I walked off without my camera this morning, so this will be a pictureless post. But I had Mara to the doctor for her 18 month visit to the pediatrician on Wednesday. I haven't done a great job of keeping her monthly updates going....I blame that on the fact that there are no stickers left....but this one seems like a milestone worthy of a blog post.
In terms of stats, Mara seems to be growing nicely. I wish I could say that's because her diet is so full of wonderful, nutritious food. She is a relatively good eater, probably better than the other kids were at this same age, but we are quickly taking a turn into the land of toddler-hood in terms of eating. She has developed a preference for junk, and has the hard headedness to go along with it. However, her frequent ice cream cones after supper have perhaps helped in the weight gain department. Which I guess isn't all bad. She weighed 22 lb 5 oz which put her in the 20th percentile for height (a 2 lb gain in the past 3 months). She is still about a pound lighter than her brother and sister were at this same age. She was 33 1/2 inches long which put her at the 92nd percentile this time. And her head is apparently exactly average for her age. Which I suppose is good.
Both Jason and I have been a little concerned about her language development over the past few months. She has very few words that she uses frequently other than Mama and the occasional Dada. She will say "baby" and "bottle", "hot", "no" and her favorite, "Nana". She tries to say a lot of other words that don't end up coming out anywhere close to right, but I know what she means. When I addressed this with the doctor and explained her way of communicating through gesturing, motions (such as the way she pretends to blow when she wants to blow bubbles), and her own version of sign language, he said it was nothing to be concerned about as long as she was making an effort to get the words out. He said the words she has at this point are very normal in their quantity and which ones she is trying to say, and that this should continue to develop normally over the next 6-12 months. He asked about her interest in books, which has skyrocketed in the past few weeks. He asked about whether she can identify and point to objects in word books and get the right pictures, which she is definitely doing. So I felt much better about that whole situation after talking to the doctor.
I had to laugh when he asked if her siblings did a lot of talking for her. I mentioned that they are never quiet, and he said that it likely is an issue of her not being able to get a word in edgewise. Makes perfect sense to me.
She had to get two shots, and has had an awful time with them. I think the DTaP is to blame, but she has been fighting a fever and has been holding on to her leg and crying like it is really hurting her. On Wednesday evening, until she got a serious dose of Tylenol into her system, she wouldn't even put any weight on her leg. It just broke my heart. Let's just say it made it extra fun to lug her around at Bible School knowing that she was going to burst into tears if I put her down. The fever continued all day yesterday and through the night last night, but seems to be a bit better this morning. I'm hoping she's feeling better today.
One more night of Bible School to go tonight...and although I wish I had a far better attitude about the whole thing, I am thrilled that we have made it to the end of this very long, very exhausting week. We have a really fun weekend planned with home time tomorrow during the day, DATE NIGHT tomorrow evening, and then what has turned into an early birthday celebration for me on Sunday afternoon. I wish I didn't have the "getting a year older" thing going on, but I will take absolutely any opportunity to see my family and spend a nice afternoon together with them. What a treat! This might turn into the best birthday!
Pictures next week...promise.
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