Trent's 3 year check up

Everything about this check up was different.  In a great way!

First, my mom volunteered to come over last minute and play with Claire while Trent and I went to his doctor by ourselves.  Just the two of us.  Just mommy and son. 

Every check up I've ever been to in the last 3 years (approximately 19 well-visits thus far) have all gone the same way:  follow nurse to exam room, strip baby down to socks, sit child on scale, lay child on bed to be measured, answer questions, see doctor, get shots, leave.

Today we didn't walk directly to the exam room.  We went to an area that's offset from the reception area "because Trent's a big kid now", as the nurse put it.  Here, he was asked to remove his shoes, stand on a real adult scale, then put his feet together and look forward so they could measure him the same way they'd measure you and me.  After that she took his blood pressure.  His blood pressure! She wrapped a too-big cuff around his little arm and we watched the numbers on the machine as the cuff gave his arm a big hug, then slowly released.  Trent did splendidly. 

Next, we walked to a little hall where the nurse was going to perform an eye evaluation.  She was prepared to make the exam a matching game for Trent - she stood 10 feet away with an eye chart and gave Trent a paper that had 4 letters on it.  Trent would have to point to the letter on his paper that matched the letter the nurse was pointing to on her paper 10 feet away.  Confused?  Well, it doesn't matter because Trent knows his letters and just said each one out loud as she pointed to it.  Proud mommy moment!  Best of all, he passed the eye exam with flying colors!

Now it was time for the exam room.  Here, I answered standard questions for the nurse then got Trent down to his undies while we waited for the doctor.  The doctor did a physical exam, much like every other visit, and asked her own series of questions.  Questions about eating habits, potty training, speech, sleep, yata yata.  The last thing she did was have Trent stand on one foot, wiggle his thumb, and bend over to touch his toes (not all at the same time).

He's on the 50th percentile for weight = 33lb 8oz
He's between the 10th-25th percentile for height = 36"

Since most kids start going to the dentist at age 3, I had the doctor recommend a few.

It was a really great doctors visit and I was so proud of Trent every second we were there.  From playing in the waiting room, to cooperating with the nurse, to answering the doctors' questions, to getting 2 stickers and immediately saying the one with cookie monster is for Claire.

Did I mention  NO SHOTS!!!!!

The only other thing worth mentioning doesn't have to do with his check-up, but it does have to do with a milestone we recently celebrated.  A few days after Trent's third birthday Kevin turned Trent's car seat around.  He is now forward facing in the car.  I wanted him to stay rear-facing for a little while longer, but Kevin's been bugging me about it for at least 6 months now, so we came to a compromise and agreed that when Trent turned 3 he would be turned around.  Trent didn't like it when he first saw it, but once we got him buckled in and started the car he got excited.  I was lucky enough to see his expression when we pulled out of the driveway - he had an excited grin and his eyes couldn't have been bigger.  While I do still worry that he's not as safe as he could possibly be, I really am enjoying having him facing the same direction as me.  It sounds like such a minor detail - something hard to get excited over - but it's the small things in life....

Watching Trent turn into a little boy has been a real joy.  He's just maturing and growing right before our eyes.

He's also becoming quite the big brother.  Tonight Claire asked him for help.....and he helped her!!!  Trent patted her back and said "calm down" when she got upset.  The other day he was trying to teach her how to say please in sign language.  It all just melts my heart.

Trent turns two!

It's time for me to change the name of my blog.  I no longer have "2 under 2".  My big boy is officially over two.  We kept his birthday low-key this year, in terms of a birthday bash, but we certainly did make it special in other ways.  The Sunday before his actual birthday, we had our immediate family over for food and cake.  I had several dozen balloons blown up for the event because I knew Trent likes balloons.  (I have this desire to cover the entire ceiling with balloons, but that's not practical on the wallet, or for transportation purposes).  7 dozen had to do for this party.

I'm only posting this picture because it reminds me of how YUMMY the food was! 

but this is where he spent alot of his time...

