18 Month Doctor Appointment

Yesterday Nadia had her 18 month doctor appointment (exactly 2 weeks before she'll turn 18 months old). We had a different nurse than we usually do, and this nurse weighed her with only a diaper on, whereas the other nurse weighs her with her clothes and shoes on. With only a diaper on, she weighed 2 ounces shy of 25 pounds. This puts her at the 64th percentile which is just a smidge higher than the percentile she was for weight at 12 and 15 months. The doctor questioned the accuracy of the height measurement. I agree with the doctor that Nadia is not in the 98th percentile for height. That would be quite a jump since she was at the 30th percentile 3 months ago. Previously they didn't have any H1N1 vaccines for her age group, but they did have some yesterday. Nadia got that plus one other vaccination; she usually has received 4-5 vaccinations so it was nice that she "only" had two yesterday. She has to return in 4 weeks for the second half of the H1N1 vaccine plus one other booster. Then I don't think she needs any more shots for quite awhile (YAY!). Her next well visit won't be until she's two; she's never gone that long between doctor appointments before. Nadia received a clean bill of health with the exception of a slight heart murmur. The doctor didn't seem concerned about this, but Paul wasn't happy to hear about it.

I was able to answer "yes" to all the questions the doctor asked about Nadia's development. She was impressed by the size of Nadia's vocabulary. Today she said her first 3 syllable word - basketball. Most of her newest words are animals such as owl, monkey, bunny, hamster, and Elmo. She will say them without having heard them recently when she sees one in a book. It is great to be able to communicate more with her these days. This morning when it was time for her morning nap I asked her, "Do you know what time it is?" and she replied "nap." Good job, Nadia - correct answer! :-)

As I looked through the papers the doctor gave us, the only skill listed as one that children should have at 18 months which Nadia doesn't have yet is feeding herself with a spoon. It said now is the time to have her start using a fork. Hmm is it wrong of me to not be in a rush to have her learn to feed herself with a spoon and fork? She gives herself cold milk with her sippy cup and feeds herself with her fingers, but we feed her foods like yogurt. She likes to bang the top of her highchair with a spoon or pretend to feed her bear with a spoon, but that's about the extent of her usage of spoons and forks thus far. One of Nadia's newest delights is walking backwards. She thinks it's quite fun!!

Nadia really isn't totally healthy yet although her nose isn't running much any more and she isn't coughing nearly as much. Last night in fact she had her worst episode of throwing up in bed (started with a coughing fit). Paul called me to come up and rock her (she was still in "sleepy" mode) while he changed her mattress pad and sheet in the dark. We threw the blanket, sheet, and mattress pad in the washing machine right away. It is very nice to have two of each of those in instances like this! I hope she totally gets over this cold in the VERY near future.