"What's that?"

Edward's latest verbal achievement. I think I've said before that he seems to learn a new word daily. This past week "cracker" and "bus" were added to the line up. And also, a phrase, "What's that?" I thought he was saying it, but wasn't sure and didn't mention it to John. Then John was making coffee Saturday morning and Edward pointed and asked, "What's that?" John came in the living room wide-eyed. "Did you hear that? Did he just say 'what's that?' " We spent the weekend answering that question and expect to do so for many months (years?) to come. Sometimes it's hard to tell what he's asking about. For instance, tonight at the grocery store, he pointed to the produce display and asked, "What's that?" I tried to follow his gaze and specify the vegetables. Hope I didn't provide any misinformation!

This week we also tried on some of the size 2T gifts Edward received at birth including these awesome gamebibs from Aunt Ann. For non-Iowans, let me just tell you that these are difficult to find in children's sizes, but fly off the shelves for die hard "adult" Hawkeye fans who wear them to sporting events--mostly football games. We tried them on over his regular clothes, so the shirt doesn't really complete the outfit, but you get the idea. They're still quite a bit long, but we'll roll the cuffs and send him out there with a "Go Hawks!" (Maybe that can be this week's phrase, in anticipation of the big Iowa-Iowa State showdown on Saturday.)

Last week, Edward got the thrill of his young life when he woke up from his nap to see John mowing outside his window. We've mentioned his love of lawn mowers and to see his beloved father pushing one was almost more than his little heart could take. He stood rapt at the window watching John go back and forth, shrieking with delight when he got close and leaning almost through the screen when he walked away. When John finished the side, Ed ran to the front window for the second act of the show. And as if this weren't enough already, he got to watch four mowers in simultaneous action on Monday when we stopped for a quick lunch on the way home from our Dubuque trip. We sat by the large front window so he could watch the mowers along the side of the highway. Ketchup and lawn mowers--what more could a boy ask for? He had sweet dreams all the way home.

Grandma and Grandpa Kenyon also got a treat this week--a visit to Edward's daycare on Friday for lunch. Families were invited for a potluck, but since the kids eat at 11, and I work until noon, the timing wasn't quite right. They're also having a special Grandparents Day celebration tomorrow afternoon, but it's during Ed's nap time, so again, we were off. But sending Grandma and Grandpa for the potluck was a stroke of genius. They loved it and Edward was clearly thrilled to have them there. When I arrived to take him home, he was sitting in the rocking chair with Grandpa. I asked, "Edward, who came to see you today?" He grinned his big toothy grin and pointed emphatically at Bill's chest, then looked over to Holly. We practiced saying "Grandpa" on the way home and he was getting close. He can already say "PopPop" for my dad. "Grandma" seems to be the hardest, but he'll get there.

Happy Grandparents Day!

We celebrated the long holiday weekend with a trip to a waterpark and resort in Dubuque Sunday and today. We worried about whether Edward was too little to enjoy things, but he really gets into playing in the fountain in downtown Iowa City, so we hoped that would carry over here.

For the most part it did. We won the trip in a March of Dimes silent auction last year, and it included an overnight stay and entry to the water park. We arrived Sunday afternoon and promptly went to the waterpark area. Edward seemed to enjoy himself, playing in the zero-depth end of a wading pool that has a lot of water shooting out everywhere. There was a small slide, and with one parent at the top and the other at the bottom, he did OK and had fun on that. He went on one of the waterslides with me after I determined it was pretty slow, but it went so slow that he had a chance to think about things and decided he didn't like it very much.

We had dinner, then returned in the evening (after a nice walk around Dubuque to digest), but as soon as we got into the zero-depth area again, a little girl came up and played with one of the water jets, sending water into Ed's face. He does not like that (unless he's controlling it), and that coupled with some fatigue meant that the evening was pretty much a wash.

We went back this morning, and after a slow start where he didn't want to do anything, he saw a baby even smaller than he was and decided that he would show off by playing in the spray. It was the most engaged he was for the whole trip, and it made up for a night with little sleep thanks to our noisy neighbors and the fact that a train seemed to go by the hotel every 15 minutes, whistle fully engaged each time.

