Words and Teeth and Measurements, Oh MY!

Nora is 9 months old (and some change).  Holy smokes.  Time's flying, and I'm trying to start her birthday party planning because I know it's going to creep up on me.


Nora's favorite things:
- finger foods; she is not very interested in purees
- cords, and outlets, and small choking hazzards
- pulling Joseph's hair
- patty cake
- being tossed in the air
- YELLING LOUDLY

New and exciting things:

- Dada and Mama: Nora started saying Dada last week and meant it!  And she started saying Mama yesterday.  Woo hoo!  It's freaking adorable (even at 2am)

- Teeth!  She's sort of up to 6 (one was out but I think it swelled back in - poor baby!)  She has 4 on top and 2 on the bottom

- Crawling - yes, I did document the day, but she's quite proficient now and can go where she needs to.  Last week she was getting stuck under the couch and such by pushing herself backwards, but she seems to be able to maneuver now

- Pediatrician: We had her 9mo appointment, and she's looking great!  here are the stats:

Weight: 16lb 4oz (10%)
Height: 27.75" (50%)
Head Circ: 44cm (50%)

She's started doing this "party time" wake up at night, which is NOT CUTE.  Neither of my babies have ever been stellar at staying asleep at night, but at least Joseph always went right back to sleep after nursing.  Ever since Nora learned to sit up by herself, she will wake up and want to have a dance party.  The only way to get her back to sleep is if she is actively nursing.  I'm all for night time parenting, but even I draw the line at nursing for 7 hours straight.  Sorry kid.  So we've had some long nights lately and I'm ready to figure this out.  I might try motrin tonight in case it's teething related.

Photo:

Joseph's 3 Year Pediatrician Appointment

Today we went to the doctor for Joseph's physical.  He was a champ!  We'd read Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor yesterday, and he was very excited.

He weighed in at 26lbs (3% from what I can tell on the charts) and 38.5" (75%).  So I guess he had a growth spurt, as he was usually around 50%.  The doctor was happy with the variety of food he eats, as well as his language skills and physical appearance.  Not one comment about feeding him more or putting weight on him - hooray!  Have I mentioned how much I love this doctor?!?

Joseph did get his MMR finally today (we were waiting for him to top 25lbs).  He knew that he was getting a shot and that it'd hurt for a little bit, but I think he was pretty shocked when it happened.  He didn't cry during the shot, but I think when the pain didn't subside right away he got a little frightened and then started crying.  Poor buddy.  He commented several times that "it hurts" afterwards.  He got a cookie for being brave.

In other news, I went to parent-teacher conferences at preschool today!  It was fun to hear how great he is.  Hahaha.  He's doing awesome at school and learning lots!

4 Months!

Nora is 4 months old!  Time really is flying by.  This month she learned to roll over (front to back), *really* found her voice (all the shouting is wreaking havoc on her brother - he thinks she's crying even though she's just "talking"), and can hold on and "play" with toys in earnest.  Best of all, she's beginning to laugh!  She's also starting to like pulling on my hair.  No toothbuds, yet, but she's leaking like a sieve and chomps on my knuckles with vigor.  Her hair and eyelashes are growing in thick, though her hair is still pretty short. 

We had her pediatrician visit today.  Stats:

Height: 24.5" (50%)
Weight: 12lbs 12oz (25%)
Head Circ: 40.5cm (30%)

Interestingly, Joseph's were:
Height: 25 1/4" (57%)
Head circumference: 41.5cm (26%)
Weight: 13lb 6oz (17%)

I know that they are just giving us a ballpark % at this new place rather than the more technical computer printout at our old pedi.  Also, girls have different charts than boys, but it's funny to think that Nora is smaller than Joseph at the same age - she seems so darn tall and chunky to me!  Hahaha.  In my defense, she is almost growing out of some of her 3-6mo clothes already, so what else am I to go on?

In gratuitous compliments, the pediatrician said she had beautiful skin and really thick, luscious hair.  I can't help but agree!

2 Months!

Nora is two months old today - which seems impossibly short.  I love that she was born just before we moved - it really makes it feel like she's been part of our family forever since we all moved into the house together. 

But, her teeny tiny-ness reminds me that it's not true!  We just got back from the doctor, and she's sleeping peacefully after having 2 shots.  She was unappreciative of the weighing, measuring, and poking.  Ha!

Stats:
Weight: 10lb 9oz (about 35-40%)
Height: 23" (about 75%)
Head: 38cm (about 50%)

According to my old blog posts, Nora is even smaller than Joseph (though the percentiles change since she's a girl).  Luckily she is not fussy, nor does she spit up a lot, so I don't have to give up my ice cream this go-round.  I'm wise enough now to accept that my kids will not be on the big end (or probably even the small end!) of the charts, so I don't worry much about it.

