Lessons Learned

Lessons learned from today's 4-month well visit with Sequoia's pediatrician:

Weight is 13 pounds, 8 ounces (50th percentile)*

Length is 24 1/2 inches (50th percentile)*

Head circumference is 16 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

*Note: Sequoia is not unique. She is average. I remember my gramma Ippel telling me not too long ago something to the fact that, "Children are always taught by their parents that they are special, that they are unique. But this creates a feeling of entitlement among our children. What we should be teaching them is that they are no more unique than the next person, that each child is unique which makes him or her not so unique after all." My gramma speaks only words of wisdom, and this is another spoken truth that I have learned from her.

• Restricting TV for infants under one is one thing parents can do to allow normal brain development to occur. (sorry Sequoia, no more American Idol)

• If we think we may want our bed back in the next couple of years, now is the time to introduce the crib! (little does he realize it's disassembled in the basement)

• Canola oil works just as well as DEET for insect repellant. (thank goodness!)

• Minimize the amount of sun exposure for baby's first year.

And finally, I'd like to show off my handsome husband, with his beautiful daughter: