We had a busy weekend with a trip to Evanston to see Gram and PopPop for the first time since Christmas. Now, it used to be fairly routine for six weeks or more to pass between in-person visits, but somehow that's all changed in the last year. Kidding aside, it was great to see them and my brothers, who were also home for the coldest weekend of the winter. Temperatures struggled to stay above zero and lost the battle once the sun went down. But it was well worth it to see the look on my uncle's face when we, along with 100 of his closest friends and family members, shouted "Surprise" at his retirement/60th birthday party on Saturday night. No one is more deserving of celebration!

Believe it or not, we were more than an hour into the eastward drive on Friday night, with Edward sound asleep in the carseat when I thought, "Hey, we didn't pack the camera!" That's right...a whole weekend with no Ed photos. Well, one or two might have been snapped with PopPop's camera and the various cell phones. In fact, I know P.J. took a phone photo and sent it to Bridget so she could see Ed sporting the cool birthday present she got him, which prompted her to send me a text message, which provided me the opportunity to send my FIRST text message. I believe I acquitted myself quite well, though I didn't know how to backspace/delete, so there may have been a typo or two.

In any event, I realized during playtime yesterday afternoon that I'd better capture a few blog-worthy shots. And now I have the opportunity to post them, since we are home from work/daycare on Edward's first sick day of the winter. He had a few last summer with ear infections and such, but he's been amazingly healthy through the cold and germy months. He was coughing over the weekend and a little less active than usual (which didn't bother Gram since it meant he took TWO naps while she cuddled him.) But he was OK Monday and Tuesday mornings so we went about our usual routine. This morning however, he didn't want to eat or drink much and when I sat him to play while I ate breakfast and John showered, he just kind of whined and moaned until I picked him up. When he laid his head on my shoulder I knew we were in for the day. He doesn't have a fever though so I think he'll be able to rally soon. As recently as yesterday afternoon he was playful enough for one of his favorite games--peekaboo with the living room curtains. It's pretty cute to watch and I don't think he can pull hard enough to do any damage other than wrinkling the curtains. If that's the worst decorating blunder in my living room, I'm doing pretty well.
He's napping now. We'll see what else the day might bring.

Despite my wife taking a cheap shot at my lack of rhythm (which is really just an excuse to not have to dance in public... ever), I decided to share Edward's dance moves with the world. He already looks better than me.

We had a busy weekend indoors as the temperatures hovered in the single digits. John and Ed did get out Saturday morning to the library where they have an all-ages story time on Saturdays. (There are age-specific story times during the week, including a "book babies" session for kids Ed's age and younger, but they're all in the morning when I'm at work.) Turned out that this week's story time was in Spanish. Might be fun when he's older, but since he hardly pays attention in English it wasn't in the cards. Still, they have a couple of low-table toy areas for the kids so they had some fun, and, more importantly, stayed out for an hour so I could finish my homework! I've started taking courses toward an MBA. It's an evening program designed for working professionals, so theoretically we should be able to make it work with an Ed hand off when John gets home as I go out. Classes are only one night per week and you can go at your own pace, which for me is ONE class per semester!

Anyway, on to what you really want to read about. What's new with Ed? Well, I thought maybe since it has been a month since Christmas and his birthday that he might be ready for a few new toys to change things up a bit. Many of his gifts went behind closed doors to wait for winter boredom. So we got out a couple of trucks and a set of blocks that have vehicles inside them, some of which rattle when shaken--always a bonus. These were of some interest, but in the end, he spent the most time playing with our discarded milk jugs awaiting recycling and a shoebox full of the lids from baby food jars. What a simple child. Thank the wisdom of Mom for the jar lids idea. I'd saved a bunch of the jars with lids thinking that there must be some use for them. There may be, but I never discovered it and I really don't think there's an inner Martha Stewart waiting to inspire me, so I was preparing to recycle them and mentioned this to my mom who said, "Ditch the jars, but save the lids!" Who knew? (Well, Mom, obviously.) He LOVES them. They make lots of noise when rattled in the box or banged together and they provide endless minutes of taking out and putting back in the box.

We also watched as he "learned to dance"--pushing the button on one of his toys that turns on the music and then bouncing in place, decidedly NOT with the rhythm. Like father like son. There may be video of this soon, but it's kind of hard to capture. Stay tuned.

