I did a bit of running around yesterday, including one stop to drop off a rather large check to secure a day care spot for SteelyKid starting in January (Kate's taking a bunch of time off, obviously, and I was able to arrange my teaching schedule so I have no classes in the fall term, so I can spend most of my time home helping with SteelyKid). It occurred to me that SteelyKid is going to end up with a weirdly diverse background, at least in racial/ cultural terms: she's half Korean, half Polish/ Irish/ German; I'm a scientist and academic, Kate's a lawyer; my family is Catholic, Kate and I are a-religious, and SteelyKid will be going to the day care program at the Jewish Community Center.
She's going to end up either amazingly tolerant or deeply confused.
Anyway, here's a picture of the Empress of Eastern New York at one week:
I'm going to try to cut down on the rate of picture posting after this (at least until she starts doing something more interesting than lying around sleeping), but I'll at least try to put up a weekly shot of her with Appa, so we can have a visual record of her growth. I want to get a head start on being a gigantic embarrassment to her when she's a teenager...
She looks so small there.
Baby pictures are wonderful for embarrassment. My wife gets a big laugh out of one of me buck naked on my stomach with my legs and arms up, kind of like a skydiver.
One of my mom's favorites is one of me when I was about 2 during "naked time" (which I think my parents invented because they couldn't get me to sit still long enough to put pants on me...)
In the teen years, you'll be a gigantic embarrassment just by breathing. I warn my students that, as the most embarrassing man on Earth, I have no qualms about mocking them for sleeping in class.
Oh, by the way, now that you're officially a Dad, you are authorized to be No Fun at your discretion. It's on the Union Card.
It's ok to post as many Steelykid photos as you want. It's your firstborn. It only happens once, unlike marriages, graduations, Nobel prize awards (I'm not sure if there has ever been a double-winner, but it's at least theoretically possible).
It looks like Steelykid is already gaining a bit on Appa. Or is it one of thoes optical illusion things....?
Nobel prize awards (I'm not sure if there has ever been a double-winner, but it's at least theoretically possible).
Yes. John Bardeen won in 1956 for the invention of the transistor, and again in 1972 for the theory of superconductivity (he's the B of BCS theory).
Chad: It's your blog, so post as many baby pictures as you want. Don't worry about becoming an embarrassment to SteelyKid since that's inevitable: starting about 12-14 years from now you and Kate will probably be, according to SteelyKid, the top two contenders for the title of Stupidest Person Alive. ;) Of course both of you will suddenly become much smarter as soon as she tries to live away from home--it's amazing how much smarter my parents became once I went off to college.
so busy with my stupid tests I forgot to congratulate you on your beautiful baby. So congrats, chad, on the transition from futurebaby to steelykid. :)
It looks like Steelykid is already gaining a bit on Appa. Or is it one of thoes optical illusion things....?
On Wednesday she was only a fraction over 20 inches, her birth length; the swaddling blanket may give her additional apparently length.
#4, #5: Marie SkÅodowska-Curie [7 Nov 1867 - 4 July 1934] Physicist/Chemist, master's degree in mathematics, pioneer in radioactivity, of Polish upbringing and then French citizenship, is the only person honored with Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, and the first female professor at the University of Paris. Linus Pauling won two, one Chemistry, one Peace.
Was Marie SkÅodowska-Curie a good mother? Yes.
Her daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie [1897-1956] was 1935 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.
Please show us all the baby pictures that you want, Kate. And be proud of how far smart women such as yourself and her have come. The French Academy of Sciences refused to abandon its prejudice against women, so Marie SkÅodowska-Curie failed by one vote to be elected to membership. It would be her doctoral student, Marguerite Perey, who would be the first woman elected to the Academy -- in 1962.
[source: wikipedia. And ask Chad about Marie SkÅodowska-Curie's husband]