Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Shot Free and Healthy

Man, Alex totally lucked out today. He had his four month visit with the pediatrician this morning and was scheduled to get his second round of immunizations. However, due to some clerical mix-up, the drugs never made it to the clinic, and we were forced to reschedule his shots for another day. I don't know who Alex knows on the inside, but they certainly held up their end of the bargain...

But the rest of the check up went off without a hitch. I kicked myself all morning (which is not easy to do, btw. Have you ever tried to kick yourself?) for not taking my camera because he was a total ham at the clinic. He was very sweet and smiled at the receptionists, cooed at the nurses, and chatted with the doctor...Gaw, I can't believe I didn't take my camera. What kind of a mother/blogger am I?

Anyway, his heart, lungs, joints, etc., are in perfect working order. His weight, at 15 lbs. 12 ozs., puts him in the 80th percentile, while his height, at a little over 26.5 inches, tops the charts at 99%. His head is around 17 cm in circumference and is perfectly normal at 60 percent - until you compare it to his gargantuan bod, that is. But I'm confident that it contains 100% brain matter - none of those useless fillers that makes other kids' heads much fatter. Besides, based on his assessment at the clinic and our description of his physical and cognitive achievements thus far, the good doc described him as "advanced" as far as developmental milestones go. See there? The proof is in the pudding, folks.

The doctor suggested that we start him on rice cereal, basically as a warm up for solid foods. We really weren't planning on introducing him to cereal so soon, but the doctor explained that he'll do better with solids if he slowly acclimates to new textures and eating techniques. So, the plan is to spoon feed him some cereal once a day and water it down quite a bit so it's not such a shock. Eventually, we'll bump it up to twice a day and increase the thickness. That way, when six months rolls around, solid food will be a piece of cake. And no, Auntie L, I don't mean he'll be eating cake. I just mean it will be easy.

We'll give the cereal thing a try tomorrow, when Timothy and I can double team it. And don't worry, the camera will be rolling so you all can join in the fun...

2 comments:

leah said...

No cake?? Thats not a problem.....ice cream has a great texture as well :) hehehe..what are Auntie L's for?? What a smart nephew I have!! Cereal will be so fun (and will make for great pictures)!!

Hillary said...

Okay, take this suggestion for what it is--a suggestion. I would start the cereal feeding about an hour before he would actually want to eat. What I mean is, don't try to feed the cereal at the normal feeding. We did this with Russell, and we were most disappointed in the results. I can't wait to see how it goes!! yay for Alex!