Well, as seems to be pretty consistent in the life of a newborn, the last few weeks have provided more firsts. Connor got to experience his first Halloween, which I think Mom and Dad were more excited about than he was, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Connor looked absolutely adorable in his Winnie the Pooh costume. We got lots of great photos and Connor go to go say hello to a few of the neighbors. I'm sure next year Connor will get to do a little trick or treating, but this seemed like a pretty good indoctrination.
Connor also got to experience his first UCLA tailgate, and annual tradition for the Means household for the past 6 years or so. Connor had a great time tailgating, got to see all sorts of friends and both sets of grandparents, and even managed to sneak in a nap before the game. UCLA played one of its better games of the season, so Connor even got to witness a UCLA victory.
As far as development goes, Connor has started rolling over with some consistency in the last week or two, although at the moment he is like Zoolander in that he can only go one direction. He typically rolls from his back, over his right shoulder, and on to his belly. Once on his belly he's gotten pretty good at playing with toys, but still seems baffled by the idea that he could possibly use his arms to prop his chest up and potentially roll back over. We've also started working with him on sitting up and his stomach and back muscles have started to get stronger. That doesn't mean that every so often he doesn't completely topple over sideways, but he seems to at least be moving closer to being able to sit up by himself. He's also been introduced to a bunch of new foods in the last few weeks, and we still haven't found many things that he doesn't eagerly gobble up. He's tried yams, carrots, squash and apples and loved them all.
The highlight of the past few weeks was a trip to New York for a wedding and to visit Aunt Lara. We were definitely a little nervous about the cross country flight with an infant, as we've all been on flights with a crying baby. Connor decided to stress Mom and Dad out by crying hysterically while we boarded our plane in LAX, and Sara and I gave each other a look of "Oh no, what have we done??", but after a little food and the plane taking off Connor was an angel. I'm not going to say that the flight wasn't stressful, but we definitely didn't ruin everyone else's flight. Once we arrived we headed to the apartment we had rented and discovered when we got there that the owner had forgotten about the crib request. Needless to say there were a few minutes of panic before we went in to Macgyver mode and managed to make up a bed for Connor in the closet. We managed to spend a good chunk of time with Lara, and she was a great baby sitter on Saturday night while we went to the wedding. Connor got to take a long walk through Central Park, he got to ride in a few NYC taxi cabs, and he even took a few rides on the Subway. The flight home was about as eventful as the flight out, and Sara and I couldn't have felt any luckier when we landed at LAX.
We are now getting ourselves ready for the holidays, with a quick trip to Longview, WA for Thanksgiving, and then we'll get to introduce Connor to Christmas music, decorations, smells, and later in the month, presents.
