Tag Archives: milestones

Sophia’s Four-year Child Wellness Checkup

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I knew about how tall she was because when we took her to the fair she could go on many of the rides that she wanted to go on, but I had no idea her weight was equal to her height. Sophia is in the ninety-sixth percentile for height and the ninetieth for weight. She is forty-two and three quarter inches tall and forty-two pounds. Our child who seems to survive on air and sunshine in an area without the sunshine is doing great. Who knew the air had so many calories? The boy, the child that seems to eat his weight in milk, baby food, and graham crackers, is in the eighty-fifth percentile for height and doesn’t even reach the chart for weight. I should have him checked for worms. Really.

Walking to the room to wait for the doctor, we approach the scale to weigh the girl. She, just like last year, refuses to stand on the scale. She had a meltdown and melted into puddle against the wall holding her bunny and backpack she insisted on bringing. “Do you want to weigh your bunny?” the nurse asks.

“No! No! No!” she cried. After several attempts at trying trick her into getting on the scale, I just picked her up, stood there with the sobbing child, and then weighed myself without her…just like last year. Last year she weighed thirty-two pounds and was thirty-nine inches tall.

She passed all the milestone questions. “Does she know at least three colors?” Yes, Sophia knows all of her colors and even in the order they appear in the rainbow. “Can she dress herself?” Yes. “Can she speak in full sentences?” Yes…technically. Half the time I don’t know what the heck she’s talking about, but full sentences do happen. Maybe someday I’ll be able to get her to tell me about her day at school. Even with prompting, she doesn’t say a word this year. Last year if I prompted her she would at least say that they sang songs or something. This year when I ask she responds with, “No! No! don’t ask me!” or “No! No! Don’t tell me!” when I try prompting. She does like school though. She often asks if she can go to school or if it’s time to get ready yet.

wearing new birthday clothes

When it came time for shots the doctor described this bee they have that is a vibrating ice pack they put on the arms of kids Sophia’s age to numb the area so they don’t freak out about the shots as much. I just looked at him as he described it and said, “You saw her at the scale didn’t you?”

“Yes, ” he chuckled I saw.

“This will be interesting.”

“Yeah it might not work.”

We tried it and she fussed about even having the “bee” on her arm and then watched as the nurse put the shot in her arm and began to pull away. Yeah there really isn’t any tricking my child into things. It’ll ether happen or it won’t go well. Usually it’s the latter.

The nurse offered her a tiny toy lizard, a ring with a purple gemstone, and two princess stickers. “No! No! No! I don’t want it!” Yeah I’ll just take those. She’ll want them in the car.

nablopomo

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Lukas’ six month baby wellness checkup

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It’s four days until Lukas will be seven months old, so I should probably get to writing about how his six month baby wellness check (6/2/2011) went. The nurse asked a bunch of developmental questions to make sure some milestones are being met. I believe we answered yes to everything or nearly everything. He is manipulating objects with his hands. He can transfer things from one hand to the other. He certainly recognizes if someone is a stranger. He’s not as testy about it as Sophia was. Lukas will allow people to hold him. He usually only becomes upset if I leave while an unfamiliar person is holding him.

The neighbor at our old house still watches the kids for me one day a week. I visit with her for an hour and then she watches the kids for about an hour while I go grocery shopping. She has watched Lukas since he was three months old and he cries the entire time I’m gone. When I come back and she hands him to me…it instantly stops. At first she would say that he must have a sour tummy or something, but I knew that wasn’t the case. Sophia was the same way only worse. Sophia wouldn’t let people hold her and would sometimes even cry if they just leaned in to talk to her.

One of the other things the nurse asked was if Lukas puts his weight on his feet. He does, but only for a second or two. That’s probably normal and I’m not at all concerned, but that was something that Sophia was much more advanced at. She started putting weight on her feet at about two months. I have pictures of it. By four months, I just had to hold her torso and she would keep her weight on her feet for a couple minutes.

Lukas is a more advanced sitter than Sophia was and he has never minded having a little tummy time. He doesn’t just tolerate it. He’ll actually amuse himself for a while with various objects and he uses his arms to push himself up into a half pushup. The beast of a boy weighed in at seventeen pounds and eleven ounces. His length was twenty-eight inches and his head circumference was seventeen inches. He’s the same length as Sophia but almost a full two pounds heavier.

almost seven months old

what are you looking at?