There was plenty of good people-watching for all of us, and Edward in particular enjoyed the chance to watch big kids playing and water flowing. Everywhere you turned there was water spraying out of a spigot or falling out of a bucket or dropping from a platform. It was tough to keep Ed's attention at times, because he was happy to sit back and observe.


Of course, this being Edward, he had as much fun with things that didn't involve water as not. In our hotel room, as we have found to be the case on other trips, he finds the telephone to be a very fun and exciting toy. Any time a phone rings in his world, he is quick to shout out, "Hello!" With an analog phone, he loves to endlessly pick it up and do the same thing. He spent pretty much all of his waking time in our room doing just that, though he would alternate that with occasional looks out our fifth-floor window to watch for boats going up and down the Mississippi. It was his first experience with boats as far as we know, but after we told him what they were, he took us at our word and would proudly declare that a boat was in view, then run back to the phone.

Following is some video from the trip. He starts with some fun splashing, then plays with the spray jets in the zero-depth pool and finally finishes with some boat spotting, phone answering and shoe gathering. Enjoy.

Edward is majorly into Daddy worship these days. When he wakes up from an afternoon nap and I go in to retrieve him, his first word is almost always "Da?" As in "Where the heck is he?" This question pops up frequently throughout the afternoon. We often head outside (now that it's not raining or 99.9 percent humidity) to "look" for Dad, even up to an hour before he's expected home. Luckily there are many distractions outside while we wait for John to pull up through the alley. If we point at John's car and say "Who's car is this?" he says, "Da!" On Saturday while we were outside, Edward began demanding "bubble, bubble!" The "l" sound is not distinct, but this is one of his words. I got up to get the bubbles and sat down to begin blowing them for him and he screamed "No no!" reaching for the jar. He is not allowed to hold the open jar, just the wand. So I put the lid back on and gave it to him and he trotted down the ramp and over to where John was sitting on the patio, handing him the bubbles. Guess I know where I stand.

As noted, the weather finally broke on Friday and we had an absolutely gorgeous weekend. Cool and comfortable--a hint of the approaching fall, my favorite season. It was cool enough for long pants so Edward tried out some jeans that have been languishing at the bottom of his drawer for months. He looks so grown up, but if you look closely, there's a Peter Rabbit tucked under his arm to remind us he's still our baby. For church on Sunday he tried out his new shoes--very stylin'. It was nearly impossible to get a picture though because he knows he can see our saved pictures on the camera and demands to see "baby, baby!"

The see-saw between "baby" and "big boy" tipped the other direction on Monday morning when John offered him a bite of banana, and Edward insisted on holding the whole thing by himself. He managed a few bites and played with the peel a bit before discarding it. He's been a bit picky with his eating the last few days. Today very congested, so I guess he's probably coming down with a cold.Edward impressed the heck out of his daycare teachers today with something we thought was quite routine. While outside on the playground he suddenly heard the sound of a lawn mower across the street and proclaimed "lawn mower!!" They were apparently floored by this bit of vocabulary, but we've heard it all summer. Edward is fascinated by lawn mowers, pointing them out when we're driving and even stopping in his tracks on Sunday to stand on our front walk and watch our neighbor across the street tackle her lawn. I'm sure she hadn't realized it could be a spectator sport. I guess they don't get much mowing action near the daycare. As with "bubble" the "l" is not clear and neither is the "r" at the end, but you can clearly tell what he's saying. It sounds like of like "maw mow." He also says "thank you," though it sounds more like "day doo." He can use the sign for "please" but only does so with lots of reminders and prompting. Still, these are little niceties in his otherwise demanding world.

This is Edward waiting for John to come home from work today. He took an extra long nap, waking at about 4:30 and the first words out of his mouth before I even got him out of bed were "Da? Da?" "Dad's at work" just doesn't seem to register with him. He kept asking all through his snack, and then while we were playing he kept running to the door in anticipation. John doesn't believe me because then when he finally got home Ed looked up, said "Da" and then went back to his puzzle." This little jumpsuit was one of the first summer outfits he wore this year (before it was really summer) and we noticed today that it's getting a little snug. He even popped the crotch snaps a couple of times. Fall can't come soon enough!!

