Spencer and Alex both had doctor's appointments on Monday. Alex saw the opthomologist for his six month check-up. He has become more near-sighted since his last exam. He can see clearly without his glasses only about two inches in front of his face. I was pretty upset that his eyes have become worse. I've been so diligent about making sure he wears his glasses. The doctor, however, reminded me that with the condition he had (ROP) many children end up losing part or all of their vision. The fact that he has full vision and can wear corrective lenses to see normally is a miracle of modern medicine. She's right, and I'm so thankful that he's not blind, thanks to two rounds of laser eye surgery. She said Alex's eyes will probably continue to get worse, but at some point it will stop; he can only be so near-sighted. He'll always wear corrective lenses, unless someday he has surgery again to correct his vision. I've told him that I'll pay for it when he's older if he wants it, but maybe he'll always want to wear glasses. He's so cute in them anyway!

I took Spencer in to the pediatrician for a weight check. The last time he was there was July 10th, and he was exactly 16 pounds. On Monday, two months later, he weighed 19 lbs. 11 oz.; that's nearly a four pound weight gain! He has also been off of Prevacid for three weeks now. I forgot to give it to him one day; by the time I remembered it was the end of the day and he was doing fine. I thought, "Why not try taking him off and see how he does?" He is eating and drinking just as much as always, and not spitting up. It seems Spencer's reflux has subsided, and now he's growing like crazy. He's actually getting a double chin!

Apparently Tuesday morning Alex woke up and decided "I think I'll learn to pull myself to standing on the coffee table today. Aw, heck, why don't I just go ahead and learn to cruise!" That's my Alex, continuing to catch up by leaps and bounds. He cruised halfway around the coffee table without any assistance! Now he's all over the place, getting more confident all the time. I swear he's going to walk before Spencer (their therapists think so, too). Don't worry, Spence, it's not a competition. We just utterly amazed that Alex is catching up so quickly after everything he's been through.