Grace 5 year old Stats

Grace had her checkup with the pediatrician yesterday, and here are her 5 year old stats:

Height:  117cm = 46 inches
Weigh:  23.3 k = 51 pounds

Blood pressure:  95/60

Grace's 4 year Stats

Weight:  18.900 kg, roughly 42lbs. - 75th Percentile
Height: 110 cm, 43.3 inches - 75th - 90th percentile

These measurements are now done using the World Health Organization charts, so the percentiles are different then when she was measured using the CDC charts.  

She's mostly wearing size 5 clothes now.  She definitely needs size 5 pants for the length, but they have a hard time staying up on her waist properly.  Even with the cinched in waistbands.  I wish I could find a workable solution to keeping her pants up.  The only ones that work are elastic waistbands, like leggings.  But anything with buttons or snaps are droopy drawers.  Size 4 shirts fit in the neck and chest, but they are not long enough in the torso and sleeves.  So because of all that, we see a lot of belly hanging out! 

3 year and 9 month stats, respectively....

This was Grace's first exam by her new doctor.  Although she has accompanied us for Audrey's visits, she has not had to go on her own until now.

Weight:  16.260 kg  - 75th - 90th percentile - roughly 36lbs.
Height:  100cm - 90th percentile - roughly 39.4 inches
Head:  50.5 cm - 90th percentile.

In a year, she has grown 3 inches, gained 6 pounds, and her head has grown 1 centimeter.  Her blood pressure was 85/55 and everything else checked out normal.   They didn't do BMI.  I don't think that is protocol here. 

Now we just need to schedule a check up with the dentist and the ophthalmologist.  Her old doctor did an eye exam at the office, but this one does not, so we'll have to do that separately.

Audrey is an old pro at the doctor now.

Weight:  7.370 kg = 10th percentile = 16.25lbs.
Height:  70cm = 50th percentile = roughly 27.6 inches
Head:  45 cm = 50th - 75th percentile.

In a little over 3 months, Audrey has gained about 2.5lbs., grown 2 inches, and her little head is up 2 cm.  I really thought she would have been up more in the pounds department.  Based on my CDC growth charts, she is in the 10th percentile for weight.  But the doctor doesn't use the CDC charts.  I believe hers are from the World Health Organization, and it shows her in the 25th percentile.  The doctor is perfectly satisfied with her growth.

It's weird to have two little girls on opposite ends of the spectrum.  You can't help but compare.  But if the doctor isn't worried, then I'm not going to be either.  Besides....I have bigger things to worry about.  Like, how to keep her from sending us all to the emergency room.  This little girl is a MONKEY.  She is all over the place.  On everything, into everything and trying to climb everything.  Which is also the opposite end of the spectrum from how Grace was at this age, too.  Last night, she pulled herself up into Grace's Land of Nod chair, stood up, and tipped the chair over and face planted onto the hardwood floors.  I immediately noticed a swollen lip and a small cut above her lip - maybe she bit it?!  Not sure.  But later, I noticed her nose swelling and turning purple.  :(  I was so worried about it being broken.  The doctor (and Dr. Alley) assured me that it was very unlikely she could have broken her nose.  She told me to go to the pharmacy and get this gel that relieves swelling and bruising.  We may walk down there today before music class if we have time and weather permits.  The pack-n-play has reappeared as a play pen for when I can not control her.  I'm also borrowing a play yard from a friend tomorrow.  She is just dangerous!  She loves pulling up on the oven handle!  I don't know how to stop that.  I tell her no, and have started to smack her hand.  And by smack, I mean tap hardly with one of my fingers.  But you would have thought I busted out the wooden spoon.  She immediately sticks out her bottom lip and huge crocodile tears flood out of her eyes.  And then she does it again!!!  She is going to wear me out!!

Thank God for NO shots for either girl.  I don't think I could have handled it, let alone them.  :)

2 year Stats and tidbits

Grace went for her 2 year check up this morning, and did so well.

She got her finger pricked to check her iron levels, and it came back perfect. She didn't flinch or cry/scream. She just watched, extremely interested as the nurse collected her blood. And was very proud of her band-aid afterward. So no additional vitamins are necessary at this time.

Height: 36in - 90-95th percentile. I made them do it over. They initially measured her height on the scale, and she was wiggling around, and it came in around 35in, which would have put her in the 75-90th percentile, which would have dropped her down on her growth curve. So they laid her down on the exam table and remeasured and she gained an inch and back on her curve.

