(no subject)

[the_rck]

Delia's 15 month pediatrician appointment was Thursday (the day before she became a 16 month old). She's only gained 10 ounces since her last visit. This means she's dropped off the weight chart again. The doctor gave us a referral to a pediatric nutritionist, and I'm going to call to set up that appointment as soon as I get my voice back fully. Basically, we need to figure out a way to get more calories into Delia. Most of the best options won't work because of her allergies or because she dislikes the foods involved.

Apart from her weight, Delia's doing well for her age, hitting all the milestones. She's picking up new words with regularity and understands more than she can actually use yet. She's started demanding that we read books to her, lots of them (or, rather, the same handful over and over again). Right now, she likes Sandra Boynton's Barnyard Dance and Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs, a couple of books with photographs labeled by color, a shape book and the first eight pages of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (she wants nothing to do with anything after p.8 for some reason). The reading has been a bit frustrating this last week because she's wanted me to do the reading even when Scott's at home and my voice has not been very reliable.

Delia still doesn't have a word for me, but she calls Scott 'addy' or possibly 'eh-addy.' She starts saying it as soon as we hear him coming in the door in the evening. Her most recent words are 'ball' and 'duck' and 'shoes.' 'Ball' comes out more like 'all' and 'duck' as 'guck,' but the association is clear. We repeat each word with the correct pronunciation each time she says it, but just the facts that she uses them with meaning and that we understand them make me and Scott feel like something momentous is happening. And I suppose it is.

Comments

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I was terrified of Outside, Over There when I was about three, and didn't want my Mom to read past the page with the ice baby on it. I remembering just closing the book and running away. I doubt that Toddler D is scared of Dr. Suess, though. ^-^;;

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I also remembering the times when I used good grammar. Yeesh! @_@;;

[the_rck]

We suspect that what's really going on is that she's gotten to know those first few pages really, really well. She has a bathbook version of One Fish, Two Fish that only has those pages, and she likes having that read to her in the tub. I think she just knows the first bit really well and can do more with trying to understand the words. Maybe...

[katinka-cd.livejournal.com]

don't worry too much about the chart - my firstborn was off for approx. eight years. Skinny, small and lightweighted. He puked from day one, up to year five regulary twice a week, we wandered from doc to doc, each had a more unbelieveble explanation. The last one told us not to worry too much, kids gets their kalories as long as you offer food up to more as they eat. The puking regulated one day as I had enough and lost my nerve at the first sign. I thundered at him 'Don't you dare' and since then it stopped abruptly. Now, 19 years old and a healthy, slightly overweighted, young man, he admitted sheepishly he could puke on command, each time he did that he just wanted not to polish his meal and punished us for saying: 'just one more spoon, dear.' Kids can be gross. And as a parent you tend to underestimate their own personality.

[the_rck]

Goodness! I count myself fortunate that Delia's not throwing up. She's just not eating quite as much as perhaps she should. I think she gets distracted and interested in other things. Food is somehow *boring* when compared to emptying out a cupboard or running up and down the hallway yodeling.

I'm just going to keep providing food and hope. She seems healthy enough apart from the slow weight gain.

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

She's picking up new words with regularity

You're gonna wanna put a stop to that, or you'll never have quiet again. <*grin*> We tease the eldest all the time about his loquaciousness - "We taught you to talk, but forgot to teach you how to be quiet!"

She's started demanding that we read books to her, lots of them

Isn't it exciting? We threw ourselves into reading to the Monsters with great glee. The side effect, of course, is that we can still quote entire pages from things like "Calico Cows" and "But No Elephants!", which embarrasses them both mightily.

[the_rck]

I suspect we're never going to get the 'be quiet!' thing across to Delia. We've probably left it too late. ::laugh::

As to the books, I'd started worrying that she wasn't ever going to want us to read to her. For a long time, she wouldn't let us. Of course, now, she won't let me *stop*. There seem to be a lot of extremes in this business...

I'm sure we'll be able to recite parts of her favorite books years from now, too. I hadn't considered the embarrassment factor of that for Delia-- Gotta start the list of things to tease her with later on!