Parker's One Year Checkup

I feel like Parker hasn't been to the doctor in forever, which is a good thing. I just checked and it was over 5 months ago. Today we had his one year checkup. It went pretty well, even though Parker fussed literally the entire time, and Lily brought in a 4 foot long toy snake to play with, who she said was named Jacob. Sigh... and they still both got lollipops at the end!

I met with a new doctor in the practice, and I really like her. She loved the amber beads for teething, and she loved that we were still breastfeeding. She encouraged me to breastfeed for as long as I want, which is so insanely refreshing. I was so happy to hear that! The cloth diapers were a big hit too, haha.

She said Parker has lots of teeth for his age, and she felt two more coming in. She gave several other natural teething remedy tricks, including freezing washclothes, and putting frozen fruit into mesh feeders.

She was pleased with his walking and his vocabulary, which I thought was small, but actually, she said was great. As Lily and I were listing all the words he says, I realized the list is a bit longer than I thought-but he won't say a word on command if you beg him! He will say "Dada, Mama, Lily, Dog Dog, ball, uh-oh, no no, thank you, baby, and deer," but only when he wants to. He also only grunts when he wants more, even though I say "More?" about 50 thousand times a day. He also understands lots of words that he doesn't say, like yum yums for food, bye bye, outside, bath, nurse, etc.. We also discussed his tendency to be a bit demanding and high maintenance, but she said that was ok too. He is a mama's boy after all.

Parker weighs almost 21 pounds, and he is 29 inches long. So...not bad news, but the doctor says she is concerned about Parker putting on weight, even when using the breastfed baby growth chart. The boy eats all the time, but I am really going to work hard on making an effort to offer him wholesome but hearty meals. He does tend to snack alot and not eat huge meals. Shane and I agree that doctor's may always find SOMETHING, and its often stress for no reason. I just want him to be as healthy as possible. I even thought he had a little pudge! Today he ate yogurt and cereal for breakfast, mac n cheese and some organic cookies for lunch, and organic sweet potatoes and white beans for dinner with another organic cookie for dessert. He drank some milk and some water too. He could eat more, but he was pretty grumpy, so I didn't push it.

Everything you ever wanted to know? :)