![\"\"](\"https:\/\/marcusandshona.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/IMG_0860.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0860\\"")
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Today Emrick had his 18-month check-up. There’s no big news really; he’s doing fine. His height percentile ranking has increased, from 1 to 7. I am a little skeptical of the 7 because I think they measured him a little long (they always do), but I’d guess in reality he is still at the 4th or 5th percentile, which is good. And his head circumference percentile is smaller, too. So his proportions are balancing out (somewhat).<\/p>\n
The only “issue” that came up was something I asked about. Emrick’s soft spot is still not totally closed. It’s mostly<\/em> closed, but you can still feel a definite indentation there. The endocrinologist, with whom Emrick had a second visit in January, had noted the open spot at that appointment and said she wouldn’t be concerned about it unless it was still open at 18 months. Well, here we are; Emrick is 18 months old and still has a small soft spot on his head. So I asked the pediatrician about it. He felt the spot and was not concerned in the slightest. He said he was “surprised” that the endo indicated that 18 months is when a still-there soft spot should be investigated. The standard, he said, is two years. Even then, a late-closing soft spot doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. As an example, he told me of a patient he saw once who had an open soft spot at age four . He sent the kid to a neurologist who determined there was nothing wrong with the kid, that was just his head. So I am not worrying about it, not that I was really tempted to, since Emrick obviously seems to be doing just fine in every other respect. Plus, as Marcus pointed out, a big head like Emrick’s is bound to take a little longer to close. Perfection takes time, I guess. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n