Some Asher Firsts
I already mentioned that Asher’s crawling. He’s slowly getting the motions down. I can see his little muscles memorizing the moves, his frame coordinating the whole series together. He goes only very slowly forward now with great deliberation. But it won’t be long before he’ll be across the room in a jiffy.
Asher’s other recent firsts include his first french fry at a Bodega Bay roadside restaurant shack that served wicked good fish and chips and a decent crab cake sandwich. Ian looked at me like I’d gone off the deep end when I handed the baby a fry. Thing is, he mushed and munched it all up even though he’s only got one tooth. (Plus, giving him something to hold in his hands and eat keeps him from grabbing at us and our food—somewhat.)
Asher’s first trip to the beach (obviously) occured on Wednesday of last week. By Sunday, he was a pro sand-eater and digger. Mmmm… pebbles crunch only if you have teeth.
Today I took him for his 9-month checkup. We were behind schedule on some vaccinations, so poor Asher had to get three injections to catch up. I also had the nurse give him a flu shot, as waging war with a flu virus when you’re young and have tiny sinuses, eustachian tubes, etc. is rather difficult. Risk for dehydration is significant when you’re small. They also pricked his poor finger to test his hemoglobin. Babies use up the store of iron they have when they’re born by the time they’re 6 months old, and often at 6 or 9 months become anemic if they aren’t getting enough iron from food (mama milk doesn’t contain iron). The good news is that his iron level is healthy!
My bruiser baby is now 24 pounds, 2 oz (90% percentile in weight) and 28.5 inches long/tall (about average). He seems big all over to me. Lucas was relatively petite in comparison. Anyway, Dr. Felix says that he’s doing great (I know) and is developmentally right on target (I know) and seems healthy and happy (I know). So good news all around.
Since the appointment, he’s been sleeping a lot and seems cranky. I’m sure he feels lousy from the shots. I hate watching him hurting from the vaccinations, but I’m grateful that such things exist to help mitigate his changes of contracting some terrible and/or deadly disease.
