Tanner had his 18 month check up with Dr. D. on Monday. Tanner was happy to hear he didn't need any shots this visit. Dr. D. said Tanner was doing great. He also asked if Tanner was saying 2 or 3 words...in a row !! Uh, no he's not really saying much of anything. He's been busy learning to walk and run !! I told Dr. D. that the speech therapist with ECI thinks Tanner's speech is "emerging" and she'd be back in a few weeks for a check up. He wants us to keep a close watch on his speech and if he doesn't develop soon, we might want to consider more aggressive therapy either with ECI or another source.

I had to laugh at the Dr.'s office because you know the information sheets they give you that talk about what developmental stage your child is at and what to expect during that time. Well, under the nutrition section of our 18 month sheet, it said that "They will typically only eat well at one or two meals per day, but rarely three." HA HA HA HA HA !! Rarely three !! They haven't met Tanner. I don't think I've ever seen a child eat so much !! Tanner loves his food and you'd better had his meal ready to go when you put him in the highchair. Tanner always eats all his food and usually gets mad when meal time is over. Maybe he eats so well because he doesn't snack much during the day. I just don't see a need to give him many snacks when he eats so well at meal time. A typical breakfast for Tanner is Yogurt, half a banana, and a cereal bar, like a NutriGrain bar. He's also been known to eat a two egg omelet with cheese and a piece of toast. For lunch he eats fruit, a whole grilled cheese sandwich with the crust, and usually a veggie. For dinner, he eats anything from grilled chicken, veggies and fruit or pasta with sauce, veggies and fruit. But his FAVORITE meal is Mexican food. He loves enchiladas, rice, beans, guacamole, queso, flour tortillas and he'll even eat hot sauce. It's amazing to me that a baby you had part of his intestines cut out when he was 6 days old has turned out to love food so much. YAY for Tanner !!

Tanner also had his physical therapy appointment yesterday with Ms. Jamie. Tanner greeted Ms. Jamie at the door and then started running all over the house giggling. It's almost as if he was saying "look at me, look at me, Ms. Jamie, I can run, I can run" !! It was so cute. Jamie said Tanner was doing great and doing everything he was supposed to be doing for his age. He's walking great and navigates over uneven surfaces well. He's started to climb up and down steps and he can kick a ball. He can also get up from the middle of the floor without having to pull up on anything.

Tanner starts preschool summer camp next Thursday. He'll go for 8 weeks one day a week from 9am - 2pm. Then at the end of August he'll start preschool and go two days a week from 9am - 2pm. It's going to be so hard for me to leave him. But I know Tanner will have so much fun playing with the other kids his age. I'm anxious to see how Tanner's speech develops after being around the other kiddos.