We've had some adventures since the last post. I had a work project that kept me away from home last Wed-Fri so John pulled single dad duty. We were very lucky to have the able assistance of Grandma and Grandpa, who took over my usual afternoon routine so we wouldn't have to have the boys stay extra hours at daycare. It was hard for me to be away, but it was a very busy trip, so not much time for pining. It was quite a luxury to have two consecutive nights of uninterrupted sleep! John will get his taste at the end of June when he attends his annual conference for business newspapers.

Friday night was laundry night so we'd be ready to hop in the car Saturday morning for a trip to Milwaukee. Our newest niece/cousin, Abby, was being baptized Sunday and John and I are her godparents so we were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet her and visit with the rest of the family. We ran into a bit of trouble on the way there as we discovered too late in the process to change our route that the interstate bridge over the Mississippi River was closed headed east. The detour took us well south and added at least a half hour to the already four-hour trip. If we'd known in advance, we probably would have taken a different route. We stopped at a mid-point for a picnic lunch in a park we discovered while making this same trip last Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, Edward took a wrong step on a bouncy bridge and ended up with a bloody mouth, which really freaked him out. I'm sure it was painful, but the sight of his own blood really sets him off. (He's had frequent nosebleeds, so this is well documented.)

Some folks who were there with their own kids directed us to a nearby Walgreens, where we were able to buy some children's Tylenol which either helped or was quite an effective placebo. We gave him a dose and he fell asleep almost before we left the parking lot. We also used this opportunity to pick up "big sister" gifts for Abby's sisters, since it's hard to watch so many presents for your new baby sister. Edward got one too--further easing the oral wound. These bubble wands were fun and didn't spill as fast as regular bottles of bubbles. Of course there was still spillage, but they got some play time before that happened. Daniel was a little ticked that he didn't have one, but come on--that wand is way too big for his mouth. Luckily there were plenty of supplies on hand at Casa Sepersky.

This is what happens when you wake up at 5:45 and the hotel pool doesn't open until 7. Jam your face full of Cheerios and enjoy swigging a sippy cup. Also, talk to each other on the disconnected hotel room phones.

The baptism was lovely and it's always such a treat to be able to attend Mass with them because my brother-in-law is the church musician so we get to hear him sing. They had an ambitious family party after the Mass--carefully planned based on how many 9x13 pans (6) could fit in the oven simultaneously to warm the meal when we returned from church. The cousins had so much fun playing that nap time was abandoned--only the second or third time in Edward's life that he's skipped a nap. But at about 3:30 he asked my dad to take him up to his cousin's bed, where he promptly fell into a deep sleep, from which he had to be woken, forcefully at 5. (Daniel took a short car nap during this time while John and I took turns changing out of our church clothes back at the hotel.) After that we had some low-key play time (the rest of the family left), a simple supper for the kids and some TV zone-out time. Then back to the hotel for bed.

On Monday, Memorial Day, we all went to the Milwaukee County Zoo for the morning with the express purpose of exhausting the children so they would sleep for as much of the return drive as possible. It worked and we had a great time. This and the above pictures were taken on the zoo train, which, to Edward's way of thinking, trumped all the animals. "We got to ride a train and there were gates and lights and people had to wait!" The train crossings on the zoo paths were a close second to the train itself. They did run around quite a bit, but there also was a bit of chariot action going on with a single stroller with infant carrier, a double sit-and-stand stroller and a two-seat wagon to hold all five kids. The cousins mix-and-matched a bit so they each had turns in the various seats (except for Abby, of course, who pretty much slept through the whole thing. It was old-hat to her on her second zoo voyage in her young life--she's a month old!)

