6 Month Check Up

Today after work I picked up Santiago to take him to his 6 month well check up with his pediatrician. We are 3 weeks late for this appointment but I was unable to get an appointment for him around his half birthday because the doctors were so booked up with back to school appointments. All is well with Santiago - he is growing fast and changing every day. Our love is also growing fast for him! He is in the 95th percentile for height at 29 inches long and 90th percentile for weight at 21 pounds and 7 ounces. His head circumference is in the 50th percentile at 44.75 cm. We saw our regular pediatrician's partner today and I think I am going to start seeing her on a regular basis for well checks and sick visits if he gets sick. I like our regular pedi just fine but her partner is a little more personable and really takes time to talk to me and answer my questions. We saw her once before when Santiago had to be rechecked for his bili levels after birth due to a little jaundice. Anyways, she explained to me that Santiago has a little baby eczema - his little cheeks on his face break out sometimes because his skin gets irritated easily by saliva, sweat, spit up, etc. She said he will probably grow out of it and that this is a very common problem in babies. Looking back to before Santi's surgery, I think he must have had a bad case of baby eczema because his poor little face was so broken out, red and scaly. It was awful! Luckily the antibiotics he received with surgery cleared that problem right up and we haven't had that bad of a case again. Santiago received 4 vaccinations today - 3 shots and 1 oral.

You can see his bandaids in this picture. He was so tough - he didn't start to cry until the third shot was given to him and he stopped crying as soon as I picked him up. He quickly turned his head to the nurse and smiled at her right after he stopped crying. It was so funny! You would think he would be mad at her for sticking him.

Santiago has reached all his developmental milestones that the pedi asked for at his checkup. He can hold his head up well when we pull him into a sitting position, roll over, sit up unsupported, grasp things with his hands, recognize voices and tones, respond to different lighting, etc. She was impressed that I waited until 6 months to introduce solids and agrees with our other doctor that it was a good idea. He is doing well with the fruits and veggies he has tried although he doesn't just love them yet. The thing he likes to eat most is sweet potatoes. She encouraged me to breastfeed as long as possible and keep introducing more foods. She also said that the Super Baby Food book is an excellent resource to follow - she highly encouraged it. (Thanks Seester)

Santiago is doing better with his schedule with his grandparents during the day. He has gotten in two naps with them the last couple days and he sure is a lot happier for the rest of the evening. Thanks so much Hector and Linda for doing a great job taking care of our baby boy! Today Santiago babbled "da da da da" a couple of times. That sure makes his daddy proud!

Here's Santiago doing one of his favorite things - staring and talking to himself in the mirror. He knows he is cute stuff :)