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.