Gavin's 2 year wellness check

A little late but Gavin just had his wellness check for "24 months". 
Nick took him to the appointment so I'm just summarizing what he told me afterwards. 
All is well. 
Gavin is ahead on all developmental milestones, particularly his verbal skills. 
The stats are definitely different this time around.  Gavin's growth/weight has certainly leveled out.  However, keep in mind that the growth chart that they are now using is for kids 2+ and not the baby one anymore (I guess this is what the doc told Nick so we don't worry- she's not concerned).  Gavin is now at the 10th percentile for height and weight.  The one thing that we need to follow-up on is his weight.  Since his last visit, which was a month or so ago when his nose "broke", he has lost 2 pounds.  So, the ped wants to see Gavin again in 3 months to make sure he gains a little more weight.  I'm sure as Abuela and Grandma read this--they're on it! :)   [Mom- just to make sure you don't freak out- his anemia and glucose tests were normal and he is not vitamin D deficient so by all accounts he is healthy.]

I don't think I blogged about this but Gavin has had trouble with his bowel movements on and off for about a month.  We've been in touch with the doctor just to make sure we were doing what we could do make it better.  Gavin had what we think was a traumatic experience.  He was so constipated one week that he started doing a little "dance", he cried in pain, and eventually my mom ended up giving him an enema.  We don't know how it came out of his little body but we all felt SO bad for him because it was definitely a rock solid plug.  This kept going on for about a week.  He would tell us he needed to go but nothing would come out.  Then he would do a little "dance" and nothing.  So, we would do another "treatment".  He doesn't mind them but one day I was changing his diaper and he said "no water mama, no water" (meaning no enema) and I just felt terrible for him.  I called the doc because I was afraid that his body would stop trying to go poop if we kept giving him enemas and they actually didn't see a problem with it but suggested we try a stool softener to see if it would ease the problem.  Then they gave me a diet to follow...more like things to avoid and we all had an "aha" moment!  The doc said NO: milk, cheese, yogurt, bananas or cooked carrots.  What?!?!?  Yep, that was pretty much Gavin's diet!  He LOVES bananas and carrots.  I thought any veggie would have fiber and would help. I thought yogurt and bananas were supposed to help you go too so I gave him yogurt with his breakfast.  I guess I was sucked up by all the adult yogurt commercials that say yogurt helps the digestive system.  SO wrong, but now we've had about a week and a half of no dairy and all has been back to normal! YAY! :) 

I wondered how sustainable the non-dairy thing could be so I had Nick ask the doc what we should do on the long run.  She recommended to do no more than 4 oz/day of milk and to switch to skim milk.  Also, we need to incorporate undiluted fruit juices.  I still dilute everything but I guess the sugar acts as a stool softener so it's better if I don't dilute in this case.  And of course, continue to force as much water as we could.  Gavin is not a good drinker.  He drinks a sip at a time so we have to make a conscious effort to remind him to drink more often. 
Nick also asked about the little "dance" since my mom seems to equate this with pain.  The doc said that is actually his way of delaying the process, when he "dances" he is holding it in rather than helping it come out.  So, it all goes back to that bad experience.  Because it was painful- he doesn't want it to happen again and thinks by holding it in, he can keep it from happening when he's just making it worse.
This actually helps our potty training.  We need to be better about making him sit on the potty, so that he doesn't have to wait until it's too late and tries to hold it in.  We have not been very consistent with the potty and we need to start.           

Other than that, he got two shots and did well on his visit.  Nick said Gavin talked to the doctor quite a bit.  He did wear his "doctor" shirt to the appointment so they had something in common. :)