Weight: 30lb. even - 75-90th percentile.
Head: 49 1/2 cm - 90th percentile
BMI: 17.1 - 75th percentile. Quite the surprise that they were measuring that at 2 years old, since I had heard they don't do it until 3 years usually. Apparently it's new. And I guess we're in good shape. I can see her ribs, for pete's sake, so I don't think we have anything to worry about.

We also had a vision test to make sure both eyes are working equally as hard. She had to wear a pirate patch and have 2 electrodes on her forehead and one on the back of her head (where the optical nerve is). Another thing I was not anticipating doing today..... she had to sit in the dark and watch a 'movie' that flashed shapes, pictures, and animals on the screen. It came back perfect.

And then we got a shot.....which made her mad as a hornet. But she got an extra shiny band-aid to make up for the inconvenience, and all was well.

In other news, we have had significant potty progress. We've been going every night before bath for quite some time now, and she talks about it a lot. But I have tried not to make too big of a deal of it because she's not home with me all day and they don't focus on it at school until her next class. But I mentioned something on Monday at school, and her teachers told me they would be more then happy to work with her on it. And Tuesday........she went 3 times at school, and one time, had held it between going, and asked to go! And when I dropped her off this morning, I was talking about it with her teachers and she went to one of them and said potty, and they asked her if she wanted to go, and she shook her head yes, and off they went.... so big! It was one of those very proud parental moments that can lead to extreme over-sharing, so I'm trying to be discreet, but very excited!

So what else......

Appetite is good. Sleeps well. Hair is growing, finally - a tiny wisp is starting to trail down her neck. Words are flowing non-stop. Some understandable. Some not. She randomly recognizes the letter K on things. I had a box sitting on her table that said 'Keep Refrigerated' and she kept showing and telling me about the K. Knows her colors well. Counts to 10, ok. Seven gets lost in the shuffle a lot. Doesn't get very far with her letters.....usually just A-B-C, and that's it. Makes up her own words to songs (hmmm, wonder where she gets that from....).

Uses her left hand and foot the most right now. Eating with a utensil is almost always with her left hand. The same goes for coloring. She kicks balls with her left foot, as well. It might be too early to tell, and things could change, but I don't know what to do with a leftie!!

Loves her dolls. And being a little Mommy. She is not a baby anymore, but a big girl or sister.... (she will tell you that!). Points out boys and girls correctly. We're doing major talking up of a big girl room, and being a sister and whether or not she wants a baby brother or baby sister. It's a toss up at this point.

So far we haven't really experienced much in the way of a tantrum. We get quite a bit of sass, and she can be naughty and does have to go to time-out from time to time (and it offends her greatly), and she got a swat on the bottom for a major infraction one evening recently. Which did seem to help remedy the situation, although did surprise her quite a bit. We're working on being nice. She has started saying...No Mommy, go away! I don't know where she heard that, but it is not a nice thing to say, and we make sure to tell her that's not nice, and give her an alternative 'nice' thing to say. We need to work on what we say around her because she is a total sieve and parrot.

Loves helping in the kitchen. She helped make her cupcakes that she took to her school party, by stirring the dry mix, and managing me on the rest of it. She is constantly pushing her stool up to the counter to rearrange her cups. We have to watch her and be more careful in the kitchen, for sure right now. But love that she is getting interested in helping and cooking!

I think that is about all I wanted to capture for now. Sorry no pictures!

One Year Stats!

Weight: 22lb. 2 oz. - 70th percentile
Height: 30.5 inches - 90th percentile
Head: 47 3/4 cm. - 95th percentile

Right on track....or rather, tracking right along her growth curve.

A toe prick (blood levels look excellent!) and 3 vaccinations. Makes for a very unhappy young lady.

We did get one piece of news today at the doctor's office that was totally unexpected. Turns out the doctor is concerned that Grace doesn't sit herself up or pull herself up. So we've been ordered to Physical Therapy. Trying to set up an eval now, so not sure what all this will entail.... stay tuned!

9 Month Stats!

We had a great visit to the doctor this morning. We did get one shot, which did cause some angst, but it was quickly diverted.

