Another great visit to the pediatrician today. Dexter got a (mostly) clean bill of health. He does have an ear infection and is back on amoxicillin for it. We'll get it licked one of these days.
Weight: 28 pounds, 12.8 ounces (83rd %ile)
Height: 34.5" (94th %ile)
Head Circumference: 19.25" (79th %ile)
Among the developmental questions we were asked:
Does he take off his clothes, including diaper or socks? (um, yeah. Just try to keep a sock on this kid.)
Can he stack blocks at least 3 high? (Those stacking blocks are his favorite toy, and he only stops when he can't reach that high anymore.)
Does he climb stairs with assistance? (To quote his father, "Well, he hasn't lately. Mostly he does it all by himself.")
And, the best one - Does he have at least six words? (HA! And here I was frantically counting them up before the appointment because I was sure they'd ask how many. FORTY-TWO! So yeah. More than six.)
He also got two shots today - chicken pox and pneumococcus vaccines. We were on the fence about doing the chicken pox vaccine, but in the end, we're scientists, you know? Hopefully they'll have a great booster in 10 years or so when he needs it. I think the nurse hit a really bad spot with the shots. Dexter was VERY unhappy and actually had to be pinned down. Then later tonight, he got up on my lap, rubbed his thigh, and said (in his sweetest little voice) "owwww." Broke my heart. So that damned chicken pox vaccine had better work and it had better work for a LONG time.
Showing posts with label shots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shots. Show all posts
Monday, April 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Dexter is 15 Months Old! (with official stats)
Height: 33.5 inches (96th %ile - this is actually shorter than he measured at his 12m appointment. So much for this measuring system, I guess.)
Weight: 27 pounds, 9.6 ounces (85th %ile)
Head circumference: 18.75 inches (62nd %ile)
He got 2 shots today and only cried (OK, screamed) for about 30 seconds afterwards. He's such a good little disease-fighter.
The pediatrician isn't concerned that Dexter toes in when he walks. (His legs/ankles/feet are anatomically correct, so it should fix itself.) She also isn't concerned about his language development, since he is making progress (went from 0 to 3 words since his 12 month appointment).
Let's see.... Otherwise, Dexter is still our Dexter. He's definitely communicating a lot more, though sadly not nearly enough to avoid frustration tantrums. He seems a lot happier lately - downright giddy, even.
Signs: "more," 'eat," "bath," "please," and, officially as of yesterday, "banana!"
Words: "shoes," "mop," "uh-oh" (really "uh-mmm"). Maybe "duck," too. (Still no "Mom" or "Dad.")
Teeth: Still just the 10, though we're seeing a little more of 9 and 10 all the time.
Sleep: Usually, Dexter is a good sleeper. About 12 hours/night. The holidays messed up his routine a little, and he was going to bed later, waking during the night, then sleeping until 9:30 or even 10:30 in the morning.
Food: Dexter is still eating anywhere from 1-3 bananas every day. He loves, loves, LOVES clementines, too. And grapes. Also likes yogurt and cinnamon bread and scrambled eggs. And gumbo. He's great about drinking his milk. Overall, he eats a ton and a fairly wide variety of foods.
Dexter is also learning the parts of the body. He definitely knows "tummy" (and has for a couple of months, really). He also knows "feet," "ear," and, we think possibly "hair."
Playing Chase is still probably his favorite thing, although playing in the sink (or the washing machine or a drinking fountain or any source of running water, really) is fighting for the top spot as well. The frigid temperatures haven't kept him from always wanting to go outside, either. And he's always up for dancing. As Dennis told me the other day when I was trying to get Dexter's attention, "You can't compete with the beat!"
Finally, his newest trick seems to be climbing. He can't quite get onto the sofa yet, but he can get onto the ottoman and then LEAP onto the sofa from there. It's really quite funny. And he is really quite good at it, though he usually has a bruise or two to show for his climbing efforts.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Dexter's Scary Rash
I'll go ahead and call it a "first," although I certainly hope we never see any more scary rashes. Ever.
As we said before, Dexter visited the doctor on Monday, 10/5 for his one year well-child visit. While there, he received the MMR and polio vaccines. He was also prescribed amoxicillin for a possible sinus infection.
On Friday, 10/9, we tried to get him a flu shot. But he was running a fever (101ish), so they couldn't give it to him. The fever wasn't terrible but didn't respond well to the standard tylenol/motrin combo.