Also, I think we forgot to mention in the last post that Ed's top two front teeth have come through. They'd been on the verge for several weeks, but John declared that he felt the sharp edge a week ago Wednesday (Jan. 17--note to self in case I ever managed to update the baby book!) We thought that would maybe put a stopper in the drool source for a bit, but as you can see from the bib, things are as soggy as ever. This photo was taken before 8 a.m. on Sunday!

Oh my goodness. I can't believe the blog police let us slip a whole week by with no new material! Here are a few to make up for lost time. More snow this weekend and again, Edward was flummoxed by this contraption we call a snowsuit. He refused to do anything but sit, though he didn't seem to mind being out and looking around at the white, white world. We held up snow for him to touch and even gave him a snowball, but no interaction. Maybe once he can walk on his own he'll be more inclined to explore the many wonders of winter.

This is one of Edward's "play stations" in the living room. It's the end table between our couch and chair and it's the perfect height for standing with a puzzle. It also happens to have a box underneath it with just enough room between the underside of the table and the top of the box to make a perfect shelf for hiding the puzzle pieces. There is endless entertainment in moving the pieces between the table top and the box top and with the occasional stop in between to retrieve pieces that have fallen to the floor. We're working on "Cow says, 'Mooo!'" but so far it's just Mom and Dad moo'ing like idiots for his amusement.

For more indoor entertainment, Edward is loving his wagon full of blocks and is even starting to manipulate the pieces into towers. It's still way more fun to destroy towers than to create them so he doesn't get very high before they come tumbling down. Still, he concentrates on fitting the pieces together and making them stand on the wagon handle, which doubles as a building base.

Mealtime is still a challenge. Whatever we offer at first he examines and then throws on the floor--even foods we know he likes and that he eventually will eat, like tonight's pasta, which he clearly enjoyed. He likes to go for the full sensory experience of eating--why stop at taste and smell?

Overnight and this morning we had the first measurable snow of the year in Iowa City. We didn't get much--maybe two inches or so, enough to cover the grass. It wasn't snowing when we left for daycare, but it was when I picked Edward up. He was amused by this new phenomenon, looking up and then looking at me and laughing. Perhaps he was laughing at my hooded jacket though. He thinks it's funny to cover one's head and then remove the cover. Anyway, after the afternoon nap I got him all suited up for his first snowy adventure. He was interested but not excited. He did not want to walk at all, even with me holding his arms. I wonder if he thought that having snow on his shoes would prevent movement. Or maybe it was just the classic "I can't put my arms down" bundle job in his snowsuit. Anyway, he kept sitting down but he did lean over and brush the snow around with his mitten--until it fell off. Once I figured out I wasn't going to be able to keep his hands covered we came back in. Total outdoor time: maybe six minutes! It's much cozier to sit inside with dad watching football (as seen here on Sunday afternoon--a very brief check-in on the day's games.) We just loved Edward's arm draped over John.

Another winter day activity: check out what's for dinner. DO NOT BE ALARMED. This is a brand new oven and very well insulated. It is hardly even warm to the touch when it's on. We checked and re-checked the whole time Edward was watching this turkey breast cook. Unfortunately, he was more interested in the cooking than the eating tonight. He has been offered a number of new foods recently, some with greater success than others. For example, in the dairy family, yogurt has been a hit--several different flavors, though he doesn't like the big fruit pieces, spits them out actually. But cottage cheese was roundly rejected. My sister says it's cruel to even have such a vile substance in the house and that as a person who chooses food based on texture, I should be more sympathetic. In an attempt to sneak in some veggies I made a chicken/zucchini casserole last week that John and I agreed was delicious, but Edward did not concur. We got a few bites in by putting a Gerber puff on the end of the spoon but he figured that out quickly and started picking up the puff and pushing away the spoon. We attempted to serve spaghetti-o's for lunch on Saturday and he turned his face away before the spoon even crossed the tray. This is the same kid who Sunday at lunch devoured a bowl of penne with marinara (Geraghty family favorite recipe--prepared in quantities that lead John to refer to the freezer as a "blood bank.") Is it possible to be a food snob at the tender age of 1? He did enjoy cornbread the other night, but wouldn't touch the red beans and rice I served with it. We used the same "cake ball" method with the crumbly cornbread as with his birthday cake last month. I wonder what else he'd eat if it were squished up into a bite sized lump? Peanut butter also seems to be acceptable to the Edward palate--a thin layer of creamy Skippy spread on a slice of bread and then broken into bite sized pieces. However, this is one of his messiest new foods since he likes to play with the pieces of bread before consuming them. Definitely not sorry for the bald head when it comes time for the wipe down after that meal!

