Teeny Tiny

Fact 1: We have small children.
Fact 2: Our pediatricians are awesome.

We had Josh's one year check-up a few weeks ago, where we confirmed that, no surprise, he is teeny tiny. Yes, kids come in all shapes and sizes, but our guys seem to be experts at avoiding those pesky lines on the growth charts. Josh got extra scrutiny from the doctor this time around because his low weight (17 lb, 5 oz - about the size of your average 6-8 month old) was coupled with 10 days of constant diarrhea. That weight puts him in the "failure to thrive range" (which is a horrible term, so our doctor said we can just refer to him as a "little peanut" instead), and the tummy issues had us concerned that perhaps something medical was going on.

So, off we went for blood work and stool samples (yuck, yuck, yuck) to rule out common allergies, celiac, major tummy infection, thyroid problems, and problems absorbing fats. So far, all tests negative. Josh is somewhat anemic (but not the iron-deficiency kind - did you know there are multiple kinds of anemia??), but that's just another symptom, not a cause. At our follow-up with the doctor, she covered a whole host of other tests we could consider, but in the end, we decided to run one more test to rule out cystic fibrosis (low weight gain and malabsorption are two major symptoms) and then return to a wait and see approach for the next 3 months.

I honestly tried not to stress about the CF test. I never looked it up on the internet, and I kept reminding myself that the newborn blood screens had already tested Josh for CF (among other genetic diseases) twice. Of course, I still found myself thinking about it in the wee hours of the morning, so it was a HUGE RELIEF to get that negative test result. FEW!

So, where does that leave us? Well, with a 17 pound tiny mite, who is hitting all his developmental milestones, except in the weight category. With a joyful, bald, walking one year old, who's first word is officially "no." And, with 3 months to figure out a way to get this child eating some more calories - especially since that walking is soon going to be running, and then we're really going to be fighting battle to keep "calories in" exceeding "calories out!"