When he still had a fever on 10/10, we called the pediatrician (as instructed). They wanted to see him. He looked fine, but they figured if he had fever, then the amoxicillin wasn't working and prescribed him some keflex. We asked if he could be one of the 16% of children who gets a fever from the MMR vaccine, but the pediatrician seemed confident that was not the case.
On Sunday, we started giving him the keflex. He slept a lot on Sunday (Saturday, too), but we figured he was just feeling badly and needed extra rest. Besides, he usually sleeps a lot on the weekends to catch up from his busy weeks at daycare.
Monday morning, we woke him up and got him dressed. When we brought him into some brighter light, we noticed a faint rash spreading across his nose, scalp, neck, and torso:
So we kept him home that day. Again, he slept a lot. I called the pediatrician to ask if Dexter was one of the 5% of children who gets a rash in response to the MMR vaccine. They asked a few questions over the phone and decided that yes, that's probably what it was, but to call if it got worse.
Well, by that night, it was worse:
But it still didn't seem like a severe rash along the lines of what you find online when you search for "measles" or "MMR rash reaction" or anything. And Dexter didn't seem too bothered by it. (a little grumpy, but he wasn't scratching at it or anything. And he was still happy to play "upside-down baby" with Dennis.) So we weren't too worried.
Tuesday morning (10/13), I brought him to daycare as usual. As the day progressed, I decided I would email the above photos to the pediatrician, just to make sure this was indeed a "mild" rash. Except we hadn't submitted the correct form to correspond with them via email. So that afternoon, after I picked him up from daycare, we made a quick stop at the doctor's office to drop off the form.
When the receptionist saw Dexter, she gasped and called a nurse over. When the nurse came over, she gasped and said she'd never seen an MMR rash that bad. They took his temp (normal) but squeezed us in for an appointment right then because things were surprisingly slow that afternoon. The doctor walked in and instantly said "That is not an MMR reaction." Instead, he diagnosed an allergy to keflex (an antibiotic he's been on before with no issues), prescribed a steroid to help the hives go away, and took him off of all of the antibiotics altogether (since the sinus infection was only "suspected" and none of the antibiotics were particularly effective anyway).
We got a few more pictures that night. Things had definitely gotten much worse:
Poor kid was still not really scratching at the rash, but he had to be miserable.
We were just SO lucky that we happened to go in to the pediatrician's office and that they were able to see us. Otherwise, we would have continued giving him the keflex and made things so much worse.
The steroid worked well overnight. On Wednesday morning, his rash was MUCH better (back to Monday-ish looking), and it kept getting better after that.
Unfortunately, Dexter's general demeanor continued to sour, and he was just not himself for a couple of more days. He was clingy, cuddly, crying, screaming, and he slept A LOT. We weren't sure if it was a reaction to the vaccines (still a possibility, as we're in that time window), a delayed reaction to a change in his diet (transitioning from formula to milk), continued effects of the allergic reaction, or a number of other things. All we knew is that something wasn't right.
And I guess that's all we'll ever know, and that's OK. He finally seems to be getting back to his old self tonight (10/16). Boy did we miss our HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY boy! I'm looking forward to seeing him make a full recovery by the end of the weekend and be ready for tons of playtime on Sunday and throughout next week at daycare.
As we said before, Dexter visited the doctor on Monday, 10/5 for his one year well-child visit. While there, he received the MMR and polio vaccines. He was also prescribed amoxicillin for a possible sinus infection.
On Friday, 10/9, we tried to get him a flu shot. But he was running a fever (101ish), so they couldn't give it to him. The fever wasn't terrible but didn't respond well to the standard tylenol/motrin combo.
When he still had a fever on 10/10, we called the pediatrician (as instructed). They wanted to see him. He looked fine, but they figured if he had fever, then the amoxicillin wasn't working and prescribed him some keflex. We asked if he could be one of the 16% of children who gets a fever from the MMR vaccine, but the pediatrician seemed confident that was not the case.
On Sunday, we started giving him the keflex. He slept a lot on Sunday (Saturday, too), but we figured he was just feeling badly and needed extra rest. Besides, he usually sleeps a lot on the weekends to catch up from his busy weeks at daycare.
