Edward's First Birthday!

I can hardly believe that Edward's one year old already.  In some ways it seems like we've had him forever, and in others it's just been the blink of an eye.

He's become such a little toddler! :)  It's been a fun year of learning new things, like how to deal with a social one year old.  He so loves people, and can be such a ham!!

But on to the pictures, which I know is what everyone really wants. :)

Standing up is one of his new favorite activities.  Would you believe that the TV stand is the best place in the house for this?  We tend to disagree, but Edward assures us it's perfect!

Here's our typical chair picture.  He's getting so huge, and you can really see that in this picture. 

Because of that, I decided we need to add a new picture to the list, so we took this next one.

Look at how tall we are!!  It's just so amazing to me how quickly he slimmed down and sprouted up.  He looks like a completely different kid than he did even a month ago!

And as you can see, he's oh so proud of himself!

Andrew was a huge helper when it came to Edward's birthday. 

He helped blow out the candle, and he even helped open the presents.  Of course, when all was said and done, he wanted to help play with the presents too, but luckily Edward didn't mind that much. :)

We opted for cupcakes this year, so Edward could have his own, and the rest of us didn't have to eat after little fingers got into everything.  They worked out well, and this one held a candle just perfectly!!!

 

Aunt Karen was great to come over and help us celebrate Edward's birthday, and to hlep him learn how to play with his new toys!

One thing we've discovered about Edward - he doesn't lack for toys.  He manages to litter the floor with them on a very regular basis.  He's typically very proud of himself afterwards too!

We went to the park last weekend - yes, in Phoenix we can go to the park and not wear jackets on Sunday afternoons!  We all had a marvelous time, and Edward got to ride in a swing and down a slide for the first time.  He had a blast, and we are heading back just as soon as we can . . . tomorrow maybe?

The last two pictures are of Edward in the santa hat that I made.  He takes it off just as soon as he thinks about it, but at least I get a few pictures first. :)

Videos!!

This second post is a birthday present for my grandmother - Happy Birthday Grandma!!  Here's Edward (and Andrew) in motion.  Hope you enjoy it.

As an aside, we love our little video camera.  It's called a Flip Video, and it's so very convenient and small.  I can upload the videos directly to the computer.  It only holds an hour of video, so it wouldn't be good for a musical or anything, but for around the house, it's perfect!

 The first is Edward's infamous crawl.  My flip share software let me put music over the video, so you don't have to listen to us talking in the background.  This is pretty typical of how Edward crawls, but he's a lot faster now then he was when we took this video.

The second video is from last night, and is Andrew and Edward playing "tag" for lack of a better word.  Mostly Andrew ran circles around Edward, but he didn't mind at all.  I thought the music oddly appropriate - both because it feels like a chase and because in Phoenix this weekend was the Nascar race.  It was a lot of fun to watch.

11 months old

Can you all believe Edward is already 11 months old?  The time just seems to fly by, and I can't believe we're already talking about what to do for his first birthday party.  This has truly been a month of milestones for Edward.

He is now, officially, mobile on his own!  While not strictly crawling, Edward has his own way of maneuvering around the house.  It's this combination crawl, walk, scoot thing.  He uses both hands, one knee, and one foot.  It's tremendously hard to describe, but looks adorable and hard all at once.  When I described it at work, one of my coworkers said her daughter used to do something similar when she was trying to crawl while wearing a dress, so if you've ever seen that, it's close, but in shorts. :)

This means, of course, that he's into everything, and all sorts of trouble.  But it's just so cute to see him navigating the floor!  (Kasey really still wishes he had held off until after Christmas, but that was never terribly likely.)

 This is one of those "trouble" pictures, where he was just a few feet from cords, so I was holding my breath while taking the picture.  He's just fascinated with my chair.  It has lots of moving parts, and he loves anything he can make move.








These next few pictures have Edward in an outfit courtesy of Aunt Kim.  We love this little outfit on him.  He just looks so sweet, and like he is a little future farmer. :)

 I had some fun cropping the one on the right and blurring everything but Edward.  He was intent on his books that day.  He loves books, and we love that.







 He has a spinning top that he absolutely adores.  I'm pretty sure the top came from Aunt Kim as well.  He can't make it spin in the traditional manner, but he loves to hold it, swing it, and he really adores us making it spin for him.













Isn't he just a cutie??  I have lots of pictures for today, so you'll get way more pictures than words.  And hey, who really wants to read my words when they can look at the adorable boy anyway, right?