Another exciting part of the zoo trip was watching the bears play in the water in their exhibit. All the adults agreed it was the most activity we'd ever witnessed in a non-monkey zoo exhibit. Daniel was impressed, calling out "There's a bear!" which you can kind of hear (with a generous ear) at about the 20 second mark in this video:



And finally, another bit of hotel entertainment. We had a suite at the Staybridge Suites in Franklin, WI, a relatively new hotel designed for extended stay. We liked having separate sleeping accommodations for ourselves and the children. Also, the kitchen was handy. The boys were most enthralled with the phones (see above, breakfast photo) and the bathroom. We do not know what a "harbastore" is, but Edward identified it for his and Daniel's amusement:

We're embracing our agriculture roots here in Iowa. Last week Edward and Daniel helped me plant two tomato plants. On Saturday we all attended the Johnson County AgFest at our county fairgrounds. We're feeling very earthy these days.

The boys had already had lots of practice with digging, as there are several untended areas of our yard that I've let them use their plastic garden/sand tools in. I actually had plans to transplant various hostas from random places around the yard into an empty space next to the porch, but that has become a favorite digging spot, so I'll probably let it go for now. Maybe next year.

The tomatoes are an experiment because we don't have an ideal planting spot as I did in our old house. The two plants are in two different spots--one that probably gets too much water (low spot in the yard) and the other that might not get enough sun. We'll see if they can thrive in either spot and let that guide future planting. Also, the soil here has a high clay content, whereas the old house had rich, black, dirt. So we'll see. I'm hoping for at least a few tasty morsels in the heat of August. Basil will eventually go in as well, but lack of time and lots of rain last week has delayed further planting.

The AgFest was kind of a mini-county-fair with emphasis on kid-friendly activities. There were animals to pet, balloon animals to wear, a merry-go-round to ride and lots to eat! The calf Edward is petting here was just born May 1. It's amazing how resilient animals are--think of how helpless a four-week-old human is!

They had baby chicks, ducks and turkeys for the kids to look at and for older kids or adults to hold. You'll note that it was John who did the livestock handling. I've also cropped a bit tighter than I might have otherwise, but Grandma Kenyon was in this picture and she doesn't do PDP (public display of photography.)

This was a very small merry-go-round, and after one jaunt with Dad, we thought Daniel could probably handle it on his own. I worried that he might try to get down from the horse, but the ride operator was aware of this potential and ready to stop if necessary. He actually did very well as you can see from this casual pose.

And of course, no Iowa farm experience is complete without an American Gothic parody. This just cracks me up.

Speaking of which, Edward scored the blooper of the day when he got tired of high-fiving the bear mascots from a local bank and went around to pull on one of the tails. He peeked around while holding the tail and asked, "Hey, how does he poop?" These are the important questions of our time.

Daniel has been enjoying exploring the backyard with all of his senses, including taste. He is especially fond of this bubble container, which I love because it is spill proof. However, it has recently become a water container since Daniel's idea of "blowing bubbles" is to take the wand from the cup, blow on it, and then when nothing happens, stick it in his mouth. Since he doesn't know the difference, we figured, water was probably a better idea. He also likes to dip the wand in his various dirt piles before putting it in his mouth so a dip in the water helps with that as well. Let it never be said that my kids live a pristine existence.

Lest anyone think that reading comic strips is not an intellectual pursuit, let me present exhibit A: Edward Kenyon, avid reader of "Get Fuzzy" and "Calvin and Hobbes" (if by reader I mean, one who pages through looking for pictures of fat dogs and creepy bugs), who was rejected from a University of Iowa study today because his vocabulary is too large for his age.

The study is one for which Mary signed him up that was to judge the vocabulary and comprehension of children with cochlear implants when compared with those without. I took Ed this morning and the researcher showed him about 100 sets of four line drawings, then asked him to point to one of them. For example, there would be a page with a guitar, a trumpet, a drum and a violin, and she would ask him to point to the drum. He did very well, getting many of them right. Too many, in fact. She said his vocabulary was at the 93rd percentile for his age, and they wanted someone more average. They should have said that before they called us in. We could have told them he was many things, but "average" is not among them.

