One Year Well-Baby Visit

Katen visited her pediatrician for her One Year Well-Baby Visit today.

She got her finger pricked to check lead levels and received her Hep A shot. We'll go back next month to get her MMR shot. I chose to delay the Hep B and Varicella shots for now. The reason I asked to go back later for the MMR shot is so that it's the only shot given at that time.

The MMR is a combo shot of three vaccines and I feel like that's plenty for her little immune system to fight off on it's own. Based on research I'm feeling okay about doing the MMR combo though, despite concerns raised about links to autism. A very solid study was conducted in September of 2007 by several reputable medical institutions showing no link between the MMR shot and Autism. Regardless, it's still a lot of vaccine at one time and I think Katen's glad that she didn't get 4 shots in one day. I can't imagine feeling the pain of one shot in each leg and then seeing that they're going to do it all over again once more. I know I personally wouldn't be too happy about that. We'll go back, thank you.

Here are the stats for 12 mos:

• Height: 29 inches (2', 5")
• Weight: 21lbs
• Both in the 50th percentile
• Her soft spot is nearly closed and head circumference is in the 75th percentile.
• We've finally been referred to the allergist to nail down the source of Katen's allergies
• Katen has successfully weaned off of the bottle and uses only sippy cups for drinks
• Next we'll work toward using a regular cup and will begin potty training if interest is shown
• Based on our milestone check, Katen is performing at the 18 month level.
  

She's able to do the following--

13 months milestones:
Bends over and picks up an object
Crouches
Enjoys gazing at reflection
Holds out arm/leg to help dress
Combines words and signs to to indicate needs
Rolls a ball

14 months

Eats with fingers

Empties containers
Imitates others
Walks well
Initiates games
Responds to instructionsUses utensils
Matches lids with containers
Pushes and pulls toys while walking

15 months
Walks backward and Runs
Adopts "no" as a favorite word

16 months

Turns the pages of a book
Has temper tantrums if frustrated
Is attached to a soft toy or other object
Enjoys climbing
Can stack three or more blocks
Is able to take off at least one piece of clothing
Becomes a pickier eater
Takes one nap per day

17 months
Uses six or more words regularly
Dances to music
Kicks ball

18 months
“Reads” books on his own
Strings two words together

--The things she doesn't do yet within those milestone guidelines are in the advanced category and not required to have met the month's milestone:
Points to one body part when asked (we're close – she can tell you what certain animals say though)
Scribbles with a crayon – she'd rather eat them or bang them on the paper
Sorts toys by color, shape, or size

We're pretty excited to see what she learns next.

Now that I'm staying home with Katen every day instead of working, I have more of a chance to take charge of her learning and also to experience her discoveries right along with her. I'm pretty excited about that. I know she's going to miss her toddler friends though.

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Quick Milestone update

Katen's been busy learning lately!
Here are some of her new tricks....

Her bottom teeth are definitely in. They're really cute and she's been feeling them with her tongue. She's also started biting so that needs to stop.

Much to my surprise, she's going from sitting to standing all by herself without leaning on anything. She just gets up on her knees, squats and then stands like a big girl! She can stand alone for quite a while and is coordinated enough to wave at me and not fall over.

Did I mention that she's waving now? Yep, that's cute too. She's also fully caught the swing of using the sippy cup. Too bad it automatically gets thrown overboard every time she uses it though. I ended up tethering it to the high chair tray with a suction cup, and a bungee cord.

Each night before bed we read a book. Usually I point things out to her on the pages but now she gets out her little pointer and points things out to me. That lonely little digit is so sweet.

What else? Ohhh... how could I forget? For mommy's birthday Katen said her first word. Guess what it was.

"Dada."

Oh she's a turkey. Now that's all she says over and over and...

Our music classes seem to be paying off. Play a little music at our house or sing a song and little Pickle immediately begins rocking back and forth or if she's standing she has to do a little dancey dance. I need to get some video.

