AHEM! ::points to the Piglet box::

We had Joshua’s 9 month well-baby visit today.  I have a monster.

We went in because I was pretty sure he still had an ear infection, or had a reoccurrence of the ear infection from two weeks ago.  My mom-tuition was right.  He was just a cranky mess ALL WEEKEND LONG and this morning he could NOT make up his mind what he wanted (after waking up at 6:00.  Doesn’t he know I’m on vacation?!?) 

So we left with a prescription for a stronger antibiotic than the one he’s taken for the past two ear infections and new height/weight stats. 

He weighs 22 lbs, 4 oz, and is in the 75th percentile, which is exactly where he was percentile-wise at his 6 month appointment.  He’s 30.5 inches tall!!  HOLY CRAP!  That’s the 97th percentile!  Our little piglet is growing up and he’s in to EVERYTHING.  I love it.  Does it get a little crazy keeping a constant eye on him and wondering what he’s getting in to if I step into the next room to pee?  Yes.  But I love it.  It’s hard to remember what life was like before he was mobile.  (Easier in some ways, harder in others.)

But anyway, back to the appointment.  Aside from his ears, he’s as healthy as a horse.  Since he’s tolerated the yogurt well (did I tell y’all we started yogurt?  I can’t remember…must be the cabernet…) the NP wants us to start giving him more table foods.  If we’re eating it, he can have small bites.  How FUN!  And challenging.  It’s fun because I want him to love food.  But it’s challenging because I don’t want him to have an unhealthy love of food the way that I do. 

I guess I want him to love healthy foods.  Which means I’ve got to make sure I (and Dan, too) eat healthy.  And we’re on a budget.  See the challenge?

I can do it, though.  I’ll make it happen.

The NP also asked me about his sippy cup usage.  To which I laughed.  I mean he uses it if by “use” you mean “turns it into a projectile for throwing at the dog.”  If that’s what you mean, then sure.  He’s a professional sippy cup user.

Then she said that she’d like to see him off his bottle by his one-year appointment.  Y’all.  This baby LOVES his baba.  You’ve never seen a child get so excited over powdered soy juice and water.  If you’re holding him when you mix his baba, you better prepare yourself because he’ll wiggle so hard and so fast he might take flight.  If he knew how to clap, he’d clap.  (Is it bad that my child doesn’t yet know how to clap??  I constantly feel like I’m not teaching him enough things that he should know…like how to shake his head “no.”  Apparently, he should know that…)

Well, I don’t know how I’m going to get a child who only throws a sippy cup to only take a sippy cup.  And I don’t know if I want to force the issue.  He doesn’t hold his bottle to feed himself.  The bottle NEVER goes into his crib, even at daycare.  Is it bad that he’s getting comfort and cuddles and love when he gets his bottle?

I don’t know the answer, obviously, because this is my first rodeo. 

Aside from that, my neuroses are mostly in check after today’s appointment.  As long as the antibiotics give me my healthy, happy baby back (and a baby who takes a good afternoon nap wouldn’t be too bad, either), I can dodge the bottle-bullet for another few months.