Wednesday, April 7, 2010

15-month checkup

Olivia and I went to see Dr. Robertson this morning.  I like him because what he may lack in experience (he's thirtysomething) he makes up in reading current journal articles.  Peer-reviewed ones, not Dr. Mercola.  Olivia weighed in at 24lb 6oz (75th %) and 33 1/4" tall/long (off the chart).  She got a few more shots and some shiny band-aids to show for it.

Dr. R says it is fine to give Livi whole milk as long as she doesn't showing signs of overweight.  (It's good to have some fat for brain development, but not enough to incur love handle development.)  He doesn't think vitamins are necessary even though OJ will not eat vegetables, but he doesn't think they will hurt either.  We've been giving her multi, C, D, and Omega 3 but I think she's getting enough sun on our walks to drop the D supplement.  I keep trying to give her veggies, but even sweet ones like carrots and corn are a no-go.  She'll eat tomato sauce and fries (white or sweet potato); that's about it.  Fruit, however, is in the "snarfable" category so that makes me feel better.  Oatmeal, yogurt, and PB&J are other current food favorites.

In other news, OJ's still working on a molar, which barely pierced the gum and has her chewing on her fingers a lot.  (Don't get me started on my own dental woes, that's for another post.)  I've noticed Olivia is more gentle with my hair and jewelry now, so I can wear necklaces again if I don't mind the constant analysis.  "Oooooh.  Ooooooooooh."  I thought about growing my hair back out, but it's been in the 80s this week so I figured I'd chop the mop again as the female equivalent of the summer buzz cut.

Dr. R said we can look forward to the advent of temper tantrums, and he suggested having the pack & play set up as a time out area.  I've already seen this behavior a little bit; often if you tell her not to do something she will probably scream for a little while like, "How dare you tell me 'no'?"  She has also started this thing where she cries when someone leaves the room, so even if I'm playing with her and Steve steps out she'll wail.  But she has no problem getting dropped off and playing in the nursery at church, and she'll lean over to "go" to a stranger if I stop to talk to someone.  She goes on selective bottle strikes, so sometimes if I sit down to give her the mid-morning milk she'll arch her back and swipe it away with her arms but then five minutes later I'll try again and she'll drink it like she's starving.  It's a test of patience, but I am determined to keep trying different things.  Feel free to comment, Peanut Gallery.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree with Dr R - a time out area works great for us for tantrums with Ethan.

About the bottle strike - what if you skip the bottle entirely and just let her drink from a cup when she feels like it? Is she good with cups? She'll probably drink if she's thirsty enough and she could get her calcium and fat from cheese and Yobaby yogurt. I use insulated cups for milk (for Ethan) so they can lay around for a good while before it starts to go bad.