Footprints

  

I'm not sure when newborns' footprints are normally taken -- I guess it usually happens at the hospital. But apparently that isn't a standard part of the drill here in the UK. So we took up the challenge. Armed with pink acrylic paint (safe, non-toxic, washable while wet, but permanent once dry!) and with Ellie in a "milk coma", we went to work.

The first step was to apply the paint with a sponge without unduly tickling the unconscious baby. Of course she woke up instantly but was surprisingly tolerant of our antics. Then we pressed her pink feet onto paper that we had taped onto a board. With wiggling toes, flexing arches, and kicking legs, this wasn't nearly as easy as I might have hoped. (We were happily not wearing our best clothes!) After several repetitions we decided discretion was the better part of valor and quickly dunked her in the sink for a de-pinking bath. She has taken to dipping her head into the water to eat the bubbles. I think she's just trying to put on a gray beard to look even more like daddy.