Dinner monologue with Jolly, and Rip 1 year stats

There's a sticker of pirates going to the doctor. Maybe these pirates have a tummyache! It's NOT because they have to pee. But their mothers THINK it's because they have to pee! [takes a swig of milk] I have a breastpump! [shoves straw cup of milk (COW milk, mind!) under his bib] This is a breastpump! [looks at parents laughing helplessly into their curries, breaks the fourth wall and addresses them] I am pretending to be a GROWN UP.

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Then he ruined the illusion of the grown-up-ness by whacking his breastpump/milk into the table and then Rip started to whack the table even harder and then they hooted maniacally at each other.

Incidentally, everyone is on cow milk these days, which Rip loves, and the breast pump has been retired for months. Rupert is about to drop our last nursing session and I think Ephiny owes me a commemorative boob-shaped Jello mold when I am finally done.

Rip's stats at his 12-month-well-child checkup (really the hepatologist two days later, since they have more accurate scales): are 33" tall, 26 lbs 9 oz (12.06 kg), and 53.4 cm head circumference. He has the second-biggest head in the family, now. His head is literally about to be off the chart, as in, there isn't more room to plot him on the infant head circumference chart online. As for the rest of it - back to being more normally proportioned, which is good, because it makes us worry less.

However, we can also add a less-exciting measurement to track, which is the gallstone, which is 7 mm x 3 mm.

To recap, in January, Rip had bile sludge but no gallstones, a few months later it progressed to teeny tiny gallstones too small to measure, and it looks like they are now globbing together into a larger mass. This is too big to easily pass so it's going to hopefully continue to hang out in his gallbladder and continue not to cause any problems. He's still not at a point where surgical intervention would be deemed necessary, so that is awesome. We go back in a year for another ultrasound to check on the state of the gallbladder and keep our doctor updated on any further episodes.

We also decided together with his hepatologist to dose his ursodiol with regard to his actual weight, rather than to wean him off of it (as we had been doing). The idea is that it might make his bile more slippery and could potentially help prevent further gallstone formation. Though this is not something that has been studied very extensively for efficacy, it does make sense from a biochemical standpoint... and most importantly, it is unlikely have any negative side effects or hurt the bile situation, so there's really no down side. (Even if all this is doing is to make us feel less-guilty about whether there was anything else we should have done differently in the event he has another episode, it'll be worth it.) He seems to enjoy taking his meds, actually, which is bizarre because they're in an unflavored syrup and the taste/smell is not exactly pleasant, but I suppose expose a kid to anything twice a day from 2 months onward and they'll start to find it acceptable!

In more fun news, Rip is really starting to be a little kid and not a baby. He's started pointing, bringing on the delight that comes with being able to communicate what he wants and then the frustration of realizing that sometimes he cannot get what he wants even if the people around him can be made to understand what it is that he would like to do/have. He's started sleeping with a duvet and pillow. He's started taking random objects and books to bed with him, just like his big brother. He's started sometimes putting food he doesn't want back on the table or into the hand of a parent rather than always hurling it onto the floor, and has started being allowed a plate or bowl for his food. He's building block towers and not just crashing them down, and using the block sorters and stackers with proficiency. He's signing "more" for things with great regularity (not only food!), and combines it with pointing - though it's more like a self-fistbump than the sign really is meant to be, it's very clear what he means. He will also point to things when asked, at least sometimes. He has book preferences. (Favorite book to look through himself: I am a Garbage Truck, and when that was quickly shredded by his enthusiasm, Was Macht Teddy Gern. The thing these books have in common is their nonbook shape. First book he was willing to sit through, and still ultimate favorite: Cat. Other book he has requested for reading by shoving it at a parent: Hand Hand Fingers Thumb.)

Jolly updates: his monologue above makes it obvious that his parents decided it was time to say goodbye to diapers (save for sleep). This proved to be significantly harder than expected, and this is still consuming vastly more time than any of us ever wanted to devote to output. It's been three weeks, and it is Still. So. Hard. Guys. In other respects but most definitely not this one, Jolly is a delight. He is currently on a big Rupert Bear kick, and was allowed to watch Rupert and the Frog Song as his first video... which has also manifested itself in a cheesy British accent being put on much of the time. Apart from the whole toilet thing, he's a joy, by which I mean, he seems to save up his willful naughtiness for Ephiny. Ha ha.