Monday morning, we woke him up and got him dressed. When we brought him into some brighter light, we noticed a faint rash spreading across his nose, scalp, neck, and torso:
So we kept him home that day. Again, he slept a lot. I called the pediatrician to ask if Dexter was one of the 5% of children who gets a rash in response to the MMR vaccine. They asked a few questions over the phone and decided that yes, that's probably what it was, but to call if it got worse.
Well, by that night, it was worse:
But it still didn't seem like a severe rash along the lines of what you find online when you search for "measles" or "MMR rash reaction" or anything. And Dexter didn't seem too bothered by it. (a little grumpy, but he wasn't scratching at it or anything. And he was still happy to play "upside-down baby" with Dennis.) So we weren't too worried.
Tuesday morning (10/13), I brought him to daycare as usual. As the day progressed, I decided I would email the above photos to the pediatrician, just to make sure this was indeed a "mild" rash. Except we hadn't submitted the correct form to correspond with them via email. So that afternoon, after I picked him up from daycare, we made a quick stop at the doctor's office to drop off the form.
When the receptionist saw Dexter, she gasped and called a nurse over. When the nurse came over, she gasped and said she'd never seen an MMR rash that bad. They took his temp (normal) but squeezed us in for an appointment right then because things were surprisingly slow that afternoon. The doctor walked in and instantly said "That is not an MMR reaction." Instead, he diagnosed an allergy to keflex (an antibiotic he's been on before with no issues), prescribed a steroid to help the hives go away, and took him off of all of the antibiotics altogether (since the sinus infection was only "suspected" and none of the antibiotics were particularly effective anyway).We got a few more pictures that night. Things had definitely gotten much worse:
Poor kid was still not really scratching at the rash, but he had to be miserable.
We were just SO lucky that we happened to go in to the pediatrician's office and that they were able to see us. Otherwise, we would have continued giving him the keflex and made things so much worse.
The steroid worked well overnight. On Wednesday morning, his rash was MUCH better (back to Monday-ish looking), and it kept getting better after that.
Unfortunately, Dexter's general demeanor continued to sour, and he was just not himself for a couple of more days. He was clingy, cuddly, crying, screaming, and he slept A LOT. We weren't sure if it was a reaction to the vaccines (still a possibility, as we're in that time window), a delayed reaction to a change in his diet (transitioning from formula to milk), continued effects of the allergic reaction, or a number of other things. All we knew is that something wasn't right.
And I guess that's all we'll ever know, and that's OK. He finally seems to be getting back to his old self tonight (10/16). Boy did we miss our HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY boy! I'm looking forward to seeing him make a full recovery by the end of the weekend and be ready for tons of playtime on Sunday and throughout next week at daycare.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Dexter is 7 Months Old!
Actually, given his physical prowess, he's WAY closer to toddlerhood than newbornness. He started pulling up on stuff maybe a week ago. He still doesn't do it very expertly, but he sure is trying. (In the crib, he can get on one foot and one knee, but can't quite pull himself to standing. For lower things, he can get all the way up on both feet.) Considering how fast he went from getting up on all fours to crawling, I expect him to be cruising before he hits 8 months.
Today was also Dexter's first day of day care. He seems to have survived unscathed. As expected, he didn't nap well in the bright, loud room full of interesting new things and other babies and consequently fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting home. He was definitely not his regular old happy self when I picked him up. I hope he adjusts soon, because we can't leave him there if he's exhausted and has all of the joy sucked out of him. (We did get some good laughs tonight after his after-daycare-nap, so they didn't suck ALL of the joy out.)
Here are his "official" 7 month photos. Note how it is SO boring to just sit there and SO much more fun to play with the paper. (I am still having trouble narrowing these down. Sorry.)
Really, there's no contest when considering the Bear or Demonjello anymore. Thank goodness Tootsie got us this giant dog!
(This set of photos was also a study in motion. As always, click to view larger.)
Remember which one was taller when we planted the tree? (One assumes the tree grew a bit as well.)
Finally, some additional recent photos for your enjoyment:
Friday, April 10, 2009
Dexter's Official 6-month Stats
As anticipated, Dexter got a clean bill of health today at his 6 month checkup. He was pretty good and showed Dr. Johnston how he rocks on his hands and knees. She was appropriately impressed.
On to the numbers...
Weight: 21.4 pounds, 94th %ile
Height: 29.25 inches, 98th %ile
Head circumference: 17.75 inches, 81st %ile
It's nice to see that his head is catching up with his body (last time, that was 53rd %ile). And he's only gained 3.4 pounds in 2 months, which is consistent with his increased level of activity and makes me feel better about his probability of ending up as an 80 pound first grader.