Trent really enjoyed taking the initiative to open his presents....then play with each of them

Here's the homemade yogurt strawberry cake I made for my big guy.  When it came time to sing Happy Birthday, Trent knew just what to do with the candle....although he did struggle a little.

the strawberries are supposed to form a 2 on top

He didn't get as messy this year as he did last year!  Maybe the cake wasn't as good...eeeek. Just kidding.

Later, I tied balloons to Maggie, but she didn't float away



A few days later, on Trent's actual birthday, Kevin took off work so we could spend the day as a family.  We started by taking Trent to IHOP for breakfast!  The waitress asked if she could sing and bring ice cream out for him, but sadly we had to get going.  Kevin had a doctors appointment just down the street that we were running late for.  Luckily, the appointment was very quick, so we were able to continue our day-o-fun by going to Hullaballoo (an indoor play place for kids).  We spent a few hours there climbing, sliding, running, and throwing balls.  Being that it was a weekday, there weren't many other people there, which was nice.  Once Trent was all tuckered out, we headed home for a nap.  It was a good thing he got a couple hours of rest, because as soon as he was up, we jumped back into it.  We decided to take the ball and head to the basketball court down the street.  During our walk (the court is only 3 houses down) we ran into Uncle Paul.  He was on his way to bring Trent some cupcakes, so he joined us on the court instead.  I made the silly mistake of insisting Trent have a cupcake right then....which totally distracted him from playing ball. Fast forward a bit....after dinner we had, yet another homemade (albeit boxed) cake, along with the rest of Uncle Paul's cupcakes. 

Trent's 2-year well-visit with the pediatrician was a week or two after his birthday.  We went over all the usual stuff, and overall Trent is doing great.  He's in the 50th percentile for weight, height, and head circumference (28 lb, 34"L, 19").  She was happy to hear that Trent's speech is improving.  He now says approximately 20 words on his own, but he will try to repeat other random words we say from time to time.  The words he says regularly include (but are not limited to): no, truck, poop, baby, dada, ma, bubbles, cup, juice, milk, sit, ball, shoes, up, bye, hi, please, and go.  He will also make the noises different things in lieu of saying the actual object:  woof woof (dog), gitcha gitcah (which is supposed to be the chugga chugga of a train), baaa (sheep), and vrrrooom (car, boat, plane, helicopter). 

Here are a couple of the classic chair photos.

on his birthday, whenever we asked him how old he was, he'd try to hold up 2 fingers and say "two"...but his "two" sounded just like "six"

here he is pointing at the beautiful quilt Aunt I made for him before he was born

Trent's speech - or lack thereof

I know I've mentioned before that Trent isn't exactly a chatter box.  At his 18-month well-visit our pediatrician recommended a service called Child Watch for Trent's seemingly slow speech development.  They told us to give Child Watch a call if we/when we saw fit.  We decided to call them around when Trent was 19 months old.  To make a long story short, they mailed us paperwork and a questionnaire that covered all areas of development in a 19 month old (speech, gross motor, etc).   A week or so later, our Service Coordinator, Edie, came out to our house to grade the questionnaire.  Based on our answers, she determined that Trent would need further evaluation in the area of speech.  She informed me that even though it appears that only his speech is delayed, they would have to do testing in all areas of development, but that she'd bring a speech therapist with her since that's our main area of concern.  A couple weeks later, the service coordinator returned with a speech therapist in tow.  Trent took to the main chick just fine, but he did not warm up to the speech therapist at all....which lead to her simply warthing Trent from a short distance and having Edie do most of the interacting.

Trent sat with the coordinator on the floor for an hour or two and basically played short games and played with toys.  Trent had no idea that all this fun he was having was actually an evaluation.  At the end of the session the ladies sat down and went over their findings.  The service coordinator and speech therapist found Trent's receptive skills to be high-average - equal to that of a 25 month old.  His expressive skills were average - equal to other's his own age.  They specifically commented that his attention span is fantastic for his age.  The long and short of it is that Trent is totally normal and does not require further testing or therapies.  He's just taking his time....which is what we thought, we just wanted to make sure.  They do, however, recommend that we get a hearing test done on him since there's a family history or hearing problems.  I also learned that stutters and other speech impediments can be genetic, so that's something we will want to look out for in the distant future.

