A personal note

February 4th, 2012 Tags: Blog
by Razib Khan in Blog | 101 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

101 Responses to “A personal note”

1. wes Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 1:42 pm

Is that a baby’s hand? Congratulations!
2. AndrewV Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 1:59 pm

A belated congratulations.

You will probably find that an irrevocable change in your mental map has occurred at this point. Perhaps much more than you may realise right now.
3. Charlotte Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 2:12 pm

Congratulations! (I am probably hardwired to say that, but if so, I’m glad I’m hardwired!)
4. S.J. Esposito Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 2:37 pm

Congratulations, man!
5. Grey Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 2:40 pm

congrats
6. Blackbird Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 2:56 pm

Funny this follows to the “everlasting permanence”post. Congratulations!
7. John S. Wilkins Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:11 pm

Mazel tov!
8. Mr. Gunn Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:13 pm

Congrats! Mine’s two, so let me know if there’s anything I can do to help, commiserate, etc.
9. Ron Guhname Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:19 pm

Congratulations, Mr. Khan! The fourth digit is longer than the second–a boy!?
10. Aaron Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:22 pm

Congrats!
11. Mary Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:23 pm

As expected? http://xkcd.com/634/
12. Dwight E. Howell Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:24 pm

Congrats, my data suggests that we are about to be seeing a lot fewer posts but it’s worth it!
13. Phil Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:24 pm

Congratulations!
14. Ramez Naam Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:38 pm

Congratulations, Razib!
15. Roger Bigod Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:50 pm

Congratulations on the happy event.
16. Robert Dole Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 3:59 pm

AAAAAH! YOU MADE A PERSON!
17. Lank Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 4:08 pm

Congratulations!
18. Lumpenproletariat Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 4:32 pm

Congratulations! Here’s to your child having equal or superior IQ to the average of his parents’.
19. Mike the Mad Biologist Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 4:41 pm

Mazel tov!
20. Wulf Kurtoglu Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 5:01 pm

Very happy for all of you. Every blessing on the little one.

Now get off the computer, you’ll need your sleep.
21. RK Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 5:03 pm

Congratulations, dad!
22. Aidan Kehoe Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 6:09 pm

Aww—great news, and congratulations!
23. Miles Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 6:32 pm

Congratz!
24. FredR Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 7:04 pm

Very cool
25. Mary Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 7:07 pm

Aaaah, life! Congratulations!
26. Antonio Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 7:17 pm

Parabéns! Felicidades!
27. Grace Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 7:28 pm

Congratulations to you and your family!
28. Jason Malloy Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 8:14 pm

Way to go, big daddy Z!
29. Paul Givargidze Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 10:00 pm

Congratulations, Razib.
30. JK Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 10:18 pm

Congratulations Razib! Many blessing to you and your now bigger family!
31. grandmashirley Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 11:22 pm

This is always a miracle! I wish you all the best.
32. Bee Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 11:43 pm

Congratulations!
33. Tom Bri Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 11:51 pm

Congrats! And as someone above said, get some sleep now, while you still can!
34. Eurologist Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 12:26 am

Congratulations, and I wish you all the happiness and joy you deserve!
35. Steve Sailer Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 12:31 am

Congrats.
36. Lab Lemming Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 1:09 am

Congratulations, and good luck clipping those nails.
37. Ase Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 1:29 am

Awww, how sweet. Congratulations!
38. Fia Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 2:08 am

Congrats, – and enjoy!
39. US Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 7:45 am

Congratulations!
40. Sheril R. Kirshenbaum Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 8:03 am

!!!!
41. Darkseid Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 8:45 am

that pigmentation offers a clue…
42. Icepick Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 8:47 am

Make certain you enjoy these first 12-18 months, because the changes come unbelievably fast. I had always been told by every parent I knew how quickly they grow up, but I didn’t really understand how fast until I had one of my own. It doesn’t take long for a child to grow too large to fall asleep in your arms….
43. Matt Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 10:08 am

