Four-Month Doctor Checkup

I had to go for my four-month checkup at the doctor’s office today. It tickled when the doctor was examining me and I was laughing through the checkup. The doctor asked Mommy and Daddy a lot of questions about how I’ve been doing, including my eating and sleeping patterns, my social development, and my ability to reach for and grasp objects. She held me under my arms but I didn’t try to use my legs to stand up. The doctor said that’s because I was used to being held all the time. I agree; why try to stand if you have nice warm arms carrying you around? Standing takes effort! Why work so hard? :)

The doctor measured my head size, height, and weight. I’m now 27 1/4 in. She doublechecked my height because she couldn’t believe I was so tall. 27 1/4 in. is much greater than 95th percentile for height. I also weigh 17 lbs. 6.5 oz. now. Mommy observed that it was a gain of less than 1/2 lb. a week since the last visit, and wondered if I should still be gaining weight at least at that rate. The doctor said no, it’s natural that weight gain slows down over time. She said I’m still at greater than 95th percentile for weight. My head circumference is 16 5/8 in. and is only 75th percentile. Mommy says she’s not surprised, as she’s seen some babies with gigantic heads even though they’re smaller than me. She wonders if I’m going to be as smart as they are. My answer is: do they blog? Like I do? :)

The nurse came in after the doctor to give me my vaccines. The first was for rotovirus, an oral vaccine. I really didn’t like it and kept on coughing and spitting it out. The nurse said that was ok and I didn’t need an additional dose. Then she gave me two shots containing vaccines for other illnesses. The second shot really hurt and I was very upset. My leg was also bleeding from one of the shots, and Mommy and Daddy felt very bad for me.

This is a photo that Mommy took while we were waiting for the nurse. If I had known what was coming, I’d have been quite upset.