Owen's Dr's Appointment

Owen's 2 year well appointment was last week and let me tell you, it was nice to go to see a doctor with a WELL child. I was beginning to think that he was falling apart at the seams!

Our new doc is awsome! Our old ped retired so we had to find yet another doctor but we got very lucky. He loves Owen and is willing to learn about his condition.

2 Year stats:
Height: 30 inches tall(yes tall, I can say that if I want!)
Weight: 25 lbs
Head Circumference: 52.5 cm
And for comparison's sake...

17 month stats:
Height: 28 3/4 inches (that 3/4th is very important!)
Weight: 22.5 lbs
Head Cirumference: 52.5 cm

You know, what's funny is that I don't keep a baby book. I tried to but I'm not really the scrap booking sort. This blog has become the only record for recording Owen's milestones so when I had to look up his last measurements, I had to look up the correct post. I just thought that was kind of funny.
Poor Owen! The only memories of his childhood are a jar full of hair from his first cut and a poorly updated blog that is shared with the world. I'll start saving for therapy right now.

Anyways, so what his measurements show me is that his growth is slowing a bit and his weight is not. His doctor plotted him on the AH charts and he mentioned that his weight had spiked. On that note, Owen will be starting the Master Cleanse next week. Lemonade and Cayenne pepper ONLY! Hahah just kidding...maybe for mom though....

His head. It hasn't grown at all. Not one centimeter. I honestly don't know if that is good or bad. My immediate reaction was that it was good, but now I'm not so sure. Does his head have room for all those brains? It just went to show me how little I know about human anatomy and specifically as it pertains to Owen's condition.

You know, I honestly don't know why LP's with achondroplasia have bigger heads? I thought it was because of their small foramen magnum and the excess fluid that gets trapped. But Owen's foramen magnum is getting smaller but his head isn't getting bigger. I feel like a loser for not understanding this. But no one has ever outright explained it. Anyone? Tonya?

Anyway....here are the plots. Notice that despite the doctors assesment that his weight has spiked on the chart, he is actually plotting slightly below where he was on the height/weight chart.



Oh! PS - I missed the cut off for sending Owen's picture into Regis and Kelly! Thanks for all the input but Owen's cuteness will have to be contained to just our little blogging world for now! We will conquer the world next year!

Dr. Pauli - The Man, The Myth, The Legend

I have a new love - Dr. Richard Pauli. For a year now, I have foolishly ignored Tonya everytime she told me to make an appointment with this sainted man. Thank god I finally listened! (Tonya, I was wrong. You were right)

For those not familiar, Dr. Pauli is a genetisist based at the University of Wisconson with satellite offices in Akron, OK and Grand Rapids, MI. He has seen hundreds of little people and is well respected with in the community. He is the doctor to see if you have a child with dwarfism. He also attends national and regional LPA conferences to speak, hold workshops and see patients. Did I mention that he considers himself part-time now?

We dragged our butts out of bed at 5:00 am in order to leave by 6:30 in order to get to our appointment at 8:30. Uuugggg. Even Owen was asking for coffee at that hour. Don't worry, we didn't give him any. We gave him Red Bull instead.

So here's the low down on the O according to Dr. Pauli.
Owen is ahead in gross motor development which means he is in-line with average height kids. Out of his 400 patients, Owen is the 2nd fastest to walk. A head to toe exam showed good muscle tone, strong joints and good reflexes. There was no clinical evidence showing neurological problems. His ear drums are "perfect" which was a surprise to Dr. Pauli. Most achondroplastic kids at his age have at least had an ear infection and many have tubes. The state of his inner ear indicated that he's never even had an infection (knock on wood!). His mouth is a good size and allows for plenty of pearly whites. At a 15% curve, his kyphosis is fine and flexible. His legs don't indicate any significant bowing.
Height was 28 3/4 (50th percentile) Weight at 23 lbs (50th percentile) Head size 52 cm (30th percentile)

It was exactly what we were hoping to hear and more. Dr. Pauli must have used the word "perfect" 10 times. Of course this was no secret to Dan and I, but it really feels good to have someone else say it! He felt that Owen was "precocious" and comfortable with his body (I wish I could say the same!)

The amazing part of the whole exam was that Owen patienly sat still for the entire thing. He let Dr. Pauli poke and prod him like a science experiment.

The visit however, wasn't without it's negatives. There was a little bad news. Dr. Pauli was concerned about the results of Owen's May MRI. His scan showed narrowing in his foramen magnum.

The foramen magnum is the opening at the base of the skull that allows the spinal cord to connect to the brain. People with achondroplasia inherently have a narrowed foramen magnum but it often does not cause any problems. If the opening is too small or becomes smaller over time, it can cause stenosis. Stenosis inhibits the flow of essential fluids and in the case of the cervical spinal cord, blood and spinal fluid. Steniosis of the could eventually cause spinal cord damage. If this happens there are a host of problems that could arise. Owen could lose sensation in his extremities, he could fall behind in his development, hydrocephalus, etc....It could also cause central sleep apnea which is why infants with achodroplasia need to have sleep studies in conjunction with neurologic care.
One solution to this problem is decompression surgery in which they would widen the foramen magnum. YIKES! Dr. Pauli he doesn't automatically reccommend surgery unless he sees spinal cord damage. Owen's level of stenosis is the worst you can have without seeing cord damage. At this stage, Dr. Pauli would determine the need for surgery by both the MRI findings as well as a clinical exam. As I mentioned earlier, Owen's clinical exam showed that he is completely asymptomatic. In fact, Dr. Pauli said that he had never seen such a disconnect between an X Ray and physical symptoms. Based on the MRI scan alone, he would have expected some physical manifestion of the stenosis.

The fact that he is doing well despite the narrowing was a small comfort. However, Dr. Pauli said that without the surgery, Owen should not play contact sports because the risk of a spinal injury would be much greater. That was a bit of a bummer. It's not that we were counting on a football scholarship, but when someone tells you that your child can't do something due to physical limitations, it really makes our situation real. We've been pretty lucky thus far with Owen. No major problems.

I was driving home the other day and saw my old grade school's football team walking back from football practice. It made me a little sad. At the grade school level, pretty much all kids play sports. I don't want Owen to feel left out. That being said we would never put Owen through skull surgery for the specific purpose of playing sports.

All in all it was a great appointment. His foramen magnum issue did not outweigh the good news we heard. For me, the best part of the visit is was that Dr. Pauli sat down with us for a full 1 hour and a half. He was not rushed or hurried or anxious to get to his next patient. He gave us the impression that we were his only patient. As was able to interconnect different issues of his condition in a way that we hadn't heard before. We have had compartmentalized treatment for Owen thus far: a geneticist, an orthepedist, a neurosurgeon, a pediatrician, another neurosurgeon for the sleep study. Dr. Pauli was all of those in one. We had a lot of "Ahhh!" moments. "So that's why Owen does so-and-so." We have decided to transfer Owen's care to Dr. Pauli (with the exception of 1 neurosurgeon) which will drastically cut down on appointments. YAY!!!!!!

The best part of the appointment...no one ever asked why we were there!

Appointments, Shmuppointments!

Busy, busy, busy! We have started our whirlwind month of appointments and so far so good.

Orthopedics was first to bat and once again the same old frustrations with our doctors appointments remain. Last August, I wrote a post about our irritation regarding the fact that no one seems to share information or know why we have made appointments. Not a lot has changed in a year.
We walk into our appointment and are asked "So what brings you here today?" Uuhhhh....well, my son's a dwarf and we were told to make an appointment with you when he started walking. We made that appointment and after giving him a perfunctory once-over, you told us to come back 6 months later so....here we are! Don't get me wrong, our doctor is very, very nice. It's just that having to tell the doctors why we are there is getting a little old, especially when we don't even know the answer.

Beyond that, another set of X rays was taken despite the fact that he had recently had a full MRI, skeletal survey and X rays. The orthepedic office was totally unaware of this even though they all work in the same health system. I suppose I shouldn't get too worked up about it. It wasn't a big deal for us, just a big deal for our health insurance. No wonder the cost of health care is rising. It would seem like a little efficiency would do some good. I am otherwise very happy with the care Owen has received, I'm just harping on details. Back to the point at hand...

Owen is fine! Everything looked good. He doesn't seem to have any skeletal problems (aside from the whole skeletal dysplasia thing of course). He doesn't appear to have scoliosis, and they were not worried about lordosis, kyphosis or any other "sis" that could possibly plague him. For now, we will come back in a year, and they will ask us why we are there! Hahaha!!

