Random Pictures

I was looking through my pictures and found some more cute Gwen ones. I thought that I'd just pile them all together and give brief explanations for them. Mostly, they're from moments where you go, "grab the camera, Honey! You've got to see this!"

Also, I forgot to update about Gwen's 12 month check-up. No, that's not a check-up that takes 12 months to complete. She weighed in at 26.6 pounds. No wonder my back hurts if I have to carry her for more than a few minutes. She's in the 97% for weight. The doctor told us to put her on 2% milk instead of whole and to really encourage her to start walking so she won't get too flabby. Being too rolly can make it harder for her to walk and do the other big motor movements. She's in the 75% for height and head circumference. Ideally her weight should be in the 75% or there abouts. He told us not to worry because most toddlers stop gaining weight for the next year or so and start to thin out after they start walking.

Yeah, so no, Gwen's not walking yet. These last few days she's really been more focused on staying on her feet though. She'll cruise for much longer distances and hold out her hands and "ask" you to help her stand and walk to where she wants to be. She still reverts to a crawl if she wants to get anywhere quickly. Her doctor said she's actually right on target for her age - most babies don't walk until 13-14 months. Gwen's also not talking much. She doesn't use any words, but instead jargons at us. Jargoning is where she strings sounds together and uses inflection to sound like what she thinks we sound like. It's more complex than babbling, which is just repeating sylables without the pauses and tones that are included in jargoning. Most babies Gwen's age have 3-4 words by now. Her doctor was a little concerned about that, but asked if she points and shows enthusiasm for something. She does do that and she seems to understand quite a bit of what we say. He said that the ability to point and show enthusiasm for an object is a big determiner for autism. Most autistic babies her age don't do that. He thinks she's just a slower talker but she'll catch up.
For her actually birthday, we took Gwen out to eat at Fazoli's. She loves spaghetti.See.Gwen's been trying to use utensils lately. She can get the food on the end sometimes, but then she picks it off with her fingers and puts it in her mouth. When I'm at work, Jonathan gives Gwen piano lessons. She's very good at eating sheet music and banging as loud as possible. She's a genious!When we went to visit Heidi and baby Jami at the hospital, Gwen found a nice place to climb into and hide. She was so happy with herself until she realized that she was stuck. Then Daddy had to rescue her.Gwen gets attacked by prunes and loses the battle.This is why all our toilet paper rolls are empty and we seem to go through the stuff so much faster these days.