9 Month Well Check and Dr. T

Yesterday I took the day off work to take my little man to the pediatrician for his 9 month well check and to Dr. T for a post-op check up. Hector met us after lunch to go the medical center with Santi and me to see Dr. T. It has been almost 8 months since Santiago had surgery for his right coronal craniosynostosis. I can't believe it has been that long. Just thinking about it all can bring tears to my eyes in a heartbeat. I think it always will. I am so thankful to have that all behind us and that Santiago is growing and developing just fine!

Both appointments went really well. At the pediatrician's office we found out that Santiago is in the 97% for height, weight and head circumference. He is 25 pounds 10 ounces, 30.25 inches long and has a head circumference of 47 cm. BIG BOY! The only surprise that we got yesterday was finding out that Santiago has a little ear infection in his right ear. He has been teething lately - he now has 4 teeth broken through on the top and his two bottom teeth. He always plays with his ears when he is sleepy so I didn't know his little ear was bothering him. It did explain why he was fussier than normal on Monday and felt a little warm even though he didn't have a fever. We got a prescription for Amoxicillin and started that right away. He will take it for 10 days and hopefully clear his ear right up. I asked lots of questions at the pediatricians and found out some good information. I talked about Santiago's reaction to mosquito bites, water intake, breast milk intake at this age and solid foods. Santiago has met all the developmental milestones for 9 months except clapping and waving bye-bye. He can clap someone else's hands together but he won't clap his own for us! Soon I know he will be clapping and waving and I can't wait to see those two fun things happen. Santiago also got his first dose of the swine flu vaccine yesterday at the pediatrician's. He will get the second dose in a month.

At Dr. T's office, they were all surprised about how big, vocal and cute Santiago was. He got his post-operation pictures taken from every angle of his head imaginable. I can't wait to see the before and after surgery pictures from them - maybe at our next visit in 6 months I can see them. That's right - we don't have to go back for 6 months!! How great is that! Dr. T felt Santi's head and told me that his bones were still open on the side of his head above his ears but had closed on the top portion of his head. He said that is exactly what is supposed to be happening and reminded us that most of the skull growth will be complete by age 3 so we have a lot of time still. Santiago's forehead has made a lot of progress and Dr. T expects it to continue to improve. We were happy hearing that Santiago is progressing well. It just makes you feel better knowing that everything is ok after having a big surgery like he had. Our little boy is just perfect!
The picture at the top of Santiago on the horse is from Sunday when we ate at Spaghetti Warehouse. He wanted to practice a little because we are going to Midland soon for Thanksgiving and he knows Pappaw will be proud of him for riding a horse! The other picture is of Santiago sitting in a duck bathtub. He was really scared of this when we first blew it up but now he gets excited and wants to sit and play with it. He's really too big to bathe in it so I think we will just use it as a toy for awhile. He grunts and shouts at it when he sees it!