As you can see below - Owen really enjoyed getting his X rays!
After the appointment we took him to Halloween USA to try on some costumes. Do we go with
Bad Ass Cop?
or Charles Nelson Riley?
Next big news. Owen started back to his PT again at the begining of September. Everthing has been great and his teachers have been amazed at his progress. At the end of last school year, we sat down with his physical therapist and came up with an IEP or individualized education plan, for the fall semester. It included: learning to walk on uneven surfaces (check), stepping over ledges (check), kicking a ball (check), learning to stand from sitting (check) and learning to go up and down stairs on his knees (check and check). So basically his therapist are like "What do we do with him?". He's age appropriate for all physical skills. We have decided to suspend his in home therapy visits until he is 2 at which time he will be reevaluated and new goals will be set. We will still bring him to class once a week, but that will be the extent of his theraputic services for now! Yay!

And last - the Dreaded Sleep Study. Yes it's capitalized for a reason. That was the official title I had given it. Turns out, it wasn't so bad! I had to work that morning at 6:00 am and my wonderful parents were able to keep him from napping. Somehow, by the grace of God, he did not fall asleep on the hour long car ride to Ann Arbor. By the time we both arrived to the room, we were ready for bed! It didn't take him long to fall alseep and he slept like a rock all night,despite the fact that the nurse was in and out of his room. Thank the Lord for small favors! We expect the results sometime next week, but I have a funny feeling I know what they are going to say. I think the study will show that there are periods of time where Owen's oxygen levels deplete slightly but it's nothing that requires surgery or intervention. We should come back in a year. "Come back in a year" is what we have been used to hearing lately. But it's good thing!

Despite being a good sport through most of the sleep study, Owen did express his displeasure with the wires!
Next week, it's off to Dr. Pauli. I'm very excited to have an expert look at him. It will give both Dan and I piece of mind that nothing is getting overlooked. So help me god though, if he asks what we are doing there.... :)

RANDOM PICTURES
Go Chips! Dan gratuated from Central Michigan University, the same college as Amy Rolloff. He also minored in Hospitality, Amy's minor.
Owen's first day of school outfit!

Well Charted Territory

Thanks to everyone who offered their stories and thoughts about the last post. It was especially nice to hear from Julie (finally!) It's nice to feel that I'm not alone. Sometimes you throw these things out there and are never sure if people will think you are insane or brilliant. Although, I always love to think it's the latter, I'm hoping it's somewhere in between the two.

Owen had a well check at his new pediatrician's last week (our previous ped retired) and here are the latest stats.
At 17 months old, Owen is 28 3/4th inches, 22.5 lbs with a head circumference of 52.5cm. Just to give a little perspective as to where that puts him on the growth charts I've plotted him so that you can get a visual!

*Copyright Information*
These charts are copyrighted by the American Academy of Pediatrics

Ok, what you are looking at here are the charts for males with achondroplasia. The charts also include average height curves so that you can plot simultaniously. The grey area is average height and the unbroken lines are the achondroplasia curve. The height and circumference is in centimeters and weight is in kilograms. Here are the links in case you would like to examine further
Health Supervision for Children with Achondroplasia.

Owen seems to be falling in about the 75th percentile for height on the achondroplasia chart.

His head size is a little below the 50th percentile in his chart and off the pin heads - ahem - I mean average size baby charts. Sorry average height babies, that was a cheap shot!

I'll be honest. I don't really know what is going on in this chart. He's kind of in the middle so I'm assuming that's good. You're on your own with this one.

There were 2 shocking parts about Owen's measurements. #1 - He kinda had a growth spurt! His last measurement at 14 months was 27 inches. Almost 2 inches in 3 months is significant considering that he has grown 10 inches over the span of his entire life. Shocking fact #2 - He has only gained 5 ounces since March. He's thinning out! This is something I never thought would happen. OK, let me rephrase that. I'm not saying I thought he would stay his wonderful squishy self forever, I just thought the thinning out growth spurts were reserved for average height kids. At this point, I've pretty much gotten used to his growth progressing by fractions of inches so anything over an inch was a pleasant surprise.

In other news, I finally made an appointment with Dr. Pauli. Dr. Pauli is the former Chairman for the LPA Medical Advisory Board and commenly acknowledged as the doc du jour for little people. He is based in Wisconsin but has satellite offices in Akron, OH and Grand Rapids, MI. We will be seeing him in Grand Rapids sometime in October. We got the chance to meet him at the National Conference and thought he was great! He was actually surprised that there was an infant with dwarfism in Michigan that he hasn't seen!

