Auntie Em', Auntie Em'

Kansas

We moved out to join Bryan at his base in Kansas May 26th. Papa George and Uncle Joe so graciously hauled our things across country while we took a short flight out (3-4 hours tops). Edwin freaked out the first 10-15 minutes because of the cramped space, but he slept well. He was very bashful once we saw Daddy at the airport waiting for us, but they soon hit it off like old pals again. We live very near everything so it was a relaxingly short drive. Our new home is perfect for just the three of us. Edwin's room is the best part of the house.

He 'meows' at his lion

A well stocked kitchen

Sneaky picture taking...

I love nap time <3

His favorite hat

Our House in the Middle of...

A sea of dogs and excrement. Honestly, our building is nothing but other Army spouses and college kids (aka, lots of dogs and lots of poop.) The dogs down the hall are yappy little dachshunds, and they run out and lick Edwin whenever we're all in the hallway at the same time. He loves it! Most of the dogs are tiny little yappers, though there are a few bigger dogs that live downstairs. They're never out at the same time as us thank goodness. We must be the only people in our whole building without animals.

It has been an oppressively hot summer, so we unfortunately spend a lot of time inside watching his favorite shows and movies (Yo Gabba Gabba!, Pocoyo, Gnomeo & Juliet, etc) There is a nice little park up the hill from our apartment we play in each morning for an hour or two depending on the heat. Edwin picks up sticks and rocks of all shapes and sizes and hauls his goodies home to place on his windowsill. We're almost always the only ones at the park for some odd reason, though there is the occasional small herd of children or random jogger. One of our favorite indoor activities is to go to Hastings after dinner. We rent so many movies and Edwin enjoys running rampant around the books section. He likes to pick up the movie/television replica swords and 'Hi-yah!' Daddy and I.  He has a pretty consistent schedule, he's usually in bed by 9:30-10:00pm latest and it certainly helps that Bryan gets home at roughly the same time each evening.

MONTHS 13-17/Part 2

HERE COMES THE SUN

Finally the weather decided to snap out of being dreary and wet. Easter turned out to be quite warm and Edwin got very sweaty in his ducky outfit very quickly.

Here Comes the Bride

Aunt Sara got married May 5th. Mommy and Aunt Erin were  bridesmaids and Edwin got to run around with lots of other little people from Uncle Wes' family. It was a Carnival wedding which meant lots of games and fun.

Wocka-wocka :P

"What is Aunt Erin doing to her head?"

The 'candy dots' cake

He wasn't happy about the photobooth moustaches

Every color of the rainbow (I'm in red)

The rest of the summer proved to be super hot. The only consolation is the cooler mornings we learned to take advantage of. Edwin played in his very first sandbox.

'Ain't it the truth...'

<3

Edwin's 'Flower Garden'

"Pbbbbttt!" (blowing on them to make them spin)

 

Sandbox & Sun

Edwin's bus

Sand decidedly does not taste very pleasant

First Sandbox

The scope of Edwin Land

 He figured out how to 'start' the mower

AND AWAY WE GO...

We moved to Kansas at the end of May to our first Base. Edwin missed everyone very much but we'd be back to visit...

MONTH 13-17/Part 1

PROGRESS

I'm discovering doing bulk months might be the easiest way to document much of what has happened. We've been shuffling so much around the country there's not really been time to just sit and write things down. Thus far Edwin has/can:

Says 'No'- December 2011/January 2012
Eight Teeth- January/February 2012
First word "Dance"- February 2012
Shakes head 'Yes'- March 8th 2012
7 teeth-May 2012
20 teeth- July 2012
Says 'Eddie'-July 22nd 2012

He  has 25 words & noises as of now and they are:
*Yes
*No
*Yeah
*Hello
*'Hi'
*Hot
*Hat
*Cheese
*Cat
*Door
*Dog
*Ball
*Mama
*Papa
*Dada
*Mum (Grandma)
*Dance
*Woof
*Meow
*Quack
*Eddie
*Ice
*Yum/Nom
*Sleeping noises
*High-Yah!

He supplements these with all sorts of jabbering. He's got a rotten streak a mile wide and he will try to get away with anything he can manage. He 'laughs' at people so terribly fakely and he takes every opportunity to wack people with sticks as swords.

 DADDY, EDWIN & THE ZOO

Bryan has been home sporadically, he had a short break before going to our first duty station. We went to the Toledo Zoo:

 He thought the birds at the aviary were funny...

The Penguins were noisy...

..So were the monkeys!

 He liked the children's center, and wore daddy out!

The baby tigers wanted to play!

The statues didn't bite luckily..

Bryan headed off to his base and the we found things to keep busy as the weather warmed up...

The Times, They Are a' (Diaper) Changing

Wow. I cannot have possibly shot through 8 months without posting. Seems very strange, but at least I have a little more free time now. Way too many things have gone on since, so  a shortlist rounding out the first year is the best way of slogging through:

WALKING:
Edwin began to try walking the first day he hit 9 months, then decided against it. He took three huge steps in Grandma Carol's living room, right to me. He spent the next week taking a few more steps here and there, but stopped abruptly.  The second week of 10 months he took his first consistent steps and has been running, literally running, as fast as his fat little legs can carry him ever since.



BCT

Bryan graduated from BCT at the end of October. It was rough having only letters to communicate with, but at least we'll have mementos for the future. He's so tanned and lean from the Carolina sun, it's strange.He's in the best health, but the worst sleep of his life, so he's this zombie with great skin. Edwin seemed very happy to see him.

He left for AIT the next day after graduation. We were not very sure when we'd seem him again, though it turns out he graduated AIT in March.

 Ta-Da! He's in there somewhere

Hi Daddy!

 

Halloween

He had his first Halloween. We made him a dragon costume, though he looked more like a Ninja Turtle so that's what I stuck with at times. We missed Trick-or-Treat night, so we had a very delayed costume day for Edwin. I doubt he cared.
                                                        Thanksgiving
He REALLY REALLY likes meat. Like so much, it's scary; I'm at risk of losing a finger sometimes in the path to his many tiny, sharp teeth. Thanksgiving was a field of death for my hands.He feeds himself with a spoon or fork, sometimes even managing to get food into his mouth.

                                                        CHRISTMAS

Christmas was ridiculously as eventful as one would expect. Bryan got to come home from AIT! Edwin played...outside (we did not have much snow) and was a very happy and excitable little bugger.We finally got some snow closer to January.

Oh...and also.......

                     . ........................... We got married :)

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And those are updates through to the first of the year... phew! :)