I was impressed by the things he knew, as he picked some things right that I wasn't sure he would understand. Other times, he missed things I thought he would know. In a couple of instances, he did this because he was playing a game we have where Mary or I will say the wrong thing while reading a book and then wait for him to correct us. He picks up on this and will say the wrong thing, too. If we agree, he then corrects us. He did this a couple of times today and I caught on to it and had to explain to him that we weren't playing that game. Other times he would be asked to identify something on a page that had a train or a plane or a tool, and he would say, "I want to do the plane first, then I'll do the other." The researcher would agree, and then he would do just what he said.

She asked me at the outset to try not to coach him, and I was able to maintain decorum. A couple of times I cringed, however, knowing that he knew the right image to go with the term in question, where other times I wanted to give him a high five for getting something right.

He was clever. At one point she asked him something he clearly didn't know. He waited a beat, then looked up and said, "Which one do you think it is?" She stifled a laugh and explained that she was more interested in what he thought.

There were a couple of gimmes. He was asked to identify both a cactus and a palm tree, something we saw a lot of two weeks ago in Phoenix. I told the researcher as much, and she said reading and travel are two great ways to increase vocabulary. He also identified "swamp," something I attribute to the book I Love You Stinkyface.

Meanwhile, Edward's younger brother is also exploring the world. He loves to go outside, and will bring his shoes to us if we don't get the hint. If we delay, he tries to put them on himself. He can't manage this yet, but it's certainly not for a lack of effort.

Tonight, taking advantage of a rain storm, we went outside to stomp puddles (don't knock it, it's really quite fun). Edward has some ladybug boots that he inherited from a neighbor who grew out of them, and they're great for stomping. After we had come in, Daniel decided that he wanted to try them on. We finally gave him a hand, and he then walked with big, tentative steps around the foyer. His curiosity got the best of him, however, and he soon was bending down to get an up-close look at what was hiding his toes. It won't be long before Ed grows out of them and Daniel into them, so it was a nice chance to take them for a test drive.

Edward and Daniel are both contributing to science this week. Researchers at the university use local birth records to contact parents of children who are the right ages for their studies. We just happened to get one for each boy in the last couple of weeks. Edward's is Friday and Saturday, something to do with how hearing children learn words compared with children with cochlear implants. I can't wait to see how they handle his endless stream of questions about the new "nonsense" words they'll teach him for various objects. Then they'll see how many he remembers the next day.

Daniel was totally in his element in his study Monday afternoon--that element being food. This was studying how children name and generalize about objects--such as "yours" and "mine." The tester gave him three paper plates with food items arranged either in four globs or in a shape like a 'C,' 'T,' or '8.' He got to mess around with them and taste to his heart's content. These food items were things like applesauce, chocolate pudding, frosting, cheez-whiz and other things of that general consistency. There were only a few that he rejected, attempting to wipe them off his tongue. (I couldn't really tell what they were.) But for the most part he was gleeful, beaming from ear to ear with the food smeared the same distance.

After a minute or so of play, she took the plates and arranged two on a tray with a divider between them. Then she held up another that was either the same substance or the same shape as one of the two on the tray. She said, "Daniel, this is mine. Can you find yours?" and pushed the tray toward him. It seemed to me that he was picking whatever was in the same shape as what she held up, except for the things he didn't like the taste of. But I was also filling out some paperwork on his vocabulary at the time (and laughing at the huge mess he was making) so it was a little hard to keep up.

I try to participate whenever we're invited to these types of studies. Who knows what could be learned and how it might have an impact in years to come?

Here are the Arizona videos, as promised:

Wow, April has been a slow month for the blog! So much happening and so little time to write it all down.

We have returned from our desert vacation to find the prairie in bloom! Lots of rain while we were gone made everything green and brought a gorgeous display of rhododendron on our front stoop. We're having fun with our first spring in the new house--much to discover. Also much to trim back, but that's not really the fun part. Before we left the magnolias blossomed so I taught Ed to identify them. Now of course the beautiful flowers are strewn about under the trees, but we're enjoying pink and white crab apples and will see what comes next.

