Fifteen Month Wellness Visit

On Friday morning we took Oliver in for his fifteen month wellness visit. 

Here are the pertinent stats:

At 12 months:

Weight: 24 pounds, 3 ounces (70th percentile)

Height: 29 1/2 inches (45th percentile)

Head Circumference: 19.2 inches (97th percentile)

And, at 15 months:

Weight: 25 pounds even (60th percentile)

Height: 32 inches (75th percentile)

Head Circumference: 19.5 inches (97th percentile)

Giant noggin boy. Plus, I don’t understand the massive jump in his height but good for him. 

We spent the majority of the appointment talking about Oliver’s verbal development since that was my major concern. He is on track or better on everything else but (even by the doctor’s admission) he is behind with his language skills. She agrees that he is advanced in his ability to understand our language (being able to get a certain book, pointing to body parts, etc.) but she also thinks that the fact that he only has mastered two words (three if we count ‘kkkkkkk’ for kitty) and isn’t saying “mama” and “dada” indicates that he’s “behind” in this area of development. She said that if I was truly concerned about it then we could talk about speech therapy but that if I felt it was okay, then she agreed. That is, she didn’t feel the need to take more action unless it was going to make me feel better. 

So, I decided we would wait and readdress the issue at his 18 month appointment. I think about the way Oliver was with walking. He stood up and walked behind things for ages before he finally decided to take those first steps and two days later he was everywhere. Maybe he’ll be the same way with talking and is just waiting until he can do it right. Meanwhile, Brian and I are trying to be more vigilant about providing Oliver with as many words as possible. We have gotten used to his signs and his grunts and can easily fill his requests without him using his words so it’s just a matter of giving him the word for everything we see and do during the day.  If he hasn’t made improvements by his 18 month appointment, then we will talk about speech therapy (although I’ve got to say I can’t even imagine what that looks like with a toddler). 

Other than all that, the doctor agrees that Oliver is absolutely perfect. Healthy, smart and irresistibly cute. See?