Swim suits, thyroid, dentist, baby beds, oh my!

We have had a busy few weeks around here. It seems like January is the month of lots of annual appointments. I took all three kids to the dentist early last week, which was actually easier than it sounds! We were in and out in 25 minutes, all three kids with clean teeth and no cavities, and Charlotte didn't even scream this time! Her favorite part? The fish tank.

We also visited the GI doc for the first follow-up after Charlotte's celiac diagnosis. It was a pretty boring and pointless appointment (in the words of Will, "Why are we even here, mom? They didn't even do anything!"...hah!), just the way I like them. Nothing new to report; Charlotte is doing great, the diet is working like a charm and she is gaining weight and growing like a weed.

We did start Charlotte on thyroid meds recently. Her thyroid levels have been slowly creeping up (they have never been in the normal range, always high) and are now to the point of needing to be treated. We weren't too surprised by this; kids with Down syndrome are super susceptible to hypothyroidism  and the way I understand it is that it isn't really even "if" they will need to be treated for it, but rather "when," which is why we have been following her thyroid levels since birth. Hypothyroidism can effect kids in numerous ways, namely cognition and energy level. She has been doing really well on the medication, and her PT swears she can tell a difference. She has observed Charlotte being much more focused during therapy.

Tomorrow is the eye doctor. We haven't visited the ophthalmologist since Charlotte was 6 months old. I am thinking this appointment at 2.5 years old will be a bit more challenging then when she was an infant. I'll keep you updated.

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In other Charlotte news, her new favorite toy is the Magnadoodle. She drags the thing around like Linus and his blanket, saying "ca-cal-rrr"(color), over and over again.

We are headed up to the Dells for a 4-day waterpark trip with first my family, and then the Neuharths. We combined the two trips to make for an extended weekend and the kids are going crazy with anticipation. I dug through some bins of Katherine's old clothes in attempt to find a swimming suit for my crazy growing toddler. We tried a bunch on last night to see what would fit...

This was suit #1...Charlotte was happy to try it on, but got mad when I took a picture. Anyway, Katherine was helping and remembered the suit and swore that it still fits her...

Here is a picture of Katherine at age 3 wearing the same suit:



and here she is now.

...yes, that is my 7 year-old wearing a size 3. Hah!

Charlotte was more than happy to help with trying things on. She just wanted to put all five suits on at the same time.

Will wanted to get in on the picture taking even though he wasn't trying suits on!

And finally, yesterday I was in the kitchen and Charlotte was playing in the living room. I hear her yelling "uck, uck!" (stuck). I walk in the living room to find her like this:

And of course, I leave her there long enough to go and get the camera to take a picture.

Funny thing is, she climbed right back in as soon as I took her out. 

Have a good weekend everyone, be sure to check back next week for "waterpark fun" pictures!