4.4.11 - Well-check and updates

Liam's 18 month well check visit with the pedi was this morning.  Of course, worries about his weight were at the top of my concerns, but I was pleasantly surprised at how the appointment went.  Liam was only down a few ounces from 4 weeks ago when we started the wean, to 23 lbs. 12 oz.  but remains in the 20% percentile.  He was up more than 2 pounds from our last pedi visit back in January and she is very pleased with where he is at right now.  She also explains that most kids around this age up to age 3 actually start losing some weight because they become more active.  So the fact that Liam has gained anything was really good.  Especially since we can now consider him a "toddling" toddler!  Our goal for weight for our next visit when he is two is 26 pounds.  She also said as long as we feel comfortable and have someone overseeing the weaning process, we can move forward as we see fit.  YAY!!

I just can't believe we are so close to coming off the tube.  If you would have asked me two months ago if I even saw this in our near future my answer would have been no.  Liam has just blown me away with all the progress he's made in a relatively short amount of time.  Plus, he continues to do well despite that fact he has probably sprouted about 6 teeth in the past 3 months and now is getting some molars coming in.  Plus, we had our first experience with some allergies the past couple weeks and hasn't been sleeping very well.  All in all I am pleased! 

So the next step is to cut out one more feeding so we will just have the one tube feed at night.  I think the nighttime one is going to be the hardest to cut out.  The first thing he does when he gets up (even earlier than before we started weaning) is ask to eat.  I think it's going to be a challenge to get him to eat more at one meal time, especially at dinner time.  In fact, one day last week, he woke up at 2:00 am and kept signing to me he wanted to eat.  He was WIDE awake.  Mommy was not too happy, but nonetheless, I gave him a hot dog, he ate a few bites, said he was done and I put him back down.  He fell right back asleep until morning.  STRANGE.   I was praying so hard that he was not going to start a habit with that!  So far, so good.

This is going to be a busy week for me.  I leave Wednesday to go visit my cousin in St. Louis for a few days.  It will be the longest I've been away from Dustin in awhile and Liam ever.  It will be good to get away for a few days though and I am really looking forward to seeing my cousin.  We are very close and she is like a sister to me.   My parents will have Liam a few days while Dustin works and then Dustin will have him over the weekend.  Our nieces are going to come over this weekend to help out play also, so I know Liam will have a blast.  Thank goodness for Facetime on iPhone though!!