2 Year Check-Up

Today we had Luke's two year check-up at the doctors. He did SOOOO well. He didn't cry at all.  Both the nurse and doctor were surprised and impressed.   The nurse told me, "He is so cool!  Most kids start screaming their head off as soon as they see me." I was so proud of him! 

During the visit, Luke kept talking to Doctor Lindsey and telling her stories of barns, towers, cars, taxi's, etc.  He really wouldn't stop talking.  She was super impressed and she said, I quote , "You guys... He is bright... I mean REALLY bright!" Ok... I might have added the exclamation mark but she did emphasize the REALLY.  I know our friends/family have said things like that to us about him before, but when the Doctor says that to you, then you KNOW it's not just us/family/friends being biased :)  During the check-up he was talking so much that Doctor Lindsey handed him a pen and paper to quiet him down so we could ask our questions and she could talk with us. :)

 Here are his "stats" from his 2 year check-up:

Height: 38 inches - 97% percentile
Weight: 32.9 lbs- 90% percentile
Head circumference: 50.1 cm - 75-90%

Luke isn't a baby anymore... He is a little boy.  Correction... A big boy! To put this into perspective... The stats listed above were pretty much his cousins cousin, Jack’s stat when he was 3 years, with the exception of Jack was a couple of pounds heavier.

I also thought since we had Luke’s 2 year check-up, this would be an opportune time to highlight some of his milestones:

1. He knows all of his colors.  Actually he has known this for at least the past few months.

2. Has a memory of an elephant!  He'll tell me stories that happened a long time ago... I'm talking things that happened months ago and he can "explain" in Luke language what happened. For example, just the other day he told me, out of the blue, how he sat on Santa's lap and Santa gave him a piece of chocolate and that the chocolate melted in his hands when we got into the car.  TRUE story... This is Luke's version of the story:
Santa...  Lap!  Beard!!!  Candy!  In hand.... Orange hand.... Messy. Car!

3. We play acting classes... I say, "Show me happy" and he'll make a huge smiley face.  I say, "Show me sad" and he'll start fake crying. I say, "Show me surprised" and he'll show a face with an open mouth of surprise.  I say, show me scared and he'll put his hands out to his sides as though they are shaking and make his face look fearful.  I say, "Show me mad" and he'll put his hands out again and then make a growling face and noise.

4.  He loves to sing! All of those songs that I sing to him he has started singing along. He can't sing them on his own... But he sings parts of them with me.

5.  He can go pee-pee on the potty before naptime and before bedtime almost all of the time.  We are still working on poopy... But he has been going into his poopy places (downstairs closet- sorry guests, and his upstairs bedroom closet) for the past couple of months. So I think we are definitely getting close!

6. He can count 1+1 = 2.  He'll point to one item and then try and find the second item and say "one... TWO... Same!"

7. He can match up pictures to items in books. For example: (take picture of match up book)

8. He can draw trees (Ok.. So what if they are orange vertical lines that he calls trees? Details!)

9. He can sing the ABCs with me. He doesn't get all of the letters yet... and doesn't sing them on his own. But he is getting there.

10. He can count to 5... And sometimes he can count all the way 9. This isn't very consistent. But he has done it every now and again.

11.  I would say the BIGGEST thing I am impressed by and am having the most fun with are his verbal skills. I can truly have conversations with him and understand what he is saying and what he wants.  And I’m pretty sure he can understand most of what I’m saying.  And all of this is through using words, not pointing/grunting/throwing fits… It’s by him (or I) using words. I can't say I'm too surprised... In this house, with two big talkers like Bryan and me he has to learn to talk soon... Otherwise we'd never hear him over our talking :)