Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Guilty Dad

Today was Celeste's four-month checkup ... and I missed it. I was feeling really bad about it, lingering around the house when I should have been starting my commute, because I really wanted to be there to comfort her after the shots and to try to be helpful. Plus, I kind of like the kid and these sorts of milestone things I want to be around for as much as possible. I must have gone back in forth in my mind ten or eleven times convincing myself that I could be late to work or that it would be okay to miss the appointment.

In the end, Evelin did the right thing and shooed me out the door with a promise to call as soon as she got back from the appointment.

The official word is that the little girl is getting bigger: 12 pounds, 1 ounce (5.47 kilograms) and 24 inches long. Without adjusting for her early birth date, she's just under the 25th percentile for weight and just under the 50th percentile for length. Considering that she was off the bottom end of the charts at her first appointment, I'm pretty proud of well she's growing!

There were four shots, which Evelin said were very traumatic, but she seems to be feeling better this afternoon. And the doctor suggested starting some cereals if Celeste will take them. There was an attempt this afternoon to see what Celeste thought of chewing her lunch instead of just sucking it, and, Evelin reported, about 90% of the teaspoon or two of cereal ended up on the bib. We aren't in any rush to introduce solid food to her, but we'll keep trying every now and then; who knows maybe it'll make my Tuesday and Thursday afternoon attempts to give her a bottle seem less horrific...

To help assuage my guilt, I went ahead and bought her two Hol-ee Roller (size 3.5) balls. They're designed for small dogs, but I still think they'll make great kids' toys.

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