We had a busy weekend with a visit to Evanston to see family, friends and Saturday night's Crowded House concert at the House of Blues. We got lots of good time with my parents, saw two of my sisters, visited friends in their new suburban house and had a great extended dinner with friends we haven't seen in, well, we couldn't remember exactly, so let's just say a LONG time. Unfortunately the concert was a bust as the House of Blues is a rotten place for a sold out rock concert. John said it was like standing in someone's basement surrounded by people we didn't know and grew to dislike listening to a CD on a cheap boom box while watching the band through a window. Oh well, two out of three ain't bad, as they say.

We learned from this trip that Edward is not the car sleeper he once was. He slept for less than two of the four hours each way between Iowa City and Evanston. He used to reliably sleep for at least three and sometimes more. We may have to rethink our travel plans from now on. Of course, we're not really planning any long road trips for a while. Once we hit the third trimester, I'm Iowa bound (by my own choice) until the baby arrives. We've heard and read too many stories about people who take an innocent pre-baby vacation and wind up in a NICU in a city far from home. We know how hard it is when you're close to friends and family and don't wish to tempt fate with any big adventures.

Speaking of the baby, today's OB appointment went well, with his/her heart rate still pumping away at about 150 beats per minute. I'm doing fine too so we'll just proceed with the same "one day at a time" mantra that got us through the wait for Edward and has carried us this far again.

We had the camera with us over the weekend, but were so busy chasing Edward that we never even took it out of the suitcase. His favorite activity now is running through the house or outside (weather permitting) chasing or being chased. He finds this hilarious and endlessly entertaining. It only ends when whatever adult is playing simply can't keep up anymore. John tried to distract him the other night by shoving two stuffed animals up Edward's shirt before sending him running into the kitchen. This brought a momentary reprieve when "green bear" fell out on the floor and Edward had to stop, examine the situation and then look up with a worried "Uh oh!"

Dancing is also still a favorite activity and Edward really kicked it up a notch when we played the CD our friend gave us over the weekend of the band he used to play with. It's a lot more rockin' than most of what we usually play for him and he seemed to notice, breaking out a new dance move that had us rolling on the floor. By the time we calmed down enough to shoot the video he knew he was putting on a show, so you see him here checking over his shoulder to see our reaction. (Note to S&C, he seriously has NEVER done this for any other music so let us know when The Strike has its reunion tour!)

OK, Edward isn't going to be asked to join Mensa anytime soon, but he still exhibited what I thought was a pretty sophisticated bit of logic this evening that is of the sort that I never thought I'd share.

As Mary reported yesterday, our plans to move fell through yesterday, so tonight we met with our real estate agent to sign the papers to take our house off the market. Edward, of course, was trying his best to get our attention throughout all this, running around like, well, like a toddler full of energy. At one point he left the kitchen and went into the living room, where he occupied himself for a while. He came back after a couple of minutes with a container of talc he'd pulled out of his diaper bag, which he had removed from a cabinet and somehow clawed open. I took it from him, he waited for a moment to see if I was going to do anything more, and then went back into the living room. After another couple of minutes, he came back to retrieve the talc. I gave it to him with reservations, sure that he would figure out how to open it and shake it all over the living room. I followed him this time and saw that he had taken the changing pad out of the diaper bag as well. He proceeded to walk across the room, dropped the talc next to the bag and then laid down on the pad. Being relatively smart, I asked him if he had pooped. He pointed to his shorts, said "puh" (which is one of his new favorite words) and finally got through to me the fact that he needed to be changed.

It's not the multiplication tables or anything, but I was still pretty amazed at how methodically and patiently he put all of that together. Suffice to say, we celebrate small things around here.

Edward woke up on the wrong side of the crib after his nap today. At first he happily threw his pacifier and blanket back in the bed after I picked him up, but as soon as we left the room he started fussing and nothing I suggested would appease him. I snuggled him for a few minutes but then he squirmed down and stood next to me crying. Snack? "No." Stories? "No." Trucks? "No." Ball? "No." Juice? "No." All punctuated with persistent wails. I'm sure it was as frustrating for him as it was for me. I carried him into the kitchen, thinking the sight of his sippy cup and the grapes I had ready for snack would change his mind. He accepted the cup, and then one half grape, but went ballistic when I tried to sit him in his highchair for the rest of the grapes. I set him down and he reached up for more grapes. Ah, so it was to be a battle of wills.

