Grace and Noah had back-to-back doctor's appointments yesterday: a 2 year check up for Grace and a follow-up for Noah from his illness.
Grace did MUCH better than anticipated, given her previous track record of absolutely hating everything about going to the doctor. She only cried when she was weighed and measured and was actually very sweet with Dr. Nesbitt. We discovered that she gained a teeny-tiny amount of weight in the last few months, so now she weighs 9.3 kg (20.5 lbs). Still a petite little thing, but at least she remains in the 25th percentile for her height and the 75th percentile for her head circumference. As the doctor said, it is a relief that developmentally she is doing so great despite her poor weight gain. We are (once again) re-evaluating our strategies to encourage Grace to eat. Otherwise, the doctor thought she seemed very healthy!
We also had Grace's parent-teacher conference last week at school. Ms. Mbata had a lot of nice things to say about Grace. She likes to ride the horse at school on Mondays, she likes to do anything art related and has gotten more involved in their gym class. She is enjoying swimming every week too. The theme with all of these activities is that Grace likes to do things in her own time and doesn't want to be rushed by anyone (no surprise to us). She is ALWAYS singing, according to her teacher, and they even say she provides background music when everyone else is quietly playing. Apparently Grace is pretty discerning about her social life. There are several children that she doesn't seem to like, and some that she does. She has one "best friend", a Kenyan boy named Andrew, who she hugs and holds hands with. He is the only child that she seeks out to play with. Mostly she plays alongside the other children. Ms. Mbata said the things that they are "working on" with Grace are EATING (see above) and joining other children to play with them. Grace knows everyone's name and where their school bags are hung and which shoes belong to which child. So funny! It was really interesting for us to hear another adult's perception of our child when we are not around.
Now on to Noah. At 5 1/2 weeks old, he weighs 4.8 kg (10.5 lbs) which is 50th percentile (he gained 1 kg since his birth weight). He seems so big to us now! He is 55 cm long, which is about an inch longer than when he was born. Dr. Nesbitt is very pleased that Noah made such a full and complete recovery from the virus (or infection) he had a few weeks ago. He got a clean bill of health and goes back in 2 weeks for some vaccinations.
What else is new with our newborn? Well, Noah seems to love being on his stomach. Maybe he would sleep all night that way if we let him (we don't dare) but we're just letting him take supervised naps that way for now. He was given a new play gym (see picture) by some friends and seems to like the music that accompanies it. He wants to be in motion if possible so he loves his bouncy seat (and we do too!) or being in the car. I wouldn't classify him as a colicky baby, but for the last week he definitely has a very fussy period in the evening. He can be comforted for a few minutes here and there and he will eat and burp off and on, but he is also crying and uncomfortable for quite a bit of time (this is when the bouncy seat seems to be the only remedy!). He is starting to smile a tiny bit, he can follow a finger with his eyes, and...are you ready for this?...he can roll over from being on his stomach to his back. Yup. He's done it 4 times (the first two times we thought it was because of a slope in the sofa, but then he did it on a flat hard mattress as well!) and we have all been very impressed.
All in all, not such a bad report on these two little ones.
LMW
