Ruckus had an appointment yesterday for his six month checkup. His pediatrician has been in practice for over 40 years and is now retiring. She is very small and frail looking, and a sweet lady. I will miss our quirky appointments with her and soon we will have to get to know his new pediatrician for his 9 month checkup.
Yesterday's appointment went well. We were the only ones there, as usual, and barely sat down before being called back. I undressed Ruckus and went with the nurse to weigh and measure him. He is 18 lbs., 10 oz., and 27 inches tall. His head measured 43 cm but who cares about that unless you are buying a hat?
I brought him back to the exam room and soon the doctor came in and asked what we were feeding him, if he sat up, rolled over, and if we had any concerns. She says that since he can sit up by himself without falling over he can now eat crackers (like Saltines), sliced fruits, pasta, cheese, etc. She also said that he can now have spicy foods which babies seem to prefer. Am I the only one who doesn't know this? Is this even true? For some reason giving a small baby a taco or spaghetti seems like the wrong thing to do, particularly as he only has one tooth.
She advised us to play peek-a-boo with him a lot to help him through separation anxiety, which he has yet to display signs of. Whether it helps or not, this at least sounds like fun.
She also said to use the word 'No!' for discipline and to put him, his toy and another child into time out if the need arises. Put the toy in time out! Luckily he does not have a sibling to squabble over toys with so this one will likely not be needed often. I think a better punishment is to put the kid into time out where he can see you playing with the offending toy, while he has to sit quietly and behave. Now that should teach him!
His doctor recommended feeding him high fat foods for dinner so that he will sleep more at night, so I gave him his first meat feeding last night. It did not go well. It was Gerber's Ham with Ham Gravy in a jar, and it looked and smelled like cat food. Ick. I made him his rice cereal as usual and put it on a small plate with a big spoonful of the ham next to it. I started with a few bites of the cereal, just to get the appetite going, and then offered the first bit of ham puree. He made a face but opened up anyway, and in it went. Suddenly he started gagging and making the funniest 'I hate this!' face I've ever seen. Dinner was pretty much over and ruined at that point. I managed to get him to take another bite of the rice cereal and one more of ham before he refused to open his mouth any longer, turning in his seat so he wasn't even facing me. I should feel badly for laughing.
I dumped the ham and rice in the trash and rinsed the spoon, and gave him a few minutes to recover. Not wanting to send him to bed hungry (and pay the consequences myself through lost sleep) I opened up some pureed apples and fed him that. He ate eagerly and then I gave him a bath. He is really too big for his baby bath any longer and spends the entire time kicking his legs to make great splashes and I end up soaked from just being near him.
I dressed him and rocked him to sleep and the house was nice and quiet at 8:00. The streak of not screaming for ten minutes before falling asleep has continued now for three nights in a row, so I am extremely hopeful that this is our new reality, and not just some fluke.
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