We attended a picnic hosted by the daycare last night and of course there are no highchairs at the park. He also was fussy after yesterday's nap but I really needed him to eat before the picnic since I had no idea what, if anything, he'd eat there. (Answer: watermelon and not much else. He'd been so fascinated by the sight of it on the counter awaiting slicing--pointing and grunting-that John finally brought it for a closer inspection, which they both found hilarious.) So I'd let him sit in my lap and spoon himself yogurt yesterday--what a mess! Not wishing to establish such a dangerous precedent, I decided today we could battle it out for a return to routine. I removed all the food from within his reach and retreated to the living room where I sat in a chair where he could still see me as he stood at the table screaming his head off. After about five minutes of this the phone rang and he stopped long enough for his customary "A-lo" at the sound of the ring. But before I hung up he was back at it, wailing for all he was worth.

Finally I said, "Ed, do you want some spaghetti?" It's a favorite so I thought it might work. He looked at me suspiciously, but then trotted over to his chair and climbed up while I heated some leftover pasta. He wasn't finished with the fussy phase though. He ate a noodle or two, but then spit out a half-chewed one. He then proceeded to plunge his hands into the bowl in search of the larger vegetable pieces from the sauce which he then fed himself bit by bit. He also ate a few more noodles along the way, but abandoned the fork and went for the full body experience. After we cleaned up the mess, he grunted toward the grapes, which were still on the counter from the earlier rejection. So I brought them over and he ate them piece by piece, demanding "more more" until they were gone. So he was hungry, but testing his authority. I have no idea what round this is, but I'll score it in my column.

We then decamped to the living room (still oppressively humid today, but supposed to be better tomorrow and through the weekend--woo hoo!) where he drove his London bus all over making some sort of vehicle noise and crashing it into other vehicles and objects. He found the ball seat gave him a perfect vantage point for driving all over the chair.

And that was our day. In other news, the 30-day contingency on our purchase offer for the house expired today and the sellers declined to extend it, so it looks like we'll stay put for now. We can't possibly buy another house without selling ours, and we've had absolutely no action for the whole month. Now obviously, it can take much longer to sell a house, but with no one even looking (we had two showings the whole month--one the first day and one yesterday) it's unrealistic to expect a buyer to pop up out of thin air. We'll take ours off the market and settle in at least until next spring. It might be a bit cozy come January, but larger families have lived in much smaller spaces, so I'm sure we'll make it work.

We had a good weekend where most of our energy went toward staying cool. It was easier for some of us, as you can see from these pictures of Edward. He might not have been "cool" in a temperature sense, but he certainly seemed to think he was cool in other ways. He got these sunglasses at daycare this week, and was allowed, like the other kids, to decorate them as he saw fit. That meant stickers everywhere, including on the lenses. They didn't stick very well, but they did leave a residue that must make it hard to see out of them, because he staggered around rather comically with them on.

We had a great visit with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Askren on Friday. They were in town to see my folks' new place, and we used the opportunity to celebrate Great Grandpa's birthday. Edward didn't get him a gift, but he did give him plenty of opportunity to play, which seemed like a good gift for both of them.

Even though we spent more time inside than outside -- venturing out only when Ed's declarations that he wanted to go OUTSIIIIIIDE! were too frequent to ignore -- he still found ways to at least see what he was missing. Here he steps into my tennis shoes so he can take advantage of the extra couple of inches to help him see out the front window.

This is an image captured from a video, so not very large or high quality, but we loved the expression on his face. We were trying to get him to demonstrate ring around the rosie, but of course he stopped doing it once the camera was rolling. He is now very interested in the camera and walks right up to it pointing when he sees it, which makes it kinda hard to take pictures. But John likes the super close up, so maybe it's not such a bad thing.

It has been very hot and humid here this week, so we've been outside only in short bursts. Edward did a little chalk drawing on the patio on Sunday and ran his firetruck up and down the ramp a few times on Friday. He wasn't as fascinated with the spectacular crashes off the end or side of the ramp as I thought he'd be. My brothers will be so disappointed.

