Bringing up the average

Weston had his check-up with the pediatrician yesterday and is generally healthy. She said he does have some fluid on his ears, but we have a new battery of meds that should help with that. We will give these to him for the rest of the month to try to get the congestion cleared up, and then will having his hearing tested again in January. If that test doesn't come out well, we will see an ENT and figure out where to go from there. So, that's the ear update. But the really awesome part of the visit was where we found out just exactly how huge Weston is. He's the kid that is bringing up the average, for sure. He weighs 47 lb 9 oz (98th percentile) and is 3 ft 9.25 in (99.8th percentile). I think it won't be long before he is bigger than I am!!

First Basketball Game

Ruth is playing basketball this winter. She is on the Lady Rams, and Jeff is her coach. Today was the first game, and it was so much fun to watch. Most of these girls have never played before, but even so, they all did really well and were so cute. In this league they do not keep score for the 7-8 year olds, but Ruth did make a basket, which was VERY exciting! She will be playing every Saturday from now until the middle of February (with a couple of weeks off for Christmas), so you should come out and see her play if you can. My pictures are not of the greatest quality, since I was trying to take them while simultaneously keeping my little guy corralled and off the court.

Snow Day

It's beginning to look a lot like...Festivus*

*What is Festivus?

What's that you say?

For a while Jeff and I have suspected that Weston was in training to become a professional ignorer. The boy just doesn't seem to hear a thing we say. And today we found out why. It's because, according to the hearing test administered at the preschool today, he can't hear. Well, he can hear, of course, he just can't hear well. And the administrator was too kind to say that he failed the hearing test. She simply said she thought he needed to be retested. In a way, it's a relief to know that he isn't just tuning out our voices. The tester said she thought it was due to his congestion, which seems to be fairly perpetual. So, we are off to the pediatrician next week to discuss. We will keep you posted on the course of action recommended. In the meantime, we will be adopting the "Slower and Louder" method of communication with Weston, and we will remind ourselves not to be frustrated if he doesn't respond the first three times we say something.

Seven and a Half

Brazilian Thanksgiving

We celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends today, and there wasn't a turkey in sight! Jeff and I always host a themed Thanksgiving party, and this year we went with a Brazilian theme. We made pao de queijo (cheese bread), shrimp moqueca (a shrimp stew that is served over rice), maionese (Brazilian-style potato salad), vinagrete (think salsa without a hint of heat). Other guests brought rice and beans, churrasco (grilled chicken and beef, served on sword-like skewers), grilled cheese cubes, sweet passion fruit pizza, flan, fried plantains, and Guarana (Brazilian soda). It was a wonderful, if non-traditional, Thanksgiving feast, and we were so glad to get to share it with people who are special to us. We have so much to be thankful for! Hope you all had a special day with special people as well. Happy Thanksgiving!