"C" is for Cold

I mean that in the sense that it is Cold in our apartment, and that both Alexander and I have colds. That's about as much fun as you imagine.

Nevertheless, we managed to get to the baby vet for his 8 month check up. The main reason I bothered is that he's due for a shot, the third of the bundled one that includes pertussis, but due to his snotty nose, the doctor decide to delay the shot until we see her again in November.

We did get him officially weighed and measured, which is good. I'm a little unsure on the weight she gave me, actually. I've kept up with weighing him myself, on the same scale I use. It has read the same for me so I assumed that it was correct for him as well. It says he's 8.9 kilos, but the doctor's says 8.2. It took her a while to get a reading from it, as he's too tall for me to lay him down on the tray (his legs hang over and don't register or something) so we had to sit him up and, because he's Alexander, he kept wiggling. I think he's heavier, but whatever, we'll go with her numbers.

So, according to this visit, just a few days shy of his 8mo birthday, he is 8.2kilos/18lbs (24% for weight) and 74cm/29.1 inches tall (82% for height). She watched him move around and agreed that he's highly active and that she expects he'll walk early as well. She sees "signs of readiness". You mean like standing up every chance he gets and cruising along the edges of anything he can hold? You mean like seeing interesting stuff while standing and letting go to take a step (which of course doesn't work, he ends up on his butt)? Duh.

She also inspected his little puppy teeth and said the upper two also look ripe to pop through. I think they've looked like that for months, but she sees something new about them I guess.

We talked about his eating and she's happy about the variety he'll eat and his ability to swallow things that are chunky without gagging and vomiting.

His cold is just a standard viral infection, which I assumed anyway, and she warned me he might go off his food and prefer the breast for a few days. I think he heard her, because that started up as soon as we got home for lunch.

I feel bad for him because in addition to feeling poorly, it's COLD in here! The weather has taken a turn for the autumnal and yesterday outside temps were in the 40s. Inside, our heat can't go on until the building turns theirs on, so we shiver and wear ridiculous red fleece jumpsuits to sleep in, until they get with the programme. Okay, well, he wears the jumpsuit, I just lie under my down comforter, because I'm smart enough not to kick it off in the night. It is 19c degrees in here at the moment. That is 66f and too cold as far as I'm concerned!

The reason he's in the travel crib, by the way, is he is banned from the big one until he learns how to sit down on his own without falling and bashing his head. As soon as I put him in the big one, he uses the bars to stand up, and then can't get back down unless he falls. This makes nap time rather a trial. But the Baby Bjorn travel crib has mesh sides, so he can't get a grip and can only stand up if I help him (as I did in the photos). So he has to sleep when it's sleeping time, and then I let him practice his standing and walking in there when he wakes up. So far, so good.

We will be busy moving ourselves to London this weekend, but I'll check back in next week when we are all settled.