Kole had his 18-month doctor's visit today - he now is with Dr. Ann Nelson of Arlington, in the same office as his previous pediatrician, but we thought we needed a change for a handful of reasons.
Anyway, Kole weighed 27 pounds 4 ounces, which is just about in the 55 percentile for his age (50 would have been a dead-even bullseye average) so he's essentially average and right where he should be for his age. However, his length (they still measure him laying down, foot stretched out, head to heel - not standing up) was 35-and-1/2 inches. This puts him above the 97 percentile. On the chart it's obviously around the 98th percentile. Either way, it means that only 2-3% of 18-month-olds in the United States are taller than him. In the doctor's words, "he has the body of a 3-year-old", but with his weight on balance, he's extremely normal and very healthy - just tall for his age. We mentioned what a ravenous, two-fisted eater he is - especially compared to his little friends Noah, Sara and Meisha. The doctor's reaction was, "he obviously needs it". She complimented him over and over again on his temperament as she examined him. He was curious of everything, but agreeable to all her prodding with a stethoscope, tongue depressor and little lighted ear-magnifying scope-thing. Then came the shots. He had to get Hep-A, D-Tap, IPV and chicken pox. Two of them were combined somehow so there were three needles total. The nurse would grab a pinch of fat on one of this thighs, poke and depress. One after the other after the other. He gave one small groan after the second ... but amazingly, no tears, no screams, no fit whatsoever. After the doctor had done nothing but rave about how big and healthy, well-behaved and wonderfully curious and temperamented he was, we were sure he was going to douse all those compliments out with a big bucket of rage. All he did was suck it up and make his parents look good again. ATTA BOY!
We will watch the development of his speaking. Right now his discernible vocabulary consists of "daddy" (not Da Da - a distinctive hard-E on the end, "Da-dee"), and a couple of times in the past week he has said "Bye" while waving bye. Kathy had a play-date at the house yesterday with Kole's pals Noah and Sara (whose moms Kathy went through child birth classes with), and as one was leaving, grabbing her purse and heading for the door, Kole waved and said "Bye!". The word is the recent addition, as for several weeks he will wave goodbye to me when I leave for work and walk out the door. So, some things are coming along. The doctor was alarmed by nothing and complimentary of everything. She reconfirmed that Kathy is doing everything right and is a wonderful mother.
Unforeseen illnesses aside, his next scheduled doctor's check-up will be when he turns 2.
Attached is the pic of him in his little gown they had him put on. Hilarious.
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