Claire-2 months; Trent-18 months

Back in May I took both kids to the pediatrician for their well-visit check-ups. 

Trent weighed in at 25 pounds, 5.5 ounces (45%). His height was 31.25" (20%) and his head circum. was 18.75 (40%).  Overall he is doing extremely well. The only possible concern is his speech - and honestly, that's not even a concern yet. You see, Trent isn't saying much yet.  Kevin and I aren't worried at all because Trent is perfectly normal in all other aspects of development.  The doctors also aren't worried - they said he's probably focusing on other developmental milestones, and also adjusting to his new baby sister.  None the less, they gave us the phone number of a program that deals with an assortment of issues in children (ages 0-3yrs.), one of which is delayed speech.  We decided to call them last week.  Someone is going to come out to our house in 2 weeks to evaluate Trent.  If they determine that he is just a  little delayed they will give us ideas of things to do at home to encourage speaking.  If they think he is 25-35% delayed we will have to see a specialist.  I will keep you updated.  Trent doesn't have another well-visit until he turns 2 (in November).

Claire weighed in at 11 pounds, 0.5 ounces (50%).  She was 22" long (35%) and her head circum. was 14.75" (20%).  She received a few vaccines, which are never pleasant, but overall she too is doing great.   She goes back for her 4 month well-visit in July.

A.I.

As many of you know, Trent wasn't feeling very good over the weekend.  Most of us chalked it up to teething (or maybe a bug coming on.  or an ear infection at worst).  He was off-and-on grumpy, lethargic, off-and-on feverish.  Many of you have asked how he's doing, so here's an update. 

Sunday night rolled around and Trent was on fire.  We decided to take him to the ER at A.I. Dupont (at around 10pm).  First thing they did was take him temperature then check his ears.  His ears were perfect.  Since Trent had no other symptoms they really didn't know what was wrong with him.  Usually when a kid has a fever he also has an ear infection or diarrhea or vomiting or a sore throat, etc.  Trent had nothing.  They told us we did the right thing by bringing him in and to prepare ourselves because we'd probably be spending the night.  Of course I started thinking the absolute worst.  They proceeded by doing all sorts of poking and prodding.  I don't even want to repeat the things they did to this poor guy.  All I can say is that it traumatized all three of us and it was the worst day of all of our lives.  By the time five o'clock AM rolled around the doctor informed us that all the lab work came back normal.  They spoke with our pediatrician and he agreed that we could be discharged from the hospital as long as we made a follow-up appointment with him later that day. 

While the lab work came back normal, we still haven't gotten the results from the cultures they took.  We should be getting those results today. 

Monday morning went good.  Trent slept all morning/afternoon and was super clingy (like, if you sit him next to you he would scream....he had to be ON you).  He wasn't into food, but thankfully he was drinking normally (the doctor said to push liquids).  We didn't see the pediatrician until 3:00pm, at which point Trent's fever magically reappeared with a vengeance.  103.  The pediatrician didn't scare us nearly as much as the doctors in the ER - he seemed to believe Trent simply had a fever and that it's ok for a kid to have a fever and nothing else.  The ER made it sound like that's not possible. 

Tuesday was much of the same.  His fever was gone again, super clingy, he was lethargic all day, still not walking or standing (did I mention that before?).  He did, however, eat more than the previous days.  At around 6pm he decided to walk a little and his overall demeanor changed.  He'd head-dance when he heard music, gibber jabber, laugh a little, and he could even sit by himself without throwing a fit.

(head-dancing is when he's sitting down but bobbing his head and shoulders)

So far today (Wednesday) he's doing much better.  He's currently chillin on his couch "playing" with Maggie.  He has walked a little bit today, he ate a little bit, no fever.  Overall he seems to be doing much better! 

Like I said, we will find out the results of the 3 cultures today.

