Simon is really at the stage where he wants to put everything into his mouth. This is reason why we don’t let the cats in his play area or let Simon crawl around in the area where the cats hang out. I don’t want to imagine what sorts of things he’d pick up around the kitties.
Look at that innocent looking smile.
Simon and I had dinner at the mall and he gave me this look with furrowed brows.
He really does have expressive features sometimes. I think he just wasn’t sure of what I gave him to eat but eventually he figured out he liked it: roast turkey.
When Simon was almost 5 months old, Ron won this Despicable Me toy from Santa Cruz.
Now at almost 9.5 months old, Simon seems to have grown quite a bit!
He can stand up pretty straight with his feet flat on the ground. He has been using this car to kind of get around but when he feels unsure, he’ll sit down right away. Also, the base of the car gets in the way of his feet so he almost trips over himself and the toy while trying to move with it.
Simon went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Chung since Grandma was just coming back from Taiwan. Here he is exploring his crib there, now he is able to stand up on it. Ron had to lower the mattress so that Simon wouldn’t try to crawl out.
But, nap time ended up being in his new padded play area since Simon needed to be cuddled to sleep for some reason, the first time in a long time. He’s been teething so probably quite uncomfortable.
Today we went to visit at Auntie Patsy’s and Uncle Will’s house. Patsy baked cookies (while I entertained Simon) and we had lunch. Simon had his first up close and personal experience with a Christmas tree. He crawled near it and shook some branches on the way so that some needles fell off. But he seemed more interested in the dust buster Patsy used to vacuum up the dropped needles.
We likely aren’t going to get to a tree this year since we don’t have anywhere to put it. Most of the extra space is taken up by Simon’s toys and strollers. But he’ll have lots of opportunity to take pictures with other people’s trees instead. Simon probably doesn’t understand what Christmas is right now but it’ll be fun to watch as he grows up and gets excited during the season. Right now he gets presents all the time so everyday is Christmas to him!
My little Hunk, dressed and ready to start the day! Simon has been wearing the same onesie since Thursday afternoon so he was due for a bath and change of clothes. I was surprised he hadn’t managed to dirty himself from eating for more than a day and a half. He usually spills or smooshes some of his food somewhere on this clothes so we end up changing him often.
Simon played with daddy for a few minutes this morning before we started our day.
Simon had a good morning nap so had a good time at Gymboree this afternoon. He spent a lot of time laughing and playing nicely with the other kids. There were some things we couldn’t do today though since some of the setups require two parents. For example, there was the soft fabric tunnel placed on top of an elevated curvy walkway. If I tried to leave Simon at the entry and run to the exit to coax him down, he might have fallen over the edge. Another parent helped me with him to go through it once but she also had her own daughter there so didn’t want to impose further. But I think he still had a good time and he was exhausted since when I tried to feed him lunch after class, he just kept on rubbing his eyes and ear and wanted to go to sleep. So we drove to our next destination, a 1-year-old’s birthday party in San Ramon. The party was fun for Simon to use up his energy and play with some other kids’ toys and crawl around on a plushy carpet. The only thing not fun about the day was the traffic. I must have had bad luck because on the way there, I got stuck at the Caldecott Tunnel because of a policeman stopping a truck in the middle bore so reduced lanes and rubbernecking made traffic slow. Then on the way back, I got stuck at the tunnel again since the 2 left lanes were closed then I got stuck getting to the Bay Bridge because there was another car accident, 3 cars damaged and 2 police cars were on the scene… then the bridge itself was packed! Thank goodness for Fastrak! That’s one thing I don’t miss about living in the East Bay: the traffic into SF (on unlucky days like today).
So it took me about 2 hours to get home but dinner was waiting for me and good dinner conversation. Simon seemed to be responding to me when I said “na na”, he would say “da da”. I wanted to laugh but also didn’t want to discourage him since I notice if I laughed a little bit, he’d stop. I am exhausted at dinner but hearing how excited he is made me smile.
