Lucas Camilo

Lucas was weighed at our latest doctor’s appointment yesterday and believe it or not he officially passed the 20 pound mark.  Remember, this is a little guy who was born at just over 4 pounds and actually dropped down to 3 pounds 12 ounces before turning the corner.  His growth over the past five months has been especially impressive… and not just his weight, which is still under the 50th percentile for his corrected age of 8 months (since he was born 2 months premature).  Rather, it’s his height that is most astonishing, coming in at about 30 inches yesterday.

Being long is characteristic of kids with MTM so it’s not that surprising.  But we actually worry sometimes that he’s growing too fast, since more weight can mean more difficulty moving for a guy with such low muscle tone, while his extraordinary length raises concerns about the possibility of scoliosis down the line, since he still doesn’t have the strength in his trunk to hold up his growing body.  In part for that reason Lucas was fitted for some body braces on Thursday that will help with his posture, trunk strength, and by extension, breathing.

For now we’re not too worried about the dramatic growth, mostly just amazed at how much Lucas has changed – in lots of ways – since those scary early days when he was about as skinny as a Popsicle stick.  Meanwhile, Lucas and Rafi got to spend some more quality time together the other day, producing this hilarious moment: