Daniel is getting more bold with his walking now and has the bruises and scrapes to prove it. When I picked him up from daycare today he had an "incident report," which is just an official documentation of any injury that happens during the day. He's bumped his head crawling over his teacher. I didn't even notice the bruise because it is just one of many. They said he hardly even cried. I guess when you fall that many times per day you get tough quickly. Here he is on Sunday morning fending off Edward's destablizing efforts and walking across the room to me:



We had a busy weekend with a trip to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa in Chariton. Daniel slept through both legs of the trip despite Edward's running commentary through the outbound trip (more than two hours!) So much to see--cows, horses, sheep, trucks, even a little snow in the fields, though luckily none on the road. We are glad not to be traveling any further than across town for our Thanksgiving. Even though we'd love to see friends and family, there simply is no easy way to take a road trip with two small children.

Lately the way to get Edward to do things he thinks he doesn't want to do is to challenge him to be "the first." Refusing to get in the car? Let's see who can get his buckles on first, Daniel or Edward. "Edward," he screams and races to his seat. Not interested in taking a nap despite barely being able to stay awake on the drive home from school? Let's see who can get upstairs first, Daniel or Edward. "Edward," he calls as he bounds upstairs and into his bed. Manipulative? Yes. Fostering unhealthy sibling competition? Perhaps. But it gets the job done with at least one-third fewer tears and fights, which has to be good for something.