Awesome.. Congratulations!
44. rimon Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 10:38 am

congratulations! so happy for you
45. katie Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 11:28 am

Congratz to the proud parents and best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous life to the little one!
46. Hallie Scott Kline Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 11:29 am

Congratulations Razib!
47. Charles Nydorf Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 12:22 pm

MAZEL TOV!
48. j mct Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 12:42 pm

Grats.
49. Florida resident Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 12:58 pm

My best wishes to the mother, to the child,
and to happy, very smart father.
Respectfully, Florida resident.
50. omar Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 2:18 pm

Awesome and beautiful. Congratulations again.
51. ohwilleke Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 4:59 pm

Cheers!!!
52. l Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 8:23 pm

best of luck with this adventure!
53. TC Says:
February 5th, 2012 at 8:27 pm

Congratulations!
54. Danny Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 12:27 am

Congrats!
55. Eze Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 1:38 am

Congratulations
56. rimon Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 4:42 am

also, i think it’s a BOY! based on relative digit length (is that why you chose this pic, so we would guess?) though of course there is much variation- I myself am female with stereotypically male digit length

congrats again, hope you’re getting some sleep!
57. Zachary Latif Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 7:29 am

Congratulations on the new arrival.
58. rich lawler Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 8:41 am

Congrats to you and your family.
59. Doug1 Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 9:09 am

Congratulations to you and your wife.
60. marcel Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 9:24 am

1) Congratulations.

2) What Icepick said. When I was living through it, I thought it would never end (and I mean that in the worst possible way). After about 5 years (and 2 kids and a few more incompleted pregnancies), I realized that someday it would end. It has, the kids are out of the house, several years out of college, and the most emotionally intense period of my life (and I mean that in the best possible way) is long past. Do what you can to enjoy it while you are living it.

3) If it is a boy, and if my experience was anything like typical, you will find it shocking if not frightening how much he looks to you and studies you, before it’s credible that he has any idea of what is going on around him.* You will be his model of what he will grow up to be like, and he will be working ridiculously hard to be like you. I never thought of myself as a role model, so this was very much a shock. This behavior lasts for about 12-15 years, at which point he is likely to be convinced that he has it all figured out and would be much better off if you would stay out of his way.

4) My biggest regret of those years is how badly I managed stress. Try to figure out how to distinguish between the small stuff and the big stuff. As they say, don’t sweat the small stuff, and figure out how not to overreact to the big stuff.

5) O shit. This likely means less regular posting. Oh well.

*Girls seem to be very different in how they model themselves after their mothers than boys and their mothers (again, if my family’s experience is typical). Our daughter viewed me as the primary parent (perhaps because I was the go-to parent during her few months of nightly colic) and my wife as someone to be her servant on issues where she thought I was not quite up to snuff in gentleness: cleaning up the really bad diapers, and kissing her injuries.** For the rest, mommy was mostly a piece of furniture in the early days if I was anywhere nearby.

**This has not only the obvious benefit — for revolting diapers, mommy was her first choice — but until college or perhaps after, I was very clearly the preferred parent. Not fair, but I’m not complaining.
61. Naughtius Maximus Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 9:42 am

Congrats, sleep is over rated anyway.
62. Sandgroper Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 9:52 am

It’s an anatomically modern human! Congratulations!
63. Razib Khan Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 10:02 am

XX fyi.
64. dave chamberlin Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 10:25 am

best wishes to the family, maybe in the future we shall be treated to pics of kats and khans.
65. Martin L. Morgan Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 10:27 am

XX rules. All the best to you and yours.
66. rimon Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 10:58 am

well congrats on the girl!
67. Alam Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 11:03 am

Congrats man….mine is due in Aug this year. more than 50% chance its a girl
68. ST Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 11:43 am

Congrats! Love the picture – clever way of communicating that everybody is doing well. Think I might do the same when the time comes.
69. Sandra Porter Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 12:43 pm

Congratulations!
70. John Farrell Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 1:01 pm

Congratulations, Razib, to you and yours!
71. Violet Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 1:15 pm

Congrats again Razib! (BP seems to be down).

