I Like My Doctors Nerdy

Ava just had her one-month appointment. I HEART this pediatrician. I’m so glad that we left Alexander’s original pediatrician. We dumped her when Alexander was around a year old but we should have done it sooner. We should have done after we found out she used to be a veterinarian and clearly preferred her canine patients, or after the eighth time she sternly called us “people” (as in, “you gotta clean his armpits, people” after discovering a speck of lint in his pit. Baby skin = lint magnet, people!!!) The new pediatrician actually seems to like children and their parents… plus she is totally a nerd’s dream pediatrician. She showed me 6, yes SIX graphs. I nearly fainted from data bliss..

There are three measurements they take at every appointment in the first year -- weight, length, and head circumference. Each is plotted on it’s own graph with various comparison percentiles graphed out to a full year. Normally, you get three graphs – one for each of the three measurements. Since Ava came early, however, I get to have three bonus graphs that compare her to other babies born three weeks early. Sweeeeeeeet. For example. Ava is now 8 lb, 2 oz which is 25th percentile for all babies, but 50th percentile on the 37 week “preemie” chart.

The pediatrician and I shared a nice nerdly moment comparing and projecting the data out to ridiculous conclusions. My enthusiasm for the moment was magnified due to the fact that I hadn’t gotten out of the house in days.

Anyhoo… Ava’s doing great. She’s 8 lbs 2 oz, 21 inches long, and has a 14 inch head. Using the preemie chart that’s 50th percentile for weight, 75-90th for length, and 50th for head size.

Here’s a picture of her as I type:


And this picture is proof that she is getting a little squish on her thighs:



Speaking of pictures… Alexander is still very much into art. It’s his favorite activity, and it holds his attention longer than anything that is not Elmo. He likes to announce what he is drawing as he goes. Like, he hollers “blue!” when he grabs the blue crayon. While his vocabulary has gotten pretty big, 90% of it can only be understood by a select few (usually me, Tim, grandma, and of course bubby himself). His latest masterpiece is called “Greh and Ha-ah with Cirsles and Dahts” . For the bubby-impaired, this translates to “Green and Yellow with Circles and Dots”. It’s a Yarsterpeice!!! (That’s “ridiculously adorable masterpiece” for the Our Dumb Blog-impaired).





And when he’s not doing art, he almost always looks like this (happy and in motion):



Tim is not only an excellent father and husband… with a few minor adjustments he transforms into a comfortable mattress:




So life here is pretty good.


ps - she is laughing in her sleep in the above picture - one of her first acts of yar at 6 days old, and it just keeps getting louder and cuter.