Tale of the tape: 9 months

Today is only Tuesday, but I’ve already had two big days this week.

On Sunday, I officially turned nine months old. Yep, I’m now a mere three months away from completing my first year on this planet. Excuse me for a moment; I need to pass my dad a tissue. He’s sitting across the room, holding my ultrasound photo, sniffling and staring wistfully off into the distance. What a sap.

OK, I’m back. I followed up my momentous Sunday with another important day on Monday, going to the Polyclinic for my nine-month checkup. After the usual pokes and prods, Dr. Lindsay used her extensive knowledge and experience to conclude that I was, once again, perfect (she used “awesome” this time – can’t say I disagree).

The good news was that I didn’t have to get any vaccinations during this visit. The bad news is that I did need to have a quick blood test done, so I got my thumb poked. Turns out, one prick into your thumb is much tougher on you than three syringes going into your thigh. I’m not going to lie – I cried a little. OK, I cried a lot. OK, I cried so much that I tired myself out and slept for the next hour and a half. In my defense, considering how tiny my thumb is, there was a lot of blood that came out.

I’m feeling all better today, so I’ll take this opportunity to share my nine-month stats:

Birth weight: 7 pounds, 7.6 ounces.

6-month weight: 17 pounds, 6 ounces.

9-month weight: 20 pounds, 3 ounces.

Birth length: 20.25 inches.

6-month height: 26.5 inches.

9-month height: 28.5 inches.

Birth head circumference: Not available.

6-month head circumference: 43.5 centimeters.

9-month head circumference: 45.1 centimeters.

You might have noticed that there’s a gap in there – my three-month stats aren’t included. That’s because my brilliant dad left all of my paperwork at the hospital after that checkup, so we’ll never have any idea how big I was in January 2012. Was I 13 pounds? 14 pounds? The world will never know. That said, if you do have a compulsive need to know, just split the difference between birth and six months. That should do the trick.

In case you care how I stack up to other kids, I’m in the 79^th percentile for weight, 81^st percentile for height, and 82^nd percentile for head circumference. I guess that means my head looks slightly oversized. And if you’ve ever seen my mom or dad struggle to pull a shirt or onesie over my head, it probably makes a little more sense now.