Check-up round-up

Last week Isaac had his one-year check-up. It was a good chance to remember how very grateful we are that he is healthy and developing well. Some other elements of note:

• Isaac had his measurements taken, and although he remains in the 95th percentile for height, his weight has dropped slightly to the 40th percentile. This proportion is part of what makes him look like a little boy, rather than a baby -- he is long and lanky, and has hardly any of that round baby belly. It's also why all his pants fit poorly -- either too loose in the waist or too short in the legs.

• This was the first appointment where Isaac demonstrated stranger anxiety -- even though the doctor thoughtfully examined Isaac as he sat on Craig's lap, Isaac was uneasy. Then he started crying as soon as we put him up on the exam bench to get his immunizations. How different from the six-month appointment, where he actually got two shots before he realized what was happening!
  

• The doctor asked if we had any concerns, and we didn't (other than my fearing that Isaac would be blinded from accidental exposure to the fever-induced cold sore on my lip). But I snuck a peek at the chart after the doctor had left the room, and under Concerns he had written "Doesn't sleep through the night." I don't know what to think about this. I had emphasized to the doctor that I really don't mind getting up once at night to nurse (assuming that everyone involved goes back to sleep easily afterward), but maybe he's used to registering it as a complaint?

• Discussing Isaac's "passive vocabulary," the doctor claimed that a child his age can understand 80% of what we say to him. I think it must depend a lot on what you choose to say in the first place. But Isaac has a huge appetite for learning new words, so maybe the doctor is right.
  

• The doctor also advised us that now was a good time to start reading to him -- "if he'll let you." Ha! That's a good one. He won't let us not read to him -- the child is always bringing us books. Seriously, I sometimes get tired of reading to him before he loses interest in listening. Part of it is that hunger for words -- after you've read the text a few times, Isaac points at every single element of every illustration and you have to tell him what it is.