There's a wood block, some bells on sticks and a shaker, among other things. He also walks up to the stereo case in the living room and starts bopping back and forth until we turn on one of his CDs. Then he moves from one side to the other listening to each speaker in turn. And, as you can see, he has tried John's guitar, with careful supervision. I think he thinks the sounds are cool, but what he really likes is dropping the pic in the hole. They mostly play with their fingers.

Edward is also a skillful climber and has learned to hoist himself into his high chair unassisted, as long as the tray is not attached. Luckily, he doesn't attempt to climb down alone...yet. He also likes to stand on the back legs and reach up to pull the straps through. He thinks it's hilarious when John is on the other side pulling them back. This occupies a great deal of the "dinner's not quite ready" time.

I am quite certain we are not alone as parents in exploiting our child for our own amusement. While playing outside the other night after dinner, Edward decided to take his hat off, which was fine since the sun was on its way down. (He still has too much exposed scalp to risk going hatless during the day!) John noticed how sweaty he was (no surprise given the humidity levels this last week) and decided to create a new hairdo. We'll probably pay for this some day in the future: "What do you mean I can't dye my hair blue--YOU once gave me a mohawk!" But for now, it was innocent fun.

It seems like Edward is learning a new word or words every day. He now says "bye" when waving and blowing kisses. He also caught on to "ring around the rosie"--especially the "all fall down" part. But he also says something approaching "ashes ashes" when looking for that page in his nursery rhyme book. He also said it when he heard John update the grill progress tonight: "The coals are starting to ash over so we're almost ready for the meat."

Finally tonight, here's a game that John and Ed created that they both seem to enjoy. It is perhaps an homage to PopPop's famous "stair ball." Given that we don't have stairs, this was the best they could do.