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Grab and Roll

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Reaching out for destructive purposes began at three months.  At five and a half months it continued.  It isn’t that Sophia never reached out and grabbed things, but it wasn’t until she was nearly a year old before it was more problematic.  We held Sophia while eating when she was an infant all the time.  I know we did because as an infant and toddler, and now sometimes as a preschooler, she insists on being held or sitting on our laps.  She never reached for our food or plates.  With Lukas, at five and half months, there has already been collateral damage.  Kurt was holding Lukas one day while he ate at the table and Mr. Grabby hands snagged Kurt’s plate and slid it off the table.  There is now a huge chip in that plate and I have to avoid using it for Sophia.  She obsesses over damaged things.  I have a feeling we’re going to be moving all her toys out of the toy room and to her room shortly after the boy becomes mobile.  And it’s coming.  Lukas rolled from front to back for the first time on May 28th.  He has only done it the one time so far, but he did it and I know can and will happen again.

I laid him on his tummy, Sophia had a string of red Christmas beads just out of reach of The Boy, and he really wanted them.  He rolled over reaching for them.  The change in orientation freaked him out and he bonked his head on the foam alphabet puzzle he was laying on, so despite reaching his goal he cried while clutching the beads.

Lukas taking a bath

Lukas on the bed after his bath

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Sit-A-Thon

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Unlike Sophia, Lukas didn’t begin sitting by pushing himself off his Boppy pillow to a sitting position. On 5/4/2011 I sat him in the bassinet of the pack ‘n play with the Boppy pillow behind him, only he leaned forward enough that I noticed the support wasn’t needed. At the time he did tip over after a minute, but he was sitting unassisted. He does the occasional face plant but it’s generally because he was reaching for something. He doesn’t flop forward, folding himself over in half, from a lack of muscle tone like Sophia did. Either he has better muscle tone then she did or his Buddha Belly prevents him from leaning forward that much.

sitting without support

sitting without support

tired of sitting

After minutes of sitting practice Lukas fell asleep.

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Sleep, My Elusive Old Friend

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I’ll start with a preemptive apology for and worse than normal grammatical errors and any worse than normal rambling and overall incoherence. I haven’t had a whole lot of sleep in the last few months. It began in the middle of pregnancy, though in those days I could still catch the occasional nap. Lukas started out as a very strong sleeper at birth, but the majority of his sleep took place during the day. It took us about two to two and a half months to switch him from sleeping those nice four hour stretches during the day to night time and even then there were a few nights where he quite literally woke up every thirty minutes needing the pacifier to plug the screaming hole in his face.

After two particularly crappy weeks of sleepless nights, I threw in the towel. After one midnight feeding, the next time he cried out, I simply closed the door to his room and then ours and I crashed for four hours. Kurt remarked how well I slept through the crying. I thought Lukas had eventually given in and that I had woken up to the sound of him starting up again. I had no idea the baby cried the entire time. This surely must be a sign of the stubbornness to come.

In the days leading up to Lukas’ four month birthday we were on a routine of him falling asleep at about ten at night, waking up three to four times a night, waking up for the day at about eight to eight thirty in the morning, and then only taking about three naps which lasted fifteen to thirty minutes. I didn’t feed him every time he woke up during the night, but still at four months old he should be able to sleep “through the night” without a feeding at all.

Lukas’ four-month baby wellness appointment was on Friday. The Boy weighs in at sixteen pounds. He is twenty-five and half inches tall/long, and his head circumference is sixteen and a half inches. He’s in the seventy fifth percentile across the board. He is currently wearing nine-month clothes because I can’t fit his melon head in six month clothes. He has reached all the milestones except the ability to roll over. He can recognize Kurt and I, which he has been able to do since he was two and half months old, he coos, smiles and laughs, and reaches for things. He can also self soothe. We can and do put him down for naps while he’s still awake. The boy just doesn’t sleep for very long, and will sometimes simply refuse to take a nap.

