On the way to genius

As you may have noticed from seeing her or from the pictures, Elise is still rockin' the Sinead O'Connor look (bald). Actually, she has started to grow a mullet (business up front, party in the back!), but still the top of her little head is as bald and pale as they come. Before she was born, Marty and I joked that we would have a baby with skin so pale she'd be see-through. Now it's no joke! The child is translucent! Because her skin is so sensitive and fair and because she has no hair to protect her little scalp, I absolutely insist that she wears a hat every time we go outside. I am completely paranoid about her getting sunburn on the top of her head. That would just be miserable for everyone.

Elise and neighbor Myles














When I first instituted the always-wear-a-hat rule she would just pull the hat off and chuck it as far away as possible, which did little to protect her scalp and resulted in lots of squats (while I picked up the hat and put it back on her head) and frustration for Mommy. So to combat this issue, we bought several hats that had a chin strap. At first, Ellie tugged and tugged at her hat to try to get it off, and when she couldn't she'd get frustrated and cry, but eventually get so involved in all the fun outdoor activities that she'd forget she hated the hat so much. After a few days of this I think she got kind of used to the hat, and stopped trying to fight it so much.

Now that she can understand more, she knows hat=outside. And she LOVES going outside so naturally she has grown to love her hats and even wears the ones without chin straps from time to time with little complaint. A few weeks ago, it was early in the morning and overcast and we were going to go play out front for a little bit before we had to leave for daycare. So I helped her put her shoes on and then walked over to the front door, and she came running after me, very excited, as usual that she was going to be going outside. But before she got to the door, she came to a screeching halt and looked up at me and pointed to the top of her little bald hat and said "hat." Not only was this exciting because I have so ingrained it in her mind that she has to wear a hat outside that she actually has to remind me about it, but also because she expanded her vocabulary! Our friend Mike pointed out that by adding "hat" to her repertoire, she actually increased her vocabulary by like 16%. Now that's impressive.

Last night, we were going through the bedtime routine and Marty was holding Ellie and all of a sudden she started very intently staring at Marty's face. So he said, "Where's Daddy's nose?" and she pointed to his nose. Then he said "Where are Daddy's ears?" and she pointed to his ear. So he said "Where are Daddy's eyes?" and she pointed to his nose. He said, "No, that's my nose, these are my eyes" and he directed her hand to his eyes. Then she smiled and said "eyes" repeatedly as she poked him in the eyeball, increasing her vocabulary by another 14%! Daddy may have permanent cornea damage, but Ellie is on her way to genius!