He got 2 immunizations today (Rotavirus - oral, and DTaP - shot) and handled them like a champ.
All in all, a great checkup. :)
On to the numbers...
Weight: 21.4 pounds, 94th %ile
Height: 29.25 inches, 98th %ile
Head circumference: 17.75 inches, 81st %ile
It's nice to see that his head is catching up with his body (last time, that was 53rd %ile). And he's only gained 3.4 pounds in 2 months, which is consistent with his increased level of activity and makes me feel better about his probability of ending up as an 80 pound first grader.
He got 2 immunizations today (Rotavirus - oral, and DTaP - shot) and handled them like a champ.
All in all, a great checkup. :)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Dexter's Official 4-month Stats
18 pounds (92nd %ile)
27.5 inches (98th %ile)
16.75 inch head circumference (53rd %ile)
Yep. He's a big guy. More of him to love and all of that. :)
He got 2 more vaccinations - one oral and one injection. Apparently the oral stuff tasted gross, because he fought it pretty hard. He did great with the shot, though.
The pediatrician says he is doing great and that it's OK to start solids. (Good thing, since we started solids last Thursday. He was more than ready for it.)
27.5 inches (98th %ile)
16.75 inch head circumference (53rd %ile)
Yep. He's a big guy. More of him to love and all of that. :)
He got 2 more vaccinations - one oral and one injection. Apparently the oral stuff tasted gross, because he fought it pretty hard. He did great with the shot, though.
The pediatrician says he is doing great and that it's OK to start solids. (Good thing, since we started solids last Thursday. He was more than ready for it.)
Monday, December 8, 2008
Dexter's 2 Month Checkup
Dexter excelled (again) at his checkup today. He weighs 12 pounds, 13 ounces (67th %ile) and is 24.25" long (85th %ile). His head circumference is 15.75" (44th %ile).
He got 2 immunizations. The Rotavirus vaccine is oral, and he took the whole thing without any fuss at all. The other (DTaP) was an actual shot. He screamed for about 5 seconds and that was that. I was very proud and relieved.
I'm also hoping that the immunizations don't impact his super-amazing sleep schedule! He's now slept through the night for SIX nights in a row!
Tuesday 02 Dec: 9:30 PM - 5:15AM (7.5 hours)
Wednesday 03 Dec: 10:00PM - 7:00AM (9 hours)
Thursday 04 Dec: 11:00PM - 6:00AM (7 hours)
Friday 05 Dec: 10:30 PM - 6:30AM (8 hours)
Saturday 06 Dec: 10:30PM - 8:30AM (10 hours)
Sunday 07 Dec: 9:30PM - 4:30AM (7 hours)
In other news, it turns out that the baby in the mirror is camera-shy! Ever since Dexter laughed himself into hiccups at that adorable baby, we've been trying to catch it on video. Alas, all we have is about 20 cumulative minutes of footage (over several days) of Dexter's parents acting like goofballs trying to get him to laugh at the baby in the mirror. Thus, no video updates yet. If we have anything exciting to show, rest assured you'll see it here first.
He got 2 immunizations. The Rotavirus vaccine is oral, and he took the whole thing without any fuss at all. The other (DTaP) was an actual shot. He screamed for about 5 seconds and that was that. I was very proud and relieved.
I'm also hoping that the immunizations don't impact his super-amazing sleep schedule! He's now slept through the night for SIX nights in a row!
Tuesday 02 Dec: 9:30 PM - 5:15AM (7.5 hours)
Wednesday 03 Dec: 10:00PM - 7:00AM (9 hours)
Thursday 04 Dec: 11:00PM - 6:00AM (7 hours)
Friday 05 Dec: 10:30 PM - 6:30AM (8 hours)
Saturday 06 Dec: 10:30PM - 8:30AM (10 hours)
Sunday 07 Dec: 9:30PM - 4:30AM (7 hours)
In other news, it turns out that the baby in the mirror is camera-shy! Ever since Dexter laughed himself into hiccups at that adorable baby, we've been trying to catch it on video. Alas, all we have is about 20 cumulative minutes of footage (over several days) of Dexter's parents acting like goofballs trying to get him to laugh at the baby in the mirror. Thus, no video updates yet. If we have anything exciting to show, rest assured you'll see it here first.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)