Drum roll, please.....

We had Tate's two month appointment today and here are his stats: length 22 1/4 inches (25th %); weight 9 lbs. 4 ozs. (10th %), head circumference 15 inches (15th %). He's on the smaller side for all of his measurements, but that's to be expected because he started out so small. I believe there are different growth charts for kids with Down syndrome, but these are his percentages on the "typical child" growth charts.

The doctor we met with today was great. She has an older child with DS, so it was nice to talk to someone who can relate to what we're going through and who knows what unique things to monitor for Tate. We asked her for a referral to a pediatric opthalmologist to check for cataracts and any other eye issues that are common in people with DS. That appointment is May 9th... hopefully they won't find anything and we can rule out one more potential health complication.

We had his speech eval a week and a half ago. The speech therapist watched him take a bottle and suck on his pacifier and was impressed with his oral tone. For those of you who have seen him eat, you know that he drools a fair bit of milk out the bottom and corners of his mouth while he's eating. This is due to less than normal muscle tone. The ST said his tone is pretty good for a child with DS. She told us to keep doing the mouth exercises before feeding and that's about all we need to do speech-wise for now. She'll continue to monitor him and said that we'll likely need to add speech to his therapy program once he starts on solid foods. The main thing she would work on with him is closing his mouth around the spoon. His ability to do that will directly affect his ability to make sounds like ma, ba, and pa... hence the reason the ST is concerned with his eating.

We had his IFSP meeting last week too. An IFSP is essentially his therapy plan. All of the professionals who have observed him and will be working with him meet at our house and go over their findings and recommendations. Overall, his development is pretty normal so far. The two main things we'll be working on with him are increasing his oral tone and head control. We do tummy time several times every day and he's gotten a lot stronger with his head already.

On to lighter topics now! He had his first bath in the big boy tub a few weeks ago. Prior to that we had still been giving him sponge baths because of his temperature problems. Check out the picture- he wasn't quite sure what to make of the tub!

As for Avery, she's counting the days until the circus comes to town! She's been asking about it since February! We kept telling her that it wasn't until after Daddy's birthday (March 15th). Well, she woke up on the morning of the 16th and said "Daddy, it's after your birthday. Is it time for the circus now?" She never ceases to amaze us! Between the circus on Saturday morning and Josh's school carnival on Friday evening, she'll have a weekend full of fun (and too much sugar, I'm sure!).

Work is going well for both Josh and I. It's hard to believe the school year will be over in less than two months. Josh just bought his dad's old pickup so he's excited to get it and start working on his deck business again.

I think that's all I have for now. Have a great week!