On Friday, you had your 15 month doctor visit even though you're not 15 months quite yet. Daddy got out of work a little bit early and we made the drive up to our old neck of the woods.
Have I mentioned how much I like Dr. Steele and the pediatric practice you go to? Apparently you do too because you were running around like a crazy monkey. Dr. Steele was making you laugh a lot by blowing on your feet and whispering things in your ears. He said he was surprised by how good you were with him because babies at your age are usually a bit anxious at the doctor's office. Here's a photo of your doctor (from the practice's website):
That says it all.
Anyhoo, everything is aokay with you. After they took your measurements I jokingly asked Dr. Steele how tall you would be at 16. I was completely kidding but right away he started making all kinds of calculations and showing us growth graph progressions.
He told us that there are three ways to calculate your height at 20. One is to just look at the way you've been growing thus far and have a computer program project to 20. According to that you'll be 5'6". The second way is to take an average of the height of your parents (5'1" for mama and 5'8" for dada) and then add 2 inches for boys and subtract 1 inch for girls which would also make you 5'6"/5'7". The last way is to double the height you are when you turn 2. We can't do that one yet but he said it's pretty accurate so we'll see.
Anyhoo, here are your measurements:
Weight: 25 lbs, 6 oz
Height: 30 1/2 inches
Head Circumference: 18 3/4 inches
Dr. Steele also gave us some antibiotic for some rashes on the back of your legs. He thinks one might have gotten infected at some point and that the other one looks like a patch of eczema so we have to keep you nice and moisturized.
We skipped your scheduled chicken pox vaccination and also your scheduled Measles, Mumps & Rubella (MMR) vaccination. I hope it was the right choice. We're going to wait until you're 2 to give you those because we don't think your body and immune system are ready to have so many live viruses running through your body.
I hope that by the time you have children (if you want to, that is) they have squared away this whole vaccination thing. I read Jenny McCarthy's Louder Than Words book that details her experience with her autistic son and it was so sad and scary. I also don't want you to die of the measles either so I'm not really sure what to do. You did however, get your final PCV-7 vaccine since you had started those at 2 months and for the first time you had a localized reaction. The place you got the needle was all red and hard for a few days. Poor Mister O. Next visit is in 3 months so no more needles until then.
You have to be stripped down to your diaper right away. To Daddy's left is your little health book where we write everything in. The book used to be full of pages and pages of questions. Not anymore. Under questions, for this appointment I wrote: 1. Rash? 2. Skip shots 3. How many words? (as in how many words should a 15 month old be able to say)
Playing with the etch-a-sketch...you wouldn't sit still!
See the rash on the back fo your leg. Here's Daddy reading up on the chickenpox vaccine. You're so big now! As opposed to this...
This photo is from your first doctor's appointment on May 19th. You were only 5 days old and were jaundiced. Poor Mister O. It's because your Daddy has Gilbert's Disease!
