New citizen

This afternoon my wife and I went to the U.S. Consulate in Paris with our 2 1/2 month old for a 1:30 p.m. appointment to apply for a U.S. passport and birth certificate. Because of 9/11, now when a baby is born outside of the U.S., it's more complicated getting these documents than it had been before. What they prefer is that both parents come with the child to the Consulate, which for us is fortunately in Paris. Some people have to travel from parts of France far from Paris to apply for them.

We had to bring in a variety of papers (our passports, marriage license, 2 photos of the baby, etc.). Fortunately, all the applications can be downloaded off the Internet, so I completed all of them ahead of time. I had models on how to fill them out from our previous 2 kids' applications. Everything was in order, so the whole process was completed within 30 minutes.

Security to get into the consulate was very tight. It was like going through the lines at an airport.

What all 3 of our kids (who were all born in Paris) now have is a document called a "consular report of birth abroad of a citizen of the U.S.A."

Before today, our youngest had the right to U.S. citizenship through her parents. Through our visit to the consulate today, she is now officially declared as a citizen. She didn't do anything to earn this, although she did help by quickly posing yesterday for her passport photos. Her citizenship is a gift to her from my wife and me. In a couple of weeks, she'll have her passport, which will allow her to enter the U.S. this summer with the rest of us.