The 50%

I took Nick for his follow-up at Melmed today. Last time our doctor kept interjecting at random times during the appointment, "He did all that? All those bruises are from him? I've never seen a mother that bruised." She was just so shocked by the bruises that she couldn't keep herself from returning to them.

Today it was the same thing. She was so shocked that she kept interjecting, "Look at him; he's so calm. He's not hand stimming. He's not humming. He's so calm!"

I loved that she could see it so clearly.

Nick was awesome at the appointment. He got out of the car with ease and he handled the chaos of a very busy waiting room well. He took off his shoes as soon as we got in the door, but that was a behavior I could definitely manage ;) When it was time for the doctor to weigh him, he went right over to the scale and stood still; when it was time to measure his height, he went right over to the ruler on the wall and stood tall. He smiled when he doctor listened to his heartbeat.

We're going to keep him on the Risperidone, since it is working so well, and in a few months we'll look at adding an additional medication for ADHD.

Best of all? Nick is now 48 pounds. Which moves him from the bottom of the scale to the 50th percentile! For the first time in his life, his weight is blissfully, wonderfully average. 'Average' is a word I never hear when it comes to my children; it's got a beautiful ring to it.