We went to the doctor today for his 15 month checkup. Yep, he is now 16 months, so we're behind, as usual. It's pretty hard to get an appointment at his doctor's office because you can't schedule them more than a month in advance and EVERY time I call they are entirely booked. They always have to fit me in. It's very irritating, but that's standard operations there. I used to get pissed, but it's not worth the effort.
His checkup went well. This time he wasn't into the doctor's looking at him at all. He was fine as long as the doctor didn't touch him. The doctor tried hard to gain his trust, but Dexter didn't fall for it. He didn't like the stethoscope. He sat still on my lap for the doctor to listen on his chest, but when he moved to the back to listen, Dexter hugged me so hard. He was genuinely scared. That's a new one. I think it all started with Santa Clause. We already scarred him for life.
He's between the 50th - 25th percentile on height and weight again. He's a little guy with a big head. His head was in the 75th percentile! I'm not sure if I ever knew his head was so much bigger in proportion. He weighed 23 lbs 1 oz and measured 30.5 inches tall.
His development is off the charts. He's doing things typical of 18 month olds and older. He started jumping this week. He gets barely any air, but he gets both feet of the ground. The doctor said that's more in-line with 2 year olds' development. I don't hold a lot of stake in it though because they are counting it from the baseline of development - meaning if a kid isn't doing this at this age then there's a delay. At 15 months, he was just supposed to be squatting and picking things up, but he did that around 11-12 months. Every baby I know was squatting and picking things up at a year. That's why I'm skeptical of just how far ahead he is. Then again, I don't see babies everyday like the doctor does. He's always amazed by Dexter.
One thing I do think Dexter is really ahead on is his vocabulary. The doctor asked if he knew 10 words, we (the nanny went too) said more like 15-20. Later, Lauren, the nanny, then wrote down a quick lists of words off the top of her head and it's more like 50-60 words. Some of them are easier to understand than others, but he's learning at a fast pace. He even says "yellow" and knows what color that is. Of course, that's really close to "Jello", his favorite thing to eat. He often refers to red as Jello and blue as wa-wa. I guess yellow is just yellow because there isn't anything else he can associate it with. It's fascinating to watch him grow.
He now hates the crinkly paper at the doctor's that he used to LOVE to play with. He knows that it means he's going to get a shot! He did ok today. I gave him a pacifier beforehand. He had 2 of the 3 shots he was supposed to have. He was upset of course, but not for very long. It made changing his diaper about 10 times harder though. Poor baby thinks he might get a shot every time he's laid on his back.
So I finally let fear of vaccinating grab a hold of me. I decided to postpone the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine. There's been a lot of controversy over that one. I don't think Dexter has Autism. That often starts showing symptoms around his age. I don't know a ton about it, but around 2 years old is when kids are first diagnosed with it. I'm worried about it just because I live in an area with an unnatural concentration of Autistic kids. The MMR is often finger-pointed as what "caused" a kid to have Autism. I don't think it's that cut and dry. The timing of the symptoms could be coincidental. There could be other factors that combine with the vaccine to cause it. I'm not sure, so I decided to wait another 3 months before getting it.
Dexter has had every other vaccination. That's a lot. I think a lot of them are unnecessary. They aren't created to protect kids from deadly viruses. They are protecting kids from highly transmittable, rarely fatal diseases. It's one thing to try and eradicate Polio and a whole other to eradicate Chicken Pox. Those 2 diseases can't even be compared.
BUT Dexter visits playgrounds that hundreds of kids visit daily. He's pretty much had a cough for 2 months because he's had colds that he likely caught from the playgrounds. Who knows what would happen if some little kid came down with the Measles after playing in GG Park. Dexter won't be part of that outbreak. Well, not after he gets the shot in 3 months. I guarantee that if something like that did happen, there would be a massive outbreak of Measles in San Francisco.
Oh and the biggest zinger, Dexter is working on another molar, a 2 year molar! I thought we were golden for at least 6 months, but no… he's waking up at night, chewing on everything - even the coffee table. He's like a little piranha baby. He has some major chompers!