The doc said she had wonderful head control and looked great.

2 week and 4 week Appointments

yeah, yeah... I just had a baby and moved across country into a decrepit (yet charming) house.  Cut me a little slack.  ;)

OK, a lot of slack, because I don't know where the info is that they gave us so you just get weights this time!

Birth: 9lb, 2oz
2 weeks: 9lb, 5oz
4 weeks: 9lb, 14oz

I think they said today that they like to see 1-2lb gains per month.  I told them about my slow-growing son, though, and that they shouldn't expect much from my kids in the weight gain department.  Ha!

Nora is beginning to smile for real!  She's always been pretty expressive, and starting Sunday, I'd say, I got some reactive smiles from her.  Tonight we almost had a "conversation".  We stuck our tongues out, smiled, raised our eyebrows, and I swear she almost laughed back at me!  We're BFF's already.

 Nora at 4 Weeks

Our Big Boy

I took Joseph to the doctor this morning, he's still getting some rashy areas on his face and neck and we wanted to make sure it wasn't anything serious (it wasn't).

When we got there, they treated him like a "big boy" for the first time! He stepped on the scale himself (24.5 lb!), Stood up to get measured (34" tall!) and even got his temperature taken by mouth. He wasn't scared and he did each task quickly and without complaint. I was so proud of him!

He also got two shots today. :( But he's almost "caught up" now - just the MMR and one Hep A shot to go. I think we'll do the Hep A shot next time we go in, and set up a separate day for the MMR later on. Since we aren't doing chicken pox, we'll be all set for him until he starts school!

After shots, we went to Costco for pizza and ice cream. He fell asleep on the way home, and now is trying to get settled in bed. I think they put some sort of sedative in those vaccines. ;) (kidding, I know they don't, but they never fail to make him sleepy!)

2 year Pediatritian Appointment

Wow - can you believe it's that time already?

Vital stats:

22lbs (<1%)
34" tall (a little below 50%)
18.9" head circ (I can't remember exactly, but it was around 25%)

The doctor is *finally* convinced that Joseph is on his own curve and doing well (yey!) I've been convinced ever since he started talking.

There is too much awesome stuff to say about how he's been. He's so fun right now. Sometimes he just runs around like a mad man - so funny. He knows every letter (except Q, but heck, that one's not too important, right?) and lots of words. Once we filled up a whole page I stopped keeping track, but I'd put him at 75-100 if I had to guess.

He loves to play with balls, still, but he's really into puzzles, books, trains, cars, and his stuffed bears. He reminds me to grab a bag before we go, and sometimes he wants to take his own "bag" (an old purse of mine) with - filled with balls, of course!

We've been going to a music class that he absolutely adores. It's really making him more outgoing. I'm hoping it'll prepare him slightly for preschool in the fall.

He's still a bit "sensitive" with other kids; his feelings are easily hurt and not easily repaired. We'll have a lot of work to do teaching him how to interact with children in an assertive manner... which will be difficult for this Mama, who specialized in passive-aggressive techniques all of her life! Never to late to learn, right? We have a ways to go for that, though, as most two year olds are simply taking from others or pushing them around. I'm thinking that meaningful interaction is a year or two away still.

All in all, Joseph is a huge joy in our lives - he makes me happy and proud to be a mom!

Dentist Day

To psych us up for our first trip to the dentist [and because we'd been stuck inside for 4 days due to weather], we stopped by the aquarium for an hour first to get some energy out. We had the whole place to ourselves! Seriously, both exhibits we visited had a total of 2 other people while we were in them. I only with they'd opened the dolphin exhibit so we could've seen them without insane crowds! As it was, we still got to see neat stuff. They just got two more beluga whales - juveniles that were very rowdy! The sea otters were in top form, and it was fun to crawl through the penguin tunnel with no line. The whale sharks seemed to sense that no one was there, as they were swimming much lower and closer to the glass than we usually see them when we visit. Even the yucky octopus was crawling (slithering?) around because they were feeding him, instead of hiding in the rocks like usual.

After the aquarium, we had to go meet our fate at the dentist. It went relatively well. They were all quite nice, and besides having Joseph scream bloody murder because he was in a stranger's lap getting painful utensils shoved in his mouth by said stranger, it was a relatively pleasant experience. She didn't really have an explanation for the discoloration on his teeth besides the standard "maybe it was the iron supplement", but she did confirm that it's not a cavity situation. So that's good news. She tried to go at them with a couple of instruments to get the stain off, but it wasn't working and poor Joseph was in such a state that I pulled the plug. If it's cosmetic we can fix it when he's at a more reasonable age.

