4 Month Check-up

     We went for Esme's four month check-up this week.  I'll start with the stats.  She weighs 15 lbs, 6 oz (80th %ile); she's 26.5 inches long/tall (99th %ile); and her head is 17 inches around, which the doctor double checked because she said she always double checks when a head size is listed as so much larger than usual.  And the 99th percentile on her height is an estimate.  The highest graphed line they had on the computer was 97th percentile, and Esme's data point was clearly above that.  So she's one of the tallest babies her age.  Which led the doctor to ask us who's so tall in our families.  Aside from Tina's brother, Joe, and Opa, my mom's dad, we couldn't really think of anyone.  So families:  remind us of the tall people in our genetic background.

Hey, is this edible?

     We also talked about food with the doctor.  Esme has been watching us eat with great fascination for the past several weeks.  The doctor said that introducing food at four months is fine if the child seems to express interest.  So we went out yesterday and bought Earth's Best baby foods:  Carrots (ingredients:  organic carrots, water), sweet potatoes, peas, and whole grain rice cereal.  We started yesterday with the carrots, and I'd guess that at least one spoonful was swallowed.  The rest was smeared all over the tray of her Bumbo, her face, her bib, her hands, my glasses, Tina's hair.  (There may be some exaggeration in that sentence.)  Tina took pictures, so look for those on her blog sometime soon...

It's 50 in there on this 30 degree day.

     We're hoping one of our next purchases can be for a baby food processor.  This would allow us to pick things out of the garden and give them to her (we still have carrots and squash from this past season, and I put up a hoop house, so we are still producing arugula and mustard greens), as well as setting aside a small portion of whatever we're eating and help her develop a taste for the food we love to eat.  (Can you put a slice of Silvio's pizza through one of those?)

     We also talked about sleeping, sleeping patterns, locations, etc.  So, for the first night last night, Esme did not join us in our bed for the rest of the night after she woke up hungry in her crib at 2:10.  After she ate, I took her back to her room and swayed until she got heavy (all the parents out there will certainly understand that idea), then put her back to bed.  She slept the rest of the night, making it all the way until 7:00.  And she never seemed to be too upset about any of it, so (the optimistic side of me thinks) this may be the beginning of a new phase in our sleep and parenting.

     Finally, we talked about car seats.  As Esme is within four inches of the maximum size for her infant car seat, the doctor suggested we start looking around for one of the 'convertable' seats.  These can be either front or rear facing, and can take a child from 10 lbs all the way up to 70 lbs.  The drawback, of course, is that the whole thing stays in the car, eliminating the quiet carry back into the house, not disturbing her after she's fallen asleep on the way home.

Hey Dad, where we goin?

Finding the Write Time

     I have to admit it.  I really thought I would have time to post to this blog almost daily.  Certainly weekly.  Perhaps I thought I can handle a classroom of 28 kids for seven hours at a time and still get papers graded, have individual time with each of them, and revise upcoming lessons based on the capacities the students show day to day.


     So being one on one with an infant at least felt like, thought it would be busy to be sure, it would still offer ten minutes a day to sit down and write about the moments when I can see her learn (she went from little hand control to being able to reach out and grasp objects over the past two weeks), when I can see her smile (at Tina, at Zoey, at me, at our 83 year old neighbor Sally), and funny moments throughout the days.  Well, as Esme grows beyond the newborn stage, she is more active, more awake, more playful, more demanding -- more everything!  It's fabulous, but it has not been conducive to maintaining a blog.
      Well certainly I'll get a lot of writing done while Tina's home for Winter Break.  Two weeks with both of us around will offer plenty of time to write.  Wrong.  Family time has been great, but we've done more, spent more time together, awestruck, while looking at this tiny person we made.  I only realized on Monday, when Tina went back to work, that I hadn't posted here since before she started break.
     I have a folder full of pictures to share and vignettes to tell, but I find myself wanting to explore the writing side of the blog more so than the pictures.  But we seem to be at the limit of the amount of writing that Esme will allow me in one sitting.  I'll leave you this time with a short video showing how Esme's been keeping herself busy here next to me as I write.

      But I make a commitment to you, dear reader.  I will write daily, at least ten minutes.  Keep in mind I may not post daily, as the writings may add up into a larger story, but write I will.