Sophia’s Nine-Month Check-Up

Sophia’s nine-month check up was on June 27th, the day after my doctor appointment. My original appointment was supposed to be an annual check up sort of deal, but it turned into a multi-gag test for strep (Streptococcal pharyngitis). It was negative, but OHMYGOD my throat HURT! I went home and drank chamomile tea with lemon and honey as if it were the latest craze. It really did make my throat feel better! Sophia’s appointment went much better than mine did. She was leery of the nurse, but there were no shots this time - Yay!

The nurse asked me, “So is she walking yet?” Um No - she just turned nine months two days prior. She said that Sophia looks so much older. Dude - don’t you like have a chart that shows her age? I’m loosing confidence over here. Then she starts asking me the questions geared for Sophia’s age, “Does she know her name?” Oh shit. Maybe we should have so many nick names for her, Monkey, Monkey Butt, Snot Face, Baby Cakes, Petree Dish, Lil’ Shit, Bastard. Don’t scoff at the last one. Strictly by definition, she really is a bastard. I told the nurse that we use so many nicknames that she may not know her name. Once we got home I tested this and *whew* she does know her name, probably due solely to daycare and not from us.

“Does she know the meaning of, ‘no’? - not that she’ll actually obey.” Umm that’s another negative. I don’t usually use, ‘no’ with her. I simply redirect. There have been a few times that it flew out as a knee-jerk reaction, but usually I just capture her attention with some shiny object and lure her away from whatever. If it’s safe enough I just let it happen though. Earlier today she pinched her fingers in the filing cabinet. The drawers slide easily and the thing is perpetually open because it leans slightly forward and we can’t find the keys to lock it. She is also learning that gravity is a bitch, only on soft flooring right now of course. I think Kurt does use ‘no’ with Sophia, but he doesn’t stop with that word. He uses is in a complete sentence, no maybe a paragraph to explain what will happen if she continues with her current actions.

Sophia lost a pound. While she was sick she kept weighing in at 17 pounds, but I guess that and becoming more mobile took away from her weight. She is currently 16 pounds and 29 inches tall/long. My nine month old daughter is just three inches shorter than Verne Troyer (mini-me). She’s in the 85th percentile for hight and the 5th percentile for weight.

The nurse asked me one other question, “Has she been a relatively healthy baby?”

“Oh yes.” I said without hesitation, but this weekend, Fourth of July weekend, we’re both sick AGAIN! This crap is getting old. On the fourth, Sophia was fine except that she was sneezing A LOT. I knew she was catching a cold, but we went to go see a local fireworks show anyway. We didn’t go to Seattle because we had know idea how she would react, but the show we did go to see didn’t have much for parking so we went to an alternate site to view from. We were too damn far away. We could see it, but it was so far that it just SUCKED. And the baby was cranky. Since there was nothing close up to see she couldn’t figure out why on earth we would keep her up past her bed time. She looked around the crowd wondering why all there other people were up as well. Occasionally some fireworks would go off nearby from private displays and Sophia would pause, watch, and then go back to being grumpy when they were done. She didn’t seem very impressed, but she wasn’t scared at all either. She slept nearly all day the fifth and all night too. Today she seemed to be a lot better except that her sinuses are so full of snot that she sounds and feels like a cat purring when she breathes.