Weston had his nine-month appointment yesterday, and he maintains his reign as The Tank:
Length: 31 inches (>97%)
Weight: 23 lbs 5 oz (90%)
Head: 49 cm (>97%)
The appointment went fine. He received a couple of immunizations, but I had his blue blankie ready, so after a couple of loud, quick cries, he smushed the blanket into his face and cuddled with it and was pretty much okay. Yay. Sad baby = sad mommy.
The pediatrician asked lots and lots of questions about his eating and sleeping and vision and hearing and language skills and mobility. He seems like he's doing well for the most part, but she was a teensy bit concerned that Weston isn't showing any effort or inclination towards crawling or pulling himself up. She said that if he is still having difficulty with these things in another 4-6 weeks, then he may need to come in for a developmental exam, where his motor skills and coordination are tested to see if there's a real problem.
So, immediately, I panicked and did lots of internet research. I learned the following four things:
(1) I usually surround him with toys, which is giving him little motivation to crawl.
(2) Tim and I often let him walk around the apartment holding on to our fingers, also giving him little motivation to explore other methods of locomotion.
(3) Quoth the Wide Wide World of Web: "Experts believe chubbier babies crawl later since it's harder to push up onto all fours and drag their extra body weight." The pediatrician also mentioned this. Haha! Awww, so sad. But makes sense.
(4) Again quoth the Web: "Researchers have found that the Back to Sleep Campaign -- which encourages parents to put their infants to sleep on their back to prevent SIDS -- may be causing delays in crawling." Yep. Weston ALWAYS sleeps on his back, and is extremely averse to being on his tummy. He always rolls over when I put him on his tummy.
So, in light of this update from the doctor, we are now initiating "Operation: Crawl, Baby, Crawl!" in our household. My plan is to get Weston on his tummy at least 10 times a day for at least a few minutes at a time, and to place toys or his blankie in front of him so that he can reach for it and try to get it. I'm also going to get down on the floor with him as much as possible, as well as lay him across my legs or on my chest so that he gets maximum tummy time. That's the plan! Hopefully it works and we can skip the developmental/motor skills exam. Crawl, baby, crawl!!
"Ooooh, me want phone. Want. WANT."
"Hey, little help with the big fella? I'm not so good at opening boxes that are my size."
"Ohhh, now I get it. You press the buttons. What are buttons, exactly? Who cares. Baby brain hurt."
"I love Giraffe. Giraffe is my new favorite."
So, it was a good time for all involved, and it was actually really fun to give Weston a whole bunch of pretty, interesting, brightly-colored toys all at once. I can see why parents spoil their children sometimes. :-) Hopefully these playthings will hold him over until his birthday in February. Then we will wrap up all his birthday gifts (that are currently in plain view in his closet) and officially present them to him as well.
Jennifer Connelly
Dionne Warwick
Bob Barker
Frank Sinatra
The appointment went fine. He received a couple of immunizations, but I had his blue blankie ready, so after a couple of loud, quick cries, he smushed the blanket into his face and cuddled with it and was pretty much okay. Yay. Sad baby = sad mommy.
So, immediately, I panicked and did lots of internet research. I learned the following four things:
So, in light of this update from the doctor, we are now initiating "Operation: Crawl, Baby, Crawl!" in our household. My plan is to get Weston on his tummy at least 10 times a day for at least a few minutes at a time, and to place toys or his blankie in front of him so that he can reach for it and try to get it. I'm also going to get down on the floor with him as much as possible, as well as lay him across my legs or on my chest so that he gets maximum tummy time. That's the plan! Hopefully it works and we can skip the developmental/motor skills exam. Crawl, baby, crawl!!
Weston loves his blue blankie, and he snuggles with it all the time:
We watched the Macy's Parade (of course!!) while the bird roasted:
I whipped up some side items:
And Tim carved that beautiful bird:
It was a veritable feast, and clearly much, much too much food for two people:
Hooray for a great meal and bounteous leftovers!!
For his part, Weston enjoyed sucking on his mashed-potato fingers:
FRIDAY
That evening we headed to Old Town for the annual Holiday Celebration. Weston explored while we waited for the trolley:
The child is always palpably more satisfied with his existence when he's roaming around with the help of a couple fingers:
He looked cute and cozy in the stroller, thanks to his swell new hat:
We enjoyed the festivities with Takob:
Family photo fun!
A big section of a street was blocked off and covered with snow. Well, it wasn't actually snow... it was more like a sheet of icy slush, but everyone enjoyed it (and I hoped that maybe someday they'd make it to Utah to experience real powder):
Ya just don't see this in SoCal... except in Father of the Bride, the night before Annie's wedding:
We also got to enjoy some reindeer hindquarters:
Later we posed for a lovely group photo:
And I fed Weston some baby cereal while Tim rode a bronze wolf:
Weston was adorable at the Cheesecake Factory:
Bursting with baby excitement:
Enjoying the delicious spoon:
Looking very much like Tim (for the first time in his life):
Next we hit Squeeze & Scoop, the new fro-yo joint where you squeeze your own fro-yo, top it however you like, and then weigh it to pay. I think I was the last person in Pasadena who hadn't been there yet:
It's very light and cool and trendy inside:
We concluded our evening by visiting the newly-lit Christmas tree at One Colorado, where I proceeded to take a horribly blurry photo:
SATURDAY
Voila New Jean!
I strongly recommend that you visit Erika at Madison 101 if you're in need of a new look. She is incredible:
I love my short bob!!
That evening, we put up the ol' Christmas decorations. I helped Weston hang his shiny new ornament:
Here's Tim getting in on the decorating action:
Weston enjoyed staring at us and the pretty lights:
It's fun having our tree up. It makes me smile.
Afterwards, Weston played in the Christmas tree box for a good long while:
And later, we busted out his tiny collection of Christmas-themed board books:
SUNDAY
It was sponsored by the L.A. Department of Water and Power (I don't know about you guys, but for me, Christmas = L.A. Department of Water and Power):
There were many cute displays:
But somehow a whole herd of radioactive zombie deer managed to get in, too:
It was much haha fun time yah! 