Other upcoming appointments: Sleep study re-do in September. His Dec '07 study was inconclusive so we are doing it again. I should say, Dan is doing it this time. Once was enough for me! We have another MRI in October. His first MRI showed some narrowing of the foramen magnum and enlarged ventricles. Our neurologist recommended have another MRI in 6 months, so we will go back to poke around a bit. October will also be his first real orthopedic appointment. We had a consult in May, but will go back for X Rays and a full exam in the now very busy upcoming months.

I know I promised more Drew and Owen pictures, but I left my camera at my cousins so they will have to wait. I can however, tide the picture-lovers over with shots from our outing at the Grand Blanc Splash Pad!

Splash pad buddies, Drew, Owen and Blake

MRI

Last Wednesday, Owen's achondroplastic rite of passage finally came! The MRI. We were lucky enough to have our consult scheduled on the same day, meaning we would get the results right away.
There were no big surprises for us. I knew what they were going to tell me before they said it. Everything looks good, but there are a few areas to watch out for. Owen's foramen magnum (the opening at the base of the skull that allows fluid to drain)has closed a bit and at 50 cm (19.5 inches), his head size has spiked on the charts. Also, his ventricles had enlarged since his first MRI at birth. This means that there could be some cerebrospinal fluid trapped in Owen's brain. All these symptoms point to a risk of hydrocephalus so our neurologist wants us to keep an eye on it. Simply put, hydrocephalus or "water on the brain" means that there is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the brain. This could cause problems from clumsinesss to learning disabilities. The common treatment for hydrocephalus is a placing a cerebral shunt into the ventricles of Owen's brain to help drain the fluid. Our neurologist, Dr. Garton, was not concerned enough to take any action but wanted to see us back in 6 months for another MRI (Blue Cross should love that!).
Dr. Garton takes a conservative approach when it comes to shunting. He feels that kids with achondroplasia are shunted to early and too often and prefers to watch and wait. Dan and I appreciate this. We don't want to go mucking around in Owen's brain if we don't half too! The down side is that while waiting to see how Owen does, his head could keep getting bigger where a shunt would slow the growth. Once again, however, Dan and I would rather buy bigger hats then have an unnecessary shunt put in.
We will have to watch motor delays, numbness of the arms and legs (how the hell will we be able to tell that?!), obvious pain, clumsiness (hmmmm, we may already be there) and other signs that something may be off. Luckily there are no restrictions for him. He can still go to PT, play, walk and do everything he normally does. So all in all, pretty neutral news. Like I said, it's exactly what I expected. I have seen a growth in Owen's head but not any worrisome symptoms, so I suspected that this is what they would tell us. Dr. Garton did notice his lumbar kyphosis (cuvature of the spine), but didn't think it was bad and said it will most likely go away as he starts bearing more weight. We have made an appointment for an orthepedist in mid May, so we will get some more info then.!
Arrggg...I totally forgot my camera that day so I can only show you the latest pictures!

This was after the MRI. They put him under a general anesthesia. Hmmm...do you think it had any effect??


Last Thursday, it was Farm Day at the school Owen goes to for PT....He made some new friends!
Owen -that's one big...rooster!

4 legs good, 2 legs bad!

Suddently craving mint jelly...

Owen found his favorite animal!

Update on developement.

As of last week Owen was 26.5 inches, 17 lbs with a head circumference of 20 inches. On the normal charts he is below the 5th for height and weight and in the 95th for head size. On the achonchondroplasia charts Owen is in about the 50th to 75 percentiles for height, weight and head size.
Our physical therepists told us that Owen has hit all the goals he was supposed to reach by 1 year. He is 2 months ahead of schedule!! He is sitting up, standing supported, army crawling, and doing other amazing miscellaneaous baby tricks.
We are so proud of him and as usual he continues to surpass everyone's expectations!
As for other developements, Owen now has 6 teeth! He's actually been a pretty good teether with no major tantrums. He's really taking it like a man.
Owen loves food! He's off the strained food for the most part and eating stews and pastas, biter biscuits, nutrigrain bars, french fries & other assorted finger foods. He has yet to meet a food he doesn't like.
He's heavy into the imitating and can do things with his face that would give Jim Carrey a run for his money. He is so expressive. You can just see his mind working through his face (especially when he has gas).
He's been very verbal lately but still doesn't have any clear and true words.
As for appointments, he has a yearly check up at U of M but that's about it. Once he starts walking we will need to start seeing an orthepedist but other than that, the only thing we need to deal with at U of M are the bills.

Where does the time go?

Ok - I'll just come right out and say it....My mother was right! She told me how fast the time would fly when it came to raising Owen. In the beginning weeks of Owen's life when I was struggling with breast feeding and not getting any sleep, I tended to disagree with her. Time couldn't have been moving slower. Now, I look at the recent picture of Owen and am flabbergasted! When the hell did this kid grow up? Scary.

The past two weeks haven't been so great for the poor guy. He's been fighting a virus and has been pretty miserable. This virus acutally landed us in the ER on Monday. Owen was lethargic, had no appetite, a fever, diahrrea and vomiting. I was afraid of dehydration so my mom and I took him in (Dan was at work). He was dehydrated and diagnosed with the flu. We were able to avoid an IV though because as it turned out, Owen LOVED the Pedialyte they gave him. He kicked back an entire bottle in the ER. What a wacko! It wasn't even the flavored kind! Owen's almost back to normal now, thank God! I couldn't take any more of that kids crap. When I say that, I mean it completely literally. The diarrea was well...I won't go into detail!

Today is Owen's 8 month birthday and he weighs in at almost 17 lbs and measures 25 1/2 inches. His head size is 18 1/4 inches. I'm not really sure what percentiles that puts him in, but I have pretty much stopped worrying about where Owen falls on the normal charts.

Owens physical therapy is going really well and the strides he has been making are astounding! Even Dan and I have managed to keep the screwy schedule straight (knock on wood). Owen is now sitting up for 2 to 3 minute intervals all by himself.



Owen is also bearing weight on his legs. He is able to stand supported by the couch for about a minute a time before his legs get wobbly! He really loves standing for some reason. He's not so much into the sitting thing, but standing seems to be the cat's pajama's.

Another exciting development is the emergence of...drumroll please...TEETH! Finally! I think the teeth are my 2nd favorite milestone next to smiling. As you can see in the pictures, they are just so frickin' cute! i actually think he's been trying to show them off too. He tends to stick out his bottom lip a lot more now.

Speaking of teeth, let's talk for a bit about the food. Owen loves him some food. For the most part, there is nothing he won't eat. He even likes the really odd tasting foods like pickles, lemons & prunes. We've recently started him on toasted bagels. Let me clarify...Dan has started him on the bagels. As of yet, I have been unable to remain calm when Owen is around finger foods. I am terrified he will choke. It's pathetic. Even with those dissolvable little crackers, I'm ready to give him the Heimlich maneuver everytime he lets out a little cough. What a lunatic!

That being said, we have however, found Owen's one true weekness. Orea cookies. I think the pictures explain themselves.

Adorable? Yes Smart parenting choice for nutritional value? Not so much. Notice the "Oreo Goatee".

That's not the only excitement Owen has been having. Last weekend we went to the cider mill with Grandma and Grandpa Merciez. Despite the 85 degree wheather and Owen's crankiness due to illness, it was a great time!

Sicko :(

Today I got my very first scary your-kid-is-sick-call. YIKES! I can live without that call for the rest of my life! Dan noticed that Owen was a little off this morning. He felt hot and wasn't doing his usual rolling all over the place routine. Dan kept and eye on him and he seemed fine when we dropped him off at daycare. At about 3 pm I got a call from our daycare provider who temped Owen at 104.2!!! I was a nervous wreck the entire way to the doctors office. Angie was wonderful enough to drive Owen to the doctor's office so I could meet them there. Turns out he's OK, he just has a virus. We need to keep an eye on his fever and dose him with Tylenol. Poor guy! Owen before he realized he was sick.

Now he's catching on!

No extra hormones needed for our family!!

