I Have to Write a Really Long Synopsis of the Doctor Appointment So I Can Remember What the Doctor Said Three Months From Now When We Go Again

Today was our 6 month appointment with the doctor. Don’t let it confuse you that Eamon is actually 7 months old (today. He emerged into this Earth 7 months ago today)—it was definitely his 6 month checkup. I have a handout and everything that tells me about him being 6 months old, and how I should be doing things like baby-proofing the house (which I started in great earnest about a month ago and then the effort just sort of petered out. Hopefully, I’ll feel the urge to safetify everything again after I finish teaching summer school tomorrow).

As for Eamon’s height, he was 28 ¼ inches (90th%), 19.02 pounds (75th%), and his head was ____ inches (75th%) (okay, I can’t remember the exact number. Whatever. It’s not like I buy him hats based on his head size or anything). I was a bit worried about this appointment because Eamon’s at that tricky age where he gets bored really easily, and yet still isn’t mobile so he expects mommy to provide all his entertainment, and our doctor always runs late.

Which I did. Let me tell you about the entertainment I provided and how completely creative and rockin’ Eamon’s mommy is. I will preface by saying that I certainly did bring along a number of wonderful and brightly colored toys carefully designed to stimulate his fine motor coordination and overall intelligence. Here are the things that actually kept his attention the majority of the time: 1) other kids (hooray for other people’s mobile children who can walk up and say ‘hi’ to my child), 2) a water bottle (almost empty), and 3) the wall.

Eamon was fascinated by the wall. He kept kissing it. In his own special Eamon-kissing way. I hope they clean their walls.

Anyway, Dr. Bolduc came in, and we discussed how fabulous Eamon is. Well, I mentioned that anyway. He didn’t disagree with me, but I suppose after so many years in pediatrics he knows better.

Then Eamon bit him. (Two teeth! At the same time!)

Dr. Bolduc also noticed Eamon’s haircut (everyone does), and asked how I felt about it—whether I was okay with it. I blinked in surprise.

“Um, yeah. I gave it to him.”

He looked equally surprised.

“He had hair in his eyes,” I fumbled to explain.

“Well, then, you’re a very practical mom,” he said. I smiled uneasily—what does that mean? Is practical good? Or bad? Or just…practical?

He went on to explain that many moms get really emotional about their baby’s first haircut, because it means the kid is growing up. I looked at Eamon, who was attempting to take off his diaper, and just thought, “Well, yeah. What else is he supposed to do?”

We also talked about Eamon’s eating habits. We’ve been going really slowly with introducing new foods since he’s shown signs of allergy and I have a lot of allergies, which means that at 7 months old, he’s only eating rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, carrots, and peas (we tried green beans, but he hated them and they turned his cheeks red, so we’re going to shelve them for now). Dr. Bolduc told us to try meats and fruits next, and then somewhere around month 9, start him on finger foods like mozzarella sticks and Buffalo wings. Or maybe it was damp bread and Cheerios. Something like that.

Around this point, Dr. Bolduc asked me if I had any questions, and you have to have questions, so I made up some questions really quickly, such as: 1) should Eamon be crawling now? And 2) is it okay if he sleeps on his tummy if he puts himself that way? I sort of already knew the answers. To the first: some babies crawl by now, but more and more babies are sort of skipping the crawling phase altogether because so many of them sleep on their backs and just go straight to walking. That’s not the worst thing in the world, though tummy time is important because it strengthens their throat muscles, and that helps in speech. SO, don’t sweat the crawling too much (as long as he is getting around somehow), but do keep putting him on his tummy.

(I do put Eamon on his tummy often. And then he flips right back over onto his back. Nevertheless! said the doctor. Just keep putting him there anyway)

As for sleeping on his tummy, obviously we can’t watch the kiddo all night long, so if he can flip himself onto his tummy, then he can flip himself back off it if he needs to.

Dr. Bolduc also said that we could start letting Eamon go into the pool, which is good because he totally went in the pool again last week with our friends Samantha (age 1 ½ ) and Beth (age ____), and didn’t hate it that time. Also, we’ve signed him up for swim “lessons” starting next weekend at the Riverside Wellness Center (expect a nice huge blog about that next week).

Then it came time for Eamon’s shots, which E certainly handled like a champ. He took three to the leg with only about 30 seconds of crying. By the time we made it back to the waiting room to schedule our next appointment, Eamon was all smiles for the girl behind the counter.

Finally (two hours after we had arrived there), we walked quickly across the parking lot through the rain, made it back into the car, and Eamon promptly passed out until we finally made it home.

In other news, Eamon successfully weathered a mommy-drought when I was gone for 3 days to explore the Great Northeast (3 states in 3 days!), mostly thanks to his Oma and Opa, who drove down from Delaware so that E could stay in his own house. Eamon has wonderful grandparents, and I would have made him sign the thank you card, except that he's been too busy trying to figure out how to get the diaper off.