12 month checkup

Anya had her 12 month checkup today.

Weight: 21-1/2 pounds (50-75%) chunker!
Height: 29-1/2 inches (50%)

It was a good thing I had to reschedule her checkup for this week. Apparently she has an ear infection. She was a little crankier than usual the other day, but I figured it was teething-related. The doctor wasn't going to initially treat it, since it was mild. But since we're flying in a few days, he decided to give her antibiotics to make sure it's gone. Otherwise, there was the possibility of a ruptured eardrum in flight. That would have been fun!

Besides the ear infection, all is well. She's very healthy and a little ahead of the curve developmentally. She also got her shots today. After much deliberation, I opted for the standard vaccine schedule, but made sure she got a few "safe" specific brands. And there ya go.

9 months

Anya is 9 months old today! Wow, how time flies. That means there are only 3 months left to plan for her birthday gala. What ever shall we do?!

She had her well baby visit with the pediatrician this morning. All is great, although she developed her first case of diaper rash this morning (need to cut out yogurt for a week to see if that's the culprit). I swear she is her most charming with Dr. Numrych. She was playing a "give and take" game with the tongue depresser with him. I've never seen her do that before. [edit since my mom didn't know what I meant by this: Dr. gives Anya tongue depresser, Anya takes and plays with it for a few seconds and then reaches over and puts it in doctor's hand, Dr. says thank you and gives it back, process repeats]

Weight: 17 lbs, 12 oz (25-50 percentile)
Length: 27.5 inches (50 percentile)

As per tradition, here's the roundup of accomplishments:

Locomotion

• Anya is cruising regularly


• She also crawls a lot -- usually to get to a place to stand and then cruise, or to chase a cat


• Occasionally she can stand freely for a few seconds before plopping down on her butt, but it's not usually her idea to let go...it's her mean, mean parents


• Sometimes she will walk assisted with just one of my hands, but usually wants/needs both


• Anya is quite cautious and seems to have a decent sense of space. She almost never hits her head (she did a month ago a handful of times when first pulling to stand). She tends to only fall over when she misjudges the sturdiness of objects she's using to stand/cruise with

Speech

• Still says "kitty" (although now it sounds more like "kit" or "key").


• I have witnessed her point to a picture of a baby or child and clearly say "baby" on a few occasions.


• Sometimes says "doy" when pointing to the dog


• Recently started imitating our speech, like if we say "bowbowbow" or "yayayaya" or blow raspberries, she imitates. Sometimes she imitates the general sound/inflection of a sentence we say, and a few times she has repeated words right after we've said them ("up" is the only one that comes to mind, but there may have been another word)

Other development

• Very recently started pointing to objects/people she is interested in


• Apparently plays game of "give and take," as witnessed this morning


• Capable of imitating our use of an object (like shaking a maraca/egg rattle, playing drum, etc)


• Looks for objects/toys I hide (simply) from her or objects she drops


• Waves (cute: she waved at the woman on a wall poster we've got in the dining room the other week) and still claps often

Food

• We're down to nursing twice a day and she's on formula other times (solid foods dropped my supply and I didn't try very hard to increase it)
• She is eating lots of different foods now: most vegetables (except tomatoes), most fruits (except citrus, strawberries, pineapple, mango), grains (rice, oatmeal, millet, quinoa, amaranth). Yogurt (although might be causing problems), cheerios, toast strips, noodles/pasta, its of cheese, and a taste of any "safe" thing I'm eating.


• We haven't tried meat or tofu yet, but I'll get around to it. Want to try beans first


• Does not like lentils, no matter how I try to disguise them. Does not particularly like carrots, but will eat them

snapped 2 days ago. I can't tell if she looks more like a Lodwig or Miller in this pic

6 month update

5/2/08 update: we're back from Anya's 6 month well-child appointment. She weighs 15 lbs, 2 oz (25-50%) and is 26 inches long (50-75%). So it looks like she just went through a little growth spurt. The pediatrician says she's doing great and is right on track.

Also an interesting note: Anya, Laika, a new mom friend of mine (and her kids), and I are on the cover of today's Seattle PI. They were running a story on the real estate market and desirable neighborhoods in the area, and snapped some pictures of us. He took a bunch of close-ups of Anya, but they ended up printing a farther off shot, with Laika in the foreground

Wow, I can't believe 6 months has already gone by! A half year. It's gone by so quickly and Anya has accomplished so much. The last 2 weeks have been especially busy for the mini Lodwig.

• She started solid food and has taken to eating from the spoon pretty well. She manages to get more into her mouth than I expected. So far we've tried rice cereal, sweet potato, and avocado. And McDonald's Happy Meal (with Diet Coke - to keep her girlish figure) for a special treat.


• Yesterday, Anya cut her first tooth! It explains why she's been especially cranky the last few days and why I jumped 2 feet in the air when she chomped me while breastfeeding yesterday. Our little girl is all grown up *wistful sigh*


• She has mastered sitting on her own and balances pretty well.


• I expect Anya will begin crawling in the coming month. She is not fully on her knees yet, but she occasionally gets them under her and manages to (accidentally) crawl backwards one "step". Mostly she pivots on her belly and spins to the direction she wants to be in and then kicks her legs wildly (going nowhere).

I'll update this when we get back from the pediatrician this Friday -- it's Anya's 6 month well check and we'll get her measurements.

on a little family trip to a cabin on Whidbey Island. 

visiting with Grandma

4 month update

Today Anya turned 4 months old. We just got back from the pediatrician's office. The doctor says she's doing great. She weighs 13 lbs, 11 oz (50-75th percentile) and is 24-1/4 inches long (50th percentile). Since Anya has consistently been in the 50th percentile since birth, she's following her growth curve well.

As far as development, Anya is very close to rolling over from her back to her front. When placed on her back, she usually rolls to one side and then the other. She makes it about 90% to a complete roll, but her arm keeps her from rolling all the way. I expect we'll see a complete roll in the coming weeks. As far as tummy to back, Anya has it down. She has sessions of tummy time where she constantly rolls over to her back, and other times she seems to be content on the belly. I remember I was worried the other month that she forgot how to do it. I'm sure I'll find something else to worry about soon enough.

Also in physical development, Anya can support herself on her legs for fairly long periods of time. We sometimes "walk" her (by shifting her hips and letting her pick up and move her legs/feet). She can also pull up to a stand from lying down when she's holding our hands & we pull her up gently. She also grabs toys and any objects in front of her. Most of the time if she gets ahold of them, they go straight to her mouth.

Social/mental development: Anya continues to be a chatterbox and seems to be proud when she's learned how to make a new sound (her favorites have been a kind of gargle and a spitting sound). She definitely recognizes Chris and I & gets excited when we walk into a room. She is also starting to recognize Laika and the cats. Chris told me yesterday that Anya got excited when she saw Morgana and then reached out & petted/grabbed her. She did that last night with Laika too. Overall, Anya is still a very happy and social baby. Chris and I feel so lucky to have her.

**edit 6pm: Anya just rolled over from her back to her belly :-)