Indoor activities have included coloring with crayons, which he has learned to love at daycare. We discovered that the Rubbermaid container full of his outgrown clothes, which is strategically placed in front of some cords that can't be otherwise put off limits, makes an excellent art studio. When he says "color" it sounds a lot like "car" so we have to catch the meaning from context. He likes to hold up the crayons one at a time so that each color can be announced. So far he can identify black and sort of say it, but I'm not ruling out coincidence on that one since none of the other colors seem to be identifiable. He doesn't have a tremendous attention span for this activity, and in fact sometimes seems more interested in the box than the colors, as you can see if you decide to watch this video. Fair warning--it's about three seconds of coloring and about 45 of trying to put the crayon back in the box. I was too lazy to edit.



Another favorite indoor activity is John's guitar, which he somehow allows Edward to explore without having a heart attack. This is closely supervised and usually short lived, but Ed loves it and frequently bangs on the door to the office where the guitar is stored. At the end of the guitar segment, you get an idea of why we're having trouble getting photos these days.

A mid-week bonus post to share the news that we are expecting another baby. I'm almost 14 weeks now and feeling good, though often tired. It's a lot different being pregnant when you have a toddler to keep up with! The official due date is Feb. 3, but anticipated arrival is early- to mid-January since I'm not allowed to go past 37 weeks. I am taking heparin shots twice a day, as I did during my last pregnancy, and hoping for a similar outcome. I will be monitored closely, especially after I reach 24 weeks. We're just thankful for each healthy day and hoping for many more.

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.

Not much action on the house this week. All the action went into keeping it ready for the action it didn't see. It's tough to make your house seem homey, and at the same time, as if you don't live there. Never anything on the kitchen counters...no dishes in the sink...no shoes on the shoe rug near the door...no toys out of the toy corner. This is how we have to leave it every morning when we go to work in case anyone calls to see it while we're gone. It's only been a week and already stretching my admittedly meager housekeeping skills.

The realtors toured on Tuesday and didn't have very nice comments for us. Three thought it was overpriced. Of those three, one thought it was a duplex (it's not) and said "you could get a real house for that price," another thought it didn't have a garage and the third thought it didn't have a basement (it has both.) So clearly they were not very careful or interested observers. Annoying, especially since these are the agents who work for the company with whom we have listed the house. Our realtor sought out the commentors (they're anonymous, but not hard to figure out I guess) and set them straight on the various things they'd missed or misunderstood. He held an open house this afternoon and said eight "groups" came through. Only one identified themselves as neighbors and even they weren't just there out of curiosity, but because they had friends who might be interested. So that's good news. Our agent says open houses usually draw primarily nosy/curious neighbors.

As far as Edward is concerned, the best thing about having the house for sale is the realtor lockbox on the front door, which he thinks is a telephone. He loves to push the buttons (which light up!) and say "a-lo, a-lo!" (We tried unsuccessfully to capture video.) He's figured out this aspect of phone communication, but hasn't translated it to actual phone calls. If we offer him the phone to talk to a grandparent or anyone else, he just stares at it and then grabs to push buttons. He never says a word. Luckily, he now gets to see one set of grandparents in person a lot more. John's folks moved to Coralville (neighboring town) this week so it's great to have them so close. We got to celebrate Bill's birthday today while hanging out during Ed's naptime and our open house exodus.

Big news since the last post. Our house is for sale.

We've been looking for a few months to see if we could find a place that had a few amenities that this one is lacking--namely space. We'd seen lots of duds and a few possibilities, but last week we finally found one that had (almost) everything we were looking for. We made an offer and after a few counters we reached an agreement. We offered contingent on the sale of our house so that meant we had the weekend to get it ready to list. That meant no rest for the weary around here. Lots of cleaning and "decluttering." A trip to the dump and another to our recently rented storage facility. Oh, and keeping track of Edward all the while. No easy task given that he was very curious about what we were doing that was taking our attention away from him. He did try to help a bit, which was fun for all. John was washing the kitchen storm windows and Ed wormed his way into John's lap to get a closer look at the action.

But he also had a bit of a stomach bug, which meant he was not his usual cheerful self, he couldn't eat many of the things he loves, and we couldn't really ask anyone else to watch him for us because we like our friends too much to impose those kinds of diapers! We managed to make it work, mostly because John broke his back getting things done while I kept Ed corralled. The most egregious example was when we went to the park while John and our friend Loren loaded up the truck and headed out to unload it in storage.

