Departing SF, Early Days in Portland, New Tricks

Just in case Anika ever doubts that her parents were ever hip, Dad wanted this photo as proof. Note Emdrew's stylish peacoat and far-away look. I think she's ready for her first album cover.


Here's evidence of Anika's first play. During these past few weeks, she's demonstrated her ability to reach for/grab things and explore objects with her hands and mouth.


Here she is perusing a book, while Dad learns to make pasta from Great Uncle James.


Not unlike her studious parents, however, she's got a real knack for nodding off in the middle of a book.


Our entire first week here in Portland was spent out in Gresham with Great Uncle James and Great Aunt Margie. As usual, they were bowled over by Anika's charms. Here they are cuddling with the guest of honor.


During the past week or two, Anika has grown into an extremely social little person. She has a broad smile and an occasional laugh for everyone she meets. Plus, she's slept 6-7 hours at a time three times in the past five nights. Her parents, of course, think this is wonderful.

In other news, we visited an ophthalmologist last week to have Anika's eyes checked. In spite of the hemangioma on her eyelid, her eyesight seems fine. We have an ointment we're putting on her twice a week to prevent the hemangioma from growing larger, but it seems as though it shouldn't cause her any problems (and, as I've previously stated, the hemangioma should go away on its own by the time she's 5-7 years old). We're going back for another eye exam in two weeks just to be sure.

We're very much enjoying our time in Portland. After one week out in Gresham with James and Margie, we've begun housesitting for a couple in the Irvington neighborhood. The house is beautiful and very large. The owners have a large collection of cookbooks and a well-stocked kitchen, so we're looking forward to preparing some nice meals for friends and family in the coming weeks.

Andrew's enjoying his clerkship in Endocrinology at Oregon Health Sciences University thus far, despite the fact that it's a little slow, and preparing for his first residency interviews. He'll be interviewing at Legacy Emanual and OHSU here in Portland next week.