12 Month MD Check-up

We finally got to go to the doctor for Kayla's one year check up today.  Last week, we took her to the doctor since she had been sick for over a week and she was sticking her fingers in her ears so we just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything serious going on.  Turns out she had/has a double ear infection.  I guess this isn't too big of a deal since she really hasn't been sick in her whole first year of life so the Dr. H today told me that usually kids fight these things off pretty well, especially if it isn't consistently happening to her.  Here are her 1 year (3 week) stats:

Weight:  20 lb 5 oz (32.72%)

Height: 2 ft 6.5 inches (85.7%)

Head Circumference:  47.5 cm (96.09%!!!  What!?!)

Apparently, her head is growing larger as her height and weight are staying pretty consistently in the same percentiles.  Well, I take that back.  I think she shrank a little bit (height was 95th percentile at 9 months).  I, however, am partially blaming this on how dramatically terrifying this appointment was for Kayla, and myself really.

When we got there and the nurse brought us back, everything was ok.  Then the nurse got up, got some alcohol swabs out and Kayla completely lost it.  Screamed while she sat in my lap and the nurse measured her head.  Screaming when I lied her down to measure her and really screamed while she was getting weighed.  She was practically inconsolable.  Then the nurse left and I gave her some snacks and she was a little better.

Cue Dr. H.  Everything was fine at first, but then after talking to me about foods, safety, Kayla's potential motion sickness in the car, the ear infection, etc, Dr. H had to evaluate Kayla (i.e. listen to her chest, look in her ears, at her eyes, at her bum etc.)  She screamed the whole time then Dr. H put her down and she practically ran to me.

Then she calmed down again (with more snacks...call me Momma Bribery) and the second nurse came in for the shots.  There were 3 shots this time around.  Talk about torture.  What I really like about the pediatrician is that she explained to me the side affects of all the shots, the worst case scenarios etc.  Then she explained to me that since Kayla hasn't even really gotten a fever with any of the other shots we've gotten, there should be no problem with these shots.  I've always been on the pro-vaccination on a normal schedule boat, but it's nice to know that she is giving me the information along with her 20+years of experience and letting me choose.  Anyways, back to the nurse with the shots.  Kayla actually was in a much better mood and let this nurse hold her!  I was hopeful this would be better, but I was wrong.  3 shots and lots of screaming and crying later, Kayla had 3 very cute purple bandaids on her little legs and I was heading upstairs to have her blood drawn.

I mean seriously!?  I didn't even know they could draw a 1 year old's blood.  Well, this was by far the worse part of the day for me because she is so strong they needed me to hold her on my lap (tightly), another tech to hold her arm out for the needle (and she was seriously pulling away), and the other tech to actually draw her blood.  But, we survived and I got lots of cuddling time with my little peanut today.

Some more milestone information:

Physical milestones:  Kayla is pretty much running everywhere now.  She climbs up onto things herself and does pretty well getting back down going backwards.  This I would say is her strongest category.

Motor milestones:  Kayla has a very nice pincer grasp and a very good pointer finger.  She has also made sign language leaps and bounds!  I'm thinking of trying to add a few more signs to our repertoire.

Eating:  I don't even want to talk about this because I swear Kayla refuses to eat normal food for me.  She eats pretty well for everyone else and we try to get her a good rounded diet.  She really loves fruit though.  We will be trying some whole milk soon since the doctor told me I could do that instead of formula now.

Sleeping/Napping:  The past few weeks have been hard because she's been sick.  The nighttime sleep is a little up and down.  Some nights she sleeps great and others she seems to be wide awake for a while in the middle of the night.  Naps are also a struggle right now.  We aren't sure if she is trying to transition to one nap or if she is just struggling with normalcy because of being sick.  Oh well, I'm not trying to over analyze sleeping anymore!

Speech:  Kayla babbles A LOT, but I haven't really caught any words yet.  Although, I think she says "off" pretty well and regularly (and correctly).  She often tries to repeat after me and it's sort of funny watching her move her tongue around.  She's working so hard on words!  She understands so much though!  She can point to her nose and if I ask her where something is she can usually get it or will point to it.  Dr. H told me they should have 2-5 words at 15 months and that would normally be when they could follow simple commands.  I told her Kayla does follow very simple commands and she said that was great.

Over all, Kayla is doing great minus the double ear infection.  Yet another nice validation that we are pretty ok parents! :)

Here are some photos I took of Kayla on her actual first birthday!

She is so advanced.

I know it's blurry but I love this one.  

She does this thing where she puts her hands like this and reaches for something (me, the couch, her chair, the laundry basket) when she wants me to pick her up or put her on/in something.  So cute.

Loving her birthday balloons from the baby store, Wonder!

Hanging with Daddy.