Holy Roly Poly!

Today we had a marathon of doctor appointments. I know it seems nuts to schedule three appointments in one day but I figure if I spread them out I would no longer be employed since one can only take so much time off from work.

The morning started out with a bang, literally. As Eliza was showing off her stuff to the NICU follow-up folks she got a little over enthusiastic in her stair climbing and flew headlong into the door jamb. It is comforting when these things happen in the presence of a medical professional since you can get an instant examination without having to pay extra. Eliza was pronounced "fine" and only looks like she went ten rounds with Mike Tyson (and unlike Evander Holyfield, she still has both of her ears).

At the follow up clinic Eliza stacked her blocks (a nice tower of ten blocks), put puzzle pieces in place in record time (and no baby puzzles I might add), made about two dozen animal sounds on cue and recited the names of her favorite 20 animals including "ot-a-poos." Eliza has a very respectable number of words but some are not easily understood and she does not put two words together so I'll keep working on that. She has now started to do this weird thing where she sort of twists her mouth when she talks. It almost looks like someone with Bell's Palsy (which she does NOT have). Very likely this is just a two year old -I'm-exploring-the-things-I-can-do sort of thing, but I'll keep an eye on it.

We discussed Eliza's feeding and sensory issues at length and it was universally agreed that any type of therapy that involves even modified force feeding would not be a good idea for Eliza. We also talked about some alternative medicine options which would fall into the category of "can't hurt might help" (kind of like how most Catholics like myself view confession). So I'll be exploring those and will post on those alternative treatments later on.

After finishing at Lenox Hill we stopped home for "lunch" which happily included Eliza feeding herself half of a yogurt. Then we took a car service to the pediatrician. I was de-lighted to find the usually crowded waiting room almost empty. I was not de-lighted when the receptionist sheepishly looked at me and said "oh you're the one I forgot to call to cancel today's appointment because of Dr. G's emergency." Arrrrghh. So another cab ride later we were back home uptown. For those of you familiar with Manhattan, this little round trip from the Upper Eastside to the West Village and back takes over an hour in mid-day and runs about $40.

After an afternoon snooze Eliza and I headed to the GI for her check up. When we last saw him about two months ago Eliza was a smidgen under 31 inches and weighed in at 20 lbs 9 ounces. Today she weighed in at ...(drum roll please) 22 pounds and 7 ounces (10.2999 kgs). Woohoo almost two pounds in two months! An unheard of feat. Being delirious over this news the nurse then measured Eliza ....(another drum roll please) and she was 33 inches (84 cm)! The nurse re-measured and re-weighed her a couple of times (much to Eliza's dismay) but no it is true, my girl gained 2 pounds and 2 inches in 2 months! Proof that the magic brew of 16 ounces of 65 calorie formula can work like a charm and everything wles that goes in her mouth is the proverbial "gravy." We are going to once again try to wean Eliza from her prevacid dose. Considering the torture it is to get it in her these days I am very much hoping that this time the weaning works.

So I shall leave you with some photos of the little pork-ette:

Showing off her excellent cup drinking skills:



Helping Nana garden:



Hopefully the first musical prodigy to ever grace the family tree: