Weston's Favorites, Updated

It's time for another round of, "What Does Weston LOVE?" (Applause!) It's really funny to see how Weston's interests and preferences evolve as he gets older. Remember when his most favorite thing in the entire world was Window? He used to lie on the couch and stare up at the window for minutes and minutes on end. Oh, how time flies and how quickly they move on. :-)

Favorite #1: ORANGE RING

Weston has this lighthouse-shaped ring stacking toy ("Mula") that I found at Ikea when he was little. It's very brightly colored, so I knew that playing with it would make him a mathematical and/or musical genius. Here's what it looks like:

In the beginning, he used to stare at it, and then he started to touch it while I named the colors, and then he figured out that he could release the rings by turning it over, and then he figured out that he could bang them together to make noise, etc. The funniest thing, though, is that lately he's become OBSESSED with the orange ring. He doesn't care about any of the other colors; just the orange one. He carries it around with him EVERYWHERE, and sucks on it all the time. (Hopefully it doesn't have too much lead in it... that might counteract the mathematical/musical genius theory.) Anyway, here's the evidence:

That orange ring is perpetually in his hot little hand. Some of his favorites are just so unexplainably random. :-)

Favorite #2: BLANKIE.

Blankie was actually one of Weston's favorites long before Orange Ring came along. The wife of our former bishop gave this to me at my baby shower, and I have always loved it. When Weston reached the age where he could sleep with a blankie, Tim and I gave him this one because it's crocheted (knitted?), so it has small openings that, we assumed, would prevent suffocation. Anyway, since then, he's been deeply attached to it. It is the ultimate security blanket. He loves to cuddle with it, and often he will drag it behind him around the house. (That grosses me out a little; I always try to grab the other end and carry it like a wedding dress train when he passes through the kitchen.) Blankie is also always my first line of soothing defense when he falls or otherwise hurts himself; I just carry him to his crib and grab Blankie so that he can smush his teary-eyed little face into it. It's very sweet, the attachment that he has to Blankie.

Favorite #3: CELL PHONES

Weston LOVES our cell phones. I'm not exactly sure why... maybe because it belongs to Mommy and Daddy, and he sees us using it? Because it's the perfect size for his little hands? Because it's the perfect size for his little mouth? Because it lights up? I don't know. But he loves to get a hold of our cell phones and suck on them. You'd be surprised how slobbery cell phones can get and still work like a charm.

(Oh, and you'll notice one of Tim's favorites in the picture below -- testing new fashion statements on his helpless little baby):

Favorite #4: PUSHY CART

Weston loves to push his little walker (which for some reason I have named "Pushy Cart") around the apartment. We used to have to help him a whole bunch with it, but now he's A-OK on his own, and he can push it and turn it around and even hold onto it with one hand to grab other things (usually Orange Ring, Blankie, or Cell Phone). Sometimes he also plays with the little toys on the front of Pushy Cart, but usually it's just his means of conveyance:

Finally, Favorite #5: COUCH

Now that Weston is cruising around, he has become rather fond of the couches in the living room, which he uses to lean against and steady himself:

However, he has recently discovered that Couch can be useful in many other ways besides just standing/leaning. There's the belly button backward bend:

And the Great Depression-era "my life is over" crouch:

And the assisted squat (a la baby aerobics):

In any case, it's highly amusing to watch him flex and wiggle all over the couches. Anyway, those are Weston's favorites for now. I'm eager to find out what may unfold in the next installment of "What Does Weston LOVE?" Until then!