In case anyone had any worries about Chanler's weight gain, worry no longer. A little known fact is that babies lose some weight in the few days following their birth, and usually regain birth weight within two weeks. Chanler dropped down to 7 lbs. 6 oz. by Sunday, March 6th. He impressed us and the nurses by gaining back 4 oz. Sunday night alone, and 14 oz. between Monday and today at our one week checkup.

He now weighs 8 lbs. 8oz., and if he continues at this rate, he will be a forty pound baby by June! Choice quotes from the nurse:

• Are you sure you brought the same baby today?


• Is dad feeding him pizza and beer when you aren't looking?


• Well I don't think that we need to worry about his eating.

Chanler had is first Pediatrician appointment today with Dr. Joseph. Everything looks good. He weighed 9lbs 14oz!!!

Chanler showed the Dr. how strong he is (head & neck control) and even tried to have a conversation with her! (She was suprised he was vocalizing so early!)

Pictures

At four weeks our "little" boy weighs 10lbs 8oz! he is growing SO fast!

We went for Chanler's two month check-up this morning.

Stats:
Weight: 12lbs 15oz
Height: 23 in
Head Circ: 16 in

According to the dr. he is doing great and acting like a 4 month old (whatever that means . . .)
The worst part of the visit was his first round of shots, but he did fine there too - just a bit of crying then right back to sleep!

His next appointment is at 4 months . . . we are going to have to find some way to weigh him in between!

We made a pit stop and Fry's (computer store) today and just for fun we tried to weigh Chanler on their scales (because we don't have a functional scale at home)

Well he weighs somewhere between 13.5 and 15lbs acording to the "very accurate" scales there =]

Chanler had his four month check up (and vaccinations) today.

The Stats
Weight: 16lbs 4.5oz (75th percentile);
Height 26in (90th percentile) - Yikes! he is getting SO BIG.
Head Circ: 17.25 in

He is still having gas issues so we are going to try an acidophilus supplement to see if he has some kind of imbalance in his intestinal flora . . . here's hoping this helps. The doctor thinks Chanler is doing fine, but wants us to wait on "solids" until we figure out his tummy trouble.

The best question from this visit was . . . "So is he grabbing stuff?" my answer YES - like everything (cups, beards, stethoscopes, you name it he will grab it!)

As of his 9 month Dr. appointment today
Chanler's Stats:
Weight: 21 lbs
Height: 29 Inches
Head Circ: 18.5 in
6 Teeth

Chanler can . . .
Sit
Crawl
Stand without support (i.e. Balance)
Cruise around the furniture
Babble
Use a pincer grip
Play peek-a-boo
and generally keep mommy and daddy very busy

Which actually happened closer to 13 months, but you get the idea.

Stats
Height 30.75 in (70th percentile)
Weight 22lbs 12oz (44th percentile)
8 teeth (with 4 molars all coming in at the same time)

Chanler can
Walk
Dance
Spin
Say ball (baa), dog (duh), balloon (baa-oo) and of course mama and dada (all of which can have alternative meaning depending on context)
Give hugs and kisses (kisses can be a little scary - they are open mouth, tongue out, grap your head to hold on and long! but so sweet)
Help get dressed (he is very good at putting his arms in the holes and loves to try to pull things over his head

Dr. Joseph seemed to think Chanler was doing fine and cleared him for citrus, strawberries and peanut butter. I think the only things to watch out for from an eating perspective now are choking hazards. Our one question was about Chanler's habit of head butting things, people, shopping carts, etc. The Dr. said it is normal behavior and he is using the hardest part of his head so it won't do any real damage. She stressed that we should not let him know that it upsets us or give him whatever he wants when he does it because that would just encourage him. :p

We had Chanler's 18 month visit today (about a week early, but close enough). Everything looks great. Chanler was particularly shy and clingy during the examination, but he did manage to blow kisses "bye bye" when the doctor was leaving, so it couldn't have been too traumatic. Actually Chanler didn't really want to leave the Dr. office, they have fish and toys in the reception area and he wanted to stay and play.

Stats:
Weight 24lbs 7oz (25 percentile although he wouldn't sit still on the scale so the Dr. thinks he is probably closer to 26lbs.)
Height 34 In (90 percentile)
16 Teeth (all except the 2 year molars)

Current Words (used regularly with consistent meaning)
Mama
Dada
Ball
Car
No
Down
Up
Choo Choo
Shoes
Num Num (Nurse)
Tickle
Doggie
Duckie
Birdie
Juice
Uh-Oh

Signs without verbalization
Airplane
Please
Eat/Drink
Kisses bye bye
Thank you
What/Where

As a side note the word list seems short to me, but it doesn't include all the words or phrases that Chanler UNDERSTANDS. There are plenty of things that he knows I am saying and can react to and there are things he says that I just haven't figured out what he means yet.

We had Chanler's two year apt today here are his stats:
Height: 34.25 Inches 50th percentile(this is the first time they measured him actually standing up, which is MUCH more accurate)
Weight: 27.3 Pounds 25th percentile (I thought he would be heavier)
Head: 20.5 inches 90th percentile (thank Daddy's genes for that one)

Everything looks like he is growing just great. I personally LOVE the developmental questions that they ask (I realize there has to be a baseline and that IF he wasn't doing these things you would worry, but since he is normal+ they become funny)
Dr: Does he climb and jump?
Jesse: All over everything, although I am not sure I have actually seem both feet leave the ground at the same time when he jumps, but he sure is trying.
Dr: Does he have a vocabulary over 50 words?
J: Well I lost count at about 100 and that was a few months ago.
Dr: Does he use 2 word sentences?
J: He told me this morning - "I wanna play a choo train". (Not to mention other classics like "NO foot", "throw mato", "daddy down", etc)
Dr: Does he Imitate you?
J: In ways I don't want to admit
Dr: Does he drink Milk?
J: Not really, but he is still nursing so I don't worry about it.
Dr: (and this is why I LOVE our Dr.) well why would he want cow milk when he can have mommy milk! (I love Dr Joseph)

Of course Chanler wouldn't display any of his abilities for the Dr to actually see, really he wouldn't even look at her (but then again he was naked and in her office so she had the upper hand.

Overall things look great.

Stats:
Weight: 39lbs
Height: 40 Inches
and they don't check much else...

Nothing exciting to report from the rest of the Dr visit. In part because Chanler was the MOST uncooperative he has EVER been at a Dr. appointment and partly because there just isn't as much to check on a four year old (as compared to a one year old...)

He is doing well and won't have to go back for another year...

Stats:
Weight: 39lbs
Height: 40 Inches
and they don't check much else...

Nothing exciting to report from the rest of the Dr visit. In part because Chanler was the MOST uncooperative he has EVER been at a Dr. appointment and partly because there just isn't as much to check on a four year old (as compared to a one year old...)

He is doing well and won't have to go back for another year...

Height: 43.25 Inches
Weight 42lbs 6oz

Not much exciting to report at the 5 year check up. Actually our doctor "forgot" to come for our appointment so we had a replacement which made it even less interesting