The doctor said it was absolutely fine to add some rice cereal to The Boy’s diet and that giving it to him just before bedtime should help reduce the number of times he interrupts my sleep with his nagging. That night we did just that and we put The Boy to bed at the same time Sophia goes to bed, eight. He didn’t like the cereal much and liked the bedtime even less. He only cried for half an hour but then started up again at nine or nine thirty. That lasted another hour before he finally got the hint. The next night he was quiet until nine but only cried for about fifteen minutes. Both nights he still woke three to four times. On the third night he went to bed without a fuss and only woke once. I wasn’t so lucky the fourth night. Putting him to bed isn’t an issue. Keeping him asleep for more than two hours is. I’m going to need tea that is a lot more caffeinated if this continues.

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All Hands On Spout

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I started putting Lukas in the Walk-Around Stationary Walker (AKA The Not-a-Walker) when he was two months old so that he would have some different scenery while went off to do things for Sophia. Unlike his sister, he actually likes the not-a-walker. Lukas was exactly three months and one week old when he began reaching out for things, and already in his first attempts, he’s showing that he’s all boy. The first thing he reached out to was the sparkly blue cloth waterspout of the whale on his not-a-walker and tore some of the blue sparkly off.
whale spout
He still doesn’t have full control of his hands. He’ll stare at them as if they’re separate entities from himself, and occasionally they actually become sentient and reach up and pull his pacifier out of his mouth. One time he actually became mad about this and was frustrated that the mean hands wouldn’t put the pacifier back in his mouth.

two months-old in the not-a-walker

Picture taken 1/31/2011

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Two-month Heavyweight Weigh In

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At three days old, Kurt took off his watch and put it right in front of Lukas’ face and Lukas not only followed with his eyes but also actually turned his head a little to follow the path of the watch. Kurt’s mother stayed with us for two weeks after Lukas was born and he amazed her with how well he held his head up when only a few days old. We even caught him making sounds that bore a striking resemblance to laughing in those few days.

Lukas smiles when he sees me, although he’s probably just thinking, “Lunch has arrived!” The other day I was talking to Lukas and I swear the boy really laughs already. He grinned and made a small laughing like sound. It was like he was thinking, “That’s funny, my food is talking to me.” He pretty much has a one-track mind. Food. You can tell this by the boy’s rolls. Dude has rolls on his rolls.

Mr. Man two-months old

see, I fitbig smile from the big girlflick

Lukas measured nineteen inches at birth and weight in at nine pounds and two ounces. At his one week appointment he was already well on his way to gaining back any weight he has lost after birth. He weigh nine pounds and the nurse measured him at twenty-one and a half inches. Obviously he didn’t grow two and a half inches in one week. The nurse said that the length/height is all an estimate until the child is about five years old, but with her method of measurement, I’m thinking twenty-one and a half inches is more accurate. Instead of laying a measuring tape next to the wriggling baby, she marks the paper on the patient bed at the top of the head and then stretches the little kicking legs out and marks the paper at the bottom of the feet taking the measurement between lines.

Before going to Lukas’ two-week appointment, Kurt and I guessed The Boy’s weight and went by The Price Is Right rules, highest guess that does not go over, to determine the winner. Kurt guessed ten pounds four ounces and I guessed ten pounds eleven ounces. I lost. I was half an ounce over. Boy weighed in at ten pounds ten and a half ounces. He measured twenty-two inches at that appointment.

On December thirtieth we took the boy in for an unscheduled appointment. It’s very common for breastfed babies to develop breast buds because of the hormones in the milk, and I knew this. What I didn’t know was that those buds would actually feel like solid lumps. The bigger concern however was that one lump was a little smaller than a dime and the other side was about the size of a quarter. My boy had lopsided man-boobs. The doctor said the unevenness was unusual but that there weren’t any signs of infection so he should be fine. He told us to watch for redness and warmth, basically to watch for signs of infection. The booby buds went down completely after about a week. There is no need for a manzier yet. At that appointment Mr. Man weighed in at eleven pounds four ounces and a half ounces.

At his two-month appointment yesterday, Lukas was in the seventy-fifth percentile across the board. He weighed in at thirteen pounds and eleven and a half ounces. He is twenty-four inches long and his head circumference is fifteen and three quarters. He did really well with the shots. He only cried briefly after each one. They hit him with force in the evening though. He woke screaming from a sound sleep and it was tough calming him down. He looked a lot like Sophia did after her shots only bigger and with less hair.

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Speech therapy, I waited for this?

