State of the Weston Address (#2)

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans:

- The economy of my household continues to be stable. The GDP has plateaued and may not rise any time soon (since mommy doesn't work enough hours to get a bonus because she'd rather be spending time with me). Congress (mommy) has succeeded in reducing the national deficit (sightly).

- I went to sleep with a foreign object inside my crib for the very first time last night. It was my giraffe security blanket. I was quite perplexed by its presence. What was a toy doing in my crib at bedtime? Was this some sort of joke? A test? A prank? I grabbed it, thrashed it about, bunched it up under my head like a pillow, sat up and stared at it, laid back down. Turns out, M & D decided I am now old enough to sleep with a "lovie."

- I have a new nickname: Westerly. Daddy calls me this. It reminds me of a "westerly wind" which has nothing to do with babies or even human beings, but I am kind of fond of the name nonetheless.

- I took my first legitimate steps on Sunday (July 27th to be exact). I have been successfully taking several steps on my own for a couple of weeks now, but I have been prone to aborting mission after a few steps for fear of bodily injury (I am reckless in all other respects, but when it comes to walking I'm a bit timid).  I am proud to report that I threw caution to the wind on Sunday and actually covered some decent ground. Coincidentally, daddy was videotaping me, so we have said first steps documented (video below). 

- When I am tired, I twirl my hair around my fingers "like a southern belle" (as daddy puts it).

- My favorite toy is "Ham," a little Siberian Husky stuffed animal that daddy bought me in Vail. In Romanian, rather than "woof," "woof" or "ruff," "ruff," a dog goes "ham," "ham" (with a soft "A" sound).

- My bedtime is 7pm and I wake up between 6 and 6:30am. However, much to mommy's dismay, I've begun waking up at 5:45 on a few random mornings here and there lately. Mommy tried to convince me that 5:45 is an ungodly wake-up time, but her arguments are dubious. I am sure the President wakes up prior to such time, and I am the President of our household after all.

- I have a very large inflated plastic ball that is almost as big as me. I like to stand up, pick the ball up and throw it. To me, this is a herculean effort given the size of the ball. I demonstrate my pride in my extraordinary strength after having thrown such a colossal object by doing "the Incredible Hulk" (better imagined than explained).

- Speaking of size, I was in the 92nd percentile for weight at my 9 month appointment. I am currently tipping the scales at 24.5 pounds. I am not fat. I'm just solid.

- My favorite foods currently: yogurt, cream cheese, eggs, mashed potatoes, whole wheat bread and cheerios (the no sugar, whole grain, fake cheerios mommy buys from Whole Foods). I also like mangos, peaches, bananas, grapes and blueberries. The other night, I ate celery and hot wings for the first time. I was crazy for both. Why have M & D been holding out on me until now?

- My favorite book is Lama, Lama Red Pajama. Daddy hates this book, but mommy always reads it to me. Daddy prefers reading Dr. Seuss and Walt Whitman to me (but sometimes there's only so much Fox In Socks I can take).

- I have a vacation home in the "country." It's Buni and Papa's house. I love weekending there.

- My favorite mode of transportation is my Radio Flyer tricycle.

- I've got a big birthday coming up. The big 1.0. It's less than a month away.

Love,
WFT

 PS - Here are some pictures, both old and new, and the video of my first steps.

My First Haircut

I lied in my last blog entry. You are not officially caught up on my life. I forgot to recount one very significant event that happened within the past two months. I had my first haircut.

M & D both came home early from work on an insignificant Thursday evening and whisked me away in our automobile. I immediately deduced that we were about to engage in something notable. We never take car rides on weeknights.

We drove. We parked. And we entered a resplendent place. A wonderland of sorts. Was this heaven? There were toys lining every last inch of the walls. Everywhere I looked, I found new treasures. Whatever it was, it was magnificent.

The woman working at the wonderland sat me down in a little chair shaped like a car in front a small television with cartoons playing (obviously, she didn't realize that I take no interest in something so pedestrian as cartoons). Was this tiny television displaying such foolish subject matter supposed to serve as some sort of distraction? She didn't realize who she was dealing with. But then she started brushing my hair. I froze and sat there still as could be. I'm not sure there exists a better feeling in the world than someone brushing my hair. She pulled out a pair of scissors, snipped some hair here and there, continued running that glorious comb through my golden locks. And then the haircut was complete (a little too soon in my opinion... I could have sat in that chair all day).

