He is 30 lbs and 36.5 inches. That put him in the 30% for weight and the 25% height. So compared to last year, he is about the same height-wise and up a little weight-wise (he had lost weight after his stomach bug last summer). And in good health. His asthma seems to be under control. He had one bought while we were on Nantucket, but we were able to power through it with albuterol. Dr. K. was quite happy to hear that, although she cautioned me that we may need to put him back on Flovent if he has a bad attack this fall.
We talked about Riley's speech for a while. For the most part, he is actually doing quite well. He has an extensive vocabulary and creates long sentences of more than 5 words. He is about halfway to where he needs to be pronoun-wise. He can do I, me, mine. I've never heard him use he, she, his, hers. Although Dr. K. pointed out that Riley mostly spends time with people whose name he knows, so he hasn't needed that kind of abstraction yet. (e.g. he knows that the toy belongs to Megan, so he says, Megan's toy rather than her toy)
Riley wouldn't actually speak to Dr. K. very much (in fact he would ignore her and then look over his shoulder with a grin to make sure she noticed that he was ignoring her) so she wasn't able to hear him speak as much as I hoped. But I tried to describe how he is speaking, which is my biggest concern. He has improved greatly over the summer, but there are still sounds he isn't making or isn't making consistently. And there is something just off in how he forms words.
Dr. K said that it was really hard to say if there was a problem. There is a wide range of what is normal for speech. And Riley may just need more time. But it could also be that he needs a little help. So we are going to get him an evaluation, which is done through he public school district. Worst case, they tell me that he doesn't qualify for services.
We also touched on nutrition. I had her check Riley's lower eyelids to make sure he wasn't anemic. There was a part of me that was hoping he was, and pica was the cause of his weird mama hair fetish. But sadly, no. Dr. K. is a bit concerned with Riley's calcium intake. Unlike Megan, he isn't a big milk drinker so it is a little harder to meet his minimum requirements. Luckily he really likes yogurt and orange juice. I am going to try to remember to give him a supplement every couple of day to cover the balance.
We capped of the visit with a Hep A vaccination. Neither Riley nor Megan had received Hep A vaccinations at the typical age because we lived in New England when they were little, where there isn't much risk for Hep A. (Plus Hep A didn't make it onto the CDC schedule nation-wide until 2006) I didn't do it last year for Riley because had to get caught up on all other important vaccinations before he could go to daycare, and I didn't want to add Hep A to the mix. But this time I caved. We do live in a high risk area now and while a Hep A infection probably wouldn't cause symptoms in Riley, he could make the adults in his life quite ill.
I will say that he is still the master shot receiver. Megan is so terrified of shots, that she often dreads going to the doctor. Riley just sits on the table and lets the nurse jab him. As long as he gets a lollipop, they can do pretty much anything they want.
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