Check-up round-up

Laurel had her one-year check-up yesterday! We are grateful to report that she is healthy and doing well.

As far as her growth, she continues to be tall and is increasingly slim. She grew one inch in the last two months, bringing her up to 30 inches; for height she remained in the 75th percentile for girls her age. She gained slightly less than one pound in the same time period, and now weighs 18 pounds and six ounces; for weight she dropped from the 25th to the 20th percentile.

The doctor noticed the drop, of course, and he did ask if she was "a very picky eater." She has only just begun to express food preferences, so although she now throws broccoli onto the floor, I can't blame the steady eight-month-long decrease (at four months of age she was in the 60th percentile for weight) on picky eating.

She is, however, a slooooooow eater. She's even slower than me, and that's saying something! Feeding her dinner can take longer than 30 minutes; we often stop because we get tired of doing it. First Isaac leaves the dinner table, then Craig; then I finish eating, but Laurel is still accepting every third bite of food I offer. (Sometimes she is too busy watching her brother run around the room to concentrate on eating!) The doctor wasn't worried. His advice was to make sure she isn't filling up on carbohydrate snacks and juice, and to give her lots of dairy fat. Since she is breast-feeding and has never had juice, I don't think that's a problem.

The other issue was her lack of mobility, which you may recall concerned the doctor at Laurel's 10-month check-up. Remember the doctor told us he would recommend an occupational therapist if she had not begun crawling by one year? Well, Laurel has improved a lot in the last two months, and although she isn't crawling yet, the doctor held off on the therapist based on our assurances of her steady progress. She still scoots along on her bottom, but as I mentioned two weeks ago, she has become strong enough to get up on her hands and knees and make a sort of crawling movement, although it quickly reverts into scooting or creeping.

The doctor wanted to be sure she doesn't have a physical disability, a hidden weakness that is preventing mobility, but we didn't think so. She pulls herself up constantly, and although she falls a lot and is very unsteady, it is clear that upright is her preferred position. She enjoys teetering around while holding onto our hands, and I find myself wondering if she might actually walk before she crawls.

The doctor also asked about Laurel's language development. Does she seem to understand what we are saying? I know she understands words, although as I mentioned before, I'm not sure how many because she isn't that eager to communicate. But she gets very excited when I mention things she loves, like cheese, book, or cracker, and she recognizes all of our names as well as the names of her dolls. (Did I tell you she loves dolls and pictures of people's faces, much as Isaac loved trucks?)

Does she speak any words yet? Not really. She says "Mama," but I don't know if she always means me. Sometimes she says "Nay-nay-nay" when she means no, and she also shakes her head. But the closest thing to a real word is "Uh-oh," which she says when she drops something.

Anything else notable from the check-up? Well, she cried the entire time. She must have an excellent memory, because as soon as she got a good look at the exam room, especially the crinkly paper on the table, she started screaming.