As far as Edward is concerned, the coolest place in the entire house is Andrew's room.  It's a forbidden room full of treasures galore!  If Andrew leaves his bedroom door open, he considers it fair game.  One of the times he got in, he came out with one of Andrew's fire engines.  It makes noise!!

 Does he not look like he knows he has something that doesn't belong to him?  He is one happy kid with this toy.





 Edward was Tigger for Halloween, but his little head was too big for the hood, so he didn't wear it.  This made him look more like a tiger, but he didn't mind.  He got more candy than he can eat (especially since he doesn't eat candy), and he enjoyed chewing on the box of Dots that the first place insisted on giving him.

We got him a Mickey Mouse halloween hat, and he looks just adorable in it.

He preferred playing with it to wearing it, but I got a few pictures, so I was happy.

This is just another picture of Edward enjoying being mobile.  He really is all over the place. 

 And the one on the right is my two little guys in their pajamas, just before bedtime.  I love this picture!




 The highlight of this month actually occurred last night.  We took both boys outside to the back yard to play, with Edward in his walker and wearing shoes (this boy almost never wears shoes, and he didn't like it at all until he realized he was going "out").  Mobile has a whole new meaning outside, and he had a total blast.






 But as fun as it is being outside, it's much more fun when your brother comes out to play.  From watching Andrew on the trampoline







 to chasing him around the patio, Andrew is by far the best entertainment that Edward can have.












 Of course Andrew thought it was hilarious he could run from his brother, and Edward only caught him a few times.  (Really wish we had a picture of that event, but we were too busy playing referee when that happened.)

 And now for the official Edward chair picture.  He's getting bigger and bigger compared to this chair.  And he loves being in the chair - so he can try and climb out of it.

 Just look at the face of that boy.  There is some serious mischief on his face.  I'm totally blaming that look on Kasey, because we all know I'm sweet and innocent, right? :)

I did, however, manage to get two pictures of him sitting as opposed to climbing out of the chair.  Well worth the wait.

Hope everyone enjoyed the Edward update.  I'm working on how to get video on my blog, so when I pull that off, you can see him moving!!

Dada, Mama, Baba, pbst!!!!!

Well as you can tell from the title, Edward is discovering words!  He definitely means mom when he says mama.  As for the rest of the words, the jury is still out on their meaning.  I tease Kasey that Edward tells on him every night, but dada seems to mean whatever he's interested in at the moment.

He is still refusing to crawl, but boy is he trying hard to walk.  He'll stretch all the way forward to his hands and knees, but if he still can't reach something, he rolls over, or sits back and finds something else to play with. 

Don't let that fool you into thinking he's sitting still though.  He is all sorts of mobile!  From his walker, which he loves tremendously, to his ability to scoot around on his bottom, Edward gets around just fine. 


Kasey is still hoping he'll hold off being mobile until after Christmas, but I think he's dreaming.  Edward absolutely LOVES to pull up on people or things.  He walks very well if you hold onto his fingers and let him move.  He's still not willing to move himself along objects yet, but it's coming very very soon.

Does this look like the face of a little boy who wants to sit still?  I don't think so either!! hehe

 

The boys still love each other, sometimes to distraction.  Edward thinks Andrew's room is the coolest place in the house.  If Andrew is within viewing or hearing range, he has Edward's undivided attention, which is impressive, since Edward's attention is mostly divided these days.  Andrew likes to play with Edward, and to torment him.  They are very typical brothers, and it's fun to watch.

 We had the Autism Zoo Walk in October, and Edward thought that was a perfectly fun walk.  Of course, he didn't do much walking, as you can see here. :)

 We had a very hard time getting our monthly picture this month.  The first thing Edward wanted to do when I put him on Grandpa's chair was to climb right off, as you can see here.

 I tried this a few times, and did manage to get him sitting more than climbing out, but just barely. :)

 Right after the last picture, I had to lunge and catch the little guy, who was going to the floor with or without my help.

We managed to escape without any bumps or bruises, which we're all grateful for.

Playhouse Disney is a staple around our house right now, and while Edward doesn't focus on it a whole lot, he likes having the noise in the background. 











 He's a music fanatic, and has definite preferences in music.  I love that his favorite music is what I sing, and Kasey has gotten him firmly ingrained in country music.  He only sleeps to Craig Morgan.