Feb 1978

I dug out some old tapes that I made when Karen was 3 – 4 months old.. This was before the days of video tape. Kathy and I were exchanging tapes at this time. She was still in NJ and my parents were still in CT.

I’m going to make a digital recording of parts of the tapes I have. The tapes are 30 years old now but still in good shape. This is a good advertisement for AMPEX tapes. Is Ampex still in buisiness?

Here are some of the things I discussed on the tapes. I made this tape when Karen was just a little younger than Sophie is now and the comparison of our lives at that time and hers now is to me quite interesting.

One of the first issues we had with Karen was a 2 week bout of diarrhea. Being new parents we worried a lot. We were told to keep her hydrated and feed her clear liquids whenever she wanted them. We alternated taking days off work. Karen would drink Gatorade (she really liked the stuff) and sleep an hour, soak a diaper and repeat the cycle throughout the 24 hour days. Needless to say Penny and I were quite worn out. Does this sound familiar Karen?

Our daily schedule was – wake up at 4:45, eat breakfast and feed cats before Karen wakes (hopefully). Wake up Karen, Penny feeds her I pack diaper bag. Penny leaves around 6 and takes Karen to Vikki Bass our first baby sitter.

I also found it interesting that I noted that we were molding our schedule to the kid – probably too much so. I explain that we tend to always carry her because if we put her down she screams – LOUDLY! At 3 months we were just learning to leave her in the crib and let her settle herself. I even make the comment (of a guilty feeling new parent) that I didn’t think leaving her to settle herself was harmful. We were very much like Karen and Tim.

By the last week in Feb 78 Karen couldn’t roll over yet. She could get on her side by March 1, but not roll. When she wakes up she does a fantastic stretch - puts her arms up and tilts her head left and right and then rubs her sleepy eyes with her little fists.

At the beginning of April she could roll over easily. She could get up on all 4’s and rock. She could sit well all by herself and stand up as long as you balanced her. She also could say da-da-da-da-da. Put a mirror in front of her and she was happy. We would also play a game we called ping-pong parents. I would hand her to Penny and she would immediately lean back to me with her arms out and Penny would pass her back. She would then immediately lean to Penny with her arms out and get passed back. We would repeat the process until we got tired.


I found that I can successfully digitally record the tapes on the computer so I will make a CD for Karen of the tape I made for my mother of Karen’s first year.