Jace had his 18 month wellness check up at the Pediatrician last Thursday. They measured him at 34.5" tall (95th percentile) and 25 lbs 2 oz (25th-50th percentile). According to the doctor Jace should be saying 10-20 words at this age to be "average". I said he was probably saying about 15 clear short words, which he seemed happy with. (Although I don't really get how to count your childs words... I've never really sat down and listed everything he's ever said, or says often, or says but in his own way... so I really have no idea how many words he "says"!) Jace had one vaccine, which was his last one now until he goes to kindergarden, so that's pretty exciting. Shots are never fun.
At this check up we had to fill out an autism quiz. It was about 25-30 questions about Jace's behavior with Y or N answers. I was a little nervous going in to this appointment knowing that we'd be asked to do this, because I had no idea what autism looks like. I was relieved to see that the questions were straight forward and very easy to answer. (Does you child respond to loud noise? play properly with small toys? look into your eyes? enjoy being spun or bounced on your knee?) The doctor looked it over and said that all the answers were answered the way they want to see them and that Jace had no signs of autism. Even though I wasn't ever all that concerned about it, it was still good to hear those words considering how common autism seems to be in boys these days. Just call me the typical worried first time mom.
The doctor said that he wasn't concerned about the eczema behind Jace's knees and that it most likely isn't even related to the fact that he's switched to cows milk. He thinks it's most likely some other mild sensitivity to any number of things he may be eating and the only thing to do is continue to use hydrocortizone cream when it flairs up and avoid scented soaps and detergents that can irritate the skin and leave residue behind.
Other than that the check up was relatively boring, we just sort of went over the same stuff we did at 15 months with tips on how to help his picky eating, and public screaming fits. The doctor recommended that when Jace is screaming in the grocery store that I take him out to the car for a time out. Umm... what? Apparently this doctor has never shopped alone with a toddler himself. The last thing I'm going to do when he's being loud in the store is interrupt my shopping trip, leave my cart full of food, walk out into the 95 degree heat and sit in the car with Jace until he's "learned his lesson". All this would do is make my trip longer, which is the last thing I want. I know he was trying to be helpful and that solution would work alot better if the child was throwing a temper tantrum and needed to understand consequences... but this isn't temper tantrums or angry screaming... it's just screaming out of boredom and excitement. I don't know how to make Jace understand to use "indoor voices" because that's all that he's really not doing. He's not whining or throwing things or spitting or anything naughty like that. Hopefully I didn't just jinx that!
The pediatrician also recommended that I get Jace enrolled in some early swimming lessons. He said that the few basic things they teach kids to do at this age can be life saving. I think they just become more familiar with the water and learn to float on their back and possibly tread water. He still seems so little for learning those things, but I'd like him to grow up comfortable in the water which is something I never was after seeing a little boy drowned at the beach when I was 5.
In other Jace related news, he went poop in his potty chair for the first time today. I think it was sort of a fluke that I caught him in enough time to get him to the chair before he actually went... but I'm hoping it was a sign of good things to come. There's definitely no pushing going on over here, but one of Jace's new favorite DVDs is the "Once Upon a Potty" movie that I found for 50 cents at a garage sale recently. I will post some pictures of Jace soon, but I haven't had my camera for a few days so that's why I haven't posted anything for a while. Soon though!
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