Two Year Well Child Check...

Now that I'm finished with residency and have moved to a new practice, my baby boy had to have a new Pediatrician too...good thing my new partner, Dr. Mary Beth Doyle, is so great!  This week Weston had his 2-year Well Child Check-up.  He weighed in at 28 pounds and was 37.5 inches tall.  For all my pediatric friends out there, you know how important it is to turn 2, you get measured standing up for the first time and plotted on the "big boy" growth chart.  Weston's weight was in the 50th percentile and his height has now moved up to greater than the 95th percentile (guess he's going to be a tall one like his daddy).  Unfortunately this makes his BMI (body mass index) less than the 5th percentile...so he's kind of skinny for his height, definitely better than the alternative. 

So what's a 2-year old doing nowadays?  Well, we have a wonderful nanny, Miss Jess, who keeps Weston during the day, and her energetic little self keeps our boy busy!  Between the Library Storytime, the YMCA (Weston gets the indoor basketball gym all to himself sometimes...good for rainy days), the couple of parks and a handful of new friends that they have made, I think they're running around all day except for nap time. I have seen some terrible 2's coming on though for quite a while, mostly the tantrums are just when I'm home.  Isn't that awesome?  I'm in the door 5 minutes and he's throwing himself in the floor and acting crazy making me think I didn't need to rush home from work (I'm hoping I'm not the only mom that this ever happens to, but some days I wonder). 

Weston's vocabulary, although not always the most clear for me to understand, is pretty good.  He is definitely putting 2 and 3 words together as expected by a 2 year old, but he isn't exactly where his girl peers are, so I'm hoping it's a boy thing.  Some of his favorites right now are Mickey, Cars, Robots, and pretty much anything that's a book...I love that he loves his books.  He's not really much into self-entertaining, but he does like his little kitchen and his kid-sized table and chairs.  Sometimes it's hard to get him to even join me at the dinner table because he wants to sit at his little table.  He likes his little buddies from the library and our friends' children, and he remembers them by name.  He even remembered one little boy that he hadn't seen since August at the Pool who showed up at the library last week...apparently Weston just started yelling "Max, Max, Max" and running to him like a long-lost-soul. 

We've finally gone pacifier free, as of last week.  We have talked about it, and I know some of the problems with prolonged pacifier use (dental, social, etc), so last week Rolland just said, "it's gone".  He only used it at nap and night time anyway, but truly, pacifiers are for parents.  Let's just be honest here.  Typically Weston's bedtime routine is so easy, inhaler, brush teeth, read book(s), pacifier...sleep - no fussing.  Those first 2 nights without that pacifier though - oh dear...he cried for 30-60 minutes.  So now I'm asking myself, should I have done this sooner? or should I have just let him be the 3, or 4 year old who still takes their pacifier in the bed - no way!  So we'll see how this goes, I'm hoping that each passing day he gets closer to forgetting about it...and it's not a thumb, so at least it can be taken away.

"Cheese" he says, as they push the tree.

I'm excited about Christmas this year.  Last year we were battling Weston's recovery from RSV and being hospitalized and I was on call on Christmas Eve, so we didn't even put up a tree because we flew to Idaho 3 days after Christmas.  Weston loves our tree this year.  After his birthday party last weekend we took the whole family and went to a Christmas tree farm and cut down our 8-foot blue spruce tree.   Weston and Arianna helped carry it out, and a couple days later Rolland and I finally decorated it.  The next morning when Weston woke up he went running to the tree and tried to "blow" the lights out like candles - so cute!  Our friends Sarah, Ben & Sawyer sent Weston The Elf on The Shelf this year, so Weston named him "Buck".  We haven't really talked to Weston much about Santa yet... I guess because we really want him to know the real reason for Christmas, but this could get interesting with our scary little elf (Rolland really doesn't like them). 

 

I'm excited to see what being two brings for our little Weston.  Sometimes I find myself saying in my head "what are you thinking" - because really...who knows what's going on in there.  He's covered in bruises from thigh to ankle, he's learned to put a chair next to his crib and do a flip to get in, he's the reason we have child locks on every exterior door (and some interior ones).  He's a busy boy.  He makes me grateful for nap times (his, not mine).  And I just love him...can't to show you our 2-year-old photos we had taken last weekend at a farm near Berea, you'll love them too.