Week 16 Day 4: A clean Bear of health

The numbers are in: Gavin weighs 23 lbs. 10 oz. and is 30 inches long (he also has a big head, but I can't remember the measurement right now). This explains why my back hurts so much. I've been carting around a little sumo wrestler in my arms.

All in all, Gavin's 9 month check up went A-OK today. My Bear is healthy as a bear. As healthy as a healthy bear, of course. Hopefully healthier than that one bear we saw at the zoo yesterday missing most of his fur and rubbing his sides repeatedly against the rock wall, presumably to quell some kind of mange-related itch.

Lisa and Brenden accompanied Gavin and I to his appointment. Brenden, who is six weeks older than Gavin, didn't dig being there so much. More specifically, he didn't dig being restricted by his mom while there. He wanted to tear up magazines, pull down lamps, turn the lights off, overturn the instrument cart, and yank plugs. For some reason Lisa restrained him. Clearly an infringement on Brenden's freedom of speech. Because if the Supreme Court says that corporations can "express themselves" via campaign contributions, surely the actions of the pre-verbal must also be protected.

I think it's also safe to say that Gavin didn't dig being there so much. He doesn't like being horizontal and being at the doctor's requires a lot of that. And while he doesn't mind being naked, he doesn't appreciate getting undressed or redressed (that whole horizontal thing again). He also doesn't like shots. Today he only had to get one (Hep B, y'all), but previous visits he's had to get as many as five stabbed into his little thighs. I remember that was the first time I'd ever seen him bleed. It was just a couple of little beads forming where he had some of his shots, but it made me feel woozy. Not because I'm the kind of person who passes out at the sight of blood (full disclosure: I did pass out while having blood drawn once, but it wasn't because I was freaked by the blood, it was because I hadn't eaten that morning as instructed and my blood sugar was all "fuck you" to that), but because seeing my little dude bleed made him seem even more vulnerable and, well, human than before. I think that's the hardest thing about being a parent, the parts where you are rudely reminded that your child is a mere mortal.

Speaking of which, Gavin is having a rough night. He just started whining again. This would be wake-up #4 since he went to sleep a little after 6. It's 9:35 now. Since Stacy is sleeping and I'm, well, doing this, I'm going to make the call that it's my turn to get him back to sleep.