Ellie's 18 month checkup

Ellie's regular PED is on leave due to a hip replacement (ouch!), so Ellie saw another doctor in the practice for her 18 month checkup. Dr. S is really cool, and we had even been considering switching Ellie to him since he's so good with her (not that her regular PED isn't!) I think that idea was solidified on Monday. He's just very patient and kind, has an excellent bedside manner, and, well, he's nice to look at:)~

The stats: height = 33in (80th %ile); weight = 24lbs 15oz (60th %ile); and head circumference = 49.5cm (95th %ile). I asked about her head circumference again, seeing as it's been in the 90th %ile and up since she was born, but he took one look at me and said, "She gets that from her mommy." I had to laugh. Here I thought I had a SMALL head. Harry just turned to me and said, "I told you so!" So I have a big head! LOL.

He asked how well she's talking, and I told her I can understand a lot of what she says, even though it's not really clear to anyone else. I'd say she can verbalize at least 30 different words to me. He turned to Harry and asked, "And how many can Dad make out?" Harry thinks for a minute and says, "Eight." Dude, you can understand more than eight words out of her mouth. When we left the office, I rattled off 10 within seconds, and he goes, "Oh, yeah. He just put me on the spot!"

When looking over the "where your child should be at 18 months," I was surprised to see that 6-10 words is the norm. I thought it was more than that. The doc said she's right on target with verbalization.

As for cognitive thinking, she's off the chart. She has been for awhile. She understands pretty much everything we say to her (she doesn't always listen, mind you, but she understands). Example: She had pulled her socks off Saturday after naptime and stuffed them in the microwave of her little kitchen. A few hours later, I asked her if her feet were cold, and if she'd like to put her socks back on. She marched over to her kitchen, got the socks, and brought them over to me. I was speechless.

And for the biggest and best news... the vaccines she received on Monday are the last until she goes to kindergarten! YAY! Thank God. One of the VACS she got was for tetanus, so we were prepared for soreness and fever (I just got one on Sunday, too, for the eye injury, and my arm is STILL swollen and red and hot - ick). We gave her some Motrin yesterday as a preventative measure, and her little leg was red and swollen last night, but she's all good now. Wish my swelling would go down that quickly!

So a good visit all in all. And we don't have to go back until she's 2. I'm sure she's just as happy about that as we are.