The end product? Quite handsome in front. A catastrophe in back. She gave me a bowl cut in the back and cut it very, very short (three quarters of the way up the back of my head). And, unfortunately, if you're looking at me from the back, I am unable mask a bad haircut with my dashing good looks and piercing blue eyes. All you see is a bad haircut... and my alabaster neck.  Luckily Buni fixed the bowl cut a few days later.

Love,
WFT

My So-Called Undocumented Life

When one goes missing in action from the blogosphere for two months, many significant events in one's life go undocumented. While this doesn't necessarily cause me great anxiety, mommy tells me that my readers (namely, Grandma and Grandpa) cannot be ignored.

Therefore, my loyal readers (and my lawyer readers), here is a digest of my life over the past two months:

- I turned both 9 months old and 10 months old over the last two months. I am not going to point fingers, but someone failed to commemorate by 10 month birthday with a picture.

- My sleep regression quickly ended after the novelty of standing up in my crib wore off and after I learned to lower myself back down to the mattress on my own.  I took a few spills while mastering that maneuver. Sometimes I would tumble to the side like a tree falling, other times I fell hard on my derriere (someone needs to invent diapers with more padding). After some trial and error, I ascertained that I could ease myself back down by holding onto to the top of the crib with one hand for dear life while ever so gracefully lowering my other hand to the mattress. I'm now a pro.

- I attended an 80's playdate hosted by my twin friends Phoebe and Sadie, at which I dressed up as Tom Cruise from Risky Business. Yes, it was a bit humiliating showing up pants-less, but it was worth it for the sake of the costume.

- I've had the pleasure of enjoying several extended stays with Buni and Papa John. They turned their office into a nursery and set up a lovely new crib for me. It's darker and quieter in there than in my nursery at home and it's quite comfortable, I must say. I relish my visits to the "country." There's a yard where I can crawl around. There are so many rocks, which I love inspecting and banging together. And my Radio Flyer tricycle resides out there. We take it for rides around the block. It's one of my favorite things to do.

- M, D and I also took a vacation together. We rented a house on Lake Michigan in Fennville, Michigan. How sweet and quaint, you say? Not so. Not so. We didn't rent just one house and it wasn't just the three of us. We rented two houses, less the 20 feet away from each other, with 8 other couples and 8 other babies. Yes, you read that correctly. 9 couples, 8 babies (all under the age of 11 months), two lake houses. On the one hand, it was wonderful because I got to see all of my best friends (Brady, Jack, Aiden, Alina, Wells, Jett, Isla and Hugo) every day, all day. On the other hand, it was pandemonium. Babies everywhere, food everywhere, toys everywhere, people everywhere. I may have gotten a little bit overwhelmed, and I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I became a "Stage 5 Clinger," as mommy calls it. There was so much going on around me at all time, I needed to take refuge in mommy's embrace. I'm normally independent and self sufficient but in unfamiliar places and situations I sometimes become needy (it's the byproduct of living a quiet, sheltered, regimented life with my nanny; don't judge me). But despite my change in demeanor, I nevertheless had a grand old time on our lake excursion. Overall, it was a fantastic trip that I'll never forget, even though the adults woke me (and Jack) up one night during their raucous game of Celebrity.

- I celebrated my first Father's Day with daddy (see pictures below).

- I got to meet so many of M & D's friends from the East Coast over the next several weeks. M & D like to run somewhat of a Bed and Breakfast (without the breakfast) out of their home when visitors come to town, and it's always fun exploring Chicago with them. I've now been to The J. Parker rooftop three times in my short 10-month life.

- I celebrated my first Fourth of July back in Indiana. I did not appreciate the fireworks waking me up during the night. I'm not sure why M & D thought it was a good idea to travel from a state in which it is not legal to set off fireworks to a state in which it is legal to set off fireworks for my first Fourth of July. I thought we were under siege!

- Finally, last weekend my best bud Brady (better known as the old man) turned 1 year old. He had a neon-themed party and the guests were asked to don neon-colored apparel. M & D went overboard with this. The other guests wore tasteful neon garb. We took the dress code to an entirely new level (pictures below).

That's it, in a nutshell. You are officially caught up. A new State of the Weston Address is coming soon!

Love,
WFT