6 Month Well Check

Tyke had his 6 month well check yesterday.  He turned 6 months old 11 days ago but yesterday worked best for us schedule wise to take him.  We've been trying to schedule him on Friday's in case he has a hard time with the immunizations.  We figured that way we would have all weekend to recover and not have to worry about missing work.  His appointment was scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

Tyke was a curious, happy little guy pretty much the entire visit.  He was able to sit on the counter while we waited for the nurses and the doctor.  He had a great time playing with the tissue paper stuff.  He ripped it and crunched it and tried to eat it.  Give the boy anything that crinkles and he's happy!

We stripped Tyke down to his diaper and the nurses took all of his stats.  He did so good and cooperated well.  He grinned at them and tried to grab their tools away from them while they were checking him over.  He barely fits on the scale anymore, so sad.  We attempted to get his weight with him just sitting on the scale but he was too snoopy which made him too wobbly so we just did our best to lay him down in it.

Tyke's 6 month stats:

Weight: 17 pounds (36%)

Height: 27.8 inches (88%)

Head: 18 inches (96%)

Dr. Fullmer came in a few minutes later and gave Tyke a good look over.  Tyke just stared at him and smiled and talked.  He really likes his doctor!  Tyke would kick like crazy with excitement when Dr. Fullmer would pick him up.  Tyke received a clean bill of health.  He has no sign of teeth coming in, he's growing right on track and developmentally he's ahead of the game!  Dr. Fullmer was impressed with all that our little man is doing right now at this stage of life and so are we!

We had a good discussion with Dr. Fullmer about our growing boy.  It's getting close to time (well actually it's past time) to put Tyke in his own room.  We are still hesitant about this but know it will be good for all of us.  We're still trying to decide when the best time will be for this transition.  Also, it's time to start searching for a big boy car seat!  Tyke is ready for a change.  We've noticed this the past few weeks when loading him into his baby carrier and that's why we asked.  He doesn't fight us but he dreads having to lay back and relax.  He just wants to sit up and see what's going on around him.  I don't know how he doesn't get a sore neck from straining so hard to be up right when he's in that seat.  We don't need to be in a huge hurry to change seats but if we find a good deal on one we'll snag it and make the switch.  

With Tyke's eating solid foods we were informed we can't overfeed him and that he'll know when to stop (and he does, he has started refusing some foods).  Dr. Fullmer told us to "stuff the boy" so he'll sleep better at night (probably explains why he hasn't slept through the night since June).  We can feed him baby food twice a day now and he'll need 4-5 ounces of milk as well.  We asked about the whole celiac thing and giving Tyke wheat.  I'm scared to death about it!  We were told that there's no hurry to introduce that into Tyke's diet.  The longer we wait the better but when we do, Dr. Fullmer told us about a few things to look for: throwing up, upset stomach, whiny, etc.  I'm not looking forward to it.  I don't want our Tykers to suffer, it's no fun!  We also got the go ahead to start feeding Tyke dairy products.  No cows milk yet, but he can have tastes of ice cream, yogurt, etc.

After a good long visit with Dr. Fullmer we got Tyke ready for his shots.  The nurses came back in and gave him his oral immunization and then the real torture began.  This time Daddy took charge of comforting our little guy.  The first shot got him concerned, the second shot made him cry, and the third shot really set him off.  It was so sad but so cute to watch his little face.  Chad got him calmed down quickly, like within 2 minutes Tyke was done crying, and held him tight for a few minutes.  We got Tyke dressed and left the building.  He doesn't have to go back for another well check until 9 months old, and luckily there won't be shots involved.

After leaving the clinic we took Chad back to work and then Tyke and I headed to Walmart.  I needed to grab a few things, and I had forgotten to pack Tyke's Tylenol for the pain, so I grabbed some new Tylenol for him so I could get it in his system quick instead of waiting until we were home.  I only gave him a half dose and he fell asleep pretty quickly.  That's the only Tylenol he received for this set of shots.  He did so good this time!  

Today while getting him ready for the day I attempted to take his band-aids off.  They were stuck on good and I knew they were going to hurt to tear off.  I slowly peeled them back, one by one, and he would wince and look at me like what the heck!  Then I would rip it off quick, to ease the pain.  Well by doing so our tough guy busted out laughing so hard!  I definitely didn't expect that reaction.  He laughed at each band-aid coming off.  I then gave his legs a good rub down because they had lumped up where he had had the shots.  Again he giggled.  The last two rounds of shots doing this stuff made him cry.  Silly boy, I'll take the giggles over the tears!  

We're so proud of our boy and how healthy, strong and good natured he is!  In our eyes he's so smart and perfect!  We love you Tykers!!!!