But on to the Arizona adventure. For those out of the loop, we planned the trip around Colleen's Confirmation and First Communion, which was Saturday. (For those really out of the loop, Colleen is my brother P.J.'s second daughter; other characters in this tale are her older sister Katie, younger sister Molly, brother Sean, who is 9-months older than Edward, and my sister-in-law Diana.) John and I are Colleen' godparents and we wanted to be there for this special day. Plus we thought the kids would have fun together and, except for my trip to assist when Molly was born just weeks after they'd moved, we'd never visited them in the five years they've lived there (we've had a few other things going on in those five years!)

I selected flights based on routes that avoided O'Hare, shortest total travel time, and mid-day (nap time) in the air. There was no way I was dragging the kids (and us!) out of bed at 4 for a 6 a.m. flight, although it would have given us more time there. We had to draw the line somewhere. We left at noon Friday after a very easy check-in and security check at the Cedar Rapids airport. I really love everything about this airport, except that you really can't fly anywhere non-stop. We had a layover in Dallas.

The first glitch came when the flight attendant informed me I couldn't hold Daniel in my lap but had to give him to John. No explanation--just the directive and then she moved down the aisle. When she swept past again, I asked if this was just for take-off or for the whole flight. "The whole flight," she said and walked away again. The plane had one seat on one side of the aisle and two on the other. So this left John with Edward by the window and holding a squirming Daniel. This was not a good scene. Luckily, there were some empty seats on the plane and the two people behind John and Ed offered to switch so I ended up with seats for both myself and Daniel behind John. (Later it was explained that on the side with the single seat there is only one oxygen mask so a lap child can't sit there. Wish someone had brought this up before we were seated! We were able to ask the ticket agent for a different configuration on the way home to avoid this.)

I really thought Daniel would sleep at this time since he has been known to fall asleep standing up at daycare if I am even a few minutes later than my usual 12:10 pick-up. When he's tired he just drops. But I guess the new surroundings were enough to overpower this because he didn't start falling asleep until we were landing in Dallas. The DFW airport has a cool train system to move you between terminals. Ed was thrilled to ride a train AND a plane in the same day. The airport also has children's play areas in all terminals, so we made good use of this during our two-hour layover. The kids were both exhausted (and a good three hours beyond even their latest usual nap time) so they slept for most of the flight to Phoenix.

Daniel woke up toward the end and I soon realized that he was soaking himself. More liquid than usual on the trip to help with the ear pressure. The woman next to me helped me pull off his pants and shirt and he exited the plane in just his super-saturated diaper. What a sight! A quick change and we were on our way to baggage and rental car, but not before Edward asked, "Where's Sean?" and we had to explain that yes, we are in Phoenix now, but no, Sean doesn't live at the airport. At that point it was clear that we would not wait until morning for the first visit.

We arrived at our townhouse (a stroke of luck and last-minute deal-making--SO much better than a hotel room!) unloaded, put Daniel to bed, and then Ed and I went over to SEE SEAN!! It was a good first meeting--they bonded instantly at Sean's train table. We didn't stay too long though as it was well beyond bedtime according to our body clocks and we still had to make a grocery stop for some essentials.

Good thing we did, because the next day started well before dawn. Daniel got up at 4:15 with no idea that he was in a different time zone. Oy. This was one of the times that having a townhouse was a lifesaver. I got up with him and let John and Ed keep sleeping. Ed got up around 5, but we were still able to stay in the kitchen and away from the stairs leading to the bedrooms so that John could sleep. (Don't worry--we alternated this duty as it continued through the entire trip! Daniel added a "mid" morning (aka 8 a.m.) 30-45 minute nap to his routine and the rest of us made do with an afternoon siesta.)

The kids had a great time playing together--lots of vehicles to drive on the back patio and a swing set in the yard. We never made it into the pool as it was a beautiful, temperate mid-80s while we were there. We visited several fabulous parks and had endless fun climbing, running, swinging, jumping, sliding. One of the parks had a kid-sized road system mapped out in one section so we brought the bikes and they drove around. Another had a train to ride on and several full-sized engines and cars to admire. Edward and Sean were pretty much a blur, racing around and up and down. Daniel, a little slower but no less daring, charged up and slid down as fast as his little legs could carry him. Mother's Helper Colleen was always right behind him, an angel here on Earth!

On Monday when the big kids went to school and P.J. went to work, the rest of us headed for the zoo. Diana's expert navigation took us to all the major exhibits (except birds!) and the temps were cool enough in the morning that most of the animals were out for viewing. A favorite part was Monkey Village, which allows you to see them up close jumping from tree to tree. Daniel giggled and Ed and Sean raced to see where they would go next. Daniel was also quite pleased with the hand washing station on leaving the exhibit (apparently monkeys pee on everything--ew!) We ended that excursion with some playtime in the tree house and then headed home for naps. Whew! The kids slept three or more hours each afternoon and we were not far behind!

Some memorable moments: P.J. came down to the kitchen dressed for Colleen's Confirmation Mass and her first comment was, "Are you going to wear that pin???" pointing to the "Donate Life Arizona" lapel pin on his jacket. Priceless!

Daniel was so thirsty that we decided not to buy regular diapers but the super absorbent overnight diapers he usually only wears to bed. We still had to change him every two hours and each diaper was as heavy as if he'd been in a pool. At every turn he was holding out his hand squeezing and saying "Mek, mek" or "Duse (juice!)"

Edward was amused by the GPS in our rental car (hooray for Hertz and this bonus feature!) Every time we got in the car he asked, "Is it going to say, 'Arizona, Yes!'" (when plugging in your destination it started at the state level and worked down to city and then street.) He also decided that he could make the stoplights change by shouting, "right now!" while we waited. Daniel joined in the fun. Ed got it close enough to the actual change just often enough that he fully believes he has some powers in this area.

Details of the return flights are probably the only things we would classify as "lowlights" on the trip. We were all tired, the kids didn't nap and the time change somehow was worse going East. A sans-nap Edward was nearly impossible to control on the Dallas-Cedar Rapids flight and I ended up sitting next to him with Daniel in my lap for about half the flight because he and John were just pushing each other's buttons. At about the mid point, the sun was almost down and I realized Daniel's shorts were wet. Time for a change to the pajamas I'd packed in the carry-on. When I got back to the seat, Ed was sprawled across both and covered in his Thomas blanket, seemingly ready to sleep (finally--this was 8 p.m.) John got settled in the seat next to him with Edward laying on him and I sat back down with Daniel, who also fell asleep once he had a paci to hold as well as suck.

We made it to CR, but waking up was very hard to do. Both kids just cried as we gathered up our things and carried them off the plane to the waiting stroller (hooray for gate check and our double stroller and my sister Nora for telling me I should take the double stroller even though I was worried it would be too big to check!) We got our bags and got back to our car only to discover that we could not find our parking ticket. Ugh! We drove up to the exit, explained that we'd lost it and filled out the form that the attendant gave us including the time/date we entered. (Yes, we were honest.) He told us there was a $4 lost-ticket fee and then our total charge: $29.

Can I say again how much I LOVE the Cedar Rapids airport? Daily parking max of $5!

We got home around 10 p.m. and headed to bed. Thankfully, I had scheduled myself for vacation the following day as well, knowing that I'd need time to get us back on track--laundry, groceries, unpacking, etc. The kids slept in, sort of, until about 7:30. I took them to daycare and set about my tasks. I went back to work today and found it busy, but not overwhelming.

We had a great time, but we're glad to be home! Video to come in a future post.

I'm at a danger point with this chronicle. I've allowed too much time to elapse since the last post so that every time I think of sitting down to write an update the task feels overwhelming and I can easily find something else to do. I'll start from the weekend with the goal of working back to Easter and just see how things go.