We're working on weaning from overnight feedings this week. At 10mos Katen should be able to make it through the night without a bottle. She's great about going to sleep in her crib by herself but really pushes for that bottle around midnight and 4am. I've been successful at patting her behind and giving her a lovey to get through the midnight feeding. The 4am one hasn't been so successful so I'm going to start putting half water and half formula in the bottle. If her body learns not to expect the extra calories at night then it won't signal her to wake up hungry. (I have no doubt that she truly does feel hungry.) If she can make it from 7pm to 6am without waking this will be one happy momma!


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Nine Month checkup and Roseola

Here are our big girl's stats at nine months:

Height: 27 inches - 50th percentile
Weight: 19lbs - 50th percentile

They also took blood to check her hemoglobin levels. This tells us how much iron is in her blood. Sometimes children become anemic if they don't have enough iron in their diet. Normal levels for children are 11 - 16 g/dl and Katen's level waws 14 which our pediatrician said is the highest she's seen is quite a while. (Yay!) It really helps that Katen loves her fruits and veggies. She's also doing pretty well with chicken and turkey now. (She used to be a sensitive to chicken.)

Those first two bottom teeth are working their way in and Katen is chewing and drooling on everything. She'll even try to teeth on the stairs. yuck. She's enjoying a little star that vibrates when she chews on it, and also a little raspberry shaped soother that looks like a binky but has bumps to soothe those gums.

Other milestones we discussed are that she's crawling, cruizing, standing with one hand and sometimes no hands, saying a few words (ma, da, cat, baba = bye bye) and waving. She's a pro at throwing her ball, and her latest development is so cute. If you ask her what the kitty says, she'll make these tiny, high pitched little sounds to mimic the cat. It's not "meow" but its more like "eek eek eek." The pediatrician says that kids often times have their own words for things like that and eek eek eek to her means meow. Either way, it's really cute.

During our appointment, I also had our pediatrician check a rash that was taking over Katen's body. On Saturday and Sunday Katen had a pretty high fever. She was hovering in the 102 - 103 degree range even while taking Tylenol every four hours. Late Saturday night I ran out to get some Infant Motrin and that started helping on Sunday night. Katen was still grumpy, having several loose poops, and not sleeping very well though. On Tuesday, I noticed some spots showing up on Katens belly and neck behind her ears. By the time I undressed her for her pediatrician appointment a few hours later, she was covered in red dots. Our pediatrician said right away that it was clearly Roseola.

Katen has to stay out of daycare until the rash is gone. Some sources say it's very contagious and others say its not. Nonetheless, mommy is home with Katen until she's spot free. I'm sure we'll find some fun stuff to do. :)

Here's another time where I sure wish Katen were still nursing. She seems to pick up every little virus despite our best efforts to keep her germ free. (Or as close as it's logical to be given she's a mobile infant who is teething.) She does get a very balanced diet though so we're doing our best!

I also brought up that Katen doesn't like to eat very many oz from her bottles at daycare and the pediatrician said that if she's a good eater, we can move to three meals per day and two snacks. She'd like to see Katen get at least 12 oz of formula though whether that's in a bottle or in a sippy cup. That shouldn't be a problem. I'm planning to try a new eggless recipe for breakfast bars very soon. That will be a handy little breakfast for her during the week. We'll see how that goes.





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A rolling stone gathers no moss

Last week, the trick of the moment was to blow raspberries. THIS week Katen figured out that she can get around by a combination of rolling, scooting, and combat crawling. Usually the target is the cat who she is fascinated with. Just wait until she crawls. The cat is in for a treat. Ha! So far, Katen can push up on her arms, and she can get her knees under her but not both at the same time. If she does manage both at the same time, she doesn't go anywhere... yet. Real crawling is just around the corner though. I can feel it!







She's also rediscovered her voice and has been "singing" to us. Especially when she's tired she'll babble on and on. I heard her having a conversation with the monkeys on her Jumparoo this morning as I got ready for work. It sounded pretty intense!









We're working on the next level of motor skills too. I gave Katen a sippy cup during our play time this morning just to see what she would do with it. Much to my surprise, after showing her how to get it in her mouth, she caught the hang of it. She's still a little akward using both hands together and still bonks herself on the head with it if she gets one hand free, but she gets the concept and can get the nipple part to her mouth. She's also good at passing it from hand to hand but really needs both to ease it into her mouth. Such a smart cookie! (Of course I'm not biased...)