August 2008 Archive
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August 21, 2008
Child-Blogging - TheLittleGuy is 2 Months Old
Ok, back to the baby-blogging/mommy-blogging/kid-blogging/whatever-you-call-it. TheLittleGuy is two months old (9 weeks as of today, actually.) He had his two-month check-up earlier this week and got a first round of vaccinations. Apart from a bit of hollering at the needle sticks he tolerated it all reasonably well. The unsurprising news to us is that he's a big fellow. We figured this out when he stopped fitting into a bunch of his clothes and I had to go buy him some NINE-MONTH-SIZED clothes. At his check-up his stats were as follows (birth stats are in parentheses):Head circumference: 16.75 inches (15 inches)
Length: 23.75 inches (20.75 inches)
Weight: 16 pounds 4 ounces (9 pounds 8 ounces)
Although it's a bit exhausting right now. One friend pointed out to me that I'm feeding a child who's about the size of a typical 6-month-old, and 6-month-olds can eat solids to get some of their calories. This little fellow can't yet. I'm keeping up - and pumping a little bit each day to freeze as a backup stash - but sometimes I get really tired (or really hungry, myself.) Kellymom points out that babies this small know what they need, though, and he needs to eat for proper brain development:
breastmilk is a perfect food. There are NO empty calories or fillers. The amount of fat or calories in breastmilk is not affected by mom's dietary fat or sugar intake. [...]So, since the doctors are unconcerned, and he seems to be hitting other milestones too, as well as growing into football-player stature like my male cousins, we'll just feed him what he wants. And we'll delay solids as long as possible. I told the doctor we expect him to be 25 pounds and walking at his 4-month appointment. Heehee.
Do not try to limit your baby's nursing by stretching out feedings, limiting time at the breast, using a pacifier to "hold baby off" until a specified time has passed, or offering water so that baby nurses less. It can be dangerous to limit your baby's growth by limiting nursing, as your baby needs the nutrients and fat for proper growth and brain development. Only by continuing to feed your baby on cue will you ensure that his needs are perfectly met and that your milk supply is maintained.
The biggest bummer is that there are lots of cool clothes people gave to him that he only got to wear once, if at all, because he grew so fast. There are certainly worse problems to have - and we'll bequeath the clothes to a friend's baby who's due in January.
Oh yes, we are only having the one. One is enough - he's just fabulous; why mess with success? Plus, I saw a very pregnant woman walking around the shopping center the other day and flashbacked to pregnancy and said to TheGuy: "OMG I DO NOT WANT TO BE PREGNANT EVER, EVER AGAIN." (Much less have major surgery to extract the child! I'm still not what I would call 100% recovered from the c-section, although I'm doing fine and don't have any more follow-up appointments scheduled unless something comes up.)
But anyway, look at this face - what a cutie. I know that we're biased, but I do think he'll be a heartbreaker someday.
<=> | in: Journaling / Parenting
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Don't Make Me Laugh, Lexington
Since September I've been receiving The Economist again - and even managing to read it now and then. It was a free subscription, so I decided to give it another go. As usual it is 70-80% interesting and in-depth analysis (from a particular point of view) and 20-30% ridiculously-strained argumentation (from a particular point of view). They annoy me enough that I won't pay for a subscription - at least for awhile. At some point I'm sure I'll get so annoyed with the American newsweeklies (Time/Newsweek is to The Economist as People is to Time/Newsweek) that I'll fork over some cash, but not for a bit.Anyway, Lexington, their columnist who covers American politics, is always good for a chuckle-snort. Recently he was looking for some way to criticize Obama, so in an article titled "Obama Fatigue" (Medley says: GMAFB) concluded:
Mr Obama needs to reframe the election so that it is less about him and more about the issues. And he needs to abandon the rhetorical high ground for the nitty-gritty of policy.You've got to be kidding me. This, after years and years of oh-so-wise pundits tut-tutting over Democrats' intellectualism (ha) and telling them they need to stop being such wonks and being too concerned with policy details and instead need to preach and teach a broad narrative absent pesky details? Come on, now. In a vacuum I've got some serious reservations about Obama (his capitulation on FISA only a recent cause for head-shaking), but against McCain, who can't even keep track of how many houses he owns - I'm not really concerned about Obama's grasp of the policy details. Americans don't like wonkish intellectuals as a rule, so it is disingenuous at best for Lexington to suggest that it's a campaign failing on Obama's part to try to avoid appearing like one. Like I said, Lexington is always good for a guffaw or two.
<=> | in: Federal Politics
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Travel Sites
Someday we will travel again - albeit usually with a small person in tow for quite some time, I'm sure.The Atlantic recently put together a set of helpful travel social networking/user-generated sites on the web ranging from Google Earth to Trip Advisor to 43Places. I'd not really heard of Ning before this week, but coincidentally got an invite to a group there and saw it listed in this article within a few days of each other. Must be reaching critical mass (I haven't had a chance to check it out, yet).
Meanwhile, Glen blows raspberries at TripAdvisor - I agree with his rationale:
To help TripAdvisor out, I thought I would add some of these comments that I've been writing here and copied in my Ozeki review from a couple of weeks ago into their form and submitted it. I received a rejection for that review today because their policy is "No quoted material from other sources, no material published elsewhere, including other travel review sites." Pfui! The only way TripAdvisor gets exclusive rights to my writing is if they pay for it. So much for their version of Web 2.0.
<=> | in: Tourism and Travel
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August 7, 2008
Laptop Border Searches and Language Appropriation
Various privacy circles have been abuzz for awhile about the Bush Administration's assertion that DHS can take any and all data off of any and all electronic devices you may be carrying if you cross the border. It is, of course, outrageous and a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment (at least the way I was taught our Constitution back in junior high - but we all know the Bushies have their own special interpretation of things).Anyway, what I found interesting about this Post article about the recent "clarification" from DHS was the language that Chertoff chose to use to justify this policy:
With about 400 million travelers entering the country each year, "as a practical matter, travelers only go to secondary [for a more thorough examination] when there is some level of suspicion," Chertoff wrote. "Yet legislation locking in a particular standard for searches would have a dangerous, chilling effect as officers' often split-second assessments are second-guessed."The term "chilling effect" has historically been used in a first amendment context - the goal has been, or so I thought (silly me) to avoid chilling effects on the free speech rights of individuals. In typical Bushian fashion, Chertoff is subverting language such that now we are supposed to be concerned about chilling effects on state action, instead of chilling effects on individual freedom. But, my understanding, from my naive junior high school education, was that our entire structure was set up to, in fact, restrict government action - indeed to be one big CHILLING EFFECT on what the state can do to its citizens. Ahhh, well. So much for that, I guess. Chalk up another perversion of the Constitution to the Bush Administration.
<=> | in: Civil Rights & Feminism / Federal Politics