And speaking of meals and their lingering effects, notice the chins in this picture of Ed with "Monkey." This is a favorite toy at the moment, and yes, we are aware that it's not technically a monkey (chimp maybe?), but he doesn't know the difference and we don't care. He just knows that Monkey is very absorbent and doesn't mind a friend who shows affection by chewing on its face. He also can give Monkey a hug if prompted, but that's not usually his first instinct.

Each day Edward seems to encroach a little further into previously inaccessible territory. Over the weekend he learned how to raise himself up to tippy-toes to reach the whole top of our living room bookcase, which had previously served as a depository for keys, change, mail, books and other assorted daily detritus. No more. It's is now empty and of course, no longer of interest to exploring hands. Also, as he gains confidence in his own mobility, Edward is starting to walk along walls and other places where he only has the ability to balance, rather than grab hold. This includes kitchen cabinets, so the safety latches had to be installed. He was pretty disappointed to wake up from his nap the other day to discover he no longer had access.

And now I swallow any sense of pride I ever hoped to cling to by posting this video. Let me just say in my own defense that it's a cold, rainy, miserable day and I opted not to change out of my sweats after an afternoon treadmill walk. At first I swore this would not be blog worthy--way too embarrassing--but in service of Edward's fan base, I sacrifice my own vanity to bring you the following.



The last segment was just before his pre-bed meltdown, which somewhat accounts for the hysteria. But here's what was happening: Ed and John frequently play "hide and seek" from opposite sides of our living room chair. John pretends he's still looking for Ed behind the chair even after Ed has come around to the front. He giggles or grabs John's leg to get his attention. Tonight, John faked him out by pulling down the cushion, exposing a previous hiding spot. Edward was highly entertained by this turn of events.

Edward got some new shoes last week and has been getting used to wearing them. We had him wear them quite a bit over the weekend--even though we were just home where socks (or, to be perfectly honest, bare feet) usually rule the day. We thought that would help him be ready to wear them all morning at daycare. He needed something sturdier to wear there, especially since they will be playing outside, though my earlier suspicions were confirmed as it seems they have a fairly liberal interpretation of what constitutes "too cold" for outdoor play. He hasn't been on their playground yet, but given this wacky warm winter, it won't be long. The first two weeks in the toddler room he was still taking a morning nap each day and that usually coincided with their outside time so he missed the opportunity. This week he's starting to skip that nap and just crash as soon as we get home. So once the weather gods cooperate, he should get some good outdoor activity each morning.

It's hard to think of him as a "big kid" in the toddler room when he still wears a bib most of the time these days. The drool has been out of control. He easily soaks through one of these before noon. When will those teeth pop through already!?

Also over the weekend, Ed enjoyed sharing the Sunday paper with us. His reading habits are fairly violent and rather soggy though, so he got the parts we were done with. John was especially excited to share this Best Buy circular with him, but Ed proved to be a rather undiscerning shopper. The CDs and iPods garnered the same level of interest as the washers and driers--rip, scrunch and chew.

And the biggest weekend news, which does not have a photographic element for reasons that will become clear:

Edward took his first step on Saturday night (Jan. 6)!

And I do mean "step," singular. He was standing at a living room chair, turned toward me (sitting on the floor), let go of the chair, took one step and then flopped into me. We were quite excited about this development but could not produce a repeat performance. He decided that flopping was MUCH more fun and spent the next 15 minutes or throwing himself back and forth between our outstretched arms as each of us tried to coax him to take steps toward the other. All hands on Ed meant none free to operate the camera. Stay tuned though...

Here's Edward surveying the scene this weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's in Des Moines. John's extended family gathered New Year's Eve during the day for holiday festivities. We had a good time through the afternoon, but were cursing the weather forecasters who had inaccurately predicted the timing, track and temperature of a weather system for the day. It made for a treacherous trip home for John's aunt, uncle and cousins, but they all eventually got home safely so we're thankful for that.

Edward likes the toys at Grandma and Grandpa's house and thought John might also enjoy the full sensory experience, including taste. Ed now enjoys offering toys, books and other objects for someone to take and hold until he asks for it back. It's a never-ending cycle. He also started a new vocal experiment that sounds kind of like a siren, but is not used in conjunction with any toy emergency vehicle. I think he just likes hearing the different tones up and down the vocal register.

Today was Ed's 12-month check-up where he weighed in at just under 22 pounds and measured 29 1/4 inches long with 18 3/4 inches in head circumference. The height and weight are proportional in about the 30th percentile, but the head is a bulbous 77th percentile! Lots of room for that expanding brain. Actually, John notes that maybe he's not really as bald as people think, it's just that he has so much surface area to cover it looks sparse. Hmmm...let's think about that for a bit.

The print-out they give us to take home (so we can remember all these vital stats) includes all his official measurements since birth so we can see that we also spent time last Jan. 3 in the doctor's office, when he was a tiny 5 1/2 pounds at nine days old. My sister points out that he has quadrupled his weight this year! He's also grown 10 inches in length. Just for the record, his nine-day-old head was only in the 6th percentile.

One amusing thing about the doctor visit--Ed picked that moment to demonstrate his crawling skills. That's actual hands-and-knees crawling, not the commando/army-style he's mastered at home. We actually have never seen him go more than two or three "steps" (?) on his hands and knees, but he got down on the floor while we were talking to the doctor and was motoring around. It was almost like he had an internal monologue going, "OK, time for that 'crawling' think they've been pestering me about. I don't know what's so great about it, but for some reason it's important for these big people to see it. Whatever..." Then he did it again while we were waiting for the nurse to come back with his shots (yes, three more today.) The room was getting stuffy so I opened the door and let him go out into the hall where he proceeded directly toward the receptionist/schedulers' desks. They were quite amused with his antics. What a flirt he is!

A final observation--with the doctor's light shining in his mouth, we could see how close the two upper front teeth are to emerging. The gums are puffy and he's practically drowning in drool. Any day now...

Edward got to celebrate his first birthday over several days, so it's fitting that we note it with several blog posts, too. We wanted to share Edward's official birthday cake experience.

This is before:

This is during

And this is after

Is there any doubt that he enjoyed himself?

If you look up the word "sucker" in the dictionary, you'll see a photo of John and me. While you've got that dictionary out, look up "highway robbery" and see if the Sears logo appears. Those portrait studio folks saw us coming a mile away. Didn't help that I forgot the coupon on the fridge, but looking at it now, I see that it was for a package that would have allowed us only one pose and no "discount" on the photo CD. As John says, "He's only one once," so we've got photos up the wazoo if anyone wants one plus a CD with all eight images and copyright so those posted here are totally legal. We've got dressy and casual, full body and close up, sizes a plenty from wallets up to 8x10.

We also managed to finish our own series of monthly couch shots yesterday. Those shoes look huge, don't they? He doesn't particularly care for them, but we're trying to get him used to the idea that he can't go around in soft-soles forever--especially not when it snows. It's tough to be a December baby--you finally figure out how to move yourself around and then you're confined to the house or to bulky winter gear that inhibits that new range of motion. He'll definitely be on the run as soon as the tulips pop up in the spring!

We had a wonderful Christmas and birthday. Ed made out like a bandit thanks to his doting grandparents, aunts, uncles, and of course Santa! He was actually satisfied with just one present--didn't matter which one. As soon as he opened it, that's all he needed and he totally ignored the rest of the stack. Gift bags were his favorite--much easier to dig into that tissue and pull out the present than to rip a tightly wrapped box. And speaking of boxes...no surprise, those were as fun as the toys! Some of the loot went in the closet to be reintroduced when we hit rock bottom of winter boredom.

He's clearly exhausted by it all. He took an hour and forty-five minute nap this morning and is close to the three hour mark on his afternoon snooze right now. I guess when you're in constant motion every waking moment, you need more sleeping moments. He'll probably be glad to go back to daycare tomorrow and be rid of his pestering parents for a little while!

