18 Month Check-Up

Today we went to the doctor for Garrison's 18 month check-up. This was the first doctor's visit that Garrison seemed really aware of where he was and what was going on. It was like he had bad memories from visits past. I'm wondering if part of it was because he wasn't feeling good anyway, or if he would have been extremely nervous, apprehensive, and clingy either way. He actually started with a little bit of a cold late Saturday night, so it worked out good that we already had this appointment scheduled.

Everything looked really good with him. His cold is just a cold and will have to run it's course, and he weighed 24 lbs, 14.5 oz and was 31 inches long. He is in the 25th percentile for both categories. The doctor explained (and showed me on the chart) that he is growing at a great pace and seems to have high metabolism. My first reaction once I heard "25th percentile" was that he's small for his age, but the doctor reassured me that the percentiles are used to track his growth and that while he is being compared to others at 18 months, he is not considered underweight or short... he is growing at a steady pace and moving right along on the chart.

She also made me feel better about his eating habits. At our last visit they told me to expect his appetite to decrease a little because that's typical during the 2nd year of life. Well, anyone who has seen Garrison eat knows that he loves food and that he will eat, and eat, and eat if you let him. We've seen absolutely no signs of the appetite decreasing at all. We actually question whether we're feeding him too much sometimes. She told me that the best explanation for his eating habits is that he's just trying to keep up with all of his activity. He obviously isn't overweight or gaining weight too fast, so it looks like he's trying to take in the calories he needs to keep up with his "active" lifestyle. In her words, it's something to be thankful for... a good problem to have. She told me if he was hungry, to go ahead and feed him and basically let him eat what he wants as long as it's healthy. He's definitely not deprived in any way when it comes to food, so I guess we'll keep doing what we're doing.

He also had to get two shots. Whenever I had to put him on the table for any reason he would start crying and trying to get me to pick him up. The last time I had to put him down it was so he could get his shots and it wasn't fun... for either one of us. He cried and cried, before she did anything, during, and after it was over. All of the previous times he had to get shots actually weren't so bad. He usually would get over it pretty quick and stop crying soon after it was all over. Not this time. He cried after she finished, while I got him dressed, and while I gathered our belongings so we could leave. He finally stopped crying when I put him down so we could walk out of the room. I guess he knew it was all officially over. Once we got home, I gave him some Tylenol and we just took it easy for a while. Now he doesn't have to go back to the doctor until he's 2 and no more shots until he's 4. Yay!

On a different note... I've noticed some changes with my little man that have come since his big 18 month birthday. I thought I would go ahead and mention some of them. One of the biggest changes I've noticed during the day with him is that he's a lot louder than he used to be. It's like he discovered the power of the volume of his voice. He yells, demands, or even screams to get my attention. He doesn't just say "ma-ma" or "please" or "bye", he yells it. For some reason he also enjoys screaming to just to hear himself. He doesn't necessarily scream out of anger he just screams so he can hear himself, like he's amused by the sound. So, one of the big changes is that he's all of a sudden not a quiet, shy little man.... he's really loud and doesn't care who notices. He has also started requesting that one of us do specific things for him. Whenever he finishes the supper he has on his plate but he wants more, da-da has to do it for him. He's quite demanding about it too. He refuses to let me take his plate and he insists on da-da. The main thing he's adamant about me doing is putting him to bed. He also can now point out where is eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, belly, hands, feet and toes are. We're so proud! Anyway, those are some of the changes I've noticed but overall his personality is still very laid back and loving.