All 4 of us smiling nicely at the same time and looking at the camera? Miracle!
Showing posts with label 18 months. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 18 months. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Almost Wordless Wednesday
The rest of my top favorites from our 18 month photo session, as promised:
Monday, September 19, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
18 Months- Half Way to 2!
First, the 18 months stats: Sam's head circumference was 47 cm (50%ile) and Anna's was 46 1/2 cm (50%ile). After months of greater than 50%ile, it seems like they their bodies are growing into the heads they had. Sam's height was 30 1/2 inches (10-25%ile) while Anna was 31 inches tall (50%ile). That girl has some long legs (probably from her grandpa, because her parents are both shorties!) but a shorter torso than Sam. I do have to say that they seem the same to me when standing, so there might be a margin of error with the height measurements. Weight-wise, Sam dropped %iles to 5%ile(from 10%ile) weighing in at 21 lbs 8 oz. This was only a gain of 2 oz in the past 3 months. Since he eats like he has a hollow leg most days (sometimes more than me), I'm just attributing this small gain to being a typical active toddler. Anna dropped %iles from 5%ile (where she has been most of her life) to 0%ile. She gained only 4 oz in the last 3 months, weighing in at 19 lbs 6 oz. It is slightly entertaining to me that if Sam was only 8 oz lighter and Anna was 1/2 inch shorter, we could still be toting them around in the infant car seats if we wanted to at 18 months old. As I mentioned in previous posts, we will be attempting to increase Anna's iron, protein, and calorie count in the next month to hopefully see her weight gain more before she gets re-weighed.
Anna and Sam continue to multiply their vocabulary. My favorite word they say now is "trade?" which I taught them to use with each other to minimize the toy scuffles. Its kinda cute to see them ask each other for the toy the other one has, and willingly give it up because they understand what the other one wants. The other night at dinner, they "traded" sippies of milk back and forth 10 times happily because they asked so nicely. :) We are hearing more and more phrases from them on a regular basis. Anna likes to say "hi Mama" when I get them from daycare and both say "hi Bella" when we get home. Sam is starting to tell us when he has a dirty diaper by announcing "I pooped" as well. The other day Sam wanted his water cup out of the frig, and said "and Anna" to get hers for her as well. Such a thoughtful guy. Other new words that I can recall in the last month are "dirty" (which they also sign) "help" (which I have been trying to get them to say for a long time now) "fork" "spoon" "cracker" "phone" and "deer," which of course makes Daddy pretty happy. I'm sure their individual vocabularies are each well over 100 words by now. New signs they make include dirty, cry, peach, clouds and probably more, but signing has slowed down a little now that they are back at daycare during the week and our daycare provider doesn't sign with them. They seemed to be more interested in colors in the last month, saying red, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, yellow, gray, brown, black often, and although I do think they have an understanding of the colors, they have not mastered identifying those colors by any means.
Sam went through a phase this last month where he was obsessed with reading Llama Llama Red Pajama and Is Your Mama a Llama? which he seems to be getting over now. His current book favorites are probably Time for Bed and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. He likes to say the "Boom Boom!" for you while you read, and is showing more interest in naming the letters after you while reading. Anna's favorite book du jour is 5 Little Ducks, and she will not tolerate Sam having that book without her. She loves quacking along and signing duck throughout the book.
Anna and Sam's newest favorite toys seem to be things they can pull behind them like the snail and puppy we have each on a string. I also got them two new puzzles with large knobs for them as half birthday presents, and they gravitate towards those often. I have been wanting soft chairs for them for a while, and after seeing a great deal on these on Amazon (much less than their current price), I snatched two up, and they love those too. They are light enough so they can tote them around the house, but are not easy to tip. I got a purple and orange chair, but Anna seems to prefer the orange one the best. She will plop down in the chair to watch Baby Signing Time and won't budge until it is over.
Besides the old body parts they could identify (eyelashes, feet, mouth, hands, head, hair, ears, nose, tongue, belly button), Sam and Anna are especially enjoying identifying and naming their toes and other people's toes. They also identify fingers, knees, legs, arms, and butt now.
