Double Doctor Visit

Someone recently turned 2.

Someone else recently turned 2 months.

Isn't he adorable?

We did the big two year and two month visits back to back. Mistake. I'll just leave it at that. Next time they both need to go....we make two separate appointments. Having to undress both to weigh and such...then both do shots...then both get re-dressed (while screaming mind you, they just got a shot)....too hard to do by myself.

Anyway, I'll start with Graham. He is 24 lbs. 8 oz and 32.5 in. tall. That puts our big two year old in the 10th percentile. Now when I say big I'm most definitely aware that he is actually quite small. But what he may lack in size, he make up for with intensity. I had been prepping him for what the doctor's visit would be like. She'd be looking in his ears, nose, mouth and feel his belly. I was so incredibly proud of how he acted! The same Graham that usually freaks out when I go to the doctor or when anyone touches him or picks him up that he doesn't know...was a rockstar. He of course wanted me to hold his hand, but he did everything she asked without pushing her hands away and even laid down on the table for her to listen to his heart and feel his belly. Not one tear....until the shot. I rewarded him with cookies of course.

It is as if turning two opened a new world for him. He is talking all the time and using words we didn't even know he knew the meaning of. And he is making new two word pairings several times a day. He is still obsessed with sorting and setting things in rows. What I think is so funny is that even though it makes absolutely no sense to us, there is meaning to why he sets things up the way he does. He'll even tell me all about it. Today the horse was on top of the stable. And when I moved it (just to see his reaction), he said "no, no, no" and put it back. I asked him why and he proceeded to tell me what the horse (pronounced forsey) was doing up there. Mostly grunts and hand gestures of course. He loves to read, loves to build block houses for his playmobil people, loves to help me cook, and loves to say hi! to Jackson. We have been going to bible study every Tuesday for a month now and even though he tears up in the parking lot and says no, no, no all the way to the nursery door...oh, and screams hysterically when I leave, he is adjusting. He has taken to one of the workers and lets her hold him. And when I go back and check on him, he is of course with his favorite teacher, but he is participating and happy. Yay! We still don't do the nursery at church, mainly because the workers change every week... but also because he is quite good in the service. We bring his special bag of toys and a bunch of snacks and he just wallows around our seats (we have carpet where we sit). Maybe we'll just skip the nursery and start at Children's Church? We love the stage of fun and playing that he is in right now....he is such a ham!

Ok, now on to sweet little Jackson. We went in on the 11th, so he was technically only 7 weeks old...we'll just let that one go. He weighed in at 11 lb. 4 oz. and was 22.5 in. long. Little Jackson is in the 50th percentile! I was equally proud of how Jackson behaved during the visit. I mean, he didn't know what to expect...so of course he cried when she was shoving things in his ears and nose. One major difference between him and G was that G would nurse whenever I offered. It didn't matter if he had eaten 30 minutes before...if I offered, he'd eat. So I liked to nurse Graham when he was getting his shots to distract and comfort him. He rarely even cried because he was eating and the nurses were gentle. Jackson, not so much. It doesn't matter if it's been 3 hours since he last ate, if he isn't crying to eat when I offer, he screams in rejection. So I thought he'd nurse during his shot (since it had been hours since he'd last eaten), boy was I wrong. He was screaming in rejection, refusing to latch, I had a let-down, then there was the shot. Pure chaos. I tried again yesterday when I went back for another shot (we break them up, one at a time) just to see if it was a fluke. Nope, same screaming episode. So I won't be attempting that method of comforting next time. Poor little guy.

Jackson is quite the sweetheart. Unless he's hungry or not and I offer, he rarely really screams. He coos, smiles, has started that pre-laugh shriek, and loves to be held up so that he can look around. Oh, and loves him some bath time. He hates for me to suck out his nose, but who wouldn't. He loves for us to talk to him and rub his belly. He loooooves his swing. I'm not sure he'd ever sleep during the day without it - due to Graham's incredible volume. Seriously, he's so freaking loud all. the. time.

I love snuggling with him in the bed and watching him sleep. I love looking into those precious blue eyes. And I love love love hearing him call us with a loud coo from across the room. You know, the ones that so clearly take all their energy because it comes with a deep breath? Adorable.

We love you sweet Jackson!