15 Month Well Visit

• height = 30.5" (35%)
• weight = 23lbs 13.5oz (40%)
• head circum = 18.5" (45%)

Kevin took Trent to his 15 month well visit on Friday and everything went smoothly.  Trent, unfortunately, had to receive 2 shots, but overall he is doing really well.  He is now allowed to have honey, but is still rohibited from having nuts and shellfish. 

One of his Favorite toys: Cozy Coupe

One of this Favorite book: Dizzy Dragon

Latest achievement: walking!

Number of teeth: tooth #12 is making it's appearance

Bedtime: 8pm

Current interests: emptying cabinets and drawers!!

Proudest mommy moment: getting kisses and watching trent cuddle with maggie

Most anticipated upcoming event: seeing trent transform from only child to big brother

Next doctors appointment: 18 Months

Favorite food: goldfish

Other changes: very vocal, now using cloth diapers, we're weaning from the bottle

Favorite non-toy: anything with buttons - specifically remote controls

Recent "firsts": a couple months ago we started brushing Trent's teeth.  He doesn't mind it because the toothpaste tastes good, but Kevin has been teach Trent to spit so that he will know not to swallow the toothpaste.  Also, back in December Trent went on his first plane ride, among other things, when we went out to CA. 

12 month well visit

• 29.5" long (40th percentile)


• 21 lbs 11 ounces (35th percentile)


• 18" head circumfrence (30th percentile)
  

Those were Trent's stats today. His 12 month well visit went really well. He is right where he needs to be developmentally and health-wise (with the exception of a minor cold which is on it's way out). We declined the flu shot and the nurse didn't even bat an eye (I was afraid she'd give me a lecture), but he did have to get 2 other shots - one in each arm. Poor kid.

Being pre-occupied with Trent's birthday we totally forgot to take his monthly chair picture. So we did it tonight. By far the hardest one to get. My man did not want to sit still. So here are a few for your viewing pleasure.

9 month well visit

I took Trent to the doctor today for his 9 month check-up. Overall he is doing really well and is right on track. He weighs 20lbs 1.5oz, which puts him in the 45 percentile. He is 27.75 inches long (30%) and his head circumference is in the 25 percentile. Since he has proven that he is not easily allergic to foods we no longer have to hold tight to the 3-day rule when introducing new foods. On top of that we are now able to start giving him more table foods. Experimenting with new foods over the next few months should be fun. He had to get only 1 shot in his thigh but it took it like a champ. He flinched then smiled.

His next appointment isn't for another 3 months, when he is 1 year.

I'd like to send a big SCREW YOU to those who say I have a fat kid with a big head. You know who you are! Eat it!

6 month well visit

I took Trent to his 6 month check up today. We saw a dr we hadn't seen yet, which was nice. I really liked her! Anyway, Trent is wonderful! He is right where he belongs, size-wise. He weighs 18lbs 12oz and is 27" long. The dr said Trent is very well proportioned and is in around the 50th percentile, but his rolls cause him to appear larger than he actually is, haha. She even said he looked like the Michelin Man. After talking about his measurements I asked her a few questions I had reguarding food and sleeping, then she did the physical part of the check-up. Trent was extremely interested in her stethascope and flashlight thingy (the thing they use to check the eyes and ears). He actually stuck the stethascope in his mouth a couple times....I surely hope it was clean, blah! Overall it was a very very good visit.....until the very end! 1 oral vaccine and 2 shots! He took the first shot like a big boy, but the second shot didn't go over as well. The nurse was really sweet and I could tell she felt very bad poking the helpless baby. She basically administered the shots and jetted out the room. I was left to console my little guy in peace. I picked him up and consoled him until he stopped crying, then I got him dressed and left.

The clouds in the sky suggested rain, but a group of moms I know gatehred at a local park anyway. After Trent's appt we met the women and babies under the pavillion near the playground and just chit chatted for a while. I didn't stay very long since Kevin was getting hoem from work and I knew it was his usual baby-daddy-bonding-time. It started pouring rain shortly after we got home, so it was probably for the best that we didn't stay at the park much longer than we did.