Personality-wise, Anna has been expressing her sense of humor more lately. That girl is such a character. She loves to fake laugh along with you. Anna loves to rock her baby back and forth as well. She's also showing more and more that she's a girly girl. She loves shoes. I got new red patent leather mary janes at the fall multiples resale the other week, and once she saw them, she had to wear them... even though she was wearing purple knit shorts and a purple tank. Once they were on, she pranced around the house obviously very pleased with her new shoes. Now that I'm back at work, I wear more necklaces, and not only is she very interested in them, but she wants me to take them off and put them on her (and often has temper tantrums when I don't). At daycare, our provider says she'll try to put whatever she can on as a necklace or bracelet.
Sam's newest nickname is "Klingon" as in- he's much, much more clingy on me lately. I think he's aware more than ever that he's at daycare during the day without me and that both Mama and Dada are at work. Because of that, once we get home in the afternoons, I have to hold him until it is supper time. While I am impressed with the biceps I now have from holding twins for the past 18 months, I would like to be able to put him down and pay some attention to Anna during that time too. I can't wear him in a carrier during that time, because if Anna sees the carrier she wants to be in it as well. While I do have an Ergo and a Mei Tai that are wearable at the same time, wearing over 40 lbs of toddler strapped to my upper body for an hour before dinner every day doesn't sound like very much fun.
All 4 molars have now broken through for both Sam and Anna! Anna's total tooth count at 18 months is 12 and Sam's is at 10. We are still waiting on those bottom two teeth of Sam's to make an appearance.
Back at school for me and back at daycare for Sam and Anna means back to cold and virus season as well. It didn't take long for runny noses to appear again. Sam did seem a little ill last week (99.5 temp, glassy eyes, fussy, and loose stools), but he got over it quickly. BUT no sign of an ear infection this past month for the first time since February! Woohoo for tubes!
Our proficient walkers have taken the past month to fine tune their skills. Sam loves running around the house and yard, and Anna loves turning in circles. They seem like such big kids now because they walk to and from the car and daycare on their own these days.
I'm seeing a trend of every other month being harder in the temper tantrum department. Months 14 and 16 there there were a lot, while months 15 and 17 there were less. I'm hoping that this month breaks the trend! I have heard that the terrible twos peak at 18 months and slowly start to get better until the second birthday- I really hope that is the way it goes with Sam and Anna. Since Anna bit Sam really hard, we haven't had to give any time outs, so that's good. Coupled with learning to communicate "trade," maybe they are starting to get their boundaries a little bit more and what they can and can't do? I certainly hope so.
Our naps and nighttime sleep improved again after last month because, well, um.... we gave back Anna's pacifier after a week of increasingly hellish sleep. We kept waiting for it to get better, but 7 days later it was not getting better at all, it was getting worse and worse. I guess at this point sleep for Sam and Anna is more important to me than removing Anna's pacifier at all times. Bedtime is at 7:30 pm, while wake up is at 6:50 am. Nap time is usually at noon until 3ish pm.
Anna's pickier eating has created some issues for us. Her blood work indicated an iron deficiency, so along with giving her iron supplement drops, we need to make a conscious effort to increase her iron intake through the foods she eats. We are also working hard to up both Sam and Anna's fat and calorie intake to make up for the %ile drop from their 18 month well-child appointment. Let's just say we put a lot more butter on their food lately! Most meals we finish up with a pouch of organic food that has a high calorie amount. We just make sure that they both eat a substantial amount at every meal, even if we have to keep offering different things to get them to eat (where in the past, I didn't sweat a smaller meal because they were overall decent eaters). We'll see if it makes any difference when have both re-weighed in a month.
