Ellie, darlin’ — Your grandfather and I haven’t seen you in two months — and won’t see you again till your second birthday in August. So we’re relying on FaceTime calls and photos and reports from your parents to keep apprised. It’s dizzying to try…
Dear Ellie, my little pink-cheeked sprite with the wide, blue eyes — Here in Austin, it’s a gorgeous day, with bright blue skies and warm sunshine. It’s too beautiful a day to write about politics. (Lately, even the most heinous weather would be ruined by politics….
Ellie — I hear you didn’t make it to midnight on this December 31st — but then, neither did your grandfather. 2017! People my age marvel at what a high number that is, at how quickly the years pass as we grow older. By the…
Dear Ellie — Today’s your first day in daycare. Not ones to let anything in your life go undocumented, your parents have snapped your first day below. You’re in a Spanish immersion daycare, which means you’ll soon be running circles around us in two languages,…
Ellie — You’re almost a year old now, and your grandfather and I will be coming to help you celebrate. If you’re anything like your mother at the same age, you’ll smear icing all over your face and fall asleep with your head in the…
Ellie — Well, you’ve now come and gone again. It had been almost three months since your grandfather and I had seen you — and I was struck by how much you’ve changed. When you first saw us this time, you sat and regarded us…
Ellie, my sweet babboo, my busy little crawler — Today, I want to tell you a story. It starts with me. Thirty years ago, when I was in my mid-thirties, I started to get yearly mammograms. No one told me to do it, but it…
Ellie — I first knew about you on Christmas Day, 2014. Your mother was nauseated most days and thought she should tell Opa, Uncle Nick, and me why. We were thrilled, bursting with happiness. Truth is, we were bursting, period, since we couldn’t tell anybody…
Ellie — You’re six months old now, and your latest accomplishment, according to your parents, is doing a great plank pose. Here you are in mid-action: What fine form! A couple of thousand miles away, I’m recovering from my most recent MOHs surgery — removing…
Dear Ellie — You’re rolling over now. Opa and I were trying to talk to you on FaceTime, but you couldn’t be bothered for long. You’d get a determined look on your face, and voila, you’d flip onto your stomach — delighted with yourself and ready…