Four Month Check-Up and Possible Preschool

Today Benjamin has his four month check up and shots. Our little guy now weighs 14 pounds, 6 oz, nearly 10 pounds more than what he weighed the day we brought him home from the hospital! He is in the 40-50th percentile in his weight and 50th in length. I guess that makes him about average? Anyway, he's doing great. There are some developmental milestones he hasn't achieved yet that some little ones his age do, but nothing the doctor is concerned about as she's confident he'll pick these up soon.

Benjamin also got several immunizations today. One shot was sort of a three in one shot, so he only got stuck three times. When he had his shots at 2 months, he cried briefly when he got them. This time, he cried quite a bit more. I mean, come on. I'm sure he's thinking, "Here's this nice lady who comes in, talks sweetly to me, I give her one of my most charming smiles...and then she pokes me. And then again. And again." Poor little guy. The nurse picked up right after she was done and cuddled him for a bit and he calmed right down. When she handed him to me, he looked at me and started to scream again like, "Mommy! Did you see what she did to me???" The crying was all short lived and true to Benjamin's personality, he's not been fussy since then. If anything, he's a bit more sleepy than normal but if that's how he responds to shots, we'll take it!

This week we toured a potential preschool for Emily. I was so impressed with this place. This is a real school setting and the building is full of professionals from a registered nurse to physical and speech therapists to certified teachers. Part of the reason for the extra personnel is that about half of the children who attend there have special needs of some sort. The other half are what they refer to as "model" children. These kids are integrated into the same class, yet individual educational plans are developed for each child after an assessment to best serve each child. Emily seemed to be most interested in the gymnasium (equipped with adaptive PE equipment for some of the kids) and also the snack cart that was going down the hall. The woman giving us the tour was kind enough to offer Emily some of the chocolate milk and a graham cracker. It doesn't get much better than that! We have an appointment in late February for Emily to be assessed to determine where she is in several different areas. At that time they will let us know if there are any spaces available. At this point, it doesn't sound favorable for getting in this year so maybe next fall.