Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Perfectly Typical

I couldn't have asked for a better 3 year check up today.

I was nervous for a few reasons. This was his first check post-tube removal, so a good weigh in would be a marker of success (or failure - eek!) Also, as it was his 3 year check up, if his height was sub-prime, this would be the point we would start worrying about trouble with Human Growth Hormone (HGH) deficiency, meaning referrals to new specialists, HGH injections etc. I really didn't want to do that. At all.

Robbie was in rare form this morning. Recently his language has further exploded, astounding me daily. Suddenly I'm hearing these very adult phrases coming out of him and just wondering where it comes from. Sunday he came running from the back of the house shouting "Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" stopped at my side, grinned up at me and said "Whats goin' on?" Where in the world did he get that?

This morning, he wasn't really ready to be up so quite so early so when I asked him if he wanted to go see Dr. P his answer was "No mommy. Wanna take a nappy." and pointed back at his bed. I know the feeling.

Later in the car, I asked if he knew where we were going but he didn't answer. I asked if we were going to see Dr. P and he sighed like he was 12 and said "Yes, mommy. We're going to see Dr. P." Guess my questions got annoying. I couldn't help but laugh and wonder when this happened.

The trip there seemed like a demonstration of all his latest knowledge. He's known most of his colors for months, but grey has challenged him. But I think he pointed out every grey car in the parking lot walking in. Then pointed out a triangle flag (a pennant) on the wall. The things he sees amazes me, it took me a while to even figure out what triangle flag he was talking about.

Once we were called back, he was weighed - 25.4 pounds, and measured- 35 inches. Then we waited for Dr. P. She came in, cooed over Robbie, marveled that he's 3 already and went to plot his growth from his 2 year check up. She said she was looking for 2" of growth in the last year.... (I felt like there should have been a drum roll) "and he grew three!" WOOHOO! He was at 7.5% for height and 10% for weight.  He's still a peanut, but no growth hormones needed!

As she was still charting, I lifted his shirt and said "and look..." and she was thrilled. Since our GI doc had taken Robbie's tube out, she didn't know. The fact that he'd grown so well ON HIS OWN was cause for more celebration.

The rest of the exam went equally as well. She commented on his full set of teeth, saying that indicated good growth as well (he's had all of his teeth since shortly after he turned 2.) She was completely happy with his speech, his motor skills, pretty much everything.

We discussed nutrition a bit. I'm going to try V8 juice (because he still hates vegetables), skim milk (because he's still only drinking maybe 3oz/day of milk, but loves water), and a vitamin. And potty training. She was completely unconcerned at his lack of interest in going on the potty, which was a relief.

I do feel a little pressure about the potty training because he can't move to the 3yo room at daycare until he is, but I also do not care to shame him into doing it. He's made some progress in that he will sit on the potty for a sticker, but that's as far as we've gotten. She really shrugged it off.

We did talk about the fact that his stoma site is still leaking, which was probably 2nd on my list of conccerns behind growth. Fortunately she also was unconcerned about that, saying to give it a few more months to heal. If it gets worse, I'm to call the surgeon, but right now it just occasionally leaves a wet spot on his shirt, nothing major.

He got his Hep A booster (upsetting, but not traumatizing, easily cured by a sticker) and we were on our way, with her overall assessment ringing in my ears: "perfectly typical three year old."

Take that, prematurity. TAKE THAT.

--Trish

9 comments:

Macchiatto said...

Awww. What beautiful words to hear! And wow, that's fantastic growth. I'm thrilled he's doing so well!

Unknown said...

TAKE THAT Prematurity!!! Woohoo!! Love.It.

Awesome update. And who cares about potty training - it will happen when he's ready and I sincerely don't believe in pushing them. I'm getting the "isn't he ready to be potty trained" from my mom regarding Sam (2 1/2) and I'm not interested in spending every 45 minutes in the bathroom until he understands when he needs to go. I don't feel the need be trained!

Good luck....keep the good news train rolling!

mlwindc said...

long time lurker, delurking to say: I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU AND ROBBIE. Just so happy.

Searching said...

Woohoo, Robbie!! & Woohoo, Trish!! Perfectly boring, average, run-of-the-mill 3yo appt. Love it. :)

NoVaIrish said...

Yay, Robbie! And yay, Trish!

Leah said...

That is beautiful. Praise God! So happy for you guys.

FishyGirl said...

So happy for you!

And on the potty training front, I wouldn't give it two thoughts. I have 4 kids and both boys trained on the later side - closer to four than three. At the time I stressed a little, but then my oldest, who had resisted every training effort I'd ever made, woke up one day and said "Mommy, I'm going to use the potty today" and did and never had an accident. Light bulb! After that, I simply waited them out. As long as you suggest it occasionally and are encouraging, they'll get it eventually. And none of my kids was premature (though one's lungs weren't ready, so he was the biggest and sickest kid for his NICU stint).

Back to lurking now...

Adriane said...

That is fabulous!!!! Great update!

Joy said...

Thanks for the encouragement, fishy!

I keep hoping for that light bulb. He gets a sticker (the holy grail of treasures) for sitting on the potty naked and he's doing that pretty happily these days.
I keep hoping that maybe one of these days he'll accidentally pee in the potty and realize that's what we're TRYING for.
But we'll see what happens.