Joshua & I leave tomorrow for Louisiana to visit my mom for a week & then we’ll drive to Texas for a much-needed visit with Erick the week of Thanksgiving.  Today was not a good day for Joshua, however.  He had his 15-month appointment with his pediatrician.  He enjoyed flirting with her & showing off how much he’s doing, but he did not like what came next—shots.  And lots of them.  First, he got poked twice for his synagis shots (the RSV-prevention shots he needs every 4 weeks until Spring), & then we went to the immunizations department for his well-baby 15-month shots.  The poor kid got 2 shots in each thigh!  And then Josh got blood drawn from his arm because Mommy was convinced to enroll him in a study that’s researching iron levels in young kids.  While they were drawing blood for this study, they also took another vial of blood for another study about blood clotting to help kids with Down syndrome.  At least this way, Joshua can say he helped further medical research, & we get to make sure his blood lab values are where they’re supposed to be.

As for how Joshua is doing (besides being in pain from his shots), he is officially 33 1/2″ tall & weighs 24lb 2 oz.  Somehow, he lost 2oz in the last 4 weeks but maybe he just let it out in his diaper this morning (lucky me).  He’s in the top percentile again for height & the 50th percentile for weight, as before.  He’s in the 10th percentile for weight-for-height but the docs don’t really look at that very much (much to the irritation of the nutritionist we saw awhile back).  They’re only concerned if kids drop below the 3% mark so he’s still considered healthy as far as that goes.  Other than his synagis appointments, he won’t go back for another visit until February.  Yeah!

As many of you have heard me complain about, Joshua has developed some weird separation anxiety in the last couple of months.  I am sure waiting for this phase to end because it’s driving me crazy!  Josh freaks out whenever I leave the room while he’s playing & he’ll cry hysterically until I return.  Josh has tried climbing over the back of the couch to get to me, & I’m afraid he’ll end up on his head on our hardwood floors soon.  But maybe that will stop this…  I mentioned this to the developmental psychologist on Monday (with whom his appointment went fine, by the way), & she said that she was stumped because I was already trying all of her suggestions.  She was going to talk to her colleagues to see if anyone else had any ideas on what to do, but she thought that hopefully this will pass.  If any of you have any suggestions, please let me know.  Other than having Erick around more often so Joshua is not so dependent only on me (which isn’t going to happen), there doesn’t seem like much else than can be done.  The funny thing is that Josh is usually very good when I leave him in his crib for naps or bedtime.  He’ll usually just play with Lamby & eventually go to sleep with minimal if any crying.

When I’m there with him, Joshua is a very happy boy for the most part.  He’s got cute temper tantrums, though, that make me laugh, which I’m sure doesn’t help his mood.  This morning, he got mad because I stopped hugging him.  He hugged me, I hugged him back, & then I tried to get a toy for him to play with, but he screamed & started flailing his arms up & down, eventually throwing himself on the floor & pounding it.  It was very cute.  As soon as I put my arms out to hug him again, he jumped up & hugged me, & all was right with the world.  Strange kid, I tell ya.  I’m just glad he still loves hugging Mommy—hopefully that will continue for a long time (minus the tantrums when we stop)!  Joshua loves playing ‘fetch’ when I ask him to find one of his toys.  He’ll search all over, find it, & bring it to me.  We’ll play catch with his balls, read books (even at 15 months, Joshua is a super-speedreader!), & dance.  He likes to move his hands in circles around each other when we sing ‘Wheels on the Bus’ (well, I’m the one who sings—he just giggles & moves his hands).  Joshua loves to dance, which is absolutely adorable.  I bought some toddler singalong CDs & we’ll dance to the music as I try to sing along.

Joshua’s least favorite thing in the world (other than when I ‘abandon’ him) is getting his diaper changed.  He hates being pinned down on the floor for even the short amount of time it takes, & I’ve gotten to be very quick.  I’ve tried the standing up diaper changes, but that doesn’t work very well either because when Josh is standing, he’s walking (or running).  That doesn’t make changing his diaper all that easy, so we try to do it as quickly as I can laying down.  And then we hug as soon as it’s over & go play.

That’s about it for now because Joshua is waking up from his nap.  I’m going to go take off his 5 bandaids & kiss some boo-boos.  My poor little pincushion of a baby.  At least we get to see Grandma tomorrow.  I’m excited to get a vacation from diaper changes for awhile!  And to see Mom, of course.