The Number Field

Because of Labor day and scheduling difficulties, Roman's two week well baby appointment didn't happen until three weeks. His weight is doing well: he's gaining at a good rate and at the time of the appointment had returned to his birth weight. Despite suffering from his first cold, which he must have caught from Elena, he didn't have a fever and his chest sounded good. The hardest part of the appointment was when they had to take some blood for tests. It took a long time because his heels didn't want to give up their precious blood, and the nurse needed to draw more than usual so they could run an extra jaundice test; his eyes are still a little bit yellow. Yesterday the pediatrician's office called him back in because the samples weren't clean enough and they needed to stick him again. Jenny took him alone this time and said that it didn't take any less time and he cried just as much.

Roman's the only one who's had a recent checkup at the doctor's office, but the rest of us are monitoring our vital signs and statistics in other ways. At Elena's most recent speech therapy appointment, the pathologist ran her through a word battery. Basically, she asked Elena to say a sequence of words that contained a broad range of sounds. Elena did a great job--I've noticed her improving diction but it's good to have an expert's confirmation.

I got a gut check yesterday when I tried to do a double workout for the first time in a long time. Tuesdays are my rowing day--in the morning I coach for a college and in the evening for a group of masters rowers. I've been coaching the college rowers from my single and yesterday was no different. Even though they're mostly novices, we covered a good distance. In the evening I expected to coach from a launch, but it wouldn't start. Instead, I hopped into an empty seat in one of the boats. It gave me a different perspective on the team and the things that I as a coach ask them to do. One thing I know: today I can feel all those strokes, but luckily I'm not too sore.

Jenny's following some external statistics, and discovering that the most amazing thing about the internet is in tracking the number of people viewing your own content. She has always been amused by my fascination with this blog's page views, but now she understands because she loves watching the progress of the stuff on eBay. She can see the numbers of views, the number 'watchers' an item has, and perhaps most importantly the bidding information. It's almost addictive. Luckily, those statistics are also strong!