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With every question I had after every pre-therapy hoop, I was told I’d have to ask the speech therapist. Almost two full months after Sophia’s qualifying evaluation for speech therapy I finally got an appointment and then the day before it was to happen I received a cancellation call. The therapist was sick, but I didn’t care. I was pissed as hell all day. All the hoops, all the forms, prior evaluations, first time consultations with occupational therapists, meetings over expectations, all we really wanted was this one therapy.

We are sure that if we could just get Sophia talking many of our other frustrations would be minimized. It took two months to get the appointment despite having good, nay awesome insurance. They couldn’t just assign a different speech therapist to come to our home or have me go to the office though they say it’s not as effective. I don’t care. Just get me into the final phase of the system!

I received a call the following Monday, the day before we were to leave for a week for Christmas in Michigan, and was asked if we could meet in two hours. Absolutely! Every first time meeting is just a head-nod getting-to-know-you session and this one was no different. I wasn’t impressed and I don’t think she likes me much either.

I got the feeling that she didn’t see Sophia as a valid case since I was beaming over new words she picked up over the week in Hawaii. She seemed to forget that I signed up for this shit two months prior and at the time Sophia had less than twenty words. All through the therapy session, the tips and pointers she gave to helping Sophia to speak were pissing me off. “Use short, simple phrases,” “Add descriptive words to the words she says.” “Ask her questions.” “Give her choices.” I’m sure there are some people that completely ignore their child all day and then wonder why the child doesn’t speak. I’m not one of those. I didn’t give any acknowledgment to the therapists suggestions. Her tone wasn’t at all condescending but the fact that those were her main tips made it sound like anyone with a two year old who doesn’t speak must be an inept parent and fucking idiot. Either that or this therapy is a joke. Seriously, if better tricks don’t come out of the bag next time I’m going to forget about the speech part of Sophia’s therapy.

The therapist began to give examples of questions I should ask Sophia as if I couldn’t come up with them on my own. Actually, she was trying to explain how to make talking fun for Sophia. “Is this blue?” She asked Sophia holding up a red Tyco Super Block (big Legos for toddlers). I had just explained to her that Sophia was using signs from her Signing Time video that she didn’t seem to understand. Red, was one of the signs. I waited to give Sophia a chance to answer. Sophia moved on with whatever was going through her toddler head without any acknowledgment that a question was even asked of her.

That form of questioning really makes my ass twitch. I have no idea what I was really like at the age of two. I do have memories from that age, but I don’t know if I was talking or how much. I told the therapist that Sophia isn’t just a lot like me, she is mini-me. Several friends have commented that her attitudes are mine exactly. I know that Sophia is only two and may not actually know the answer to the question, but in continuing to give some background in how Sophia I think, I told the therapist that when I was little I always thought people that asked that type of question were stupid. With a touch of contempt in her voice she said, “Well some kids think it’s fun.” Clearly, I hit a nerve. She continued to tell me that she wouldn’t use that sort of question with say, a seven year old. In the specific memory I have of being asked such a question I wasn’t seven. I was four. I was just trying to give her some insight into our attitude, so bite me.

Sophia started throwing a ball around the room and the therapist said the word “ball” to her. Sophia then said ball for the first time. “Wow,” I said, “I guess I’ll be adding that one to the list.” I was informed by the therapist that, “the tend pick up words spontaneously like that after they’ve reached fifty words”. Indicating that my count must me off. Including the new word of the day, she only had 37 words at the time. I’m not counting the signs she picked up from her video because she really doesn’t seem to know what they mean. For her they all are ways to tell me she wants to watch the video again and that’s it.

Sophia got to be a bit of a pest with her ball. She kept saying, “ball” and started throwing a ball AT me. I asked her not to do that and she said, “dahp et” The therapist and I both laughed, “yes,” I said, “you need to stop it.”

I told the therapist of my attempts at getting Sophia to talk including the four months (between the ages of 18 and 22 months) I didn’t give her anything (aside from scheduled meals) unless she signed or asked for it. I wasn’t responding to finger pointing or grunts anymore if I knew she had a word or a sign for a particular want. In an almost snotty tone she asked, “and how did that go for you?” I really wanted to be a smart ass and ask her if it wasn’t obvious since there is a speech therapist standing in my house, but I refrained. I’m such a big girl…sometimes. I told her it resulted in a lot of tantrums and joked, “but I can be stubborn too.”