We got a list of "good" snack foods (these docs and their nutrition guidelines, hehe) to prevent decay, our very first reminder to floss his teeth (yeah right) and our first mention of crowding - already setting us up for braces. Given T.J.'s dental history, we'd be lucky to get off with just a bottom row of braces. Beats the heck out of head gear!

At the end they gave him a "prize" which was a small fish toy, coincidentally! Joseph just started using the word fish (ish) in the last few weeks, and obviously said it about a million times at the aquarium, so getting a fish at the dentist was pretty great. Mama got us a prize, too. A milkshake from Chick-Fil-A.

Hey, the dentist said ice cream is good - apparently it just "slides off of the teeth". Sweet!

Another round at the doctor's office

Against my better judgement, I went ahead and scheduled the weight check appointment the doctor wanted. The appointment was today, and we had some marginal improvement from last time.

Joseph's up to 20.6 lbs, still at 32.5" tall and 18.5" head circumference. He's finally "legal" to turn in the carseat (though we have no intention of turning him anytime soon - check out this link, or google "extended rear facing" and watch some videos if you want more info.

His weight curve is looking better (on the exponential upswing) but his height and head now look stagnant. I'm not particularly concerned, because I think last time his weight was stagnant and the other two were OK. I hear some kids only grow one way at a time - out or up.

Of course, the doc, whose job it is to worry, ordered more blood tests. After the torture of last time, and how he was already screaming bloody murder from being placed on the scale I was loathe to get more bloodwork done. But we sucked it up, and Joseph was amazing! He didn't even cry at all and he had many vials pulled! I was so proud of him. The awesome nurses from last time were there again, and they were equally great this time. We'll see if anything comes up on the bloodwork. If it comes back normal, he wants us to see a nutritionist instead.

After all of that, we went and got pizza and ice cream for lunch as a treat. He almost got a gigantic stuffed dog at Costco as a guilt gift from me, but I tried to be reasonable. And by reasonable, I mean I already have my eye on something else that he'll like better. :)

Update on Bloodwork

All of his bloodwork came back fine. Rest easy!

18mo Doctor's Appointment

T.J. and I took Joseph to the pediatrician today for his 18mo appointment. Stats:

Weight: 19lb 4oz (well below chart)
Height: somewhere between 32.25-33.5" (they measured him 2x) (~50%)
Head: 18.5" (~25%)

Doc threw the "Failure to Thrive" hat in the ring today. I knew it was coming, but frankly it still makes me mad. If there is one thing that Joseph is doing lately, it's thriving. He has great gross and fine motor skills, his verbal skills are developing, and he has a fantastic personality. Heaven forbid that he'd rather play than eat. Ugh.

But, the "tests" for this aren't very invasive, so we consented to starting them. First, they taped a bag to his groin so they could collect a urine sample (poor Joseph). Then we went to the lab and he had blood drawn and they did 4 or 5 different panels. The nurses there were hilarious - basically just rolled their eyes when we told them why we were there. I told them I brought T.J. so that the Doc could see that he was perfectly fine, but it didn't work!

So far nothing's coming back overly alarming. There are a few things abnormal, but they are mostly very close to the norms. We should hear back from the Doc next week on their opinion. If they do find something, we'll have to do more bloodwork, I guess.

My diagnosis: Skinny father. :)

After the doctor, T.J. and I had dentist appointments, so we had the dentist look at Joseph's teeth. His top teeth are all dark near the gum, and I was worried that it was decay. He says it just looks like stain, though he was confused by it. He said it's probably due to a bump he took to his gums as an infant or to vitamins. I'm glad that it won't require dental work, but bummed that it appears that Joseph will have dark teeth until his milk teeth fall out. Oh well, could be worse!

15mo Pedi Appointment

Today we saw our new pediatrician. Our insurance decided to stop allowing us to see anyone outside of their own medical centers. I cannot tell you how irate that makes me. That is neither here nor there, though, as we have to do what we have to do.

We actually had a very good experience. I think we were the first appointment of the day. We showed up 15 minutes early, got called back right away and got him weighed/measured by the nurse, who took care to be funny and make Joseph smile. Then we saw the Doc, who came in immediately and spent a LOT of time with us. He had a great bedside manner and was great at listening to me. He seemed relatively on board with our decisions regarding Joseph's care, and was only marginally annoying with his parenting advice (i.e. warning me about having a 4 year old who won't sleep unless we let him cry-it-out).

