18 Month Stats

Today was Oliver's 18 month wellness check up with the pediatrician. Overall it was a very good check up; she confirmed that Oliver is short and smart!Oliver did much better at this visit than the last. He was very interested in the frog wallpaper chair rail border, which helped distract him. This time he only screamed as she was examining him, instead of the entire time, including while we were talking to her, as he did the last visit. And of course he screamed during the shots, but he did recover very quickly. Boy did he fight that nurse, he was kicking like crazy (they give them the shots in the thigh). She said he was very strong. No wonder diaper changes are like wrestling matches some days!

The stats:
25 pounds, 11 ounces (50th percentile)
30-3/4 inches (10th percentile)
His weight is very much on track for his growth; he's always been around the 50th percentile. His height is lower than typical for him, which was usually around 25-30the percentile. The doctor wasn't worried, she said especially with boys, they tend to plateau and then have big growth spurts. It's just that I'd always heard to double their 18 month height to get their adult height, which means he'd be especially short. She said that's an old wives tale, but it was true for me (we looked in my baby book). I'm 5'3" and Marty is 5'7" so we're short anyway, but I don't want him to be only 5'2"!! I know, it's a stupid superficial thing to worry about when there are so many more serious problems, and I'm not totally freaked out about it. I just want him to be....normal, ya know?

Anyway, it was all made better after she told us how brilliant he was! ;) We talked a lot about his verbal skills and communication because Marty's brother is autistic and we worry about the genetics. She said we should stop worrying! He has more words than average at his age and communicates very well. In the last few weeks he has started showing a lot of interest in the alphabet and numbers, like, almost obsessed (remember, he stops at manhole covers to ask about the letters), and she said that is very advanced for his age! Once again, we have proof of his genius! I'm so proud! lol! The letter/number thing is so cute though, he loves the alphabet song right now, but all the letters are "a," so when we sing it, he chimes in every 5th letter or so with "a", and yesterday I also got a "b." He does something similar with the numbers, but all the numbers are "1." So when we're counting in his book, he points at each of say, 5 things, and says "1, 1, 1, 1, 1."

I've quit counting how many words he has, though we left off around 15, he has much more than that now, some used more than others. We've been working on naming body parts, so some of his new words include: elbow, belly button (buh-buh), eye (which references both his eye and his ear), and yes, penis (peez). He knows how to point to most of his body parts if you ask, but these are the ones he actually says as well. Have I mentioned that he now says "no" a lot? We think he thinks that's the name of the remote and the bathroom cabinets. Mostly he was just repeating it when we said it, but recently, he has started to say it when I ask him a question, "Would you like to get dressed now?" "No!" I guess I better learn to quit asking and start telling, huh? He does also say yes (yeah), but far less, lol! His other favorite word now is, sigh, "Elmo." Since his YouTube obsession, I have succumbed and allow him to watch about 15 minutes of Sesame Street after lunch just before naptime. After only 2 episodes, he knew how to say Elmo. As our doctor said, they must put subliminal messages in there or something! So now, after every meal (even though he only gets to watch it after lunch) as he gets out of his high chair, he asks for "Elmo!" When we went down the halloween costume aisle in Target, he saw the furry red costume and yelled "Elmo!" No, I did not buy it! I got him something much cuter, you'll see!! So yeah, as much as we were trying to avoid commercialized toys/programs, I see some Elmo toys in his future. At least Sesame Street is mostly educational. I do think it has something to do with his new interest in the alphabet. There are more words than that, but those are all I can remember at the moment. Needless to say, we are very happy he's a healthy boy, and very proud that he's so smart. Yes, we tease all the time that he's "very advanced for his age," but I have to say, it's nice to have a little confirmation that I'm doing something right, especially when it's my job to teach him these things!

Parting gift....a few shots from our walk in the park on a beautiful fall day earlier this week: