6 Month Wellness Check

Yesterday was Christian's 6 month wellness check. It went really well. I was a little nervous to go. I thought that Dr. G was going to tell me that my little monkey was chunky...note, his nickname is Chunky Monkey...but he did not. He said that Christian looked really good and is really filling out. Other than being nervous about his chunkiness, I was nervous about other things as well...his shots and the list of questions that I had for Dr. G.
Here are Christian's new stats...

Born Now
Head: 13 (6th percentile) 17 (32 percentile)
Length: 19.4 (4th percentile) 28 (91st percentile)
Weight: 6.10 (5th percentile) 18.10 (70th percentile)

WOW is my little monkey growing up big and fast or what.

Well, here were some of my question (with answers) that I had for Dr. G.

Q: Christian is very sensitive to sounds. He cries when people clap loud, when we shut the garage door, when we crumble up a paper bag to throw it away, etc. Could this be related, in any way, to autism?

A. The teacher in me, of course, looks out for everything that Christian does and does not do. So when I started to notice his sensitivity to noise it got me really, really worried. I know that sensitivity to loud noises is a sign of Asperger syndrome, which is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, Dr. G. did look Christian over, did some quick tests, and reassured me that he is unlikely a candidate for autisim. He said that Christian "passes" all the early signs that show when a child may be autistic...

Christian does...

babble, point, and/or make meaningful gestures by one year of age
respond to his name
makes eye contact
seem to know how to play with toys
smile
This, of course, makes me feel a whole lot better. However, Dr. G was very impressed that I was already looking out for these signs. Like I said, the teacher in me looks out for things he does and does not do, which leads me to question number 2.

Q. Christian was born almost a month early. Does this mean he has any kind of developmental delays?

A. Once again the teacher in me noticed that he is not progessing like his friend Sullivan (he is with him at the lady who keeps him's house) who is 20 days older than Christian. I have been teaching for 6 years now, so I have been telling parents that we are not going to compare their child to the other children in the class. We are going to look at their child individually as a learner and see where their child is, where they need to go by the end of the year, and how we are going to get there. OH MY GOSH HOW THAT IS SO DIFFERENT NOW THAT I AM A PARENT MYSELF. You really do want to compare your child to other children. "Why is my child not doing what other children are doing?" "Is something wrong with my child?" My mom said that I will be doing this until he turns 18 or longer...GREAT!

Anyway, back to what Dr. G. said. He said that..."All children learn at different rates." Yes, that is what he told me...the teacher. I could have told myself that...ha. He said that they don't look at babies having developmental delays unless they have been born earlier than 32 weeks. So, just what I tell my parents every year at parent teacher conferences, I am going to have to tell myself every time a child around Christian's age does something before he does...THEY ALL LEARN AT DIFFERENT STAGES AND HE WILL GET THERE EVENTUALLY. STOP BEING A WORRY-WART.

Q. I read in a book that the hospital gave us before we left to come home that at 6 months we should introduce a sippy cup. Should we really start that? Christian can not even hold his bottle himself?

A. Dr. G said yes we should. He said that we should introduce the sippy cup to Christian so that by the time he is ready to give up the bottle, he will be a master at the sippy cup. So, Christian is now taking half apple juice and half water in a sippy cup through out the day. It is so amazing and funny. I have to attach a picture to show you how much he is growing and of him holding his new sippy cup. He LOVES his apple juice.