Bennett - 18 Month Checkup

This sweet little bug had his 18 month check up last week. He's actually 19 months because someone (*cough*me*cough*) forgot to schedule an appointment until he was already 18 months.

Here are his stats:
Height: 35 in (97%)
Weight:29 lb 2 oz (80%)
Head: 49 cm (75%)

Gotta fatten this kiddo up - just look at those cheeks, he's clearly wasting away!

Bennett hanging in Dr. Bromberg's office. It's always really cold and they want you to keep your kid in just their diaper between being weighed by the nurse and examined by the doc. I made Bennett an impromptu toga out of my scarf to keep him warm while we waited. :)

Bennett is still not huge on PDA, so when you get a cuddle, like his daddy got one morning, you take it and love it :)

Mark and I still sneak into his room every single night to check on him before we go to sleep. I kind of hope we never stop doing this with our kids. I think seeing their sweet little faces at night helps erase any stress they caused you during the day.

Bennett had a developmental assessment at his appointment. I've said it before, but being my first child and the only kid I spend a lot of time around, I don't have a great handle on what's "normal" but the assessment went about how I expected it to. He's way ahead on gross motor skills (he runs like a little boy, not a toddler), a bit ahead on fine motor skills and problem solving and average for talking/communicating. He's not a huge talker and can be a little shy in front of strangers, but loves to "tell" Mark all about his day when he gets home (He starts excitedly babbling and running around the house grabbing things to show Mark when he walks in the door at night). He's a busy kid, constantly on the move, but will sit down and read a book with you any where, any time. He's stubborn and strong-willed and earns several time outs a day (mostly for throwing food or pulling keys off my keyboard) but he's also really helpful, patient and easy going.

Sometimes I get the littlest bit concerned that Bennett doesn't know very many words or shows no interest in learning colors (I'm a mom, I guess I've got to find something stupid to worry about, right?) , but then he'll do something that reminds how seriously sharp he is. One of the questions on the skills test was, "Can they take a drink or two out of a cup without spilling too much?" I'd never tried letting him use a cup so when we got home I got out one of our dainty porcelain tea cups (I'm the only one that ever uses them, I drink milk from them in the morning), poured some milk in it and sat down on the floor of the kitchen with Bennett. I positioned his hands on either side of the cup and brought it up to his mouth. He took a drink without spilling and set it down on the floor. He took his hands off the cup and when I went to put them back around the cup, he brushed me away, gave me a sideways glance and picked the cup up with one hand by the handle, took a drink and set it back down on the floor without spilling a drop, like, "Mom, I know how to do it the right way, geeze." This from a kid that doesn't even say "milk" (he calls it "more" - as in, "I want more milk").

I love this little contradiction.