6 Month Quiz

Our daughter just returned from her six-month checkup. Since my wife is now back at work, it was a special day out for daddy and little girl. She's not as taken with trains as her older brother, which meant that much comforting was required to pull out a smile from her on the 4 train. Eventually, she did manage to light up the underground.

But to the details. Each time we head to the Upper East Side for a checkup, we place our bets and take our chances. We thought that you might like a chance to play along.

(1) Our daughter weighed 14 lb. 10 oz. in late September. Her weight on November 1, according to the nurse who can't get past referring to me as "Daddy," was:

        (a) 15 lb. 14 oz.
        (b) 16 lb.
        (c) 16 lb. 3 oz.
        (d) 17 lb.

The correct answer is (b), the guess submitted by our new nanny (who we love, by the way, regardless of the mildly disturbing things we've been hearing about the performance of our last one). She eked out a victory over my wife who guessed (a) and myself who guessed (c). I added (d) because multiple choice seems to need at least four options. If you're curious, her weight puts her solidly in the 50th percentile, where she has camped out pretty much from the beginning.

(2) She (our daughter, not our nanny), was measured at 26 inches in September. Her length at this last visit was:

        (a) 26 inches
        (b) 27 inches
        (c) 28 inches
        (d) 28 1/4 inches

If you guessed (c), you're right. Hard to believe, but she grew a full two inches in a month, pushing her right to the edge of the percentile chart. From what we can gather from squinting, she's either in the 99th or 100th percentile for height--though I'm fairly confident that she's not the longest six-month old in the world, past or present. Since she now sits up on her own quite well, perhaps we should now start talking about her height instead of her length.

Did I mention that she's sitting up quite well on her own?

Her grandfather thinks that she's at least in the 125th percentile for cuteness, and he was a rather stern state district judge for many years.

No objection from me (except that his number sounds a little low).

More later perhaps.

Do Me a Solid

Two big bits of news to report today: First, our daughter went to the doctor for her check up and for her polio shot. She weighs in at 14 lb. 10 oz., which means 50th percentile. By their count she's also 26 inches long, which makes her apparently longer than 80% of the girls her age. Obviously she's going to Princeton or Harvard (her choice).

The polio shot resonates with us, too--my father contracted bulbar polio at age 6. It's not that he's had a poor life in the 60 years that followed, but it's been more, well, complicated. And his body has been falling in on itself lately, almost as if the virus has come back for something important it left. Officially, it's called post-polio syndrome, and it's still largely a mystery. There's much more to say here, of course--sons make themselves of their fathers--but this moment belongs to the girl.

Anyway, the second thing to report is that our daughter had her first taste of solid food today--namely rice cereal mixed with breast milk. Some kids, we're told, resist the spoon in the mouth, but she took to it as easily as her brother did (perhaps because they're both half asian). She ate the first batch my wife made for her and most of the second, and then followed it with four ounces of formula, falling asleep as the last half ounce pooled in the nipple. Her sleeping has improved to nearly through the night, but we're hoping that the thick rice in her belly will help her dreams grow even longer.

May those dreams be sweet as well as long, little love. Good night.

Summer Happened

We left our tracks in the sandbox like pioneers nosing around the moon.

blog headers

These are all the headers used for the blog thus far. (Most of them begin as photographs by my lovely wife, so credit is due.)

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