The good: Joseph grew 2 inches! He's now 31.5" tall (50-75%) and his head is 18.27" (25-50%). The doctor says he's on track for mental development, in that he is pointing at things and has a few words. Joseph was cruising around the room and the Doc said that he looked great and agreed that he would walk soon. He also was impressed with Joseph's personality - he was really good, smiling for everyone and not even crying during the exams.

That bad: He lost weight. He is down to 18lb 2oz from 19lb 8oz. It can be normal for kids to lose weight at this age as they become more mobile, but he doesn't really have any to lose. He was not on the charts at 12mo when he was 19.5lbs, so he's obviously quite underweight now.

The doctor thinks we should night wean him to encourage him to eat more solids during the day. We had night weaned, but then molars happened. I'd been planning to do it again, though I have to admit that when a doctor tries talking to me about sleep training, it makes me want to do the opposite. Ha!

At the very least, I'm going to start doctoring his food a bit again - adding butter/olive oil to veggies and preparing higher cal meals. Don't get me wrong, he eats eggs with cheese and spinach, whole milk yogurt with banana, pizza, grilled cheese, hummus, meatballs, bread with butter and jam, etc... so it's not like I'm only feeding him fruits and veggies. But maybe I can start doing more "casserole" type foods so he can get some pie crust/cream/cheese/meat mixed in with his veggies.

Mostly, I'm not going to let it bother me too much. He is meeting his milestones, looks healthy, and eats a wide variety of foods. I'd hate to sabotage that by making him nurse less and start pushing treats on him so that he rejects the good stuff. I try to remind myself that T.J. and I are not exactly heavyweights, either, and that Joseph may just be taking after his Daddy (who, incidentally, is not on the BMI charts as an adult).

Impromptu Pedi Visit

Joseph is sick. We took him to the pediatrician this morning, and they are testing him for strep. He's had a fever for 2 days now, a red throat, and isn't feeling well at all. Poor little guy. We're pretty exhausted, too, as he is not a kid who sleeps when he's sick.

I'm going to try to remember to take some photos tomorrow for you all after he's doped up on the motrin!

PS. We did his weight check while we were there and he gained 5 oz! The doc said that's on track, so apparently he just needed more opportunities for food. D'oh. We're ecstatic that we don't need to worry about gluten!

Turning Circles

So, after struggling (and talking, and struggling) all weekend with this weight gain thing, I've decided that the whole thing is ridiculous. Sure, he's small. Maybe there is even something "wrong". However, I'm not going to try to solve it by feeding the poor child cake and ice cream. Yes, that's what I resorted to today before I decided that it was ridiculous. And he didn't even want it.

I cannot make my child eat. All I can do is provide him with healthy, nutritious, and hopefully tasty food that he'll WANT to put in his mouth, and make those as calorie dense as possible. So while I will no longer be trying to sneak tahini into his yogurt (that went over like a lead balloon) and cajole him into eating chocolate cake and ice cream (seriously - he is his father's child. No kid like me would refuse that!) I will add a little more of it to hummus, put some butter or olive oil in veggies, etc... as well as try to give him less "empty" stuff like oat circles.

If he isn't where the pediatrician wants him to be in a month, then we can consider doing some testing to rule out things like allergies or celiac disease. And also get a second opinion.

The end. For now. ;) Thanks for all the support, T.J. and I appreciate it!

Doctor Update

I decided to call the doctor and see if she would agree with trying to feed Joseph more often and high calorie/fat things for a month to see how he progressed with his weight. She agreed, so now we're on

OPERATION CHUNKY MONKEY!

Give me your best ideas for (reasonably) healthy high fat, high calorie foods. Here's what we do so far on the high fat/calorie end of things:

whole milk yogurt
bananas
avocados
cheese
hummus
tofu
red meat
sweet potato
butter/olive oil

Things I'm thinking of adding in:

whole milk (cow)
heavy cream (either whipped w/ a small amount of sugar or to supplement milk)
ice cream (though I hate the idea - which was why I liked the heavy cream idea better)
bacon???
banana bread/muffins

I tried hot dog last night and today, but Joseph wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Also, I need to still get some healthy fruits and veggies in him, without filling him up too much. If you have ideas on that (especially green veggies) please post in the comments or send me an email!

12 Month Pediatrician Visit

Joseph and I drove up to see the pediatrician today. He seems to be hitting all of his developmental milestones, and she is pleased with the variety of food he is eating. He is 30" (50%) and 16lbs 15oz (not really on the chart).

