our little man

12.06.2007

one year appointment

ben had his 12 month appointment with the pediatrician today. just as we'd suspected, he's grown quite a bit! he's now weighing in at 20 pounds, which puts him back up to the 10th percentile. still a peanut, but he was down under the 5th percentile at his last weight check about 6 weeks ago - so he's gone up on his curve which is great. he's also added 2 inches since his 9-month appointment, which puts him at 29.5 inches and the 50th percentile.

other than that, the appointment was pretty standard. he's doing everything they expect and sometimes more. some of the things they asked are is he saying a few words (he says mama, dada, duck and more), waving bye-bye, playing peek-a-boo, etc. everyone was also very impressed with his walking. both the nurse and doctor commented that its no wonder he's skinny with how active he seems to be.

he did very well while the doctor examined him - he let her check his eyes, ears, and mouth with only a little squirming and sat still for all of the other pokings and proddings... but when the nurse came back in for the shots, it was a different story. he needed 4 shots, which he actually did really well with, but first he needed a finger prick to test his iron and lead levels. while ben didn't even flinch when the nurse pricked his finger, he really freaked out while she had to fill the vial. she squeezed his finger and added a drop at a time... so of course we had to hold him very still. he did not like to be restrained like that. i go through the same kind of thing every time i have to trim his fingernails - but this took so much longer. the nurse held on tightly to his hand and i held him in my lap with one arm around his front holding one arm down and my other arm holding the arm that the nurse needed. he wriggled and screamed like we were torturing him. it was horrible. adam and sophie had actually left the room to set up the next appointments and adam says that as soon as ben let out his first cry, sophie was so concerned about him. i heard her running down the hall toward the exam room and asking what was wrong with benjamin. when we were done with that, the shots were no problem. he cried a little bit, but i think mostly it was because he was already upset. he settled very quickly and was absolutely fine by the time we got to the car, laughing and playing with sophie.

he goes back in a month to get the booster for his flu shot. the first year they get the flu shot, they need the booster one month later - but every year after they just need the single shot. then we go back in three months for another routine well-check.

posted at 7:03 PM by aimee // 0 comments