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!