We're hoping Ed is on the mend now. At daycare they think it might be related to at least one new tooth, a molar. He has his (delayed) 18-month check-up tomorrow so we'll review the last couple of days with his doctor to see if she thinks we should be doing anything differently. The biggest thing is trying to get him to drink. He refuses water and of course juice is out of the question. He had quite a bit of sugar free Jell-o today, which I understand to be an acceptable form of hydration for sick kids. He's not too fond of the pedialyte, but maybe in the morning he'll be thirsty enough to give it another go.

In the meantime, our house is cleaner than it has ever been. And I've been reminded of just how terrible a housekeeper I am--oh my, the cobwebs!

The heat broke today sometime between 4 and 5 p.m. The windows are open and a cool refreshing breeze blows through now, replacing the stale air conditioned atmosphere we've had since returning Friday from our trip to Evanston for the 4th of July. The weekend heat was simply oppressive. Even a foot dip in Ed's wading pool didn't take the edge off.

We had a great time in Evanston though. We got to see some family on the 4th, and then John and I went to the Police concert at Wrigley Field on the 5th. It was a great show; John offers better details on his blog. We were amused and chagrined at the Chicago Tribune's crowd description: "more mini-van than mosh pit." Truth hurts I guess. For the record, we don't drive a mini-van, but substituting "station wagon" would have sacrificed the alliteration.

The picture above is Ed on the 4th with Shadow, my aunt and uncle's extremely patient dog. His best efforts to hide in corners, under chairs and even once in the bathroom did not thwart Edward's determination to show his "love." We're working on "nice" gentle petting of animals, to varying degrees of success. Edward can say "niiiice" but the actions don't always follow.

Other words in his ever-expanding vocabulary are: car, outside, all done, and of course, NO. He's been saying this for a while now without any exact meaning, but has started using it as intended in the last week or so, much to our dismay and frustration. In this video he demonstrates some of his language, his understanding of the difference between hot and cold and his version of the sound a dog makes.

Did you know church could be hazardous to your health? Edward and I found this out this morning...the hard way. He's usually pretty good, despite the total inability to sit still. He sits and stands on the kneeler, reads the books I bring, puts the envelope in and out of a slot that holds a spare one for those who forget their own, makes faces at the people around us, etc. Generally harmless. In the last few weeks, he's learned how to climb up on the pew, so he's added this to his repertoire, standing and sitting over and over to amuse himself. I generally keep a hand right behind him because of course I do not trust him, and really, why should I? Today he got himself seated in between me and the other person in our pew. I watched him scoot forward to the edge of the pew and could see he was trying to get down. In an instant, he pitched forward and crashed into the pew in front of us. He must have caught the corner of the missal holder as well because by the time I carried him screaming back to the cry room, I felt something moist when I pressed his head against my face to comfort him. Blood. Lots of it. We left the cry room in search of a helpful usher, who led us to the church basement seeking a first aid kit. We never did find it, but I managed to mostly stop the blood with a wet paper towel in the bathroom and then cleaned as much blood from the two of us as possible. The usher was still waiting for us when we got out of the bathroom and tried to find us some ice, to no avail. I could see two knots swelling on his head and decided we'd better head home. He screamed when we tried to ice it here, so we gave up after a few attempts and covered it with a band-aid. The photo above was taken several hours later, after a long nap. He's not actually crying here, just making a funny face. He cried amazingly little, for how shocking the whole thing must have been.

Maybe he'll have to get out his winter hat again this week to cover the wound. He dug around in a cupboard he has easy access to and found these items earlier this week. He brought them to me for help and then walked around like this for quite a while. His other silliness these days is walking around with his highchair toys dangling from his pockets. He walks quite gingerly and giggles as he goes. I'm not sure why this is funny, but whatever keeps him amused is fine with me.

Unfortunately for Edward, most of the Geraghty family injury sympathy is used up this week on my brother, P.J., who had a motorcycle accident on Tuesday and severely injured his right leg. He's had surgery and was supposed to leave the hospital today to go home to the hospital bed they had to bring in for their downstairs. He'll have a long recovery ahead (including another surgery in a week, after the swelling has gone down) but we're all SO glad it was only his leg, as an accident of this type could have been much worse. And thankfully, the motorcycle has been towed to the repair shop where it will remain until some other fool decides to buy it. If you're interested, the link above takes you to his recovery blog where he's keeping us posted on his daily progress.

