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Samuel's digital Boswell. Where we'll keep account of Sam's
"studies, works, and correspondences."
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Though we didn't know Sam's sex before he hatched, we had the name
Samuel Johnson ready. Read about Sam's namesake,
a man who once said: "She had read the old romances, and had got
into her head the fantastical notion that a woman of spirit should use
her lover like a dog."
Thanks to Norm Zwail for
suggesting Sam's name.
Had Sam been a girl, we planned on dubbing him Rachel, after environmentalist
and kick-ass-hero Rachel Carson. Why is Rachel noble? Read Silent
Spring.
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About Sam's naming |
Preliminaries |
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About 6:30 pm on January 14, 1998, Sam's Mom, Melinda, dropped
a glass of milk on the kitchen floor.
When she squatted to mop it up, Melinda's water burst. Two hours later
Mark brought her to the hospital.
Milk and amniotic fluids weren't the only things going off on January 14. The same day ushered in the first big swell of one of the biggest, best surfing seasons in the last 25 years. When Sam decided to head out, Neptune smiled.
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When: 21 hours after Melinda's water broke, Samuel was born
at 3:35 pm, Thursday, January 15—also the birth day of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Where: Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California.
Vital stats:
- Birth: 7 pounds 14 ounces, 20" long.
- Four months: 16 pounds 2 ounces, 27" long
What did he look like? |
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Birth
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Progress |
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An animated drinker of breast milk, Sam
quickly dedicated himself to growing. Three and a half months after hatching, Sam weighed 16 pounds.
Samuel's a spirited maker of sounds. His Dad speaks to him in mangled
Spanish and French, so Sam's first words will probably be more unintelligible
than most kids'. Once Dad goes to work, Mom tries to make up for Dad's
mangled Frog by just baby talking to Sam in Spanish and English.
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Photos