Did I mention I had to take a 1/2 day from work in order to make the Dr. Appt? Yeah....the only thing better than that would have been a full day off - which I got on Monday!! AND right before I left work I got a free lunch and some amazing cake for dessert. So, lets recap: a short work week, a light 5 hours at work today, free (and good!) lunch, amazing cake, healthy beautiful baby, good times with friends, a relaxing night on the couch. Life is good.

chow down

We took Trent to his 4 month check up yesterday. Aside from the 2 shots he got in his theigh, it went really well. He is up to 16 lbs and 5 oz, and is now 25.5" long (both are in the 75th percentile). Everything else sounded and looked really good and normal.

Once we got though all the initial questions, the doctor said it was time to talk about introducing foods to Trent. We'll start with rice cereal, then add veggies, then fruits, etc etc. Many doctors believe it's best to wait until 6 months to start foods but our Doc feels its best to introduce food around 4 months while the baby is in the Oral Phase. She also believes it will help get their systems used to the food so they are less likely to have allergies (which is the same reasoning other people use for waiting until 6 months). Like most things it just depends on who you talk to.

Personally, im in no real rush. Up until now it was a big no-no to give him anything other than milk, so it just feels wrong to give him food.

Kevin, on the other hand, is PSYCHED! You should have seen his face light up when the doctor mentioned "food". The only times Kevin really feeds Trent is once in a blue moon in the middle of the night when its hard to enjoy the experience of feeding ones son. He looks at food as his chance to participate in feeding time. He is excited to make the airplane noises and sqirl the spoon in front of trents face. It really is very precious!!

After the appt I took trent home while kevin ran to Pathmark to get the rice cereal (good thing i asked the dr if "rice cereal" meant Rice Krispy's. It doesnt). When Trent woke from his nap kevin gave the rice cereal a try. FAIL. But it was still a lot of fun. I only got to take 3 pictures before my camera died but I was sure to video tape the whole experience. Doc warned us that Trent will probably spit the food out and play with it in his mouth for 1-3 weeks before he really GETS it. Once he has accepted it we can move onto Veggies!! I plan to make my own baby food and am looking very forward to it! Thanks to Mrs Woodland I have an awesome baby-food maker!!

I just cant believe my little guy is old enough to eat "real" food





NURSERY UPDATE: We added Trent's name to the wall.

my big boy

Trent went in for his 2 month check-up today. We knew he was a little porker without the nurse having to tell us, so we aren't surprised that he weighs more than the national average.

-He weighed in at 12 lbs 15.5oz (we'll be rounding up to 13lbs) which is in the 75th percentile.
-22.75" long
-15.5 head circumference
-He has a little eczema so we have to be sure to moisturize his skin frequently.
-She commented on how strong his neck is
-she gave us a few recommendations on how to keep all three of us healthy this winter.
-Unfortunately the poor little guy had to get 2 shots, but he got over the sting of them within minutes.

Overall Trent is doing really well!!! Oh, and she said not to worry about him sleeping for 9 hours! We'll see if it ever happens again :-)

1 month

We just got home from Trent's 1 month check up. He now weighs 9lbs 15oz and is 22inches long and is doing really well. The dr did an overall checkup (listen to lungs, look in ears, etc)and gave him the Hepatitis B shot. He has a little baby acne and some cradle cap but neither are anything to worry about. A little hydro cortisone ointment will clear the cradle cap and time alone with clear up his acne. He also has a Little congestion but it's getting better. We go back to the pediatrician in one month, at which time Trent will get 2 more shots (poor guy).

Last night Trent got to meet Aunt Lauren for the first time! We all went to the airport to welcome her home and then we went to P.F. Chang's for dinner. It was our first time at that restaurant and I was really looking forward to it but a little nervous about bringing a newborn into that kind of environment. I wasn't sure if a crying baby would disrupt everyone around us and I didn't know if the bathroom would have a place for me to change a diaper. I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived to find that the Waiter set up a "baby sling" for the car seat to sit and he pushed another table next to our table so we had extra room. It was really nice! And yes, the bathroom did have a little changing station. Trent was really well behaved and slept most of the time. I should also mention that the food was delicious, as was the martini I had (my first one in about 10 months!).

gains & losses

I took Trent to the Dr yesterday to get his weight checked. He now weights 7 lbs 8.5 oz. Since he now weighs more than he did at birth we don't have to go back to pediatrician until he is 1 month old. Unfortunately he will have to get a shot at that time - poor little guy!

