Dad is Five-0

Soren Update April 7

Dear Ones,

Life marches on. I can't believe Soren turned two on Sunday. I am beginning to understand what people mean when they say, "it goes so fast, enjoy every minute".

Erik's four day work week has gotten a little less fun for us. He is in the busiest time of the semester at school, so he spends most of the three day weekend studying. Here is a clip of Soren helping him with some of his telecommuting work:

I think we have a future engineer on our hands! I am sure we are going to love Erik's schedule again once things calm down at school.

Soren's birthday was fun for me, but he was sick on his birthday. I guess he wants to do everything like Erik! He did alright in the morning, eating his favorite breakfast food, oatmeal. We watched some conference before lunch, then sang happy birthday and had his lunch dessert, yellow cake cupcakes. He couldn't blow out the candles at first, but when I gave him a straw to blow through he did just fine.

After more conference, it was evident that Soren had reached his limit. I had made him a special birthday dinner of "grown up" macaroni and cheese with broccoli, but he didn't even taste it. You can see what happened here:

He woke up from a nap a little bit refreshed and we were able to open presents. I knew he wasn't feeling well when he didn't want to blow out any candles or even taste his long awaited birthday "big cookie" and ice cream. Poor Soze. At least we didn't try to put him through a party this year!

Yesterday and today have been doctor days. Soren went to the dentist yesterday for a checkup on his teeth. The good news is that the only teeth with enamel problems appear to be the top four front teeth. We have been brushing like crazy and the dentist told me that as long as we continue taking care of them, he won't need any dental work on them. The bad news is that I did not imagine the slight discoloration (grey) of one of his front top teeth. The diagnosis is tooth trauma, and we have a 50% chance of a dead tooth. Yippee. I have no idea when he bumped the tooth, but the dentist told me it is very common. Don't I know it - the same thing happened to my baby tooth when I was Soren's age. Was it the same tooth, Mom? I guess I still can hope that Soren's big teeth will look normal!

This morning was Soren's long awaited two year checkup. The official stats are in:

Weight: 30 lb 0 oz - 75th to 90th percentile
Height: 37.0 in - Above 95th percentile (Way off the chart)
Head Circumference: 19.8 in - Above 95th percentile

Tall, large head, and skinny. They even did an eyesight test this visit. Soren's eyes came back normal in all respects (no near or far sightedness, astigmatism, cross-eyes, etc). I hope it lasts! I got my glasses in 2nd grade, and hope Soren got the good eye genes.

The doctor checked him over and said everything else looked good EXCEPT:

Dr Aaron: "Would you like to see an ear infection?"
Me: "What?"
Dr Aaron: "Look in Soren's ear. That puss indicates an ear infection."
Me: "..."
Dr Aaron (looking in other ear): "Would you like to see a double ear infection?"
Me: "Oh no! Sorry, buddy!"

So that explained Soren's sad birthday. I had no clue. I feel like a mean mommy! We will be going back in a few weeks to recheck those ears and get immunizations.

Soren is old enough now that we are experimenting (him and us) with discipline. One night Soren and I made banana bread together. As it was cooling, I saw him eyeing the hot loaves. "Don't touch those," I said. A few minutes later I came into the kitchen to see how Soren had interpreted my words:

He didn't touch them with his hands... he bent over and took bites without touching them at all!

Maybe he'll be a lawyer instead of an engineer....

Love you,

Ashley