Wes turned nine months old last Thursday. It’s hard to believe we have a kid who’s three-quarters of the way to a year old.

The doctor says Wes is looking good. But it’s routine for kids with Down syndrome to be checked by an ear-nose-throat doctor before they’re a year old, so we’ll be heading to Primary Children’s Hospital soon for that. Kids with DS commonly have problems with their ears and nasal tracts because they’re narrower than in other kids. I’ve met a lot of moms whose kids have tubes placed in their ears when they’re quite young. But I’m not too worried about Wesley’s ears; he obviously hears just fine and hasn’t had an ear infection. Our doctor tried to take a look at Wesley’s ears but there was so much wax it was hard to get a good view. He even scraped some out and still had a hard time. How can one kid have so much ear wax?

At four months, he was:

9 lbs 7.5 oz (7th percentile on DS chart)
22 inches long (13th percentile)
14.6 inch head circumference (20th percentile)

At six months he was:

11 lbs 13 oz (11th percentile on DS chart)
24 inches long (16th percentile)
15.4 inch head circumference (26th percentile)

And this month he’s:

14 lbs 4 oz (23rd percentile on DS chart)
26 inches long (25th percentile)
about 16 inches head circumference (26th percentile)

The nurse has to print out his measurements on the special chart for boys with Down syndrome, because the curve is different for regular kids. She was having trouble getting the DS chart up at first, so she printed his stats on the regular chart. Compared with normal kids, Wes is in the 1 percentile for weight!

He’s obviously growing and doing well. He’s doesn’t seem much interested in learning to scoot or crawl, but he’ll lift his legs and feet and walk if we hold him under the arms and help him a little.

Here are two pictures to show how far he’s come in nine months.

Wes is ten days old in this photo. I’m dressing him after a bath in the hospital. He’s wearing preemie diapers and clothes–both of which are far too big for him still.

Wes is almost nine months here. He’s sitting up, eating solids, wearing 3-month-size clothing and size 1-2 diapers. And smiling as usual.