John's Nine Month Appointment (at 11 months)

This post might be quite boring to most people, but I want it for "the records."

I took John for his 9 month appointment today (after many missed and rescheduled appointments--which is a story in itself.  The story being that I have to get it together).  Anyway...he is eleven months old, but today was his nine month appointment.

He looks great, according to the doctor.  No concerns, really.  His breath holding spells very much follow the pattern of normal breath holding, which makes them no less scary looking, but his brain and his heart have been thoroughly checked, and it looks like our only problem is a strong will:)  Which is good and bad, right?  He most commonly has the spells right now if I leave the room, and he doesn't want me to.  In fact, right when we got home from the doctor, I walked out of his sight for a second, and he immediately went into a "spell."  It's just John's version of separation anxiety, I suppose.  I try to let it run its course for the most part because the older he gets the more it will become a discipline issue.  The only problem is that when he has a spell, his body does go stiff, and he will fall to the ground, so this makes us nervous when he is on a hard surface.  I don't think he can hurt himself too badly on carpet. 

He weighs 18'9, falling in the 16th percentile for weight, and he is 27 3/4", putting him in the 18th percentile for height.  His weight percentile has fallen a bit, but the doctor said that is perfectly normal for a breastfed baby, so there is no concern there.  His weight percentile would be more accurate on an International growth chart, just not the good 'ole US of A's.  (which says much about the attitude towards breastfeeding in our country compared to other countries, but that is a whole other topic)

And for the big news....

John took five steps tonight!!!

I think Ada was the most excited of all.  She kept saying how proud she was of him, and she jumped up and down with true excitement as we watched him take the steps.  I am sure she is envisioning him finally running around and playing with her.

I think this is exactly the age that Ada started walking--right before her first birthday. 

Another funny John note...he had to get a shot today, and he didn't bat an eye over it.  Not only did he not cry, he did not even flinch.  It was so crazy.  It was the same nurse who witnessed a breath holding spell after one round of shots, so she was as shocked as I was that the shot didn't bother him a bit.  Again, Ada seemed to be the proudest of all.  She kept saying, "he's a tough boy.  I am so proud of him."  (We often tell her she is a tough girl if she falls down, and we know it didn't really hurt to keep her from getting upset)

So...there's our John-John. 

Oh yeah, one more thing.  Because it wouldn't be our John without a slight glitch, he does have to see a pediatric optometrist because his tear duct continues to be clogged.  I think there is some minor procedure that will take care of it.  It just always makes us laugh, and we tease him and call him a "drama queen." (as if he can understand us).  He just never has anything seriously wrong (praise the Lord!!), but there is always something that needs to be checked out.