Anna and Sam continue to multiply their vocabulary. My favorite word they say now is "trade?" which I taught them to use with each other to minimize the toy scuffles. Its kinda cute to see them ask each other for the toy the other one has, and willingly give it up because they understand what the other one wants. The other night at dinner, they "traded" sippies of milk back and forth 10 times happily because they asked so nicely. :) We are hearing more and more phrases from them on a regular basis. Anna likes to say "hi Mama" when I get them from daycare and both say "hi Bella" when we get home. Sam is starting to tell us when he has a dirty diaper by announcing "I pooped" as well. The other day Sam wanted his water cup out of the frig, and said "and Anna" to get hers for her as well. Such a thoughtful guy. Other new words that I can recall in the last month are "dirty" (which they also sign) "help" (which I have been trying to get them to say for a long time now) "fork" "spoon" "cracker" "phone" and "deer," which of course makes Daddy pretty happy. I'm sure their individual vocabularies are each well over 100 words by now. New signs they make include dirty, cry, peach, clouds and probably more, but signing has slowed down a little now that they are back at daycare during the week and our daycare provider doesn't sign with them. They seemed to be more interested in colors in the last month, saying red, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, yellow, gray, brown, black often, and although I do think they have an understanding of the colors, they have not mastered identifying those colors by any means.
Sam went through a phase this last month where he was obsessed with reading Llama Llama Red Pajama and Is Your Mama a Llama? which he seems to be getting over now. His current book favorites are probably Time for Bed and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. He likes to say the "Boom Boom!" for you while you read, and is showing more interest in naming the letters after you while reading. Anna's favorite book du jour is 5 Little Ducks, and she will not tolerate Sam having that book without her. She loves quacking along and signing duck throughout the book.
Anna and Sam's newest favorite toys seem to be things they can pull behind them like the snail and puppy we have each on a string. I also got them two new puzzles with large knobs for them as half birthday presents, and they gravitate towards those often. I have been wanting soft chairs for them for a while, and after seeing a great deal on these on Amazon (much less than their current price), I snatched two up, and they love those too. They are light enough so they can tote them around the house, but are not easy to tip. I got a purple and orange chair, but Anna seems to prefer the orange one the best. She will plop down in the chair to watch Baby Signing Time and won't budge until it is over.
Besides the old body parts they could identify (eyelashes, feet, mouth, hands, head, hair, ears, nose, tongue, belly button), Sam and Anna are especially enjoying identifying and naming their toes and other people's toes. They also identify fingers, knees, legs, arms, and butt now.
Personality-wise, Anna has been expressing her sense of humor more lately. That girl is such a character. She loves to fake laugh along with you. Anna loves to rock her baby back and forth as well. She's also showing more and more that she's a girly girl. She loves shoes. I got new red patent leather mary janes at the fall multiples resale the other week, and once she saw them, she had to wear them... even though she was wearing purple knit shorts and a purple tank. Once they were on, she pranced around the house obviously very pleased with her new shoes. Now that I'm back at work, I wear more necklaces, and not only is she very interested in them, but she wants me to take them off and put them on her (and often has temper tantrums when I don't). At daycare, our provider says she'll try to put whatever she can on as a necklace or bracelet.
Sam's newest nickname is "Klingon" as in- he's much, much more clingy on me lately. I think he's aware more than ever that he's at daycare during the day without me and that both Mama and Dada are at work. Because of that, once we get home in the afternoons, I have to hold him until it is supper time. While I am impressed with the biceps I now have from holding twins for the past 18 months, I would like to be able to put him down and pay some attention to Anna during that time too. I can't wear him in a carrier during that time, because if Anna sees the carrier she wants to be in it as well. While I do have an Ergo and a Mei Tai that are wearable at the same time, wearing over 40 lbs of toddler strapped to my upper body for an hour before dinner every day doesn't sound like very much fun.
All 4 molars have now broken through for both Sam and Anna! Anna's total tooth count at 18 months is 12 and Sam's is at 10. We are still waiting on those bottom two teeth of Sam's to make an appearance.
Back at school for me and back at daycare for Sam and Anna means back to cold and virus season as well. It didn't take long for runny noses to appear again. Sam did seem a little ill last week (99.5 temp, glassy eyes, fussy, and loose stools), but he got over it quickly. BUT no sign of an ear infection this past month for the first time since February! Woohoo for tubes!
Our proficient walkers have taken the past month to fine tune their skills. Sam loves running around the house and yard, and Anna loves turning in circles. They seem like such big kids now because they walk to and from the car and daycare on their own these days.
