It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Today was the Sleepy Baby's two month checkup. I have to say I love his pediatrician and wish wholeheartedly that I could go visit him instead of the militant "who are you to question anything about your health" doctors that run the practice we go to. In fact, as referenced in the title, SB's doctor reminds me of Mr. Rogers...he even wears a cardigan. (Though honestly, he's kind of like a mix of Mr. Rogers and one of my CS professors from college who was so incredibly brilliant as to have a limited set of social skills. And while the doctor has great social skills with his patients, you can tell he's a tad awkward with adults. I'm ok with that.)

What I love the most about Dr. Rogers* though is that he doesn't mind doing things slightly unconventionally provided you can explain why you want to do so. I know that vaccinations are a hot button topic, and so I'll state clearly for the record that our children will be fully vaccinated (with a possible exception of chicken pox...I'm on the fence about that one), but we're spacing them out so that SB only gets 2 at a time. This is a decision long in the making, and well researched...in fact, I can't recommend Dr. Robert Sears "The Vaccine Book" enough for people who are looking for easily understandable, unbiased information about vaccines. And the delayed schedule that we're going to use is a slight modification of the one Dr. Sears presents at the end of this book for full but delayed vaccination. (Dr. Rogers wanted to move polio up some since this area actually is apparently a little more at risk than other locations in the US.) Other than that, he looked at the schedule, listened to why I want to space it out (primary reason? We just don't know enough about his medical background to know if he is going to have any adverse reactions. If he was our biological child we would know a lot more about how he is likely to respond, but he isn't, so I think a little caution is warranted.) And he nodded and said he had no problem at all.

Just like that.

I have to say, I was incredibly nervous about it going in, because usually doctors look at people who have done research on their own like they're Martians. Granted, this is likely because people don't always use respected sources - just whatever "Dr. Google" throws up as the first hit - but still...I always get twisted up when I want to do something that I know is not exactly "the norm". It was pleasant to have someone with a medical degree actually listen.

So we're home. Sleepy Baby is currently true to his name and sleeping peacefully, his little Snoopy bandaids causing no apparent distress. And at 2 months he came in right in the middle of the 50th percentile again in height, weight and head circumference (22.5", 11lbs 8 oz for those who care) and passed his milestone checks with flying colors, even bestowing a full-on grin on Dr. Rogers when he was asked if he smiled.

*Not his real name. Obviously.