Developmental Clinic

Max is 11 months old! Max had his second developmental clinic at U of M this week. He's doing great! The little chunk weighed in at 19 lbs, 7 oz and the nurse even commented on his "turkey thighs." That puts him at 95% on the preemie growth charts and 10% on the regular growth charts. Like the first clinic, they asked a lot of questions about what kinds of things he was doing and did some little tests to make sure he was doing the things that an 8-month-old baby should do (they use his adjusted age for developmental assessments). The doctor said he was at an 8 or 9 month level for everything, which puts him exactly where he should be or a little ahead in all areas. Yay! She didn't seem to be concerned about his muscle tone this time, so we don't have to do another round of physical therapy. In four months he'll have another appointment -- at this one he meets with both the regular doctor and a developmental psychologist (for a baby IQ test). After his appointment we stopped by the NICU for a visit and got to see some of Max's doctors and nurses and even another NICU grad who had shared a room with him briefly.

Max is definitely mobile and loving every minute of it (and running Mom and Dad ragged! ;). He finally figured out how to crawl properly and loves being able to get into everything. Max is also pulling himself up on anything in reach and figuring out how to open cupboard doors. He can also crawl ALL the way up the stairs (with Mom or Dad right behind him), which he thinks is great fun. The babyproofing section of Home Depot will be getting a lot of business from us very soon. Of course, his newfound mobility doesn't come without a price -- he's had his share of "bonkas" lately. He still isn't sleeping through the night and his new ability to stand isn't helping that any -- he likes to do his King Kong impression in the middle of the night -- stand up in the crib, shake the bars, and roar. ;)

We're getting ready for Max's first Christmas and his first birthday (nice timing, kid ;). It's hard to believe that it has already been a whole year. We're hoping this holiday season will be a little less stressful than the last one! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.