I'm seeing a trend of every other month being harder in the temper tantrum department. Months 14 and 16 there there were a lot, while months 15 and 17 there were less. I'm hoping that this month breaks the trend! I have heard that the terrible twos peak at 18 months and slowly start to get better until the second birthday- I really hope that is the way it goes with Sam and Anna. Since Anna bit Sam really hard, we haven't had to give any time outs, so that's good. Coupled with learning to communicate "trade," maybe they are starting to get their boundaries a little bit more and what they can and can't do? I certainly hope so.
Our naps and nighttime sleep improved again after last month because, well, um.... we gave back Anna's pacifier after a week of increasingly hellish sleep. We kept waiting for it to get better, but 7 days later it was not getting better at all, it was getting worse and worse. I guess at this point sleep for Sam and Anna is more important to me than removing Anna's pacifier at all times. Bedtime is at 7:30 pm, while wake up is at 6:50 am. Nap time is usually at noon until 3ish pm.
Anna's pickier eating has created some issues for us. Her blood work indicated an iron deficiency, so along with giving her iron supplement drops, we need to make a conscious effort to increase her iron intake through the foods she eats. We are also working hard to up both Sam and Anna's fat and calorie intake to make up for the %ile drop from their 18 month well-child appointment. Let's just say we put a lot more butter on their food lately! Most meals we finish up with a pouch of organic food that has a high calorie amount. We just make sure that they both eat a substantial amount at every meal, even if we have to keep offering different things to get them to eat (where in the past, I didn't sweat a smaller meal because they were overall decent eaters). We'll see if it makes any difference when have both re-weighed in a month.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Not What I Wanted to Hear
Well, my "babies" are officially a year and a half old- "big" 18 monthers- and there is little baby left in them. They are toddlers through and through. My 18 month post is coming, but today my post is more about our 18 month well child appointment that we had on Friday- the day they actually turned 18 months old.
First off, the good of the appointment: They are both advanced developmentally in all areas, so no concern there. Also, I was amazed that neither one even flinched when they got their shots at this appointment. We usually do both kids' shots at the same time with two nurses, so that neither child knows what's coming. There was one other shot appointment before this where they didn't cry, but that was a long time ago. The shots were done, band aids applied, and that was that. Anna also had blood drawn after the shot, and even more amazing to me- she didn't move a muscle for the entire blood draw. I held her arm when the needle went in and she just calmly watched. I kept her arm extended and her elbow straight while the blood was drawn, and she just sat silently looking at her arm. She didn't make a peep or try to move the entire time. I was shocked... and thankful!
Now to the reason why she had a blood draw. The not-what-I-wanted-to-hear part of the well-child appointment.
Sam and Anna have been very consistent on their %ile curves since their 1 month stats. Anna has been 5%ile for weight since then and Sam and has been 10%ile for weight since then (At birth, Anna wasn't even on the chart and Sam was barely on it). This time, Sam dropped to 5%ile (gaining only 2 oz in 3 months, weighing 21 lbs 8 oz) and Anna dropped off the chart (gaining only 4 oz in 3 months, weighing 19 lbs 6 oz).
Our pediatrician expressed some concern that they both dropped a little off of their individual percentile curves.
I am taking this all in a little with a gain of salt. Most children around this age drop a little, due to an increase in their activity and marked with the advent of pickier eating habits. Both Sam and Anna did become proficient walkers since their last appointment. The problem is that because they were at the lower end of %iles to begin with, they had less wiggle room than the average toddler their age. It wouldn't be a huge concern if a toddler dropped from 75%ile to 50%ile for weight, even if that means they dropped 25 total %iles. Sam and Anna each only dropped 5%iles.
But it doesn't make me happy. In Sam and Anna's history, we've worked really hard through their refluxing days and bottle refusals to keep their weight at a acceptable point. It gives me an extremely defeated feeling to know that my worst fear during those times came true. It makes me upset with myself that we haven't been working really hard to get the most calories in them, because I thought they were pretty good eaters. Honestly, it was freeing once they were done with bottles to not have to work so hard at feeding them anymore. I don't think they are all that picky and I think they eat a good amount of a variety of healthy foods.
