NICU followup clinic visit #3

Actual age: 19.75 months

Adjusted age: 16 months

Weight: 22 pounds, even (5th percentile)

Length: 30 inches, even (5th percentile)

Head circumference: 19 inches (50th percentile)

First, the nurse asked Mommy lots of questions: "Is he eating table foods?" (Yes) "Is he drinking whole milk?" (Yes, well, sort of, 2%); "I see he is walking." (Yes, for a few months now) "What words do you think he is saying?" (Uh...he has right around 50 words) "Wow! That's 24 months! Is he putting two words together?" (Yep) "Excellent. I don't need to ask any higher questions."

Then, I had to do some funny things like put blocks in a cup, and put pegs into a board with holes in it. I got three in a row and then she turned it around. I put one peg in the middle of the three remaining holes and then had some trouble navigating in between pegs to put the last two in, but finally got it. I did a puzzle with three shapes, a circle, a square, and a triangle. The nurse gave me a circle piece and I got it in the first try. But then she turned the puzzle around so that the circle cut out was on my left. I tried the square first. Nope. Then the triangle in the middle. Nope. Then the circle on the end. Yep! She clapped for me and I gave her the biggest smile! After that I pointed to some body parts. I was kinda shy, but she counted it when I went to lift up my shirt to find my bellybutton, but didn't pull it up to show her. And I found my hair and nose for her too. She showed me these really funny-looking black and white pictures and I had to find the dog, shoe, and star. I kept pointing to her shoes and Mommy's shoes instead! I even told her, "Shoes!" while I was pointing  in case she misunderstood that those were shoes, not the funny-looking things in the picture.

Next the doctor came in and started asking Mommy odd questions like, "Is he pulling up on furniture?" (Oh yeah. For a long time now." And can he balance on his own standing?" (Yeah, but he didn't really stand on his own until after he started walking) "Oh, he's walking?!" (Um, yes.) Then the nurse burst back in the door and apologized for sending the doctor into the wrong room! So silly! But the nice doctor stayed and talked to Mommy for a while anyhow. He asked about my background and seemed quite perplexed when he found out about my PVL and saw how well I am doing developmentally. The nurse explained that my Claim to Fame was my "roving PVL" (remember that it was on one side and then the other side the following week, with no indication that it was ever on the original side? And then would switch back? And it SO frustrated Mommy and Daddy?!). He said, "How unusual." Mommy shared her theory that it must have been so tiny that they couldn't really tell where it was! The doctor then said things like, "cystic" (must not be a good thing) and "sizeable" (yikes!) to dispute Mommy's theory. She said, "It doesn't matter to me if the mystery is ever solved since he is on track!" The doctor then stroked his goatee while pondering how out of the ordinary it was to have a "cystic" "sizeable" PVL and be developmentally appropriate. (Ok, I lied, he didn't have a goatee!) He called me a "case study" since I guess I don't fit into the norm. Mommy called me a "miracle."

Then the correct doctor came in. He wasn't much of a talker though. He showed Mommy my yellow 'report card' and tapped on my knees with a mallet and checked my feet for reflexes. He also pushed and pulled my legs all over, in and out, to check my joints and muscles. Then he said, "Everything looks good." What I think he meant to say is: "Hooray! You deserve a party!" while jumping up and down. Then Mommy asked if I still had two ages. The doctor said since I was all caught up, I only need one age now! So I went home with one age and no nap, and we took a two hour nap on the couch! Which was way better than any party would have been! Maybe. Unless said party had cupcakes!