9 Month Checkup

Joshua had his 9 month checkup yesterday and it went fairly well. They apparently screwed up measuring his length last time, because they said this time that he was 29.5", which is just about what it was last time. He has definitely grown since December (the crib rail hides less of his face), so they goofed somewhere. In any case, that is in the 75th percentile, so he has slowed down a bit in his quest to be the world's tallest baby. The doctor was a tiny bit concerned because his weight was only 17.5 pounds, which is in the 5-10% range. A quick blood test showed that he is slightly anemic, not enough to be worried about, but enough that the doctor prescribed him some iron drops and scheduled a checkup in a month. She said that having anemia may cause him to be a little skinnier, so hopefully these iron drops will fix the anemia and fatten him up a little bit too =) We're not really worried, as he is hitting all of his developmental milestones. We just don't like hearing that something is wrong with our little man, and you can't help but feel that it is something that we are or aren't doing properly. But more likely is that no baby is 100% perfect and this is just one of those little things that we'll barely remember a year from now.

On the brighter side, the doctor said that the reason that he has been fighting his dinner is that he may be bored with baby food and may want to try to feed himself a little more. She suggested that we cut up food into smaller pieces and let him try to self feed at that meal (which provides a nice quiet distraction during our dinner as well). We tried eggs, strawberries and toast last night... he wasn't quite sure what to make of it but got a few bites in his mouth, and more than a few in his lap. I'm sure he'll be an expert in no time!