Our pediatrician isn't concerned about Sam because he's still on the chart and he eats like a horse. He eats more than me at many meals. The other night he ate 3 entire brats (his and mine) in addition to other food. I ended up making something else for me to eat because he ate my dinner in addition to his. He's just an active guy.
Anna however, doesn't eat as much as he does, and doesn't eat a lot of meat. Her favorite things to eat are vegetables and fruit... all the foods that aren't high in calories or fat. Our pediatrician wanted to do a blood test to check for celiac disease to rule that out. We both think that it will be negative, so the next plan will probably be to make a conscious effort to fill her up (and Sam too) with lots of high fat, high calorie food. We should hear about the results by the end of the week.
I'm just hoping that Anna does not have celiac disease, or allergies or some other underlying cause for her low weight and that she's just an active toddler who's just always been naturally on the petite side. Meanwhile, we're going to attempt to add calories to both of their food while not adding them to ours!
First off, the good of the appointment: They are both advanced developmentally in all areas, so no concern there. Also, I was amazed that neither one even flinched when they got their shots at this appointment. We usually do both kids' shots at the same time with two nurses, so that neither child knows what's coming. There was one other shot appointment before this where they didn't cry, but that was a long time ago. The shots were done, band aids applied, and that was that. Anna also had blood drawn after the shot, and even more amazing to me- she didn't move a muscle for the entire blood draw. I held her arm when the needle went in and she just calmly watched. I kept her arm extended and her elbow straight while the blood was drawn, and she just sat silently looking at her arm. She didn't make a peep or try to move the entire time. I was shocked... and thankful!
Now to the reason why she had a blood draw. The not-what-I-wanted-to-hear part of the well-child appointment.
Sam and Anna have been very consistent on their %ile curves since their 1 month stats. Anna has been 5%ile for weight since then and Sam and has been 10%ile for weight since then (At birth, Anna wasn't even on the chart and Sam was barely on it). This time, Sam dropped to 5%ile (gaining only 2 oz in 3 months, weighing 21 lbs 8 oz) and Anna dropped off the chart (gaining only 4 oz in 3 months, weighing 19 lbs 6 oz).
Our pediatrician expressed some concern that they both dropped a little off of their individual percentile curves.
I am taking this all in a little with a gain of salt. Most children around this age drop a little, due to an increase in their activity and marked with the advent of pickier eating habits. Both Sam and Anna did become proficient walkers since their last appointment. The problem is that because they were at the lower end of %iles to begin with, they had less wiggle room than the average toddler their age. It wouldn't be a huge concern if a toddler dropped from 75%ile to 50%ile for weight, even if that means they dropped 25 total %iles. Sam and Anna each only dropped 5%iles.
But it doesn't make me happy. In Sam and Anna's history, we've worked really hard through their refluxing days and bottle refusals to keep their weight at a acceptable point. It gives me an extremely defeated feeling to know that my worst fear during those times came true. It makes me upset with myself that we haven't been working really hard to get the most calories in them, because I thought they were pretty good eaters. Honestly, it was freeing once they were done with bottles to not have to work so hard at feeding them anymore. I don't think they are all that picky and I think they eat a good amount of a variety of healthy foods.
Our pediatrician isn't concerned about Sam because he's still on the chart and he eats like a horse. He eats more than me at many meals. The other night he ate 3 entire brats (his and mine) in addition to other food. I ended up making something else for me to eat because he ate my dinner in addition to his. He's just an active guy.
Anna however, doesn't eat as much as he does, and doesn't eat a lot of meat. Her favorite things to eat are vegetables and fruit... all the foods that aren't high in calories or fat. Our pediatrician wanted to do a blood test to check for celiac disease to rule that out. We both think that it will be negative, so the next plan will probably be to make a conscious effort to fill her up (and Sam too) with lots of high fat, high calorie food. We should hear about the results by the end of the week.
I'm just hoping that Anna does not have celiac disease, or allergies or some other underlying cause for her low weight and that she's just an active toddler who's just always been naturally on the petite side. Meanwhile, we're going to attempt to add calories to both of their food while not adding them to ours!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)