18months

Emma had her 18 month check up today, although she's a few weeks past her 18month mark.

Stats
Weight 29.4lbs (97th percentile)
Length 34in (96th percentile)
Head circumference 19.3in (97th percentile)

She did much better than she has in the past. She watched her pediatrician very closely but was quiet throughout most of the visit. She didn't mind when she put the stethoscope on her, perhaps because we've been playing with a stethoscope at home quite a bit. She was not a fan of having her ears checked out. Turns out she has an ear infection, which I'm not surprised. She's had a runny nose, cough, diarrhea, and vomiting for the last few days.

We've been sick on and off since she started daycare. She's been sick pretty consistently (although the severity changes). Luckily I haven't had to take any time off work yet. All of her high fevers and vomiting/diarrhea have happened on my days off. Steve and I have only picked up one virus so far. Steve is sick now, and I had it last week. I'm sick of being sick (or at least Emma being sick). I'm hopeful that it will slow down eventually but we likely have several months more of this. The daycare is pretty lenient about bringing kids with colds, which is good if you have to work. But it's also bad because then everybody is bringing and sharing germs.

Emma's sleep schedule lately is all over the place. I try to stay consistent for her but she has been fighting falling asleep on most nights.  I can't really figure it out. Possibly because she's been sick for the past month? We give her Tylenol when we know she's uncomfortable but otherwise I can't really figure it out. I try to not pick her up out of her crib when she's crying, although it's hard to know if she doesn't feel well or if she just doesn't want to go to bed. She's a bit of a night owl and likes staying up late. Even on the days she's sick, we can tell that she's tried and she really won't fall asleep anywhere besides her crib.

Yesterday, we ventured out to a playground since we had been couped up in the house all weekend with a stomach bug. Although we had never been to this playground, it was near our house and was ranked as one of the better parks in the area. Sounds great, right?
Literally the first 10 seconds of getting on the playground to go down a slide, a HUGE wasp lands on her shirt. She tried to hit it away, then I jumped up the slide to get her and get the wasp off her. It happened pretty quickly. Once I got her down, I noticed that there were at least 10 wasps right above the slide. She cried when it happened but only for 10 seconds or so. I thought that I just startled her by lunging up the slide to grab her. We ended up going tot he other half of the playground for bigger kids (far away from the wasps) for 20 minutes or so before we headed home. Once we got home, I looked at her belly and noticed that the wasp stung her through her shirt. It left a big mark on her chest and a huge red area around it. Yet she just happily played at the park after she got stung. I'm pretty sure I would have been crying if that damn wasp stung me. It was massive. She is so unbelievably tough. It really amazes me. She surely didn't get her toughness from me!
I was concerned about other kids getting stung, so I ended up calling the Baptist church that owns the playground. They were very appreciative and said they would call the exterminator.

Emma also had blood work at her check-up today to ensure she's not anemic (luckily she's not). The phlebotomist was really impressed with how well Emma did. She was very curious but didn't mind getting her finger pricked. She kept reiterating that most kids don't do nearly as well as her. She's one tough cookie! The lady might have thought differently if Emma had gotten vaccinations. We didn't have her vaccination records so Emma lucked out. It also made sense to wait a couple of weeks and give her time to get over her virus.

The bad news for Emma is that we're going to have to stop her bottle. I inquired about milk intake at her check-up today. She said to aim for 16-20oz/day with a maximum of 24oz. Emma drinks at least double that amount daily (if not triple). She LOVES her milk and loves her bottle even more. By giving her sippies and cups of milk, her intake will drop significantly. This is going to be quite a battle, I'm sure. Instead of going cold turkey like Dr.Slowik recommended, we are going to cut back to just morning/night bottles until she gets over her cold(s). Then we might try giving them up all together. I guess we'll see.

Emma still has ants in her pants. She was born that way and it hasn't changed one bit. So she still won't sit for most diaper changes. I'd say maybe one or two out of ten diaper changes, she'll sit still the whole time. Usually I"ll count with her to distract her. Giving her toys to distract her usually doesn't help. The pediatrician said she wasn't concerned about her squirminess and thought it was a combination of her age and her temperament. One of her guesses is that she's just very curious and always wants to be exploring.

She's currently in 3T clothing. Some of the hand-me-downs from Sylvie (thank you Marilyn for sending them along) are 4-5 and they fit her. Actually some of the clothing is "slim" but still for a 4-5 year old and doesn't fit Emma. She's just a big girl. I'm so curious to see if her growth slows down or if she'll be really tall. I guess that would be pretty fun. I always wanted to be taller! My guess is that she'll be taller than me.

Totally random, but I was thinking the other day that if I had to guess what Emma would be when she grows up, based on Emma's love of animals and love of hair, my best guess is that she'll want to be a vet or hair stylist. :-)

Look at the photo below and you'll see that she's learned to say "Cheese" and smile. She's pretty cute when she does this! I also need to start a list of all the things she says because I love how she talks. She calls Mickey Mouse, "mee" She loves her Mickey! She is really starting to talk up a storm. She's also very affectionate and it really warms my heart. She gives the sweetest kisses. She is the light of my life!
August photos here

Cheese!

Somebody needs a haircut :-)