Doctor Deja Vu

I know you all are dying to hear how Alex's 6 month checkup went this morning, so here goes.

The nurse came in first and barraged me with questions while I stripped A down to his drawers. She asked whether he was rolling over, grabbing for things, sitting up, using consonant sounds, sleeping through the night, trying to feed himself, and pushing up off the ground when on his belly, to which I replied, "since two months, everything, yes, yes, yes, praise Jesus, and most definitely". Her response to my responses was, "Wow, he pretty much sounds like the perfect baby!" (FYI, I mostly agree with that statement. His sleep habits could still use a little fine tuning, especially at nap times, and these early mornings are killin' me. I know, I'm pushing my luck. Okay, he is perfect.) She said that, since he was "already so advanced in everything", we really needed to start thinking about baby proofing the house - plug the outlets, move anything that isn't bolted down, install baby gates, etc. Yikes! I don't know whether I'm ready for that yet...

Once we got him undressed, she measured his head, got his height, and weighed him. His head circumference is now 17.5 inches which puts his noggin in the 75th percentile amongst boys his age. His height, at 27.5", puts him in the 90th percentile, and his weight was in the 80th at a whopping 19 pounds!

The doctor came in soon after to look him over and answer the slew of questions I had for him. The brunt of our questions were related to food - what to feed him, when, how much, etc., etc. I described our usual feeding pattern - 4-5 bottles of formula a day @ 8 ounces a pop, then 1/2 container of peas or green beans twice a day. He suggested that we start to establish a three meal a day schedule similar to the one we (adults) should be on, feeding him some baby food first then following up with a bottle at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I knew that this shift in schedule would (should) occur around 6 months, but I was in denial because I really don't know how to make it happen. Specifically, how to drop the bedtime bottle (that he is quite obviously attached to) and expect him to drift off to sleep. I'm afraid that, if he fusses at bedtime, I'm going to assume that he is hungry and I will want to give him a bottle. He generally eats a full 8 ounces before bed, so he acts like he's hungry and not just soothing himself to sleep...Help! Any suggestions from the peanut gallery would be greatly appreciated...

I asked about whether we should avoid sweet foods (sweet potatoes, fruits, etc.) for a while so he can get used to eating greens, but when I described to the doc about how enamored he is of peas and green beans, he said anytime we'd like to introduce fruits would be fine. We've got a couple more days of peas and green beans before we can bring on something new, but maybe some baby banana food is on the horizon. Mmmm, now that's something I actually look forward to tasting...

So, other than that, the doc checked his ears, his eyes, heart, and lungs, all of which he said are in "awesome" working order. He commented on how cute he is, how happy (every nurse, doctor, and patient he saw got a big, toothless grin), and how healthy. What a blessing to have such a great baby, huh?

When the nurse came back in to administer his immunization shots, she told us that Alex's prayers must have, once again, been answered. The drug company that is running the study didn't send the drugs - again - and we have to take him back in sometime this week so he can get his shots. I wonder if A realizes that he is just delaying the inevitable by praying that his drugs don't come in. Guess not, since he's done it twice now. Oh well, back we will go. I'm sure I'm looking less forward to it than he is. "It's for his own good", I tell myself. Then I tell myself to shut up. But I am right. It is for his own good. Deeeep breath. I'll let you know how it goes (i.e. which one of us cries more)...