Doctor's Appointment

We'll continue with the Christmas updates later, but last night we had Ella's 12 month check.

This was a little stressful leading up because of Ella's apparent non-weight gain at her sick child visit of two weeks ago and the fact that she doesn't crawl, walk, pull up or roll over willingly. (How's that for a run-on sentence?!)

Anyway, it was nice to see our regular doctor who knows us a bit better. I think we've found the cause of the drop in weight, aside from sickness...Ella had quite the growth spurt. She's always been in the 80th percentile for height - but no longer. Ella measured in at 31.5 inches. That's now off of the growth chart! This also explains the flood pants and the inability to fit into feet pajamas suddenly. For all of you keeping track at home, she's grown 11.5 inches in one year!

Her weight is also up. Two weeks ago, she was 18.5 pounds. Last night, she was at 19.75 pounds. Had she not been sick, the doctor thinks she'd easily be over 20 pounds. Her weight is now in the 40th percentile whereas it's previously been in the 50th.

The doctor isn't concerned with Ella's lack of mobility to the point of having her tested. Her muscle tone is great and she can bare weight well. The doctor thinks Ella is a perfectionist (previously Ella's ECFE teacher had said that to us) and won't pull up until she can do it perfectly.

Ella did not do as well behavior-wise at the doctor as she has previously. I think she's starting to know what the doctor's office is all about and everything was scaring her. She lost it when she had to sit on the scale, freaked out when the doctor ripped a sheet of paper. Wanted nothing with the ears/eyes/mouth check and when the shots came out....she was hysterical. She hasn't cried like that - ever. Luckily, I've steeled myself towards this and didn't cry myself. If she'd acted like that with her first shots, I'd have needed to be carried out on a stretcher!

She bucked up after we left - only after carrying on throughout the office and in the parking lot. She went on to have a great night playing and being goofy.

The only problem with our perfectionist is that she also hates to be cheered on. HATES it. Most kids love people clapping and cheering for their accomplishments. Not Ella. Any time we've cheered for her when she's scooted to get a toy, rolled over, whatever - she bursts into tears. Last night, we were asking "How big is Ella?" and she actually stretched out her arms and smiled when we said "Soooo big!" so, being the pleased parents we are, we clapped and cheered for her. She immediately scowled her face and burst into tears. She's going to be tough once she gets into school and needs to do everything perfectly, but won't let us tell her when she does a good job.

She's also added Bye-Bye to her word bank. Yesterday morning I was getting breakfast ready and she kept saying "dada, dada". I told her that Dada was at work, Dada went bye-bye. She looked at me, waved and said "bye bye!" (good thing I didn't praise her too heartily!) I was excited though!

I'd better get going, I can hear Ella working on a poop. Ah, the joy of motherhood, for every new accomplishment, there's always some crap to deal with. Literally.