One other milestone--now that he's a year old, he can ride in the carseat facing forward. He's long since reached the weight requirement (20 lbs.) so we've been waiting for the birthday. He was looking all around on the drive to Sears, but it was old hat by the trip home and he fell asleep. That's actually a good sign--our road trips depend on his ability to sleep in the car!

Edward got an early start on his birthday and Christmas today with a pretty standard wake-up time of about 6:15. That gave us plenty of time to have breakfast and open some presents before heading to church.

Santa brought him some magnetic letters to stick on the refrigerator, a good idea because he's able to reach up high enough that the things stuck there had better be Edward-proof.

He also brought him a plastic wagon filled with over-sized Lego-like toys. This doubles, like anything else that is the right height, as a mode of travel. Edward quickly pulled himself up on it and began pushing it around the room.

He also opened presents on Christmas Eve -- which is, of course, also his Birthday Eve -- adding to his already full toy chest.

He also helped his Dad open presents. The Geraghty clan does a sibling gift exchange, each sibling and spouse receiving the name of another with the idea of exchanging presents for Christmas. Mary's brother P.J. drew my name. Lucky me. Edward didn't quite know what to make of my present -- an animatronic reindeer singing "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" -- and to be honest, neither did I. Watch out next year, P.J.

That's just the beginning. He'll celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa Kenyon this afternoon, and with many more family members later in the week. It's a great way to cap a great year and usher in another.

Merry Christmas! It's hard to believe that this time last year we were still waiting for Edward, not even knowing he would be Edward. In fact, a year ago today, John and I went on our last spontaneous date, no babysitter required. We went out to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant and to a movie. All the while, our friend Dan, a painter, was painting Ed's room. Little did we know how soon he would inhabit it.

It's been a wonderful year. Watching Edward grow has been thrilling and we can't wait to see what the next year brings.

We started our Christmas and birthday celebrations a little early, when Gram and PopPop, along with Aunt Nora and Aunt Bridget, visited on Friday. So far the Tupperware shape ball seems to be the favorite present, but there's still more to come. We also jumped the gun a bit on birthday cake. This first cake was pumpkin with cream cheese frosting, and at first Ed wasn't too sure what to make of it. He squished it and then tried to shake it off his hand, but when John took some of the crumbs and formed a little cake ball for him, Edward realized the error of his ways and began to devour what was left on his tray. Since that sugar introduction he also has eaten a few pieces of sugar cookie (the ones that broke before making it to the frosting assembly line.) He's pretty fond of those too. Watch out for the sugar high!

Tonight we'll open a few more of the Christmas present that have been magically appearing at our doorstep from such exotic locales as South Milwaukee, WI; Chandler, AZ, and Bristol, TN. Then tomorrow we'll see what Santa brings in the morning and celebrate both Christmas and birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Kenyon in the afternoon. We may all need naps by the time we're done!

The other day Edward discovered that it's just as fun to roll around in a pile of books as it is to read them or chew on them. Rather than restrict this activity to the corner behind the chair (where he had pulled up on the end table to reach the books and brush them onto the floor) we took the next step toward total Edward domination and cleared the bottom shelf of one of our living room bookcases for his use. Now he has easier access and another whole section of the room to leave in utter chaos.

John likes to play with the zoom on our camera, capturing moments like this one outside on Saturday. It was another freakishly warm day, as you might guess from Edward's bare head. No hat in December? Well, it was close to 60, but now we think we've seen the last of it. I'm holding Edward in this photo because he'd had an unexplained meltdown while pushing his walker up and down the block. It was so weird, one minute he was happily giggling and shrieking as he toddled along and then in the blink of an eye he started screaming and wouldn't walk another step. There was no injury that we could see--nothing stepped on and certainly no stinging bugs this time of year. A few minutes later he was calm again and back on his merry way.This week, Edward took the first steps toward another milestone at daycare--transitioning to the next age group in a new room. After the holidays he'll be in the toddler room so for now he's spending a little time there each day to get used to the new kids and new teachers. Two of his "friends" from the infant room will move at the same time so it won't be totally unfamiliar. He'll also be reunited with a couple of the older kids who have moved out of the infant room in the last few months. The toddler room has a door that leads directly outside to the playground. Apparently they take the kids out every day unless the wind chill is below zero. I'll be interested to see if this actually happens though--seems like the law of diminishing returns would kick in when you're talking about getting eight kids between the ages of one and two all bundled and ready to go out at the same time. But regardless, I guess he'll need a snow pants and some real shoes/boots assuming we eventually get into a real Iowa winter with snow.

