Two Year Stats

MJ had his 2 year well-baby exam on Friday, April 1st.  Lucky for him (and for us), he did  not have to receive a single shot at this appointment!   He was even actually pretty cooperative and a happy guy for most of the appointment, which is a wonderful change.  :)  MJ weighed in at exactly 25 pounds.  This puts him in the 15th percentile for weight.  He'd only gained about a 1/2 lb. in the last six months, so we are keeping him on whole milk for now so he can continue to get extra calories in his milk.  It's most likely just due to him being a bit of a picky eater along with being an active little toddler, but we're just going to keep an eye on it and try to plump him up just a tad.  His head circumfrence was 48.5, in the 40th percentile and height at 34.25 also in the 40th percentile.  He seems to be nice and healthy and doing great! 

Most all of the standard benchmark questions asked about MJ were things that he is exhibiting on a daily basis.  Our only slight concern right now is with his speech development.  While he seems to understand just about anything and everything we ask him to do, he has trouble communicating words verbally with us.  He uses some sign language still but does a lot of "uhhh uhh" and pointing leaving us unsure what he's trying to say and him becoming frustrated.  We think most likely he's just a bit of a late talker.  He says many singular words (hat, cup, car, water, most body parts, mama, dada, bubba, etc.) but does not do simple two word phrases yet, which is apparently one of the milestones for a 2-year old.  Our pediatrician has recommended we schedule an evaluation with Keystone, the loacl public early intervention specialists (who also evaluated MJ shortly after we moved here).  She reminded us that we still have this "black box" as far his brain development, due to his birth, that we are dealing with so we never know for sure.  Neither of us honestly think it's anything too major though, but we'll gladly get it checked out and see if we can learn some more tips and tools to help him develop his verbal skills. 

MJ continues to be the light of our life.  At two years old he is full of joy, love, and emotions.  He likes things his way, but is pretty good about listening to us and obeying.  Of course time outs occur sometimes too.  He knows the corner he has to go to and stand in for two minutes when he's done wrong. He loves, loves, loves playing with his cars.  I never imagined a 2 year old would be so into matchbox cars, but they are by far his favorite thing to play with.  We have to make more of an effort now to be sure we read books, play with puzzles, and things like that still which he used to incorporate every day all on his own.  We can't wait to be able to get out and about more as the weather warms up.  We've had a few trips to the park already and are hoping to add a swing set to our backyard this summer.  We also bought MJ a water table for his birthday and look forward to watching him play in that this spring and summer.  Seeing the world through his eyes is such a great joy.  We are blessed to be his parents!