In an unrelated subject, shout out to my husband Dan! Hahaha! Just kidding. I won't even go there! Hello, hello everyone! In continuation of my last blog, I'm giving the lowdown on the endochronology appointment and I've 86ed the annoyed ranting about our appointments (My blog is much more pleasant after a couple beers!). There's actually nothing much to tell. Basically the endochronologist told us that Human Growth Hormone therapy was not an option for Owen. The studies that they have done on the effect that HGH has on dwarfs is not extensive and mostly done in some other country like Sweden or something. No offense to the Swedish but we'll stick to buying IKEA and not hormones from you. This was actually no big surprise to Dan and I as we really didn't believe that it HGH would be an option. Anyway, that really was the extent of our visit. My mother brought up an excellent point to me. She wondered why Owen, the boy with skeletal dysplasia has not been refered to an orthopedist. Hmm...good question mom! We have realized the need for a specialist for Owen so Tonya, I'll be hitting you up for Dr. Pauli's #! On the informative tip. Owen weights 15.9 oz and a far as his legnth, there is a little discrepancy. The nurse measured Owen at 23 1/4 inches which is what he measured at our ped's office at the 4 month check up. When we mentioned this and had them remeasure (twice), they discovered that one of Owen's legs is 3/4th of an inch longer than the other! A measurement taken using Owen's left leg measured at 24 inches. The doc didn't seem too concerned as it is something that could correct itself. It's just something to keep an eye on!

Rock-a Bye-Baby

Once again, I have to apologize for neglecting my blog! Work has been very busy and it's so hard to sit down and get the creative juices flowing!

Owen had a sleep study and an appointment with endochronology on the 12th and 13th respectively and I have do say - it was another disappointing trip. I say "another" disappointing trip because Dan and I have been a little frustrated with our last few treks to Ann Arbor. Over the course of the past few months we have had several appointments made for us in different departments - neurology, genetics, neurosurgery, sleep study dept., endochronology. With the exception of genetics, at each of the appointments they always start off with "So, why are you here today?". The thing is...we don't know! These appointments are made for us and we expect they should know why we are there!

The doctors alway seem to need a recap of Owen's life when we bring him in. It's as if no one shares files (or at least reads them). For as many times as Owen has been to U of M, their familiarity with his case is minimal. Even the nurse, who checks us in everytime we are there shows us no sign of recognition.

Now, don't get me wrong, every single doctor and nurse that we have met has been EXTREMELY nice (and Dr. Misra our geneticist is entirely excluded from this rant because none of these complaints apply to him). I think we are frustrated because we feel as if we are rearranging our lives to make these appointments and end up without a lot of new information. But enough about that and on to the sleep study!

First, I have to say how badly I wish I could post the pictures of Owen during his study. My camera's batteries were dead and the pictures are on my cell phone (I don't have a transfer kit). OH MY GOSH! He was so stinkin' cute! Sensors placed all over monitored different body activity while he slept. He has 3 on his cranium, 2 on his temples, 3 on his chin, 1 on his forhead, 2 on his arms and 1 on his leg. To keep all the sensors on his head in place, they put a tube of gauze with a hole cut out over his head and tied it on top. It was so funny! His face was completely smushed and the little knot on top of his head made him look like a Teletubbie!

Owen also had a strap on his chest, one on his stomach and a breathing tube in his nose. They expected this kid to sleep?! Amazingly, Owen fell asleep at around 9:15pm,that is until the nursed came crashing in and woke him back up. He got back to be around 10:30pm.

Now, as I understood it, the doctors needed Owen to sleep at least 6 solid hours in order to get the readings they needed. Under normal circumstances this is no problem for Owen. I even believe he would have slept throught the night hooked up like a littl science experiment. What Owen can't sleep through is people coming in and out of his room all night, playing with wires, making things beep, shining flashlights in his crib. How much do we expect from this poor little guy? You know who else can't sleep through all that? Me! Yeah, I was pretty crabby in the morning! Anyway, we somehow got throught the night and have not yet heard the results of the study. Knowing U of M though, the will need us to come in for an appointment to get those results and then ask us why we are there.

Endochronology will be the next post!

Doctor's Appointment

Owen had his 4 month check up on the 27th. He weighed in at a whopping 14 lbs and was 23 1/2 inches long. He was 21 1/2 at his 2 month check up so he's growing! His head was 17 inches which puts him in the 95th percentile but once again, all those brains need room to grow! His length put him in the 10th percentile and weight was 25th. I was really anxious to start him on solids soon but our doc wants us to wait another month :( I think he's ready. He doesn't seem to be satisfied with just a bottle any more and he LOVES his prune juice (what a wacko!). We'll see, Maybe I'll sneak him some rice ceral a little early! Our next appointment will be at U of M for a sleep study in August.