On Saturday we hit one of many milestones - Trent's umbilical cord fell off! We'll be giving him his very first real bath tonight (its been sponge baths up to this point).

In other baby news - im very excited for my friend Alicia who goes tomorrow to her "20 week" ultrasound to find out the sex of their baby!! I cant wait to find out!!!

better & adventures

the doc called yesterday to tell us that Trent's biliruben level dropped once again, which is great! She said we could discontinue the use of the blanket but she wanted Trent to go to the lab today to get one last blood test done. That meant I would be venturing out of the house for the firs time with just Trent and of all things I woke with this morning and it was snowing! Luckily we didnt have a set time to be at the lab, we just had to be there sometime in the morning. We took our time getting ready and headed out. The drive and everything went just fine; the roads werent slippery at all and the snow was tapering off. The blood work consists of the technician pricking Trent's heel and collecting his blood in a little vile. Trent took todays prick like a champ, he barely flinched! I was so proud. Afterwards we stopped by to see daddy. Kevin works in the same lot as the lab so it seemed silly to go home without stopping by first. Kevin was able to show off his new son to a few of his coworkers but because of the cold weather all they got to see was Trents face. I had his body and head all bundled up. Afterwards I decided to swing by my moms work to surprise her with a little visit but she didnt answer her phone so we didnt get to see her.

Now im sitting here with Trent sleeping in my arm and I got the call from the doctor with todays blood work results. The biliruben level dropped once again and Trent is in the clear. What a weight off my shoulders!

glow worm

while in the hospital Trent was a little yellow. They tested his biliruben count a few times to see if he had jaundice but his levels were almost always good. There was one night when his levels were a little high but by the morning they were back down to normal. We came home mid-day on Thursday and didnt see our pediatrician until Monday and in those few days his numbers jumped pretty high - and of course his skin became more yellow. The dr had a billi blanket delivered to our house that we had to keep on Trents back for 23 out of 24 hours a day. The blanket is attached to this short cord that is attached to this machine that gets plugged into the wall - Im sure you can imagine how big a pain that was as we were unable to move trent around much. The cords only let us go so far. The blanket had to be directly on his back so when we would wrap him up in his other blankets he looked like a little glow worm (I should mention the billi blanket had a bright green glow). In an attempt to flush the jaundice from Trents system we were told to feed him every 2 hours which we found to be pretty difficult at times. Sometimes he just wasnt hungry and didnt want to eat - it was like we were force feeding him. I didnt like it! The dr also ordered a nurse to come to our house very morning for the past 3 mornings to take his blood, weigh him, etc. It was sooo nice having the nurse come to me rather than me having to take him to the lab everyday! Not to mention I was able to ask her all my questions and I got to see for myself that Trent was gaining weight. As a new mom I worry about everything and I feel like im doing everthing wrong. Having her here reassured me and gave me the added confidence I needed. Fortunately his biliruben count has been dropping everyday - so much so that the dr informed us yestersay that this morning would be the end of his blanket treatment and this morning was also the last visit from the nurse. Within the next few hours I should hear from my dr with Trents latest score. We're all assuming it will be lower today than yesterday and in the normal range but if for some reason its not we'll have to put him back on the blanket and the nurse will be back tomorrow morning. Luckily jaundice isnt painful for Trent and it really isnt a big deal in the grand scheme of things - if jaundice is our only problem then we're doing GOOD!

On a more positive note Trent gained 1oz from Mon-Tues. 2oz from Tues-Wedn. and 2oz from Wedn-Thurs. The average weight gain is 1/2oz a day, so we're doing really well. We're only 1oz away from his birth weight! The nurse thinks he's going to be a big boy....we'll see.

Last night I was able to have a little alone time. Kevin watched Trent while I went shopping. Sure, i went to babies r us and thought about trent the whole time but it was nice to get out of the house and have a little time to myself.