Lesley had her 12 month checkup on Wednesday afternoon. Let me tell you how difficult it is to corral a naked toddler (sigh, I can no longer say baby) who wants to investigate everything, while you wait for the doctor to enter the room. And, of course the conversation with the nurse AND the doctor both start with, "Can she stand on her own for 5 seconds without falling?" "Yes." "Does she cruise along furniture?" "No, not really, she prefers to just walk on her own." Too bad the exam rooms aren't bigger and allow you to leave socks/shoes on the kiddos. Lesley could have shown them her walking skills.
Here are her stats:
Weight: 21 pounds, 5 ounces, 55th percentile
Height: 28.5 inches, 35th percentile
Head: Big, 90th percentile
She seems to have gotten longer and leaner over the past few months. All that walking she does...and a lot of days it feels more like running to those of us who have to keep up with her. She's just starting to wear size 4 shoes, although they are still a little big for her so that slows her down a little.
A few other discussion points with the doctor:
- Kids learn cause and effect about age 1, so this means discipline is now a good thing to start implementing. She offered some good suggestions, although she did caution that it might take 50-60 attempts at saying "no" and following by a form of "time-out" before your 1 year old will figure it out. Hmmm...that's a lot, but I bet we'd hit that number in any given weekend.
- She requested that we leave Lesley's carseat rear facing until she reached 30 pounds. The actual "rule" in place is 20 pounds and 1 year old, but the American Pediatric Association is in the process of changing it to 30 pounds. So, looks like Lesley will still be facing the back for a bit longer.
- The doctor was not alarmed when I mentioned that Lesley's eating habits aren't so great right now. One week she loves green beans, then she will absolutely refuse to eat them for several weeks. Same with pears or grilled cheese or fish. She also loves that she can get snacks out of the pantry by herself. Granted, she can't open most of the things she pulls out, but it's hard to reason with a child who wants a cracker when you are offering her carrots instead. The doctor had some good ideas to change things up, and she just reiterated that our job is to continue and offer healthy choices. Lesley's job is to choose to eat them.
- She also strongly encouraged us to wean Lesley off bottles by the end of her 14th month. We're getting there at home, one morning this week she refused her bottle and just wanted milk from a sippy cup. So, I guess that's a sign this process might not be too bad. Now, we just need to take those bottle away from the babysitter.
Observations from this week:
- Lesley wants to go outside all the time now. She can see the neighborhood kids playing in the cul-de-sac and really, really wants to be out there with them. She will even locate her shoes and carry them to the stairs. She then sits on the stairs and motions for me to put them on her. Every day I pick her up from the sitter, I have her sit on the stairs so I can put her shoes on. I guess she thinks this will work at home too. Once I get her shoes on, she reached for her and coat and tries to get her arms in. So, with the nice weather, we've taken a few walks around the backyard and to visit the neighbor kids.
- One night when it was time for her to eat, I was prepping her tray and she got impatient. She headed over to the drawer where we keep her bibs and washcloths. She opened it, grabbed a bib, and attempted to put it around her neck while heading to the high chair. Smarty pants!
- For several months now, I have been trying to teach her the sign for "more". She's figured it out, except she uses the sign when she's hungry or wants a snack. I.e., she'll grab a box of crackers out of the pantry, carry them over to one of us, and then sign "more". I guess whenever I would use it, she was eating so it makes sense that she associates it with hunger.
- Last weekend my mom (or someone) commented that Lesley covers her mouth when she coughs, like "wow, what good manners!" I assured her it was an accident, but it got me thinking "why couldn't she learn that?" So, Jason and I quickly started asking her to cover her mouth when she coughs and pretend to cough so she can watch us. She had it figured out after a couple days. Now we catch her faking a cough over and over agaain and her hand over her mouth. I guess she thinks it's a game.
- She got this fun tea pot with tea cups and cookies for a birthday present. It even makes noise when you tip the tea pot to pour it. We have had a lot of pretend tea parties this week where she pours us tea and wants us to drink it.
