Today we had Katherine's 6 month check up. Yes, yes, I know she's 7 months old. With the holidays we couldn't get in to see our favorite doctor until today.
I always feel guilty on "shot" day. Katherine wakes up so happy and so ignorant to the fact that her chubby little legs are going to get multiple shots in them. I cringe when I have to get one. When my baby has to get five... Yikes!!!!
I'm happy to report her 6mo check up went splendidly. Dr Hewitt said she's awesome!! He was quite impressed with our girl's ability to sit up very well on her own. He said that doesn't generally occur until 7.5 - 8 mo old. (Katherine's been sitting up since before Thanksgiving. Mensa??!!??)
The first part of the visit is the "test" portion of the visit. We get asked if whether she's bottle or breast fed (seriously now... they can stop asking me...), what type of formula she's on, is the house safe, things we might consider doing in the house based on her age/mobility, is she sitting up (yup), can she bear weight on her legs (since she was 3mo old - so yup), does she roll (yup)... etc. Then we progress into the math portion of the testing. Length (eeek), weight, head size...
So first I'll remind you of her 3 mo check up stats.
- Length: 23 3/4 inches (grew one inch since her last visit at 2 months old)
- Weight: 13lbs 9.5oz (Up about 2lbs since her post ER visit in August)
- Head: 40cm (I don't remember what this was last time... I need to look when I get home.)
She's in the 25 percentile for length (no shock there); 45th percentile for weight and 20th percentile for her head size. She's still got a nugget noggin. :)
At 7 months her stats are
- Length: 26" A little longer and she literally will be half my height!! :-/
- Weight: 16lb 5oz (Up a little less than 3lbs) (Save your comments for comparing her weight to mine. Thanks.)
- Head: 41 and 3/4cm
She's in the 40th percentile for length (ROCK ON GIRL); 40th percentile for weight and 15-20th percentile for head size. The nugget noggin continues... and we continue to hear her head is "growing at the correct velocity, which means her brain is growing".
We then proceed to the "parents get to bombard doctor with questions" portion of the visit. This is why we love Dr Hewitt so much. He's great. He never makes us feel like we're dopey first time parents. No matter what we ask.
At the end of the visit I felt like Katherine must have had a call with him to get him on her side. The girl "won" 4:0.
Our questions...
- Katherine punches herself in the head. (go ahead... gasp, then laugh, then wonder if there might be something that is a little "off". After all, we have!) Apparently this is normal... Dr Hewitt said that it happens. (Then you wonder... does he say that to all the parents??) And apparently our reaction has been exactly the opposite of what we're supposed to do. We are to have NO reaction. Ignore it. Pretend she's not doing it. When you see your child hitting herself in the head, it's pretty hard not to have a reaction. But alas, that is now the rule. And you know how I follow rules. :)
- Katherine eats/chews her fingers. It's become a battle of wills between she and I. She puts her hand in her mouth. I pull it out. She puts it back. I pull it out. She is now trying to see how quickly after I pull it out she can get it back in. Ooohhh you little turkey!!!! Then she laughs at me. A belly laugh. Like... You're a fool. I'll win. I've got nothing to do all day BUT eat my hand!! HA!!! The verdict... Let her eat her hands. This one is hard for me. For real. No kidding around. Tonight I had to stop myself about 15 times from stopping her. Dr Hewitt said that no amount of me pulling her hands out is going to stop her. He said that in fact, my pulling her hands out will probably only, from a behavior stand point, encourage it. *sigh* She wins. She can now put both fists in her mouth, if she wants to, as she's been attempting to do. Tonight she also figured out if she bends over she can get her foot in her mouth. She chewed on this little piggy for a good 5 minutes. Quite honestly, I'm not sure how she managed that because her feet STINK!!! For a 7 month old, she's got a funk that can't even be paralleled by her Daddy. Whew. P.U.!
- Pacifier... Take it away now? When?? Is it better to give the paci or let her eat her hands... The short of this one is, we (she) can do whatever she wants with the pacifier until she's 18 months old. At that point the paci becomes a behavior issue, not a soothing one. He said that if we take it away before 18 months - it's just gone. No drama. If you take it away after that, be prepared for Queenage as she'll be a full of drama. Win #3 for Katherine.
- Finally... Food... She used to eat so well. Veggies, fruits, oatmeal. But ever since around Christmas (25th Christmas) she's gotten really fussy. To the extent that she'll spit her food at me, or as I've mentioned in the past, will make herself gag and throw up. (We mentioned this bulimic thing to Dr Hewitt and he looked at Katherine and said... oh little girl you aren't starting that stuff now!!! I think she listened to him. He's a Dr after all.) Anyway we told him how the only thing she'll eat with any regularity is Oatmeal and only Oatmeal with bananas. I inadvertently gave her oatmeal without bananas. You'd have thought I fed her peas. She spit it at me. Clamped her mouth shut and turned her head and refused to look at me. I get this attitude at 7 months old?? We're in sooo much trouble. Already she's showing her father's tude. (hehehehehehehe It's fun to say it's HIS gene. I refuse to admit it might be MY picky food gene. Nope. His tude!) He said let her get good and hungry. He also said that she should be having 3 meals, not two. Huh. Breakfast: bowl of oatmeal and a bottle; lunch: veggie, fruit and bottle; dinner: oatmeal, veggie, fruit and bottle. Yikes. We're nowhere near that and she won't eat the two meals I am trying to feed her. *sigh* We'll just keep trudging along here. You think she really is just a picky eater??? :P
Below are some pictures from our appointment. It was a milestone after all.
http://picasaweb.google.com/daleksza/7MonthCheckUp#
I will be coming back sometime later this week to "document" the goings on from New Years and Katherine's first OC Christmas. :) Stay tuned...
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