The doctor is now concerned with his weight, and thinks he could possibly have celiac disease. I think he's just tiny, but whatever. So he is going gluten free for a month. The doctor said that I don't have to even though I'm breastfeeding, but Dr. Google says that I should, so I don't really know what to do on that score. I *really* don't want to do another elimination diet, but I don't see how we could actually tell unless I do. Sigh.

We finished up his HIB and PVC vaccinations, but put off the MMR. We just don't feel comfortable giving him more than a couple of vaccines per visit with all the stuff in them. Plus, as he is so small I really feel like we should delay until he's a "normal" weight. So I'd like to wait on the MMR until he would be 50-75% for a 12mo old... Does that make sense? I think so. Since he's home with me we don't have to worry about daycare rules or exposure, which helps.

On a more positive note, Joseph is a rock star at pulling up now! He's still nervous to get back down (he doesn't really care for falling on his bum!) but up, up, up he goes every 5 seconds! It's his new favorite thing to do.

Be honest, have you ever seen a cuter backside? I think not.

"Mom, stop taking photos of my hiney for the internets"

"How do you get off this ride?"

9 Month Pediatrician Appointment

Joseph and I (T.J. had to fly to New York this morning) went to see his pediatrician today. He has a pretty bad cold right now, but we still got his last vaccine from the 6 month appointment.

He's doing great - just following along his own path. Here are his stats:

Height: 28.5" (55%)
Weight: 15lb 9oz (<3%)
Head: 43.8cm (11%)

So he's fallen a bit for head and weight, but stayed the same for height. I just realized today that we still have him on the CDC charts, not the WHO charts. He probably would be holding his own *slightly* better with weight on the WHO. I'll have to try to remember to ask about it next time.

We're going to add in meat, legumes, and dairy to his diet and cut back on the rice and oatmeal. The doc is more concerned that he gets nutrient rich foods vs. fortified calories, which makes me happy. We've decided against the multivitamin that has iron for now - he has some difficulty with pooping now that I don't want to make worse with an iron supplement. So we'll go with fish and meat for now and see how things look at his 12mo appointment.

I can't believe that at our next pediatrician appointment he will be a year old! Insane!

6 month pediatritian visit

Joseph and I went to his 6 mo visit today. He got a couple of shots (he's such a trooper) and weighed and measured. Here are his stats:

Weight: 14lb 11oz - 6%
Height: 26.75" - 56%
Head: 42.8 cm - 21%

The doctor said he looks happy and healthy and perfect! I tend to agree. We're going to start him on solids this weekend (T.J. had to go out of town for work, and I want him to do the honors).

Our little man is growing so fast!

Health update

Joseph had his second appointment with the audiologist yesterday (the first one was inconclusive) and passed with flying colors! I also made sure that it's OK to have him at places like weddings, so T.J. doesn't feel compelled to give him "ear muffs" anymore (how cute is that?)


Anyway, today we went for Joseph's shot visit, and I had them do a weight check. He's now 13lbs 14oz, so he's gained 9 oz in a month. Not too bad. I stretched him out to get a quick height measurement, and by my crude calculations he is 26 inches!

Per an online calculator, that puts him between 5-10% for weight and between 25-50% for height. We'll see how that stacks up next month. I'm sure that the pediatrition will give us the side-eye for him being even tinier, but I think he's generally been gaining 1/2 lb per month lately. I am curious whether she will suggest putting off solids since he will not hit the "double his birthweight" milestone usually suggested. I'll have to make a note to ask her about that.

He was a real champ with the vaccine - he only cried for about 10 seconds.

4 Month Appointment

We went for Joseph's four month appointment today. He got another clean bill of health, and the doctor had some predictions for us. I wouldn't count on it, but she thinks that:

• He may be getting teeth sooner than later
• He will walk very early (Noooooooo!)
• He will talk very early

Obviously it's because he's a genius. (just kidding, really!)

He got two shots, but took them very well. She was able to give both in one leg, so it went much faster than last time. He only cried for about 30 seconds, and then nursed to sleep. My friend Kati is right, doctor appointments are ALWAYS scheduled during nap time!

Here are his stats:

• Height: 25 1/4" (57%)
• Head circumference: 41.5cm (26%)
• Weight: 13lb 6oz (17%)

No real concerns about his weight. I've conceded that he's just a peanut, and I'm not going to worry about it until the doc says I should. I really trust and respect her advice. We're on the same wavelength about a lot of stuff!

And no solid foods yet. She never even mentioned it, and we'd planned to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months (at least) anyway. So, sorry Grandma, no lolly's for Joseph in August.