Kevin's 12-month Appointment: Deja-vu?

Kevin and I finally made it to the family doctor for his 12-month check-up and immunizations, on Thursday. We weighed Kevin, and he is 22 pounds. He took the immunization fairly well: just one little yelp as the vaccine went in, and a few whimpers after.

I didn't find out what Kevin's length is, because I distracted the doctor by bringing up two other important issues about Kevin's development. The first, of course, is that he's not crawling, pulling himself up, or walking yet. I reminded her that Andrea was a late walker, too, but at least she was crawling at about 11 months. She checked out Kevin's joints and feet, and said everything looked good, except his ankles seem a bit "loose." (Kevin's foot flexibility is freaky. He puts them in the most awkward positions.) She tried to get him to stand (which he does sometimes, with help), but he wouldn't cooperate. She said, "No, I don't like this, You're getting lazy!" (Ah, there's the deja-vu: she said the same thing about Andrea when she was a baby!) So, the doctor is going to send us to see a pediatrician, Dr. G., to see what he has to say about Kevin. We haven't seen Dr. G. before; the doctor I saw for Andrea sold his practice and moved away. Anyway, I hope to hear from their office soon. I don't want to let it go on and on, like we did with Andrea, and push it until the last minute in terms of walking by 18 months, so as to be able to move up to the next room in daycare, etc. . . . and all that craziness we went through back then.

The second item of concern is Kevin's left eye. I've mentioned it here, before. He was supposed to see an eye specialist after his 6-month appointment. Guess what I found out? They DID book him an appointment back then, but they never told me! Argh. So, they called the eye doctor from the family doctor's, and he agreed to see us right away. Literally. So, we left Dr. H.'s and went straight to Dr. I.'s (no pun intended!). Anyway, the whole time we were at Dr. I.'s, Kevin's eye stayed normal. The doctor kept asking me to describe what happens, because Kevin wasn't doing it. I said, "I swear--he's making me look like a liar!" Dr. I. just laughed, and said for me to take some pictures of Kevin when his eye is "wandering." Well, it's almost impossible, because the doctor said the pictures must be close-ups, and looking straight into the camera. Plus, Kevin's eye usually goes from wandering to normal within a second or two. He also gave me some eye drops to put in Kevin's eye for three days. The drops dilate his pupils (his eyes look spooky!), so Dr. I can do a more thorough exam on Tuesday morning.

We have noticed that it happens more when he's tired (the doctor mentioned this), and that his eye tends to wander outward and up. Aunt Donna helped us get some good pictures with her camera this weekend.