Nine Month Check-Up

Today we went to the doctor for Nathan's nine month check-up. It was pretty routine, even if the day didn't start out that way. I was pretty glad that we already had an appointment set up when Nathan promptly threw up all of his breakfast all over both of us as soon as he'd finished eating. Needless to say, that threw off my finely-tuned morning routine.

Fortunately, he seemed to feel better after getting it out of his system, and he's been fine ever since. We also still made it to the doctor with plenty of time to spare. I tend to leave a few extra minutes for traffic, and we were lucky not to need them today.

The doctor was pleased with Nathan's progress. He's a healthy kid. I asked about some of the typical physical milestones that he should be meeting by now and isn't, but the doctor isn't at all worried. Honestly, neither am I. Unlike Patrick at this age, Nathan seems perfectly capable of doing these things (like crawling), and it is merely a matter of motivation--or lack thereof. He'll crawl when he wants to and not a second before. In fact, he may not crawl at all and just get up and walk away one of these days.

I wonder if it's a second-time mom thing to just take all this in stride, knowing that he'll do all of this eventually and that worrying about it isn't going to change that one bit.

Anyway, as expected Nathan has grown less over the last three months than he needed to to keep up with his growth chart. Given his genetics, though, and the fact that his height and weight are perfectly balanced on the chart, this isn't a cause for worry. If he stays at his current percentile, he could still easily be 5'7''. I laughed when the doctor said that: "He'll be practically a giant in our family!"

For those interested in exact numbers, his weight is 18 lbs, 4.5 oz, height at 27 1/2 in, and head circ at 18 cm. For comparison sake, Patrick weighed about that at 15 months and was that height at just under a year. Despite slacking off in his weight gain, Nathan will still likely catch up to his brother before we know it. I can't wait for the first time someone asks me if they're twins!