The Family Edelhay: Jordan, Alex, and Angus

Angus is getting bigger and stronger every day. Tummy time used to end quickly in a tired and collapsed Angus, but lately he's been loving it. When he's on his tummy he can control what he looks at and he loves it. Now he laughs loudly while he's looking around. Last week he was on his tummy in his crib. I caught him arching his neck so that he could see his swallow mobile across the room. He's holding his head up really high for a long period of time. He can see things and people that are far away and through windows. He's watching every moment.

We've been experimenting with having Angus sleep unswaddled. Two weeks ago we put him to bed unswaddled at 8pm. By 11:30, he had somehow managed to scoot his head into the corner of his crib. He moved himself 2 feet and as far as we can tell, he has only one rather crude mechanism for moving. He pulls up his feet, then his legs and his butt so that they're all suspended above his head. Then he lets his legs crash down to the floor of the crib, pushing him forward. He only does this when we're out of the room, and he never seems to cry or be upset when he does it. I think that this must be his first movement to see the world on his own -- how exciting. During his second sleep period, he managed to get himself turned around 90 degrees, and scooted himself over to the opposite corner of the crib. As you might imagine, the quality of sleep for everyone in the house has suffered a little. Angus was up all night with his project. Even though he thought he was stealthy, his Dad and I spent most of the night listening to his weird little crashing pattern.

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Angus is intensely interested in the world. He loves being held by Alex or I while we're in a large group so that he can watch other people talk from the safety of our arms. We went to a Hanukkah party at Scott and Joy Silver's house 2 Sundays ago. Angus watched quietly for the whole party, then when we got home, he transformed into a chatterbox. He just talked and talked and talked. Just like all the people at the party. After that, he invented a game where he sits in my lap and nuzzels his head into my chest. Then, he'll lift his head up, look at Alex sitting next to me, and once he has Alex's attention, break out into the biggest, happiest, proudest smile you've ever seen. As soon as Alex smiles back, he burrows his head into my chest again, only to repeat the whole sequence with smiles of increasing brilliance.

Angus is also meeting his first friends. He met Doug and Nancy Treder's son, Elijah at a santa photo shoot on Saturday. He's been spending some quality eating and sleeping time with Kim Painter and Hui-San Chung's daughter Amelia, as Kim and I enjoy our maternity leaves together and look for a nanny to look after the two of them. Last week, Amelia was at our house for the first time. She was fussing, and I was holding Angus over my shoulder. Everytime, I moved so that Angus couldn't see Amelia, he made an abrupt noise of dissatisfaction, until I turned him so that he could watch her.

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My cousin Kevin Kilcullen and his wife Rachel just had a beautiful new boy, Sean Jacob Kilcullen. He was born on Saturday the 8th (exactly 11 weeks after Angus), and he weighed 8 lbs 9 oz.

Kevin and I were born just a couple of months apart. It was always so much fun to have a cousin that was exactly my age. Now Angus and Sean will be able to see each other grow up as well.

Congratulations Kevin and Rachel!

We had a great time for Thanksgiving up in Anacortes at Jordan's parents' house. There was a huge turnout:

• Don, Lisa, Zack and Zoe
• Babette & Terry
• Jordan, Alex & Angus
• Owen & Amy
• Jan & Roxy
• Stan & Nancy
• Fred & Kathleen

Angus spent the week surrounded by people who loved him. Angus was social and outgoing and loved all of the attention. He particularly loved spending time with Zoe, the first kid he's gotten time with. She read him his book and her books. She made brightly colored strips of paper with crayons, then she twisted them in the air while he marveled at them. What a great time!

My father took the morning shift with Angus. We brought him upstairs at 6am and my father played with Angus until he konked out. At one point, I found them both rocking out to heavy metal on the clock radio. I didn't think either of them could stand metal. At the end of every play session I'd find Angus konked out sleeping on my dad, with my dad happily holding him.

This year, Dad and Don took the experimental turkey to a whole new level. Dad bought a smoker and they took shifts waking up every 2 hours Wednesday night. The result is that the experimental turkey beat the traditional turkey.

It was wonderful to be surrounded by family and friends. The three of us were so happy and relaxed. You can see all of our photos, or check out my mother's photos.

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