Lyndsay, Britney, Schuyler

In preparation for her future career in show business, Schuyler practices her Paparazzi Punch by lashing out at her camera faced father. At least, as an actress, she can turn the years of chronic neglect at baby jail into Oscars and cash (Liz and I have agreed joint managerial roles until she is 18 and fires us).

Hair

While Schuyler currently looks like a recent Bosley customer, it is encouraging to see her hair finally start to return. We like to think it makes her look older - like maybe she could pass for five and a half months among her friends. Here she is giving us her three push up maximum while she "enjoys" tummy time.

Putting Her Foot In It

Schuyler has acquired many useful life skills including (1) aided sitting (2) toe cleaning and (3) accessorising with neckwear.

Pretty In Pink

In what may turn out to be a prophetic sartorial gesture, Schuyler Young wears seasonal pink overalls courtesy of her Aunt Shaunna (onesie is model's own). In an effort to insulate myself against the upcoming onslaught of pink i'd been warned about, i stupidly started an argument with this baby's mother about gender specific colours and whether or not girls actually do prefer pink. Well, it turns out that while our parents may have that association, chances are that their parents did not. The associations of pink and blue with babies in Western Culture has been long lived, however, up until WW2, pink was associated with boys as a diluted form of red (the fiercest colour) and blue was associated with the Virgin Mary and therefore with girls. The more things change, the more we forget how they were.

my future's so bright...

It's mid-September so we're trying to grasp the last rays of Summer before we have to prepare for the harsh Bermuda winters by wrapping ourselves up in maybe a long sleeved t-shirt and possibly jeans. To all of you in colder climes, come on down - the water's great.

grumpster

In this parental job you can feel a lot of pressure. I don't know of any other job where you get more unsolicited advice (except maybe politics) or where you get more disapproving nods for making private choices about the raising of your child. People i know who are ordinarily sane, productive, reasonable human beings can have passionate and borderline violent discussions on the pros and cons of a pacifier. It wasn't that long ago that these passionate dicussions would be about musicians and somehow that seems a lot more rational. You get a lot of pressure to measure your child against all the averages for key events such as reaching for objects (yup!) or rolling over (nope!). i buy into this more often than i'd like to admit and get excited when she laughs earlier than expected or i get slightly depressed when she doesn't know how to sight read "avocado" yet. Most of the time though, i just look at my daughter's face and i'm filled with clichéd wonder because i cannot believe i'm a Dad.

Four Months and counting...

On August 29 Schuyler had her four month check up. She measured 25 1/2 " long and weighed in at 15 lbs and 13 oz.

Looks Like We Gots Ourselves A Reader

Doctors and learning "experts" may tell you she is just drooling on the books but i know deep inside she's actually ruminating on the tricky subtext of "Five Little Ducklings" - the saddest tale of parental abandonment in the ornithological world.

sit ups

Bermuda's Schuyler Young performs in the Rhythmic Gymnastics ribbon final at the SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima this year. She narrowly lost to Malaysia's Lim Wen Chean.

baby jail

It's not easy to see your kid in prison. Every parent hopes their kid will make wise choices but sometimes it doesn't matter what you do as a parent, your children will still make mistakes and end up behind bars, cuffed to their crib toy. It's tough for Schuyler behind these bars. There's no toilet so you have to go in your pants. There's no privacy. The only friend you have is a blue lamb as a cellmate and even she doesn't say much. But there she will have to stay. At least, until she wakes up.

The real baby jail has been tougher. we struggled with what to do when liz's maternity leave ended in mid-August and settled on a day care which is a 5 minute walk from liz's office. it's been hard leaving her with a stranger all day even though her 'teacher' is very kind and seems to really dig the new smiling addition. some days it seems cruel. some days you walk in and the place is like an insane asylum for midgets who only speak in screams and you wonder how you could ever leave her there. some days, the children's music is playing and everyone's content and quiet and the angry midgets seem to have developed a miniature kibbutz based on giving and trust (i swear i smelled insense). Maybe the grass is always greener...