Part One: Mason’s 15 month check-up. Today was Mason’s first appointment with his new doctor, and I really like the guy! He is actually a Physician’s Assistant—the actual doctors at the clinic are (I was told) filled to the brim with patients and since Mason has no health issues (so far) I said the PA would be fine to see. He is a younger to middle-aged black man; I only mention this because I had previously thought the only blacks in UT played for the Jazz. Anyway-I digress. They weighed and measured Mason and his currents stats are as follows:
weight 24.4lbs (50th percentile) and 30 inches??? tall (25th percentile)-no head measurement
Now, if you were to look at an older post of Mason’s stats it would show that he gained 2 lbs and shrunk 3/4 inches. I am not sure how that is possible, but that’s what the numbers say. When I asked the nurses, etc about it they just shrugged their shoulders. Apparently they must think the people in Logan don’t know how to measure babies. After measurements the nurses then began a series of grueling questions to assess development, etc; different ages get different questions. The questions I received today were as follows: can he say 3-6 words? -- “Well, he kind of says mom and dad…and I think he can say dog…” Ok, the nurse says. – Does he sleep through the night? “Um…no…sometimes”. – Can he point to at least three body parts? “Um, no…he doesn’t point to anything." The nurse doesn’t say anything. – Can he stack blocks on top of one another? “Uh, we don’t have any blocks…I have no idea”. Oh. This is the only response I get from the nurse. – Can he help out around the house? I must have been giving her quite the blank stare because she continues by asking-like can he put something away you ask him to, etc?- More blank stares and long pauses on my part. I didn’t know a 15 month old could do that. “Um, no” I finally say to the nurse. – Can he let you know what he wants? Finally! A question I can answer somewhat positively to. “Yes, he holds out his hands when he wants something”. Ok good the nurse says. I am feeling quite deflated and like a horrible mother at this point. Why can’t they ask if he can make three different car/truck noises? Or that he can maneuver anything with wheels in any directions? Or that he can kind of do "itsy-bitsy spider"? So far my child has shrunk and can’t do much… That’s when the PA comes in. He does his usual check up and says Mason looks great. I start to feel a little better. He then tells me Mason has large tonsils and we’ll have to watch carefully to make sure they don’t keep getting bigger. Next he says “safety is our number one concern with toddlers this age”. As he is saying this I can see in my minds eye Mason running straight into the counter just a few minutes before at the Dr office and banging his head…and I can see the penny I found in Mason’s mouth this morning while I was changing his diaper…Then I ask him about all the things he doesn’t do and the PA just laughs and says those are more geared between the ages of 15-18 months and just to continue working with him. I finally say “he loves to read and will bring me books”. The doctor looks at me and smiles hugely and says “that is just perfect”. I now feel like a good mother again. The feeling doesn’t last long though. The nurses come back in with the two vaccinations Mason will be receiving today. They ask me to hold him down while they give them. Mason starts crying because he knows what’s coming. He reaches his little hands up and starts crying ‘mum, mum, mum’ as they poke him. He cries and cries and I cry too. It broke my heart. He was better and happy immediately after, but those few seconds were the worst. I don’t like doctor appointments.
Part Two: the Vegas Trip. This is just a short sentence to say Rob and I recently spent a few days in Vegas with Aaron and Brit kid free…and it was FANTASTIC!!! The weather got up to 115 degrees, and we heard the chastity talk in a singles ward for church (it was the closest ward we could find), but other than that we had an absolute BLAST@ We went and saw Cirque de Soleil which was just awesome. I’m sure Brit will have tons of fun pictures on her blog soon. Thanks mom, dad, and Sav for watching Mason!
Part Three: the Fourth of July. This is a long post so I’m just going to quickly mention that we spent the fourth with my family doing parade and fireworks. Grandma Day just wore little Mason out getting all the candy. We went to the grandparents and Mason and Rob tried out my grandpa’s Jazzie. Rob went shooting with the guys, and that night was the fireworks. I LOVE the Fillmore fireworks!!! Everyone goes to the baseball fields and lays out blankets and brings food and when the sun goes down the fireworks explode! It goes for a full 30 minutes and you get to lay right under them. Sunday evening we went to Salt Lake and Monday morning we did fun water games and Rob’s parents house and then went shooting and to the Oakley rodeo; such a FANTASTIC rodeo! Thanks to everyone who made our fourth so much fun!
