Parker's 9 month exam

Parker had his 9 month exam this week.  Outside of the ears, he's doing very well!
Weight: 19 lbs, 3 oz, 24th percentile
Height: 28 1/4", 44th percentile

I'd noticed that he'd recently gotten longer, and as rolly, cheek-a-licious and solid as he seems to me, it seems like he's slowing down as he approaches the one year (yikes!) mark.

We talked about the usual developmental stuff, and it was nice that he's now doing so many new things lately. The crawling, the pulling to stand, the cruising (gross motor).  The self-feeding (fine motor), attachment to momma, playing games like peek-a-boo and So Big (social); as well as the increased verbal (both expressive and receptive, he clearly knows his name, and is responding to verbal cues like 'No!')  He's not working much on standing independently, however, because he generally thinks he needs to jump. Fortunately, I mentioned this at a timely point in the exam, or he probably would have jumped out of the pediatrician's arms without her being prepared.   He does, by the way, now start to take some steps if you hold his hands and lean him forward while he is standing.  But he won't do the same if you give him a walk-behind toy. He'll just sit down.

But the ears. Alas, the ears are still not clear. After round 3 of antibiotics, he still has fluid.  So we're trying some Flonase to see if we can get him to dry out a bit.  We now have a rather complicated bedtime routine of antibiotic, change diaper, jammies on, suction out nose, saline nose, Flonase, pain med, nurse, cuddle, to bed (with a bit of whining once he's down, but he's learning how to settle himself to sleep).

So the plan is: back in a month.  If the Flonase and the reminder of the Omnicef don't do the job, then we're headed off to an ENT to see if we go through their bag of tricks or look at a more invasive step. 
Unfortunately, there is the possibility that Parker just has poorly draining eustachian tubes. There's certainly been a few people to whom he is genetically linked who have suffered with chronic ear infections.  I was fortunate enough not to be that kid in my family, and it seems Maia seems to have escaped it as well.   But time will tell.