Two Years Old

Today Caleb is two years old. He is as normal as a two year old boy can be. He likes everything a little boy should like - dirt, rocks, mud puddles, dogs, cows, popsicles, etc. He plays in places he shouldn't like the toilet and the duck pond that Grandma Dougherty had at the family reunion.

Using the duck pond properly

Using it Caleb's way

Since the last post, Caleb has been to the pediatrician. He needed a check up before he could have sedation for his echocardiogram, and we were able to get his two year check up at the same time. For the first time in a year, he did not scream when we walked into the exam room. He didn't even cry when the doctor came in. He weighed about 22 pounds and was 31 inches long. This puts him a little over 1 percentile for weight and a little under 1 percentile for height. The nice thing is that we are really getting our money's worth out of his clothes. A lot of his 12 month stuff still fits. Again, the doctor was happy because he is still growing normally.

As far as we can tell, Caleb is right on track developmentally. The pediatrician said that he should be saying about 50 words, but we could expect less because he is a boy and the fourth child. We think he says at least 50 words, and so far, all of them are acceptable in polite company. I think the Big Three are working on teaching him some not so acceptable words, but so far, none have stuck.

Overall, he had a great appointment with no concerns whatsoever.

Wednesday, he had his sedated echocardiogram. He had an IV to put him out. The nurse got the IV in on the first or second poke. Caleb was not happy, but Phil and I were ecstatic that she was able to get the tiny vein in the squirming, screaming toddler. The good news is that Caleb has a couple of nice veins in his arms. Hopefully we can keep those working because a bunch of his other veins are toast from his earlier surgeries and procedures.

The doctor was happy with the echo and said everything looked good. His working valve is not leaking, he has good squeeze with the good ventricle and the pulmonary arteries are good sized and not narrowed. He does have a small leak around a patch that they had to put in during the last surgery to re-direct his blood flow, so that may be why his oxygen saturations have decreased. The patch will be removed during the next surgery anyway and he is growing and developing properly, so we are good to go for another six months.

It was interesting that when Caleb was sedated, his oxygen saturation jumped up to the mid 80's. When he is not running around like a madman, he is not using as much oxygen. Hopefully this means when he is sleeping, his body and brain are getting the oxygen they need to stay healthy and grow properly. Based on how well he is doing, I have got to think that this is the case.

We have enjoyed a great and very normal summer with our family. We can never thank you enough for keeping us all in your thoughts and prayers.