Today at 10:30 we'll be paying a little visit to our doctor's office for the boys well-visits. We're due for two shots, the usual weighing and measuring. Our doctor's office asks you to complete a little survey for each well-visit. The survey asks questions like how much milk does baby drink, how much juice, what is he/she eating, etc. It makes sense, really, these are all things the doctor needs to ask you so its probably better that you just write it all down and they don't have to spend forever asking questions. Then during the 5 minutes you see the doctor they go over your answers with you. Easy enough.
The part of the survey that I have always thought was ridiculous was the section with questions on development. This section leads to a discussion I like to call Things Your Child Should Be Doing By Now, But Aren't Yet. That section has a list of things baby should be able to do, and as the parent I have to check the "yes" or "no" box next to the item. At each visit so far, our boys have never been able to do all of the items. We know this because they were early, spent time in the NICU, and are male. Settle down there, men, it's nothing personal, y'all are just slower to develop. We know the boys will be just fine, I mostly just think this discussion is comical.
Let's take a look at the check-list: My thoughts in blue.
1. Can walk up steps. (I've spent the last 18 months trying to protect each boy from falls, scrapes, attacks by his brother, his own sharp fingernails. Surely you do not expect me to allow a stumbling little thing to walk up steps unassisted? So yes, I'm sure he could go up the steps, but I'm for damn sure not going to let him). I check "Yes" anyway.
2. Run. This one is easy. I check "yes". Would be more accurate if it said "Runs and then falls down", but whatever.
3. Kick a ball. I really wasn't aware that I should be playing soccer with the boys yet. I do know that Grady can kick, 'cause he kicked me right in the eye when we were playing, and I know both boys have given Dada a few accidental kicks when wrestling on the floor, so again, I check "yes."
4. Throw overhand. But what if they prefer a slow underhanded pitch? Just kidding. Both Cole and Grady emptied their soft building blocks container by picking up each block and lauching it into the closet using an overhand throw, so I check "yes".
5. Use a fork/spoon. OOH! We do this. I check "yes".
6. Remove some clothes. Cole has been known to take his pants off in bed. Hasn't done it lately, but when he first figured it out, I'd always walk into their room to find him half-naked. "Yes"
7. Stack 2-4 blocks. Hmmmm. In our house we play a little game. I sing "build a tower, build a tooower, build a tooooooowweeeer, who's gonna knock it down?", and usually when I get to "who'se gonna..." one of the boys smacks the tower I built down and squeals with delight. (As I typed this, I realized I'm raising them to be quite destructive, and that explains why Keith has had to replace screws on both cribs.) So needless to say, now that the boys could potentially stack blocks, it's virtually impossible to get more than 2 blocks on top of each other before someone knocks it down. I still mark "yes".
8. Socialize. I believe temper tantrums are a form of social interaction, I mark "yes".
9. Say 5-10 words. YES! We're building quite the word bank. Mama, Dada, doggie (oggie), cookie, truck, car, ball, Cole (Grady says Cole in the cutest, CUTEST way. It sounds look cool, and very high pitched, and he always smiles when he says it. Awwww.), Nana, Grandpa, and my favorite, Aye-p-aine. That's airplane, if you don't speak Toddler. Juice, cup, eye are also goodies and if the mood is just right, they'll both repeat any short word you say.
10. Follow simple commands. You might recall the "shut the door" entry from before, so I mark "yes".
11. Point to named objects. "Yes" We're pointing up a storm, and almost poking eyes out as we point to those.
12. Imitate behavior of others. "Yes", if you count imitating dogs.
So, on paper the boys really are doing very well, don't you think? This list has been the most reasonable list of all of our appointments. At 9 months they asked something like "drinks from open cup", and I definitely marked "no". They might as well have asked "composes music" or "writes soliloques". I'll report back later on how much Coley and G-baby weigh, how tall they are, and how ridiculously big their noggins have become.
Update: Grady weighed in at 31 lbs, 9.6 ounces and 34 inches, and Cole was 25 lbs, 9.6 ounces, and is 32 inches. Babies are happy and healthy all around!
Update #2: I'm not sure how I forgot to mention this before, but our [dreamy] doctor said they were the best behaved 18 month olds he's seen in a long time. Of course they are, Doctor, I wanted to say.
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