2004-05-13, 9:30 a.m.

No Whooping Cough for us, Thank You

I took Leon to the pediatrician yesterday for his 2 month appointment. I think I've finally gotten used to that word - pediatrician - and stopped trying to say vetrinarian instead. At first it was funny - ha ha, I'm taking my kid to the vetrinarian - but pretty quickly I started to feel like I was making a tired joke over and over, so I've been actively working to remember to say the right word.

So yesterday Leon got his first immunizations. 4 big syringes of goop, two into each thigh. The techinician who gave him the shots was remarkably quick - Wham, two in the left leg, slap on a Peanuts bandaid, Wham, two more in the right leg, slap on a Donald Duck bandaid, "Okay, mama, you pick him up and make him feel better", and out the door she went. The whole thing must have taken about 15 seconds, and Leon hardly knew what hit him. So I picked up his screaming self, and he quickly quieted down to a whimper, and before long was asleep in his carrier again.

I felt proud of him - the whole time we were there I could hear other unhappy little babies wailing all up and down the halls of the doctor's office, quacking that funny duck-like cry that tiny babies seem so prone to. Leon has always been pretty mellow at the doctor's - sure, he usually ends up wanting to nurse while we're there, but he submits calmly to being poked and prodded, measured and weighed. He's a happy baby.

For the record, my boy now weighs 11 lbs, and measures 22.5 inches. His head is 38 cm around, which puts him at 25% for head size (dear god, you mean there are babies with BIGGER heads? How do they fit into their clothes??). I momentarily became the hyper-anxious mother, and asked the doctor if this was okay - the not-emormo headed baby. She said "oh yes, no problem, especially since head size is genetic. His growth is just right along the charts". And indeed, both Christopher and I (especially me) do in fact have relatively small heads. Whew. I'd hate it if my kid's brain wasn't growing enough because his mom has a small head...

After the appointment, hoping to take advantage of the phenomenon of the sleeping baby, I stopped at the Salvation Army across the street from our apartment. With the sudden onset of horribly humid 85 degree days, I was hoping to find some cute little dresses that button up the front, for easy nursing, and maximum ventilation.

I've decided that I love the Salvation Army, because it's the perfect one-stop shopping outlet. Everyone brings all of their clothes there, so you can find everything, every style, every kind of fabric. Instead of having to go from store to store, looking for something dressy here, something casual there, it's all in the same place, on the same rack. Triumphantly, I was able to find 4 wildly different dresses yesterday, all of which button up the front.

Unfortunately, in order to sort of try on the dresses (over my clothes), I had to take Leon off - the baby carrier definitely gets in the way of checking the fit on something that buttons up the front. And then he woke up, and his hot, hungry, 4 big innoculations in the legs cranky self made it very clear that I had done all the shopping that would be done that day. Pretty soon I will be known at the Salvation Army as 'The bad mother who pays for stuff while her baby wails'. Ah well.