@60-marcel, That seems to be going on with our boy. All I need to do is make his dad eat something and he is immediately willing to put it in his mouth.
72. Kiwiguy Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 2:11 pm

Congratulations! As others have said, be sure to enjoy these early moments as they do grow very quickly. With respect to sleep, I found rocking baby in a carry cot in our mountain buggy tended to work. Also, nursey rhymes or some white noise (you can download stuff specially for infants) in the background seems to help them nod off.
73. Chris Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 2:36 pm

I bet you can’t wait to sequence her genome!
74. marcel proust Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 2:50 pm

Of course, where I typedboys and their mothers, I meant “boys and their fathers”.
75. Jacob Roberson Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 2:55 pm

62. Sandgroper Says:

It’s an anatomically modern human! Congratulations!

We gestate through the evolutionary line – she’s only up to “anatomically archaic human.” Let’s see her swing an atlatl that’ll settle it.

(And congratulations, Mr Khan.)
76. Kathy Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 7:41 pm

Congratulations!
77. Syon Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 7:46 pm

Congratulations.
78. KXB Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 8:13 pm

Congratulations! Best to you and your family. And wish sleep a fond farewell.
79. Sandgroper Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 8:39 pm

Yeah, but if I had said “It’s an anatomically archaic human!” it doesn’t quite look right

Daughters rock.

Not disagreeing with Marcel, but ours took me as a role model.

Then when she was 8, she wanted to know when I was going to die so she could inherit my tool box. I bought her a set of tools of her own. With blue handles.
80. Konkvistador Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 4:55 am

Congratulations to you and your wife! May the baby have a good life ahead of it.

Glad you weren’t too influenced by Eliezer Yudkowsky’s ideas about needing to program a mind from scratch before reproducing.
81. marcel Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 7:35 am

Sandgroper @ 79: Are you a mother or father (well, woman or man)? Also, having one of each, I can verify that daughters do indeed rock.
82. pconroy Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 8:02 am

@Razib,

Your daughter’s 2D:4D ratio is about the same as my eldest daughter and my son, my youngest daughter has a more masculine ratio, same as me, with the tip of index finger almost level with the knuckle of the middle finger.

@Sandgroper,

My 8 yo daughter is a bit of a tomboy, and enjoys soccer, and has mostly boy friends, who she plays nerf guns, and even owns toy wrestling figures. She’s recently taken an interest in electronics – after a visit to the Franklin Institute in Philly – and wants to build a robot. So I’ve bought an “Arduino Mega Kit”, to build some circuits with her, and try and make some elementary electronics. Obviously I’m delighted with this turn of events…
83. Chris T Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 11:07 am

Congratulations Razib!

You have now entered the parental time warp, where time simultaneously moves too fast and not fast enough!
84. Neil Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 11:23 am

Congratulations!
85. Sandgroper Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 11:28 am

Marcel – I’m a father. When she was 12, she actually said “My father is my hero.” In professional matters she tries now to emulate me. It’s pretty clear I’ve been the role model all along. Her mother is more the cultural influence.

Paul, I found having a tomboy daughter to be great fun – we got to play with all the cool stuff together. She morphed out of it into a feminine young lady naturally when she was ready, although she has remained the hard-headed science type.

After major surgery, she was the one who was constantly right next to me during my recovery.

I could do a lot worse than to wish Razib a daughter like mine.
86. Emma Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 1:06 pm

Congratulations to you and your wife!
87. e.d. Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 1:30 pm

Congratulations! Hope baby and kitties become good friends.
88. pconroy Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 1:58 pm

@87,

I hope Razib keeps the baby quarantined from the cat – toxoplasmodium gondii and all that…
89. The Kutra Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 2:15 pm

Congrats!
90. Violet Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 2:15 pm

@ 88,
Doesn’t baby get immunity already if mom was exposed to that before getting pregnant?
91. pconroy Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 3:38 pm

@85,
“She morphed out of it into a feminine young lady naturally when she was ready, although she has remained the hard-headed science type.”

