Callie's promotion and tenure review

Although Callie turned 1 nearly two months ago, the bureaucracy at the Bowes household has taken a bit longer to review her paperwork. The results finally came in this past weekend, and based on the information that follows, two decisions have been made. First, we will allow her to turn one and maintain that age for the following year. Second, we will keep her for another year at which point we will conduct another evaluation. The following addresses the highlights, and some unfortunate but correctable lowlights of Callie's recent development.

This is a recent photograph of the subject in question. Notice the confident smile she had when submitting her materials.






We'll start with the basic numbers and medical reports. At the beginning of November Callie visited her pediatrician. They found that she weighed 19lbs 9oz and stood at a grand 30 1/2 inches. That means she is the 75th percentile for height and the 20th percentile for weight. Still tall and a little bit heavier than in the past. Her noggin is still tracking large, and is in the 75th percentile.

Unfortunately, Callie also had another first-year medical evaluation. This one entailed a catheter, x-rays, and an ultrasound. All of this was to monitor the progress of the kidney reflux that had been diagnosed even before she was born. The good news is that the level of the reflux in her right kidney has decreased. The bad news is that they found evidence of reflux in both kidneys. Prior tests had led us to believe that only the right one was effected. As you can imagine, this was hard news, especially since we had grown to rely on the idea that you can live with one kidney. At the same time, it is important to note that both of our doctors are positive and have told us multiple times that this is a problem that can be easily repaired if Callie's body doesn't take care of it naturally over the next several years. Just as important, this has had no impact on Callie's day to day life. She takes her antibiotics every night without complaint and beyond that, shows no physical discomfort.

So with that aside we can now move onto other matters crucial to this review. They fall into three basic categories - daycare, development, and social skills. In daycare, Callie has now transitioned from the busybee to the waddler classroom. Unfortunately they gave us limited time to prepare her for the skills necessary for waddler survival, a.k.a. sippy cup use, finger food, and designated nap time. Needless to say, there was a period of adjustment involved. It took about three weeks for her to accept the sippy cup, and she still expresses some reservations from time to time about the absence of the bottles. Up to this point she has still had two bottles a day at daycare, although we just used the last of the formula, so that ship has sailed. Finger food has gone much better. She loves noodles, bananas, dried fruit, and obviously Cheerios. Unfortunately the finger food veggies have been less of a hit.

In the new class, everyone is supposed to sleep from noon to two on little cots. Callie has a hard time following suit. This has resulted in a few days without naps entirely, and a few discipline notes home. Our nurse called Callie petite, but Miss Donna at daycare has had to inform us of Callie "bodyslamming" a classmate when she was supposed to be napping. Our little nutterbutter has also apparently put her six teeth into not such productive use by attempting to bite a classmate on the forehead. We still think she was trying to give a gentle kiss. Finally, Callie's production of fine art has skyrocketed since entering the waddlers. Since the end of October she has come home with a number of fall-themed art pieces. Quite impressive, Miss Donna.

Now for Callie's general development. Her level of communication is on the rise and indicates some of the most important aspects of her life. She is beginning to verbalize, but has some trouble finishing. Duck becomes "duh" and dog becomes "do". Ending consonants appear to be low on her priority list and we have suggested that she do a bit more work on that.

Callie's sign language has also improved, and she now signs milk, eat, more, all done, bath, book, and ball with some regularity. Some have equated Callie's sign for bath with the universal sign for the chicken dance, but we know what she means. Outside of those signs, Callie also likes to give high fives, hugs, and kisses. She even blows kisses. The main place for improvement here is she needs to close her mouth when she goes for a kiss. She shows every sign of self-confidence, and has taken to clapping for herself any time she does something deemed worthy of praise. Fortunately she is not skimpy with such praise for others, and even clapped for every item her father removed from the dish washer and put in its proper place this morning.

There are few things that fall into the social skills category. She continues to be very comfortable with people and enjoys spending time with just about anyone who will pay attention to her. She has also shown increasing comfort in the house the more she walks around. Callie goes to her own cupboard to get her sippy cup and knows just where her play corner is and what toys are there.

Overall, Callie has shown clear signs of progressing towards becoming a little girl. Even her fits of crying and frustration normally are due to wanting to be more independent. We continue to be overwhelmed by how much we love her and love spending time with her. And we can't wait to have you see the above developments for yourself as we begin our annual holiday road trip.