Wow, where has the time gone?
Today, Lyla is four months old.
And, naturally, we took her for her four month well child check this morning. She was weighed, measured, looked over and got her shots.
At four months old she weighed in at 11 pounds, eight ounces (there are 16 ounces in a pound for the math challenged) and was measured at 23 1/2 inches long. So, she has put on two and a half pounds in two months and grown two and one-quarter inches since her last appointment in January. She’s still on the petite side, but, our doctor says she’s “gaining steam” and “appears to be thriving.”
Our family doctor also asked us about various milestones such as vocalizing, “Has she laughed yet” and “Does she grasp objects?”
He was pleasantly surprised when we told him she’s sleeping through the night which, of course, is a good thing for our sanity.
She was happy, smiley and pretty mellow. It was great. Everybody at our doctor’s office thought she was cute and sweet.
The doctor mentioned that we could start giving her cereal as a first food in a month or so, but, I asked him if it is OK to wait until she’s six months old before starting her on any solid foods and he thought that was just fine.
He gave us some hand outs on four month olds, which I’m sure will be helpful, then headed out the door to see his next patient. As he left, he told us we’re “doing a great job.”
Yay!
Oh, and a nice girl named Nicole would come in and give Lyla her shots.
One of the three sets of vaccines was in an oral form, so, I attempted to give it to her but while waiting for Nicole to come into the room, Lyla passed out. It was time for her morning nap. So, when I tried to give her the oral vaccine, she just spit it out. We had to get another one and this time Nicole did the job.
Nicole said Lyla was so cute and relaxed, she felt bad giving her shots knowing she was going to make our little darling cry.
I wasn’t too worried because Lyla handled the shots at two months really well.
So, she whimpered a bit after the first shot, then had a full meltdown after the second one. We soothed her and gave her a pacifier and within a minute she was back to happy, calm Lyla.
I suspect that this is one area where being a diabetic pays off for me as a parent. Nearly eight years ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Doctor’s visits and needles are par for the course. Add to that the fact I’ve had an emergency appendectomy and back surgery as well as given birth in the past seven years and the whole vaccination thing is no big deal to me.
Though I haven’t had a chance to research my theory to see if calm parents equals calm baby when it comes time for the shots, I hope there is some empirical evidence out there to support it, if not at least anecdotal evidence.
From my perspective, at least, I figure if we don’t make a big deal out of it and remain calm then, of course, she’ll be calm too.
I took this picture literally two minutes after she got the shots, one in each thigh. You wouldn’t even know it based on this photo.

One of the women in the reception area checking patients in commented on the fact she was so peaceful and calm as we were making her six month appointment.
“Usually babies come out still crying,” she said.
Not our Lyla. I knew from the beginning she was going to be awesome.
Just having Lyla in my life makes me feel like the luckiest person on earth, but, knowing what a calm, happy baby she is really makes me feel blessed.
And I keep hearing it just keeps getting better from here.
Really?
Sweet!