Anthony - 12 Months Old! Happy Birthday!!

Today is my sweet Anthony's birthday!  I can't believe it's been a year already!  He seems so big, and yet he's so small all at the same time :-).

We started off his birthday with his 12 month appointment.  We've had better appointments, but overall, he's very healthy and extremely happy!  He weighed in at 19 lbs and 28.5 inches.  He was 20th percentile for height, and 25th for head and weight.  His percentiles and continually dropped each appointment and while his doctor isn't concerned at this point, she did say that if they continue to drop at his next appointment, she'll probably run some tests to make sure he's alright.  He's proportionate, and may just be a small guy which is fine.  They just don't want to see them constantly dropping percentiles, at some point they'll stay consistently in the same area.  We've never had this concern with Anna, she consistently jumped percentiles in the other direction...  These two are about as opposite as they come!

His doctor was also a little concerned with Anthony's lack of gross motor development.  While his language and his fine motor skills are right where they should be or beyond, he's pretty far behind gross motor skill wise.  She said a lot of kids don't walk at this age, but most by this age can support themselves upright in some capacity (crawling, pulling up, cruising, even going from laying to sitting, etc...).  He can sit and roll and that's pretty much it.  So we were referred for early intervention screening to see if he needs some interventions or not.  She said a lot of times at this age, they'll screen them and then have them come back in 3 months to see how much progress they make.  She wondered, though, if they might start some therapy for him now since he's so far behind.  We have that screening on Monday.

On to the good stuff :-).  He is an incredibly happy child.  While part of me worries, as his mother, that he's behind, the other part of me knows that he'll develop in his own time.  He's lazy and he pretty much always has been.  He's completely content just sitting there doing nothing but watching.  He doesn't even try to do anything.  I'm hoping his screening will give us insight into whether it's an "I don't care to move yet" or "I can't move yet" kind of thing....  I kinda think it might be the first one...

Despite his petite size, Anthony continues to eat like a champ.  He is a total pig.  He out-eats Anna every single day.  He gets three sippy cups of milk a day.  For breakfast, he's eating a yogurt and he eats a snack not long after that, usually of fruit or crackers or cheese.  For lunch he eats a fruit puree and usually half a sandwich and some freeze-dried fruit.  After his nap, he usually has a snack of fruit or crackers or cheese.  For dinner he has a veggie puree and lots of whatever we're eating.  Normally I'd stop the purees at this point, but he eats them great, it's a good way to ensure he's getting good nutrients and the kid's always hungry.  I'm just trying to fill him up! 

The other thing we talked to the doctor about was his constipation issues.  Poor kid has a really hard time pooping and doesn't go much.  When he does, they're boulders and there is lots of screaming and crying involved.  So our doctor has us giving him some laxative every day to help with that to hopefully get him regular.  I'm really hoping that helps.  We've tried changing his diet (there's only so much you can do at this age).  He eats sweet potatoes a lot in a week, has a cup of juice every day and eats a lot of pears.  We avoid bananas (he doesn't really like them anyway) and most carbs in general.  He eats a lot of fiber and a probiotic and lots of yogurt and still has problems.  Hopefully this helps!

I feel like this post was somewhat negative.  But the reality is, parenting Anthony is anything but negative.  He's literally happy 90% of the time.  He's mad when meals are late (or gone) or when he's really tired.  He loves everyone (although he's very partial to mama right now) and has a smile on his face all the time.  He gets told how adorable he is all the time (which can be awkard, what do I say "yeah, so is your kid").  He just has these super long eyelashes, gorgeous skin color, beautiful curls and such a bright personality.  People can't help themselves, he's like a magnet.  He's quick to smile and bat his eyes!

His skin is looking great lately.  We still have a daily battle with his diaper area, but I don't think that will resolve until he's out of diapers, so we have at least a year...  We just try to keep it looking decent so that he doesn't get staph infections.  We do a bleach bath 2-3 times a month when I can tell he has a staph overgrowth and we use the steroids off and on to maintain it.  The rest of his body, we lotion him 2-5 times a day and give him coconut oil baths once a week.  I use a moisturizer in his hair. 

We are so thankful to have our Anthony in our family.  He's such a delight and so very fun to be around!  We get to celebrate his birthday tomorrow with his birthmom, I'm glad he's able to do that!