18-Month Check-up

August 11, 2011

We haven’t gotten around to looking for a pediatrician in our new town yet, so we took a little road trip last month to visit my dad for a day and take J~ to his 18-month appointment the following morning. He was so thrilled to see his Papa N~ again and all of the toys we had left up there solely for these kinds of visits. I brought a bag of toys with us that he plays with regularly down here, but he was so excited to play with the “lost” toys that the only favorite toy he cared about was his barn with the stacking rings - his “bracelets”.

J~ spent a little time on the computer with my dad, but he didn’t seem to have much interest in that this time - probably because he had all of his old toys to play with. He was overly happy watching the youtube videos that he and I used to check out every night, though. Like most toddlers his age, he really enjoys nursery rhymes and “finger play”/movement songs now. Two of his current favorites are “Where Is Thumbkin?” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. He’s pretty good at doing the motions for each part of “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and smiles every time while trying to move his fingers for the Thumbkin song. Too cute!

His appointment with the pediatrician went well. Raising him vegan (not following the typical Standard American Diet), I’m still worried about making sure he’s getting all that he needs in regards to nutrition - mainly healthy fats. (He gets the bulk of his B and D vitamins in the fortified - and usually organic - soymilk that he drinks with or between each meal.) I’ve been trying to be vigilant about adding healthy fats wherever I can in his diet and try to feed him good snacks throughout the day now that he’s finally actually *wanting* snacks. (When he was younger, his tummy was just too small. He filled up with his milk and meals, and I didn’t want to push more food at the time since he was still having reflux issues back then.) Since healthy vegan meals typically don’t *have* much fat, I’ve been trying to make sure to give him healthy fats in at least two good portions of his meals and snacks each day. So far, that’s basically consisted of adding full fat coconut milk (the kind you find in the “ethnic” section of the grocery stores) to his soy milk, natural peanut butter on whole wheat bread/crackers/or by the spoonful, hummus on crackers or by the spoonful, and 1/4 of an avocado with meals. I need to try to remember to grind some flax seed and sprinkle that over some of his foods… but anyway. He’s still following his curve as to his weight, so I’ve apparently been doing a good job. He’s almost at the 45th percentile for his weight (almost right in the middle of the range of kiddos his age) and the 65th percentile for height. Supposedly he has a pretty small head comparatively - only in the 34th percentile. Personally, though, I think he looks almost perfectly proportioned right now.

He’ll be nineteen months old tomorrow. The days and months have really flown by. I’m so glad to have this time off from working to watch and help him grow and to see his personality emerge. The Terrible Twos are already rearing their head, but - while I was pretty irritated with his whininess for the first week or so of the fussiness -, I’ve been trying to collect myself and deal with each little fit in a more calm and collected way. I look at him and shake my head with a disapproving frown and remind him or prompt him to “use your words”. If he’s nearby, I’ll crouch down to his level and say, “No crying/screaming. Tell Mommy what you want.” If he wants something that he can’t have (another “sugary” snack, something dangerous, etc.), I try to redirect him to something else and just let him throw a little fit - and ignore it - if that doesn’t help. Hopefully we’ll get through this stage without ALL of our hairs turning gray. ;) J~’s pediatrician said that the Terrible Twos start around this age and continue all of the way through the threes! Supposedly after that come the Fantastic Fours… but my friend, C~, says she’s seen some four-year-olds... and begs to differ.