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February 20, 2001
022001
I took Jake to his two-year well baby checkup yesterday. I was very nervous about the drive. Our pediatrician, Dr. B., had moved her office to another part of town, and I had never driven there before. But I made it without incident, although far too early. While we were waiting, Jake was very well behaved. :) I was very proud. He watched the video that was playing, and drove little cars around.
When we were called back to see the doctor, he insisted on walking on his own. He’s usually shy and reserved, but yesterday he was charming and bold. He walked ahead of me, but stayed behind the nurse, and followed her into the exam room. Soon the nurse had me take Jake’s shoes and overalls off, and she weighed and measured him. At 25 months, Jacob weighs 24 ½ pounds (11.11 kg) and is 32 ½ inches (82.55 cm) tall, which puts him at about the 17th percentile for weight, and 10th percentile for height. He’s growing right as he should be, following the curve on the growth chart perfectly. I’m not sure how I feel about that, as I have many misgivings about growth charts in general, but it seems positive. They also took his blood pressure, which they never did before. I was fascinated with the child-sized blood pressure cuff they used, but Jake couldn’t care less. His pressure was 98/70, which really pleased Dr. B. for some reason. Very strangely, Jake had a temperature of 101! I was astonished. He showed no signs of illness at all, and didn’t even seem warm to me. I’m inclined to think the thermometer wasn’t calibrated or something.
Dr. B. and I discussed his development, and we are both happy with how he’s doing in everything except his speech. Jake knows tons of words. I’m not sure how many, but I’m going to start a list today and count them up. Almost his entire vocabulary is made up of nouns, with very few other words. He doesn’t combine words himself very often, and doesn’t use words to ask for things. We play word games all the time, where I name something and he points it out, and where I draw a picture and he names it. However, if he’s actually trying to communicate with me, he points and babbles, but won’t use the words he knows. It’s very frustrating for both of us. I really think he tries very hard to communicate, and gets blocked somehow. His problems with speech seem very similar to my problems with speech when I get a migraine. I can understand what’s being said to me, and my thoughts are coherent, but when I try to speak, my words become garbled and mixed up and just plain wrong. I’ll stutter too. Jake seems as if he’s experiencing the same thing. I tried to explain this to Dr. B. and while she didn’t dismiss my idea, she didn’t confirm it or explore it further. She did give me a referral to get Jake a hearing evaluation. I don’t think there is a thing wrong with his hearing, but this sort of test is non-invasive and if there is a problem with his hearing, I certainly want to know as soon as possible so we don’t miss too much more of this crucial period of his life. Unfortunately, Jake’s insurance won’t pay for speech therapy until he’s three years old, so I really hope he won’t need any. We aren’t too concerned yet, as Jake could catch up easily, but now is the time to be taking care of these things.
Jake’s comprehension is really great. I am constantly impressed with how he can follow complex directions the first time they are given. And similarly, I know he can hear normal voices. I don’t have to get loud or change my tone for him to understand me, and he doesn’t have to be looking at me. He can also understand me when I whisper. So I doubt the hearing test will tell us anything is wrong, but it will be a good confirmation.
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