How first-time parents get paranoid

At Owen's one-month checkup, the pediatrician noticed that Owen prefered to look to his right and encouraged us to encourage him to look left (eg, position ourselves to his left). A few weeks ago, Kerry noticed that Tiny O actually had flattened the back right of his skull through his preference for lying on his back - the only way he really can lie - and looking to his right. So we mentioned this to the (different) pediatrician at Owen's two-month checkup. I expected to hear a chuckle at our exaggerated concern, followed by something about soft baby bones and the typical, rounded shape returning once he could sit up, etc. Instead, she said, "Oh yeah, we're seeing a lot of that now that we tell parents to have their babies sleep on their backs. It won't be so noticeable once the hair grows in."

So all the well-meaning advice to us not to worry, that we won't do anything with any permanent affect on your newborn: not entirely true. Due to our disregard for symmetrical sleeping positions, Owen may never be able to play the king in "The King and I".

On the positive side, our redoubled efforts to correct, or at least minimize, the head-flattening led to a cool moment this evening. Owen was asleep in his bouncy chair, with head to the right, natch. I reached down and just turned his head and most of his torso to the left, with only the slightest of stirrings. Kerry was impressed. "Way to go, Dad." I felt like an all-star, even though the credit was really due to his comatosery. I might as well have been proud of shifting a 12lb, 4oz bag of rice in its bouncy chair.

This could have been me

When I was a kid, I had lots of LEGOs.

I had an M. C. Escher book.

I programmed computers and was good at math.

At Rice, I even had a course that required building a LEGO robot.

But today, I'm not building this, or these, or any of this.

Where did it all go wrong?