Team Kenyon was in full force on Saturday morning for the March for Babies. We had more walkers than ever before and including people and dogs we got close to my goal of 40 walkers in honor of John's 40th birthday in December. It was such an honor to have so many friends and family with us. I did feel bad for dragging everyone out so early on a Saturday only to be pelted by rain about 10 minutes after the walk started. We had about one hour of daytime rain over the weekend, coordinated exactly with the walk time. A few intrepid walkers made it the whole route, but we left the boys with my parents at the library (about half way through the route loop) and then cut straight back to the park instead of following the whole loop. If not for the kids, it wouldn't have been bad to keep going--it wasn't super cold and it wasn't a driving rain. But I think we made the right choice.

My sisters surprised me by digging through the family archives to unearth two t-shirts from a long-forgotten era during which the Geraghty family attended summer picnics wearing matching green t-shirts with "Geraghty Gang" emblazoned on them. You probably had to be there, but I almost fell over laughing when I saw them walking toward me.

This month at daycare they are celebrating "The Month of the Young Child" with special activities each day. Some are simple, like the various color days (wear red one day, green the next, blue, etc.) One of the days this last week was "Dress like mom or dad day." Some boys wore their dads' ties, but John doesn't really have enough to spare and our kids don't have that kind of button down shirt anyway. We decided they could all wear long sleeve polo collar shirts and do just fine (even though I sprung it on John at the last minute and he had to go iron a different shirt.) Ed was pleased with the outcome and didn't seem to notice or care that John's shirts lacked stripes--a fashion lesson he is bound to learn for himself later in life.

I'm not even sure what to say about this picture except I hope we are not stifling Edward's musical abilities with this ghetto instrument. You are not mistaken: that is a cookie tin with its lid duct-taped shut holding an elastic band that was used to secure the monitoring devices for my many stress tests during pregnancy. The drumsticks are spoons and the headgear will just have to speak for itself.

OK, on to Easter. We started the morning with 8 a.m. mass. This may seem crazy, but since our kids don't differentiate between weekends and weekdays in terms of sleeping patterns, it actually meant we just followed our usual M-F routine and went together to church instead of work/daycare. Ed was pretty excited about Daniel and Dad coming with us. Usually they stay home. We managed to snap this family picture before we left. The angle is a little weird since we had to set the camera on a stool, but it's passable. We told Edward the Easter Bunny would come while we were at church, just as Santa Claus did back in December. The baskets were a hit--sunglasses, wiffle balls and bat, coloring tools (markers for Ed, crayons for Dan) and the all-important plastic eggs with jelly beans (Ed) and teddy grahams (Dan.) And, yes, Daniel's "basket" is a bike helmet. What can I say?In preparation for Easter dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, the boys "helped" me make a cake. Lesson learned in the process: the expiration date on a cake mix is actually important. John had to be dispatched for another mix after the first cake didn't rise. Still tasted pretty good, but I didn't think it was presentable as dessert.
I think we're all caught up now. I leave you with a video John prepped a couple of days ago showing some of the boys' latest antics. And I think you know that includes all three of them!

We've kind of been back and forth between indoor and outdoor play of late. Here we were saying good-bye to one of our last moving boxes, which had morphed into a toy, but was finally just too bedraggled to keep around. We had lots of fun with it though, proving once again that no matter how much you spend on toys, the free box is tops. There is one more left now and it's on its last legs, as it is caving in, having most recently served as a diving platform (feet first only of course) for both boys.

Outside, we were thrilled to discover clusters of crocuses in bloom when we went out last week. I think being snowed on just makes them more vibrant. Daniel even got in on the excitement repeating "purple, purple" after Edward and I took an inventory of color. Now he points at a lot of things (purple and otherwise) and says "purple" but still, it's fun to hear these emerging words. He's also saying "thank you" or a version of it that sounds like "day-doo!" I remember Ed doing this and it's no less cute the second time around! The other recent addition to the vocabulary is "milk." He's been signing milk for some time now, but over the weekend he was squeezing his hand for the sign and started saying something like "mek, mek." It took us a couple of beats to realize what was happening, but we were pretty excited once we caught on.

Things kind of went downhill for Daniel as the weekend drew to a close however. He had a cough/congestion and was not sleeping well. We did two nights of this before I decided he should see the doctor on Tuesday. I was waiting for the nurse to return my call and schedule an appointment when Daniel's teacher called to report that he had refused to eat breakfast so they took his temp (what other reason could there be for him not eating?) and it was over 100. At the doctor, no surprise, they discovered an ear infection and prescribed Augmentin since he'd been on Amoxicilin so recently. Let's hope this knocks it out. We really don't want to start a pattern of one after another. The only silver lining is that this happened now and not two weeks from now when we're headed out to Phoenix!

The boys got a surprise package in the mail last week. Gram sent two new books--hooray! One is poems and the other is classic fairy tales like "Little Red Riding Hood," "The Three Little Pigs," and "The Gingerbread Man." Edward loves them! And we're quite pleased as well as each story is relatively short and he's satisfied with two or three before bed. Everybody wins.



We are only 10 days away from our Walk for Babies with the March of Dimes, and I have to say there is virtually no chance that the boys will make it with us for the whole route. I've been out with the stroller a few times in the last week, and I must report that 60 pounds of boy really slows the pace and strains the back/legs/etc. (Daniel weighed in at 27 pounds at the doctor yesterday and Edward usually measures 33 when he plays on our bathroom scale.) Edward can walk some, but I would say it is likely that they will spend the bulk of the walk in the park with Gram and PopPop, weather permitting. Not a bad trade for either pair.

After a brief taste of spring, we dipped back into some chilly, wet weather over the last week, including snow on Saturday. Not too much though, and luckily, at this time of year, it doesn't linger. I think it's not truly spring until you've seen snow on the crocuses!

(Note: Edward's shiner came when his momentum carried him into the couch after flopping backward on this floor rocker, which put a damper on a favorite game.)

To combat the cabin fever, I pulled out a few items that had been spirited away amid the Christmas hubbub for just such an occasion. With Christmas and both birthdays in one two-week mid-winter stretch, it can all be a bit overwhelming. I've done this every year and Edward never notices the missing items, but is thrilled with their unexpected reappearance.

Edward now has the "ramp" pieces that go with his Cars (the movie) vehicles. He's had the vehicles out for a few weeks already but John reminded me that there was more to the set. These can be taken apart and put together in several configurations. I think he will quickly learn to manipulate the pieces on his own because asking me for help also draws Daniel's attention and then Daniel absconds with one or more of the pieces. He generally brings them back or drops them within only a few minutes because he truly has no use for them, but it's still very frustrating for Edward.

Daniel got some cars that you can pull back and release to scoot across the floor. He crawls all over pushing and pulling them, only occasionally letting go. Then he chases the car/truck/taxi across the room with gleeful giggles.

Inside or out, Daniel is all about the climbing. He loves the park, but even lacking any playground equipment with stairs to climb, he finds any waist-high surface and works to hoist himself up. Outside in the yard, he climbs up the low retaining wall next to our patio (all part of last fall's basement waterproofing excavation project.) Then he trot through the as-yet-unplanted garden area, steps carefully over the garden edging and runs back down the grass to the patio to start over. I do mean "down"--the project created a gentle slope to direct water away from the house. Daniel is not all that agile with uneven surfaces so often ends up propelling himself faster than his legs can keep up and tumbles down into the grass. No worries though--he just picks himself right up and keeps trotting.

Here's the indoor version of this game:



This video also brings up a curious point about Edward's linguistic tendencies. Namely, where did an Iowa-born kid with two Midwestern parents pick up a southern twang? You can hear him asking "where's my bay-at?" (baseball bat) over and over. He also does this sometimes with "day-ad" (dad) and a few other words. He can say them all normally (note, my definition of "normal" is "the way I say it") but every once in a while he reverts to the twang. He did have a teacher with a pretty strong Southern accent from about 18-months to 2-years, but she has since left the daycare and he hasn't seen her in more than a year. I'm trying to figure out if there's a pattern--like all words with that short 'a' sound or, perhaps, primarily when he's feeling whiny/needy. We'll see.