There’s always hope I guess. My daughter has never played with a doll in her life, and refuses to wear pink, as it’s too girly.

My 1 yo daughter has no interest in dolls or soft toys either, but just loves train sets, and arranging the train carriages…

My sister’s daughter is/was the same, even insisting on being called a boys nickname and never wearing dresses or skirts ever – but at 11 yo says she wants to attend a private girls school, where girls uniform is mandatory.
92. Judith Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 11:19 pm

Congratulations from me as well. I trust baby is healthy and doing well. The first weeks are absolutely hectic but very special.

As for role models; a friend of mine, sporting a no-nonsense short crop of hair, had her daughter announce that one day she was going to have ‘nice long hair like daddy’.

As for @88, the danger of toxoplasmosis has been much exaggerated. You get it from cat feces or cat meat. So, while you’re pregnant, don’t touch the cat litter. And keep your 6 month old from eating either the cat poo or the cat itself. If you’ve got that sorted, you should be fine.
93. Sandgroper Says:
February 8th, 2012 at 10:51 am

“never played with a doll in her life” – yep. “refuses to wear pink” – yep, still won’t, except for one favoured pink T-shirt that has a picture of a dead cat on it and reads “Cute is dead.” Still refuses to wear make-up and resisted all peer pressure to get her ears pierced (“I don’t want any holes in me that I wasn’t born with.”) But these days she does wear dresses, and the occasional piece of jewellery if she is going out somewhere, and she will modify her usual piratical swagger.

Sounds like your girls are coming along just fine.

Judith – You mean all those French people and Brazilians have been eating raw cat meat? Wow.
94. Judith Says:
February 8th, 2012 at 5:37 pm

@93 No, I’d rather suspect the the cat litter. Don’t always assume the worst from the French
95. ackbark Says:
February 9th, 2012 at 8:08 pm

Watching a baby being born is a little like watching a wet St. Bernard coming in through the cat door.

–Jeff Foxworthy
96. Sandgroper Says:
February 9th, 2012 at 9:47 pm

@94 – I don’t, I assume the worst about people who make ridiculous claims contrary to a great deal of evidence without backing it up. But this is not the place to pursue that.
97. Mustapha Mond Says:
February 10th, 2012 at 8:27 pm

Miscegenation should still be against the law. Thankfully genetic analysis will allow us to bring it back in a full force so accurate and powerful that the wogs who dream of getting above themselves will be trembling in their sandals.
98. Sandgroper Says:
February 11th, 2012 at 7:51 am

Just be grateful that we are preventing you from diverging.
99. Donn Says:
February 11th, 2012 at 9:55 am

congratulations Razib! Though I’ve disagreed with you on quite a few things(and am still curious about your stance regarding darker skinned people considering your “political axes to grind” remarks), your blog has been one of the most informative I’ve read. Good Stuff!

Mustapha:

Sorry to tell you buddy, but “miscegenation” was going on FAR before “wogs” came around. AFAIK(and feel free to correct me on this anyone) all human groups interbred with other hominems(which I would think would be “miscegenation” of a far higher order than whites + non-whites(not to just limit it here, as this mindset occurs across many groups, considering lighter skinned haitians vs darker skinned haitians.).

Though on another note, without miscegenation you wouldn’t be here so that would be a plus.
100. Luke Lea Says:
February 11th, 2012 at 11:22 am

Yes, congratulations razib!
101. Razib Khan Says:
February 11th, 2012 at 12:31 pm

i assume mustapha was joking? if not, i’ll ban him.

(and am still curious about your stance regarding darker skinned people considering your “political axes to grind” remarks

i am a darker skinned person. and why are you positing a biological taxonomy of the human race straight out of the mind of a 5-year old, light skinned vs. dark skinned?