Meanwhile, inside...
Edward found out this morning that the dishwasher can be fun. Luckily it had just been emptied so nothing to break and no danger of little fingers finding a fork or knife! Just good old fashioned discovery.

Edward visited Santa this weekend at the mall. He doesn't seem terribly impressed here, despite the REAL whiskers on this guy! At least he didn't freak out. Grandpa Kenyon, who played Santa at his office Christmas party for years, says that's more of a two- or three-year-old reaction. Can't wait!

We wisely chose the Santa at the second-tier mall in our area--no line and no pressure to pay exorbitant picture charges. We did buy one from them for $5, but they also let us take as many as we wanted. We had Grandma and Grandpa Kenyon along for the fun so there were lots of flashes going off!

Elsewhere in the mall, a radio station was giving away treats and balloons. Edward clearly loved his!



Back at home, Grandma captured this winning shot of Edward and his walker. He'd run it into the couch I think, but was so happy to be spending time with Grandma and Grandpa that he didn't cry in frustration, as is typical.

Unfortunately we're not seeing much of this smile at the moment. Ed and I both came down with colds so no one is at the top of his/her game. Ed's not sleeping, so therefore neither are we...not a good recipe for health restoration. We'll survive though. Better to get it out of the way now so we're in prime condition for the big upcoming birthday!

Here is Edward in his pre-bed playtime. He has another pajama layer that goes over this one (a cozy footie fleece) but the feet are not no-skid so he doesn't put it on until right before bed. Otherwise, the kitchen floor is hazardous! He now moves everywhere in the blink of an eye. I've noticed lately that he actually follows us when we leave the room. For instance yesterday morning I carried him to the living room and stood him next to his saucer. Then I returned to the kitchen to get my bowl of cereal so I could eat it and keep an eye on him at the same time. In the five seconds it took me to do this, he had gotten down to the floor and started army crawling toward the kitchen doorway. So today I kept him in the kitchen while I ate, and he pushed his walker all over the floor. This does not always entail standing behind it and allowing the wheels to propel it forward. He doesn't know how to turn around when he runs into an solid object (stove, cabinet, table, etc.) so he just walks around to the side and starts pushing the walker sideways in the direction he wants to go. This is more effective on the kitchen linoleum than the living room carpet.

This week Edward is also working on putting himself to sleep. That's not as independent as it sounds. I just mean that he's really too active to put up with being rocked to sleep, even when he's clearly tired and ready for a nap. So I've been putting him in the crib awake and then listening for when the chatter stops as the signal that he's finally fallen asleep. Sometimes the telltale sound of the pacifier being thrown over the side (or through the rails) signals that I will soon have to go in to retrieve and replace it in its rightful mouth. I wish I could see through the wall to see how he entertains himself in the minutes before he succumbs to sleep.

After a few weeks of picky eating, Edward jumped right back into full vacuum mode last night, devouring a jar of baby food (veggies) and then scooping up piece after piece of the pear I was dicing until he'd eaten the whole pear. Then he proceeded to eat bunny crackers until we finally cut him off after we'd finished our own spaghetti dinner. At daycare they said he loved the spaghetti lunch, which is a bit perplexing since we've tried to give him pasta in many different forms and he's always spit it out. But maybe his palate is maturing (ha!)

Edward has fallen in love with his walker, using it every chance he gets. He also has been pulling himself up on everything, including the walker, his exer-saucer, a chair and the sides of his crib. It seems he gets a bit more mobile with each passing hour, let alone each day.

Today he slept in until 8 a.m., which was a rare treat for us. Of course, that screwed up his sleep schedule for the rest of the day, but as long as we remember back to this morning and sleeping past 7 a.m. for the first time in a long time, it was a fair trade-off.

Mary got some good photos of Edward making his way across the floor to the walker, pulling himself up and taking off, which you'll find below. And below that is a very short video of Edward letting us know that he would like some more cereal tonight at dinner. Quite loudly. I'd suggest adjusting your volume before you hit play.

For a real treat, go back to this video from six months ago, where Edward is sitting in the same highchair. He looks so small back then...