I took Raven to her 18-month doctor’s appointment yesterday, and let’s just say that her memory of her last trip there must have been crystal clear since she immediately looked terrified. Poor girl!
Luckily, she only cried for about 15 seconds while getting her shots and then was happy to nestle her face into my neck the rest of the time and suck her thumb. At least at her 2-year appointment, there won’t be any immunizations!
Anyway, now that that trip is over and done with, I finally have her updated stats.
Quick Stats:
Height: 32.25″ (63rd percentile)
Weight: 21 lb, 1 oz (27th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17.9 in (28th percentile)
Clothing Size: 18 mo. (where she’ll probably stay for a LONG time, at the rate she’s going)
Diaper Size: 4
Shoe Size: 4 (I ordered some shoes for her because we needed a couple more neutral pairs that she could wear for church and outside to play, but I guess a 5–which is the size she’s “supposed” to be at–is WAY too big, so she’ll have to stick with “baby” shoes for now, it looks like)
Milestones Reached:
– Started going to nursery during the 3-hour block on Sundays, and boy, has she handled it like a champ! NO crying or fussing whatsoever, and every time I’ve peeked in through the door’s window, she looks like she’s having the time of her life. She probably wondered why the heck it took us so long to put her in that magical place with the toys and the snacks and the songs, ha ha.
– Basically tries to repeat back everything you say (and doesn’t do a half-bad job of it, a lot of the time!). She probably says a good 25-30 words on her own to communicate needs and wants (or just point out to you that there is, in fact, a duck quacking over there in the stream), and there have been a few times she’s even strung two words together. I love that I no longer have to guess too much about what she needs.
– Can feed herself with a spoon/spork (not that she DOES it all the time, but she can)
– Can drink out of her sippy cup solo as well as a normal cup (although with the latter, she does tend to spill a bit)
– Easily climbs up and down stairs
– Goes down the slide at the park all by herself
– Mimics actions to simple songs (like the Primary song “Hinges”)
– Says “hi” and “bye” unprompted (and usually appropriately, too)
– Is beyond helpful around the apartment–I may never take anything myself to the garbage can ever again!
Personality
We say it all the time, but Raven is seriously the sweetest. She often loves to cuddle, she’s super good-natured and happy, and she is quick to get over hurts, disappointments, or frustrations. She’s also such an obedient kid—she almost always heeds the word “no” (and not just right then, either—the next time you go back to the area where you first told it to her, she’ll point at whatever she isn’t supposed to touch or whatever and say, “NO!”), and she rarely needs to be put in a mini timeout for whatever reason (like, maybe once or twice a month).
She also LOVES to help. Often, if she’s a little cranky because of lack of sleep or not getting something that she wants, if you ask her if she can “help” with something, she immediately starts smiling and giggling and sometimes even clapping her hands in excitement. It’s basically the cutest.
Overall, she tends to be very cautious, so sometimes it takes awhile to warm up to trying new things. If she is at all nervous about something, her thumb will immediately go into her mouth, and she’ll just study the situation with her huge blue eyes until she’s ready to take the next step. Definitely my kid, in that way.
I also think she’ll be a “friendly introvert,” like both Matt and I are. Although Matt and I aren’t shy, per se, we like having a lot of alone time and big crowds tend to stress us out. Raven’s the same way—she can spend about an hour in her corner just quietly flipping through all her books, and she’s totally content to just observe other people a lot of the time rather than have to be in the middle of it. She definitely LIKES other kids and people (since she’s always trying to give them her toys and say hi to them), but she’s not really aggressive about it, if that makes sense.
Other Notes (for my own benefit, really)
We’re finally tapering down to just one nap on most days (*tear*), but she toggles between taking it in the midmorning (when she used to just take her first one) and taking it in the midafternoon (which is when the second one used to be). When I’ve tried to put her down in the middle of the two, she just jabbers happily to herself and plays with the blinds on her window until I come get her. (And the naps are a little on the shorter side for her just taking one—maybe an hour to an hour and a half is all, most days). Thank goodness she still goes down every night at 6:30 and then let’s us sleep in until around 7:30 most mornings!
She’s gotten a bit pickier than she used to be since she’s started wanting to exclusively feed herself. If the food is a little more tricky to eat (like a stew or a shepherd’s pie casserole or something), she tends to largely turn up her nose at it without putting in too much effort. (Of course, if we can convince her to actually EAT some of it, she usually likes it, but it’s the convincing that can be tricky, and we usually don’t try to push her at all because she knows by now that that’s what we’re having and that there will be no snacks/meals for another few hours at least.)
She totally needs a haircut (badly), but since I refuse to pay for one and I’m a bit scared to do it myself, nothing has happened yet. Maybe this weekend I’ll convince my mom to show me how to do a simple trim…