Not many pictures tonight after a busy week and weekend. Last week I took one of my MBA courses--yes a whole course (3 credit hours!) in one week. It was 12 weeks jammed into one and we made it work by going from 8:30 to 4 every day. Efficient, but exhausting. It was an interesting topic though, conflict management, and the professors were excellent so in the end it was all worth it.

Gram came Monday and Tuesday to hang out with Edward so he wouldn't have to go to daycare all day all week. Grandma and Grandpa Kenyon came Wednesday afternoon through Friday. All seemed to have a great time, especially Edward! He learned a few new tricks--like how to place the animals on his train toy so that the toy announces what animal it is "I'm a monkey!" "I'm a panda!" He thinks this is hilarious. Gram also claims that he knows how to do the hand game that goes with the Itsy-Bitsy Spider song, but there has been limited demonstration of this. Occasionally we see "down came the rain" and "washed the spider out." Further bulletins as events warrant.

But most amusingly, he learned to make a sign for "cold." He has been obsessed with things being "Haaa," translation: HOT. No surprise as we've had some hot days in the last few weeks so he's felt hot slides and the hot car. But he hasn't really mastered the concept because he is hesitant about many things that are not actually hot. So I've been trying to say, "No, it's not hot. It's warm" or "It's cold." Cold he also gets because he can feel the cold air through the AC vents in the house. So he started making the famous Geraghty "cold face," which I thought my mom must have shown him, but she says she didn't. The first picture here is an attempt to capture the face, but it doesn't really do it justice. He tenses up his whole face with his mouth in a big wide clenched-teeth grin and then clenches his hands and shakes them in front of him as if shivering. It's hilarious. In the picture it looks like a smile, but when he's really going to town it's quite strained.

On Thursday afternoon, John left for his annual Regional Business Publications conference, this year in Denver (big improvement over the last two locations, Detroit and Little Rock.) That left me as a single parent for the weekend. Saturday on the way to the library for story time we stopped by the second hand store to see if we could find a push bike for Ed. He's been using his wagon with the bin upturned and we thought maybe he should have the real thing. We found this one, which he's still a bit uncertain about, but he does like going backwards. (Appropriate, given that his cousin Sean thinks that's his name. You know--Edward, Backward, kinda hard to tell the difference!)

We were expecting John to be home by the time Ed got up from his nap this afternoon, but he and his co-workers ended up getting bumped from their noon flight to one at 8:30 p.m. Ugh! He was not too happy, and I discovered that I'd need a second wind to get through the extra time. I'd paced myself to be relieved by 3 p.m. today and instead had to keep going until Edward went to bed at 7.

Hence, my current exhaustion. So I'll sign off and go commune with the remote control. Nothing like a little mindless entertainment...

Happy Father's Day! Edward is celebrating with a nap at the moment. John may be joining in the fun soon. It's too hot for much else around here. We're hoping the forecast is correct in calling for a break in the heat tomorrow or Tuesday.

This funny photo is from yesterday. I'm not sure what elicited this cheesey grin from Edward--he's never hammed it up for the camera before. We don't even say "Smile!" when we take pictures. Just one of the many things that leave us wondering.

Yesterday we took out Edward's wading pool for the first time. John had a bit of a challenge blowing it up, but he got the job done and we set the pool in the sun so the water would warm during naptime. The spot we picked was one I've been watching and knew that by late afternoon it would be shaded. After his nap and snack, we got him all suited up and took him out, only to realize that the semi-overcast afternoon had turned into a dark, stormy sky. He was in the water for about 10 minutes before we heard thunder. He got out on his own and started walking around leaving wet footprints, but then it started raining so we had to scoop him up in the towel and head inside. A lot of effort for a short activity. We'll try again today and see what happens.

Ed's vocabulary is expanding, but context is extremely important in figuring out what he's saying. If he's outside and says "Buh, buh!" and points, it usually means he sees a bird. Inside it more often means "ball." He can also say "Nah-na" in the morning for Banana, but his patience wears thin as his belly rumbles awaiting breakfast. He'll also mimic quite a bit. John taught him to stand in front of the fan and say "Ahhh!" in a sigh of relief. They may next move on to the prolonged "AHHH" to listen as the fan distorts the voice.

