Today was a hard day for Mommy. You know that she loves to talk (you and her “talk” all the time); what you might not know is that she also loves to sing. You don’t know this because sometime around 4 months before you were born, she got a viral infection that damaged the nerves around her vocal chords; the nerves regrew, but not the way they should have. That is why Mommy sounds like most people do when they have a cold and why she doesn’t sing to you.

The doctor today did a special test on Mommy’s vocal chords to see which nerves are not right and told Mommy that there is nothing they can really do. This means that Mommy will start going to a speech therapist so that someday, with a lot of work, she will be able to lecture and talk at a normal pitch, and maybe…just maybe…really sing again.

For the past four months Dad has been spoiled because Mom would take the night shift. This allowed dad to get 7-8 hours of continuous sleep while mom needed to getup once in the middle and once in the early morning for Alonzo catering, dinning, and linen services. This week mom is out of town and grandma is here to visit. She helps take care of you during the day, but dad’s got to wake up for you at night with linen and dinning.

Now I understand why mom wants to take naps all the time.  Sleep is good; continuous sleep is better.

PS: You pretty much sleep straight through the night, just wake up for a pacifier and a earlier morning bottle and diaper than dad is used to. I am not complaining I promise!

Today you had your 4 month checkup. The doctor said you are doing well though everything about you is long and skinny as you are now 25 inches long (52nd percentile), 12 pounds 14 ounces (11th percentile) with a head circumference of 15 3/4 inches (5th percentile). This surprised Mommy and Daddy who could have sworn you have gotten heavier than that and since you have been eating so well. We have to go in for a weight check in a month…so, think chubby thoughts everybody.

The books all say that one sign that you might be ready to start solid foods is that you are very interested in what adults are eating. We have certainly reached that stage. Every time Mommy and Daddy have breakfast or lunch or dinner or snack, you stare at what we are eating…and drool. Okay, the drooling is a continuous thing, but the staring is definitely new. We’ll give it a little longer till you are sitting up better and have talked to your pediatrician, then it’s time to see how you feel about spoons.

You are one long baby. This last weekend, Mommy and Daddy had to put away your sleepers since you could no longer completely straighten your legs and your toes had to curl when you had them on. This was sad because one of the sleepers had adorable monkey feet and a little monkey-face patch on the backside. Daddy would hold you and say “Guess what Mommy!”, then when Mommy looked, turn you around and stick your posterior out and shout “Monkey butt!” You found this very amusing.

Now you have three 6 month sleepers: dinosaurs, elephants and fleecy monsters, that are all baggy on the sides but long enough. We still have to figure out a way to add some pudge to you.

There are times when Mommy seems to be places for momentous occasions without intending to: the one year she was in Poland was the year Pope John Paul II died, the one day she was in Atlanta was the day they celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Olympic Games, and now, the one year she is at Rice University is the year the university celebrates its centennial. Mommy got to attend the chemical engineering department’s 100 year dinner. She met chemical engineers who grew with the petroleum industry and faculty members who were there when chemical engineering really became different from chemistry and other kinds of engineering. This made her think about what her department with be like in 40 years and how they might describe now–just another reminder that we need to act on our ideas for change when we have the opportunities.

Yesterday, you learned that you can kick things: toys hanging from your bouncy seat toy bar, water in your bath tub, Daddy’s dish of pasta on the dining room table, Daddy’s plate full of pancakes and blueberry sauce…

It seems like every time we glance over at you, you have your feet in the air playing with something. “Eureka! I have two hands and two feet!” your delighted giggle says. You don’t seem sure if you are supposed to be able to grab things with your feet like you can your hands but you do know that you can wrap your legs around Mommy’s arm when she carries you. Now just to get those feet to your mouth…

If baby’s had a currency they could use to pay their caretakers for services, it would be smiles. This morning, you were giving out so many smiles to Mommy and Daddy to make up for yesterday that there was some concern on the international market about inflation…

Mommy and Daddy aren’t that into macro-economics, so they are quite ok if this trend continues.

Your long day started at 3:50 am when you woke Mommy up to let her know that you were cold. (Daddy had set the air conditioner to vent since the temperature dropped overnight to non-Houston, comfortable levels). Addition of your monkey sleep-sack and a nook only helped for 15 minutes when you spit the nook out. 15 minutes after this and more crying, Mommy finally gave up and fed you. Several more sleep for 10-20 minutes then cry cycles followed till the end of Mommy’s shift.

Daddy’s shift consisted of shorter naps then usual, demands to be constantly carried or stollered, and much general crabbiness, especially while eating. At bedtime, you wanted to turn in your crib (1. lift legs, 2. set legs down to the side, 3. roll to back, 4. surprise Mommy and Daddy with your new orientation) and play fetch with nook. Finally, at a little after 10, you stayed asleep. Maybe you did get a little of whatever Mommy and Daddy had had.

Someday you will learn that your parents are not perfect. This week you would have learned that your parents are not indestructible either. On Wednesday, Daddy was unpleasantly awoken in the early morning with the stomach flu/food poisoning. Today, Mommy was struck with the same. Fortunately, you still seem to have magic immunity that comes from eating breastmilk and not whatever evil substance snuck into the refrigerator. Also fortunately, Daddy and Mommy were really sick on different days, so they were able to trade-off who was taking care of you.

Let’s all raise a glass of room-temperature Gatorade to mornings, afternoons and evenings, hanging out in bed listening to audiobooks and daydreaming about the return of normal digestion.