8 month check up

Charlie is exactly 8 months old today and went to the FV hospital for his 8 month check up.

His stats are as follows:

Height: 72cms

Weight: 9.6kgs

He appears to have not grown since last month, but as I wrote after the 7 month check up I don't trust their ability to measure Charlie.

Charlie is doing very well and has at least half a dozen teeth now.

While taking charlie out for his morning walks one can definitely see that Charlie has become a lot more interested in his surrounding and is generally a lot more alert. He can move around the bed much better than a few weeks ago, but his walking ability seems to be progressing quite slowly.

I am British

Charlie was delighted when I showed him his British birth certificate, that I picked up at the British Consulate yesterday morning. Not actually sure if Charlie was British before he got this piece of paper, but he definitely is now.

Next month we will be getting Charlie his British passport and probably a Vietnamese one as well. Under Vietnamese law it is theoretically illegal to have another nationality in addition to Vietnamese, but the government knows that this happens and doesn't appear to have an issue with it.

I wrote the above on the 23rd of August, but have had blog issues yet again.

7 month check up

Charlie went for his 7 month check up at the FV hospital this morning. All was fine and his vital statistics were as follows:

weight: 9.0kgs

According to this table this is just over 75th percentile:
http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/WFA_boys_0_5_percentiles.pdf

His weight increased by 0.4 kgs since last month and this also ties up with the table.

length: 72cms

According to this chart he is just a little over the 85th percentile: http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/LFA_boys_0_2_percentiles.pdf

One has to take in to consideration that his 7 month check up was actually after 7 months and 7 days.

I don't believe in the length figures that we have been receiving from the hospital. On 28 June they said he was 68.5 cms, then we took him in about a week later as he had a fever and they said he was 71 cms. He couldn't have grown 2.5 cms in a week.

I am in two minds at the moment whether we should change from referring to his length and start referring to his height. I actually think height is more appropriate now as when I usually see him he is either sitting or standing up.

When asked by the doctor to open his mouth Charlie apparently did so. I think this was a fluke or it was imagined.

Charlie is progressing excellently!

Recent pics

Charlie can now sit unsupported for long periods of time, but sometimes he still falls face first in to the mattress.

Last week I had to hold on to Charlie's hands so that he could stand up, but now Charlie can hold on to furniture and stand up by himself.

7 months old

Charlie will be 7 months old tomorrow. Pictures above were taken yesterday.

This week Charlie has progressed significantly. He can:

• stand quite well when I am holding on to his hands
• move around the bed much better than he could last week
• wave goodbye

It has been a very rewarding week for Hien and I seeing his excellent progress. Think his 7 month routine hospital visit is scheduled for the 5th of August.

Certainly not a crawler

Charlie is progressing well, however his crawling ability is not. When Charlie is on his front and he wants to go forwards he raises his bottom and tries to move like a snail. Unfortunately he more than often goes backwards rather than forwards.

During his 6:30am push around the block this morning Charlie sat up and started looking around much more than usual. I take Charlie for these walks nearly every morning and he invariably sees other children, who are no bigger than him, but are running around. I doubt that he realises these kids are 3 times as old as him. I believe that seeing this is a great motivator for him to get mobile as soon as possible.

Charlie seems ahead of his age in his standing ability and when being placed down he always tries to stand up rather than sit down. He can stand up if, being held on to, but after 30 seconds or so his legs usually give way.

Charlie sets a new PB

Charlie is becoming better at sitting unsupported. Yesterday he set a new personal best time of 29 seconds before he fell over. If Charlie is falling to the left or the right he can put his hands down to support himself and this usually works to prevent his demise. However, falling forwards is a bit more of an issue for him and if he is gravitating backwards his fall is quick. He is always sitting on the bed with pillows all around him so falling over isn't much of an issue.

One of Charlie's bottom teeth has emerged and it looks as if another 4 are coming soon.