He also uses "More"--the sign and the word-- for things other than food, though it's still an important communication tool when eating. And speaking of eating, check out his latest skill--the fork. He kind of started doing this before we went on vacation, but we didn't want to hassle with taking along Ed-sized utensils so abandoned it for that week. But he picked up where he left off once we got home. He can't always spear what he wants--hasn't quite figured out the necessary angles--but he loves to pick up his own fork and bite off whatever awaits. Wish I could say this reduces the mealtime mess, but it is not to be. He's also learned to turn his head away in an attempt to "hide" when he sees us coming to wipe him up.

If you're feeling overheated wherever you are this afternoon, think cool thoughts and watch this splashy video:

Taking a vacation is apparently not an acceptable excuse for a blog hiatus. For her birthday today, my sister requested only one thing: update the blog!

We had a great time and the trip went more smoothly than we had a right to expect. With one glaring exception, Ed was a champion road tripper. My brother's wedding (east of Pittsburgh--about a 12 hour drive!) was a great occasion to have the whole family together--a rarity these days as we now officially number 19. Most of the siblings and cousins were able to stay in a house adjacent to the inn where the wedding reception was held, so that was definitely an experience in togetherness! The kids really had a good time playing together and the adults did too...after the kiddie bedtimes!

After the wedding we took a few extra days coming home, stopping one night/day in Cleveland and three nights in Three Rivers, MI, where we stayed in a rustic cabin on a small lake. At both the wedding inn and the lake cabin we could not get cell phone reception so we really felt like we were able to unplug and unwind. We were definitely ready to come home after a week though and glad we planned it so we arrived home Thursday leaving a few more days off before heading back to work on Monday.

Edward used the occasion of his second wedding reception in as many months to show off some of his latest dance moves:


He also cemented his status as band groupie by walking right up to the band as they began setting up and watching every move. They appreciated his attention so much they gave him the tambourine to try out. He liked it, but got a bit too creative in his method.

(Side note: we have taken Ed to two of the free, outdoor concerts downtown this summer and both times he walked right up to the stage to get up close and personal with the band!)

Edward also spent the wedding weekend basking in the attention of his adoring cousin Colleen. She's such a big Ed fan that she even sent him a letter as part of a first grade lesson this spring. She and her sisters and cousin were lovely as the flower girls and ring bearers at the wedding. After the ceremony, Ed and Sean helped the girls pick up the flower petals in the aisle and then had a tremendous amount of fun throwing them over the back of the pew and making Colleen pick them up again to start the game all over.

Colleen is so cute and charming she even got John out on the dance floor, but to avoid the dissolution of my marriage I'll refrain from posting photographic evidence.

After leaving the wedding festivities late Sunday afternoon, we drove only as far as Cleveland (about three hours) and stopped for the night. John has always wanted to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and it's unlikely we'll be in the area again anytime soon, so we built it into the itinerary. While he did that on Monday, Ed and I went to the Cleveland Zoo, where he was a boy after his grandma's own heart--a fan of the giraffes. Much to my chagrin, we was also fascinated by the flamingos, as they came right up to the fence separating their area from the humans. Luckily, flamingos are flightless or we'd have been in a world of hurt, and you might have read a dateline Cleveland AP item headlined "Terrified Mother Flees Flamingos, Leaves Toddler To Fend For Self." He also liked the elephants and anything else large enough to see from a distance. He couldn't focus too much on the smaller animals, even monkeys crawling around on a big rock.

After driving through a driving rainstorm that included several "Hail Mary" moments of near-blind following the hazard lights of the car ahead, we arrived in Michigan for three days of "nothing." No schedule, no plans, just see where the day takes us. Ed continued his animal adventures there with the resident ducks and cats. There was also a petting zoo in the town where he discovered how funny it is to stick your finger in a goat's nose. Not so funny for the goat, but for the boy, hilarious. He also got a big kick out of the bird room. I abstained, leaving John to explore that with him. As you can see, it was a bit chilly there--sweatshirt weather. No complaints though--we had packed our jeans and sweatshirts and had no need to be hot!

All in all, it was a great trip, but we're happy to be home. I would not recommend 25+ hours in the car with a toddler over the course of a week, but if you can break it up in to small chunks and get him to sleep while you drive (which Ed did about 80 percent of the time) it can be done. Next year though, I think we'll look for somewhere a little closer to home!