Andrea’s Weblog

Elizabeth went in for her 15 month check-up on Monday. I almost
forgot about the appointment because we had a surprise visitor for
the weekend. Frank and my sister Kirsten conspired to surprise me for
my 30th birthday, so Friday night Frank showed up at the house with
Kirsten all the way from Baltimore. I was definitely surprised, and
when Elizabeth woke up the next morning, I think she was surprised
too. We also had Frank’s friend Kevin visiting from California, but I
think he was mostly here for our annual Halloween bash.

Anyhow, Elizabeth weighs in at 23.5 pounds and 33.5 inches. That
keeps her in the 55th percentile for weight and off the charts in
height. (I guess I say height now instead of length since she’s
walking.) The nurse originally measured her at 31 inches then tried
to convince me that was fine because that puts her in the 55th
percentile for height and weight. It’s fine since she’s in the same
percentile for both–nevermind the fact that she was that height at
her last check-up and therefore (by her calculations) hadn’t grown at
all. I just stood there and smiled at her strange form of logic. I
mentioned this to the doctor and she sighed and called the nurse back
to re-measure.

Another nurse came in to give Elizabeth her shots. She warned me that
the measles shot is very painful. Amazingly, Elizabeth didn’t cry for
her shots. This is the second time in a row. The nurse said she’s
never had a baby who didn’t cry for his measles shot. It was a
different story, however, when Kirsten and I tried to get her back
into her dress. The shot didn’t bother her, but she refused to let us
put her dress on her and started crying. Shoes and tights were fine,
but NO DRESS!

As far as other milestones go, Elizabeth has learned how to speak
martian–at least that’s what it sounds like. She’s started combining
strings of consonants in rapid succession so it sounds like she’s
speaking a different language. It’s hard to describe this transition,
but before she would get stuck on individual sounds “ba-be, na-na…”
Now it sounds more like “matu pika bingie.” She sounds so earnest
that I can’t help thinking “why can’t I understand her?”

Elizabeth is still nursing- especially days when we’re sitting around
the house. (I say that like I lounge around all day- ha!) We’re going
to let her self-wean, which should happen in the next year. She
benefits so much from breast milk, both physically and emotionally, I
don’t see why I should forcefully wean her. She usually just nurses
to sleep and nurses a lot in the morning - especially if she wakes up
on the wrong side of the bed. I tend to encourage the morning nursing
so I can get a cup of coffee and prepare for the day while I’m not
running around after her. She’ll also nurse at night, which since she
sleeps with us isn’t a problem.