Steelykid!
drorzel | February 5, 2009This week's Baby Blogging is in honor of SteelyKid's continued growth: she had her six-month checkup on Wednesday, and has now officially exceeded the weight limit on the bassinet attachment to her porta-crib. We've had to lower her all the way down to the bottom of the crib, where she can look out at the world through a greenish mesh screen:
She's very happy about this. Emmy isn't quite sure what to make of it.
The other big development of the week is her new bouncy seat:
This was purchased last weekend, after seeing her in the jumperoo at day care, bouncing up and down with a huge smile…
drorzel | January 31, 2009SteelyKid is running a bit big for her age-- she'll be six months next weekend, but she's outgrown all her six-month size clothes-- but she's still tiny. At least, I think so, and Kate has the pictures to show why.
(I look awfully smug in that picture, mostly because it's only in the last week or two that I've regained the ability to get her to go to sleep while I'm holding her. For weeks and weeks, every time I tried to get her to go to sleep, she'd scream and kick and thrash until I had to give up and either hand her over to Kate, or put her in the sling. That was a serious bummer, so I'm…
drorzel | January 29, 2009Today was a pretty rotten day in a lot of little ways that aren't worth going into. A smiling, happy baby does a lot to make up for that, though:
This week's picture was actually taken last night by Kate. The height differential between us accounts for the fact that neither SteelyKid nor Appa are fully in the frame. Still, it's a good illustration of just how darn cute SteelyKid is when she's happy.
drorzel | January 23, 2009Baby Blogging is late this week, because SteelyKid has come down with the cold virus that's going around the JCC day care center. Snotty, crying, coughing babies aren't all that photogenic. I finally got a decent picture of her emerging from her sling after a two-hour nap:
It's a little tough to say whether the coughing has gotten better or worse, at this point. Her nose is definitely stuffed up more, though, which made it tough for her to take a bottle. Another fun visit to the pediatrician may be in order...
drorzel | January 22, 2009SteelyKid is now in day care five days a week. This is good for us, in that it lets Kate and I both go back to work full-time, and good for her, in that she gets to meet new people, and spend the whole day playing with interesting toys.
Of course, it has its bad sides, too. The norovirus that laid me and Kate out two weekends ago was something that is going around the day care center. And as I type this, I can hear SteelyKid upstairs coughing, with the cold virus that's also going around the day care center.
Whee!
drorzel | January 20, 2009SteelyKid was delivered by Caesarean section (MacDuff won't stand a chance...). They let me in to the operating room just before the moment of delivery, and I stuck around while they cleaned her up and did the early tests that they do on newborns, before they brought her over for me and Kate to see.
While we were waiting (and quietly rejoicing), the surgeons were going about the business of closing things up. I have an unholy aversion to all things medical, so I tried not to pay too much attention to what they were doing, but I gradually became aware of a pattern: one of the nurses would…
drorzel | January 16, 2009This week, SteelyKid shows that she takes after her parents:
"I like books!" she says.
Granted, her liking of books at this stage is not so much about the reading (if you look closely, you can see that she's holding it upside down), and more about the fact that the pages make crinkling noises as she waves them around randomly.
But, hey, you have to start somewhere.
drorzel | January 12, 2009This is of interest to approximately eight people in the entire world, but SteelyKid got her first taste of "yellow vegetables" this weekend (step three on the road to solid food, after rice cereal and oatmeal cereal). Which provided a nice opportunity to play with the digital video camera we got for Christmas:
Yes, that's right, I now have the ability to embed disgustingly cute baby videos along with the usual still photos. I'm sure there's got to be a way to parlay this into world domination, if I can just find the angle...
drorzel | January 9, 2009SteelyKid says, "Yay, Movable Type Upgrade!"
ScienceBlogs as a whole is having some work done under the hood, upgrading the back end that we use to manage all the blogs. The system is highly customized, so it's going to take a while-- the site will be static (in the sense of "not changing," not "the color of a television tuned to a dead channel") starting around noon today, and ending mid-day Saturday if all goes well.
Of course, these things never go as smoothly as you would like, and any software upgrade inevitably winds up breaking stuff that was working perfectly well. For that reason,…
drorzel | January 6, 2009In response to my call for uncomfortable questions, Ewan goes for the jugular:
what do you think your biggest failing as a father has been to date?
See, this is the sort of thing I'm talking about...
The answer is "I get frustrated too easily."
The first few weeks SteelyKid was home, I could get her to go to sleep by holding her curled up on my chest. It was disgustingly cute and heart-warming, and also, little did I know, a brief idyllic period. Starting around week 5, that stopped working, and I have yet to find a sure way of calming her down when she starts melting down, or getting her to…
drorzel | January 1, 2009Captain's Log, Stardate 010109
USS BabyPod
Space Commander SteelyKid reporting
"Our mission to explore the dining room is progressing well. It is almost time for Baby Blogging, and--"
"Commander, sensors have detected a ship!"
"On screen!"
"What the heck is that?
"It's an alien space raider! Battle stations, everyone! Prepare for evasive action!"
"Hard to starboard!"
"Now back to port, and blast 'em! Eat laser death, space monkeys!"
"Ha! Got 'em! Well done, everybody. This sector is now safe for babykind."
"A job well done. Mr. Sulu, you have the conn. If anybody needs me, I'll be in…
drorzel | December 25, 2008SteelyKid says "Glad tidings for all!"
Or, well, something like that. This is an out-take from the Christmas pictures-- it's amazing how hard it is to get a picture of a four-month-old in which she is both upright and smiling.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, or at least won't be offended by being wished a Merry Christmas. The rest of you, have a good Thursday.
drorzel | December 18, 2008Past Baby Blogging entries may have created the impression that SteelyKid does nothing but lie in her back in her crib. Quite the contrary-- here's a picture of her in one of her favorite activities, shaking the hanging animal toys in her play gym. The traditional Appa-for-scale is in the background-- beware of forced perspective effects.
SteelyKid came through the whole Power Outrage like a champ. Probably better than either of her parents, whose schedules have been blown to flinders by the outage and attendant recovery activities.
drorzel | December 11, 2008Following last week's picture with Kate for scale, here's one with me holding SteelyKid and Appa:
And, just for kicks, here's last week's picture again:
This way, everybody can have a good laugh at the size mismatch between me and Kate...
This week's exciting development is that she had her four-month check-up, and we were given permission to start her on "solids." The scare quotes are there because what she's actually getting is a sort of thin gruel of "rice cereal." Still, she's getting food on a spoon now, and seems to enjoy the variety. And hopefully, the extra calories will help…
drorzel | December 9, 2008SteelyKid turned four months on Sunday, and thus went in for a four-month check-up today. Since I'm sure you're all dying to know her progress, here's the OBGraph:
She's one ounce shy of 14lbs, putting her in the 55th percentile for her age. She's now 25.5 inches in length, up from her initial 20, which is the proportional equivalent of me growing a bit more than 20 inches in four months. Babies grow really fast.
See Kate's LiveJournal update for more fun baby stuff. No graphs there, though-- I'm the scientist in the family.
drorzel | December 4, 2008The weekly baby pictures have been getting a little monotonous, so Kate graciously agreed to help out with this week's shot. Here, SteelyKid is showing off her ability to "stand," like a big girl:
(She's not really standing, but this is one of her new things. She enjoys being held upright in a standing position, and will hold her head up and look all around, wide-eyed. )
(I also play "Giant Monster Baby" with her standing on my chest, rocking her back and forth to simulate stomping through Tokyo... That's been known to stave off a crying jag for a good half-hour.)
drorzel | December 2, 2008SteelyKid is a genius in training.
How can I say that so confidently? Well, just look at this:
Still not convinced? Well, check out the original.
I rest my case.
(She's recently started sticking her tongue out all the time, or at least when she's not trying to jam one or both fists into her mouth. I'm sure this means something, but I have no idea what.)
drorzel | November 27, 2008It's Thanksgiving today, which has always been one of my favorite holidays. It's not just that there's nothing more American than a holiday dedicated to overeating and football. I also like the idea of setting aside a day to be thankful for what you've got.
And I've got a lot to be thankful for-- a good job, a great dog, a wonderful family, and thanks to SteelyKid:
I've got more to be thankful for every week.
drorzel | November 20, 2008Here we see SteelyKid modeling the very latest in baby fashion:
It's important to start the cult indoctrination early...
The fuzzy white thing over the purple cow onesie is her warm fuzzy hooded outfit, seen in more detail in this week's Appa picture:
That was taken yesterday, as Kate was headed out to get a flu shot.