Saturday, April 26, 2008

The Magic Number!

I know School House Rocks says it's the Number 3 (and who can really argue with School House Rocks? Please.) But in our household, for a loooong time, the magic number has been 20. As in 20 pounds. More specifically, 20 pounds of Ethan.

At one year, our fat-challenged child (oh, the cruel irony of it all said his chubby mama) weighed in at a whopping 16 lbs. Fine. So he more than tripled his birth-weight. That's an accomplishment and all, but 16 pounds still kept him clinging by his wee fingertips to the growth chart.

We have watched the nurses slowly drag the scale weight over farther to the right all year long. At one point, after his crouptastic stay in the hospital this December, we noticed he jumped from 18lbs to 19lbs in one month and I saw visions of having a 24 pound 2 year old, back up on the charts, and double-fisting protein drinks. But no. We've been hovering at 19.5lbs since about February.

On Thursday, along with our enigmatic "HFMD" diagnosis (more on that later) we also stepped up to the scale. First of all, it was Ethan's first time on the big kid, standing up scale. How's that for one of those "non-milestone" milestones that make a mama's eyes well up? No more baby scale for my...baby. Sigh.

And in his shorts and shirt, he was....21.5 pounds!!! Now, being the obsessive self-weigher that I am, I KNOW his little shorts and shirt (and new diaper) didn't weigh more than 1.5 pounds. Considering I can shed my shoes, jeans with belt, shirt, bra, pee, etc, before I step on the scale and only show a 2 pound difference from fully clothed to buck-nekkid, I know Ethan's clothing can't add up to more than a pound, and that's being generous.

So FINALLY, a mere week and a half before he rounds the corner to 2, this little bean is finally 20 whole pounds. Hello, forward-facing car seat!!! Hello, 18-24m clothing!!!

Oh, and about that Hand/Foot/Mouth thing? Yeah. I'm not sure if I've read quite enough information on it (note sarcasm), but I don't think that's what E's got. I don't mean to come off all Jenny McCarthy (ie: I have a Google degree in medicine) or anything, but his fever started on Thursday morning and at mid-afternoon on Saturday, with no fever in sight for almost 24 hours, I am still waiting to see anything that remotely resembles a blister or spot or even remote discoloration anywhere on the supposedly afflicted areas. Hrm. We have missed play group, time with our baby whisperer and swimming classes due to the phantom plague and I am starting to believe it was a figment of our pediatrician's imagination. Better safe than sorry, obviously, but the poor kid. He's booooooooored. And just so you know...a bored toddler? Really bad company.

In Ethan's case, 20 pounds of really bad company.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

And not only is he 20 lbs. but he gained the expected second year weight gain of four pounds. So he continues to be right on track after more than tripling his birthweight in year one. Hurray!

Emi said...

Yay!!! E is getting to a be a real "gordo" but not "feo" :-) Can't wait to see his non HFMD little Cacahuate butt.

Becca said...

Yay 20 lb! That big kid standing up scale took me by surprise, Charlie too. He was clinging to my legs in terror so it actually recorded a pound less than he normally weighs.

KatBouska said...

Hi, I just wandered into your blog while browsing and I'm really liking it. That foot mouth thing went through the daycare I run and it's SO over-rated. My kids supposedly had it and I was like seriously?? That spot on her hand?? That's it!?! Is everything a disease these days??

Stephanie said...

LMAO @ "Google degree in medicine".

Congrats on the 21.5 pounds! And I look forward to hearing/reading that it's not HFMD.

Amy said...

Jack had HFAM last summer and it was awful. His fever started Sunday morning and by that night (just as Pearl Jam was taking the stage at Lollapalooza and Mommy could barely hear on her phone) it spiked to 103.5 -- fun! Took him in to the doctor the next day and he said HFAM -- probably picked up at the playground. Jack kept putting his fingers in his mouth and the doc said his sores were in his throat -- poor baby.

But he was fine by Wednesday, I believe.

So it is possible to not have an outward rash with it. But poor E.