Little arms, big embrace

You know what's swell?
A hug from your child, even if those little arms don't quite reach around your neck yet.

At Month 6, a safe bet

At the doc: It's all fun and games
until somebody gets their thighs poked

We walked into the doctor's office the other day for Elise's 6-month checkup and commenced with the routine:
Pull off her clothes, let the diaper-clad child try to rip apart the butcher paper on the exam table and then set her on the plastic measuring tray.
The measurement: 28 inches.
A few minutes later her doctor came in. She gave us a new set of those interesting yet somewhat meaningless growth comparison charts. Turns out our child still is comfortably above the curve -- is it possible to be in the 110th percentile? -- for her length. I can only assume we'll see a similar placement after her first IQ test.
Anyway, back to length and height. The doctor cannot properly estimate Elise's adult height until she is about 2 years old.
"But it's safe to say she will not be short," the doc said.
Yes, that's probably a safe prediction.
Everything else checked out just fine. The heart beats, the eyes still move, the ears aren't oozing. She got another slew of immunizations -- three to the thighs, one in oral liquid form -- and Anni and I each got poked for a flu immunization. (In the arms, not the thighs. That'd be odd.)
When we put Elise in her car seat at the end of the appointment, we were reminded of her length. At 28 inches, and with toes dangling over the edge of the seat, she is an inch short of requiring the next "child safety and travel restraint system," which she'll grow out of sooner than we expect.
And that's definitely a safe prediction.

Inky prints: Get 'em while you can

A few weeks ago we were at my parents' house digging through old photos, trying to find documented evidence that I was a cute child. Contrary to your assumptions, we found the evidence. But in the process, I'd stumble across a photo of me that would prompt a question like: "Why did you let my hair grow so long?"
Well, for the sake of storytelling, let's imagine photos still exist in 25 years -- apparently my stories are fictional -- and there comes a day when Elise is flipping through pictures of her childhood.
If she ever catches a glance at these photos, I imagine she'll have only one question: "What the heck am I holding?"

Best sticker she'll ever have

We took Elise with us when we went to vote in the primaries on Tuesday. No, we didn't use her to somehow cast an extra ballot -- after all, I was born in Chicago, but I don't live there -- but good habits start young, right?
Anyway, turnout was ridiculously low -- no surprise there -- but I think the old guy handing out "I Voted" stickers was glad Elise turned out. He almost did not let us leave; she was dishing out big smiles and he was just thrilled.
Next year I'll teach her to stay up and track poll results as they come in. How exciting!

Baby. Sitting. Up.

This is from a couple of weeks ago. She's now beyond needing support to stay sitting upright.

Dude, my Dell is a piece

Elise reached several milestones in recent days, but you wouldn't know it by the look of the blog.
I haven't been able to post because we had problems with our home computer and then more problems -- it's tough to use a computer when the screen suddenly craps out.
I plan to get blogging again soon because there are developments to share, not the least of which is that Elise turned 6 months old last weekend.
And, she goes in for a routine checkup next week and will have something to show the doctor: her first tooth.
More on that -- and why she has sounded like Keith Richards in recent days -- soon.