This Little Piggy

There's nothing quite so lovely as a chubby baby, and Susanna does not disappoint. While she was positively petite at birth at 6 lbs. 4 oz. (probably because she arrived two weeks early), she quickly packed on the pounds, doubling her weight in less than 2 months. Her stats at 4 months put her in the 50th percentile in head size and height, and a whopping 90th percentile in weight. In other words, a short, obese pinhead. :) She's slimmed down since then to 75th percentile in weight and remains 50th in the other areas.

Sure, she's got these butterball cheeks that take up much of her face. But what's astounding on that "little" body lies a little farther south. The girl's got thighs. (Well, so does her mother but I've been working on it longer.) When she stands, gravity kicks in and whoa! Her legs are barely recognizable as legs--folds over knees, rolls over rolls. It's hard to find an anatomical landmark to orient oneself. In fact, I think it best that anyone tripping on acid avoid looking at Susanna's legs altogether. It might just send you over the edge.

She's now 7 months old and just shy of the 20 lb. mark. Why is our little gordita so ample? My mother claims we Cahill women produce pure cream, and given the amount of butter and other saturated fats I consume, that doesn't seem so far-fetched. But now that Susanna is eating solid food, I have another theory. She's a Pig. I'm not insulting my infant daughter here. She is born in the year of the Fire Pig or Golden Pig, depending on what system of Chinese astrology you follow. Pigs, like all the animals of the Chinese zodiac, repeat every 12 years and the modifying elements (Fire, Earth, Water, Metal, and Wood ) rotate with each cycle, e.g. Fire Pig, Earth Pig, Metal Pig, etc.

Pigs, by nature, are known to be easy-going, tolerant, and well, gourmands. They love to eat, and more broadly to delight in all things sensual. Though Susanna's only been eating baby food for the last 6 weeks, she's already bored with it, pining for something beyond mush on a spoon, preferably whatever the rest of the family is eating. Frankly her stares are a little unnerving. The Fire aspect gives our porcine darling extroverted, outgoing, and risk-taking attributes that may come in handy if she's going to mooch food as a regular practice.

Being born a Golden Pig is considered especially auspicious, as these lucky individuals tend to have great prosperity and happiness in their lives, and this combo only comes around once every 60 years. Supposedly there is a bump in the birth rate in China as couples try to time births to fall within this year. Who knew? We just decided we'd better go for it before my eggs did their swan song.

If she's anything like her brother, Chef Roel, or her foodie mom, Susanna's got a lot of culinary living to do. But first she has to grow some teeth.