“Well you reap what you sow.” She told me. Seriously, what a bitch! I didn’t ask what she meant by that and she didn’t offer any explanation, but I didn’t take it as anything positive. I have another appointment with her next week. I’m fuckin’ overjoyed.

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Flight to Hawaii

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At the airport I didn’t have to open Sophia’s sippy cups going through security like I did before. They have a new electronic device to examine liquids now. “Hey that’s pretty cool.” I told the TSA officer. I was happy that I didn’t have to open the cup while he held it and I juggled a wiggly toddler like I did last year.
“Yeah,” he said, “It can smell things just as well as a dog.”
“Really?” I asked, “It actually smells things?”
“Yes,” he said, “when it works.”

I bit my tongue and tried to hide my smirk. It’s an impossible task for me, my smirk has a mind of it’s own. I don’t know if they’ve hired all new TSA people in the last couple years or if the atmosphere has calmed down a bit. They seem to actually retain some human qualities now. I remember going through security shortly after 9-11 and Kurt being yelled at for not pulling all the change out of his pocket fast enough. He tried to explain that there wasn’t a change tray available and was yelled and even more.

On another trip months after the whole shoe bomber incident I had the audacity to ask, “oh, we all have to take our shoes off?” I had previously flown threw where only people with heavy boots had to take their footwear off. I was scoffed at and made to feel like an idiot, “yeah of course, where have you been?” As if everyone that flies does so on a very regular basis.

It’s getting a lot better. They’re now polite, respectful and even helpful for those of us with kids, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking the rules are any less arbitrary or ridiculous, especially when the TSA officer himself admits the equipment isn’t always reliable.

Our flight with a toddler went well. I mean for a two year old she did great sitting in an tin tube for six hours. I think it helped a lot that she was sitting in her car seat and that I brought her favorite foods with us. I’ll now publicly thank the guy in front of Sophia for not killing her for kicking the back of his seat THE ENTIRE FLIGHT. He never said a word or even gave a glance. He just put on his headphones and leaned forward. Kurt decided that on the way back we would have a rear-facing child so she’ll only have her own seat to kick.

We brought some of her books to entertain her. Those quickly became projectile objects which I had to retrieve from the crevice between her seat and the window. After a while she indicated that she wanted us to sing “The Wheels on the Bus” repeatedly by moving her hands in the rolling wheels motion.

When we go to swimming she rarely does any of the motions to that song. She smiles and clearly enjoys it, but the only active participation for that song is that motion and splashing the water for a horn beep. In her new preschool/playgroup she learned the motions done while out of water but not only doesn’t she participate in circle time during the class but she stands on the fringe of the circle and acts as if it’s a dull spectator sport. On the plane with her parents acting like idiots for her amusement she did all the motions and even helped Kurt with which verse comes next. She actually said “beep, beep, beep” for the bus horn sound. That’s right, she said a new word on the airplane. It was also freakishly cute to hear her do the, “sh sh sh” with her finger to her lips for the part about the mommies calming the babies.

We tried to schedule the flight in a way that Sophia would sleep through at least part of it. I even had her skip her nap the day before we left, but that stubborn-won’t-sleep-in-public-places child didn’t drift off until we started our descent into Honolulu, and then I had to wake her up. We landed at eleven at night, Seattle time. It was another two hours before we actually checked into our hotel and got her to bed.

Polar bear express to Hawaii

Yep, Sophia had to take her polar bear to Hawaii. I think she has watched too many episodes of LOST.

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I forgot a word

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In my last post about Sophia’s new words, I actually forgot one. I think she’s been reading my blog because she made sure to remind me yesterday. I was quickly tossing the dirty diapers in the trashcan outside and left the front door ajar so that Sophia didn’t pitch a fit that she couldn’t come see me if she chose. On the way back, I saw her standing in the doorway in her PJs, “Coh” she said. At first it didn’t register with me. “Coh, coh,” she said pointing to the frosty morning air.

“Yes, very cold!” I told her.

The first time I hear her say that was probably three weeks ago when I pulled out a package of cheese sticks from the freezer in the garage to put in the refrigerator. She wanted to carry them up, so I handed them to her. “Coh!” she said. That brings us up to thirty words at twenty-six months.

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