Here are Grace's stats:

Height: 29 inches - 90-95%
Weight: 19 lbs 13 oz. - 50-75%
Head: 46 3/4 cm - 95%

We have a long, lean big headed string bean. Who we love very much. :)

6 Months Old!

Wow, it's hard to believe we're half way to one year. The last 6 months have flown by!




Two cute poses from our photo shoot this morning.

Here are Grace's six month stats:

Weight: 17 lbs. 1 oz. - 75th percentile
Height: 27 1/2 inches - 95th percentile
Head: 45 1/4 cm - 95th percentile

Skinny Minny!

Six things about Grace this month (with some pictures):

1. Sleeping is back to normal. We start our bedtime routine at 7pm, and Grace is usually in bed between 7:30/7:45. We put her down awake (on her back), and she snuggles with Belgium Bunny and falls asleep. Sometimes laying on her side. She sleeps till about 6am. And cuts us no slack on Saturdays and Sundays. Although, she will happily entertain herself in her crib for a little snooze time. Napping is another story. On the weekends, we try to get decent naps out of her, but I think we're fighting a losing battle since we can't control her naps during the week at daycare. She takes between 3-4 30-40 min naps a day. We're trying to get her to two decent 1-1 1/2 hour naps, but as long as she continues to sleep well at night, we're not going to kill ourselves over it. And perhaps she'll grow into napping better.


2. To my knowledge, we have had one other unassisted roll since we caught it on tape the first time. She is just not into it. And I've recently learned that it isn't even a developmental milestone that is tracked anymore. Partly because of the back-to-sleep SIDS campaign, a lot of babies skip rolling. Her pediatrician isn't worried, so we're not either. Particularly because she sits so well.

3. Sitting unassisted is awesome. She can sit and play with her toys and entertain herself for quite awhile.


4. Grace is eating two solid meals a day. We have about 2-3 T. of rice cereal for breakfast, and a veggie for dinner. We've tried them all now, and I have to say, carrots are still a favorite, although she seems to be like them all. We will begin to introduce fruits this weekend, initially as dessert after her veggie dinner. And eventually we'll have it for breakfast too. We'll also soon start sending veggies to school for lunch.


5. Grace is becoming increasingly more vocal. We have even caught her saying Mama. :) She knows which side her bread is buttered! Ha, I wish it was intentional. Stay tuned of video of this soon. I'm determined to catch it. But overall, she's a quiet and contemplative baby. She definitely gets that from her father.

6. Grace is most definitely teething, but no signs of any teeth just yet. She's a droolin' fool, and the doctor thinks the reason she messes with her right ear so much is a sign of teething. She is also shoving everything in her mouth and chomping on it vs. sucking.


Here's an album LOADED with tons of pictures from the past month: Six Month Album

4 Months Old!

Grace is 4 months old today!

Here are her stats -
Height: 26 inches - 95%
Weight: 14.6 lbs - 50-75%
Head: 43 1/4 cm - 90%

She is a long skinny string bean with a big noggin. :)

4 things about Grace this month.

1. She started daycare in the last couple of weeks. She seems to be adjusting pretty well. She hasn't had any bad reports yet, at least! She's certainly being exposed to a lot of new things. The exersaucer, jumperoo, the swing on the playground, finger painting, lots of stories and songs (Baby Belugia), her teachers are "teaching" her Spanish, Bulgarian and Sign Language - the sign for Monkey, specifically. Teaching in quotes, b/c we'll see what she actually learns.... but she is being stimulated, that's for sure. She's coming home exhausted!

2. She likes sitting up. Still hates tummy time, and hasn't rolled yet...probably b/c she hates her tummy. But she is starting to like sitting up, and can sit in the tripod position for a minute or so.

3. She's napping in her crib or pack-n-play. We were working on this before day care, but never lasted more then 30 min or so. Tuesday she took a 2 hour nap in her crib at day care. I asked two different teachers if they were sure she really did that! And today, I laid her down in the pack-n-play awake, and she put herself to sleep....she's still sleeping in fact, and it has been about 30 minutes. Hopefully this is a new trend, but could also be related to getting shots today and having some tylenol.

4. Grace has become more social. She babbles, smiles, laughs... and looks at you for a response. It's kinda fun to interact with her. See video from a few days ago if you need proof!

Here are some pictures from this past month: Four Month Pictures

Monthly side by side shots

2 Month Stats and Ouchies

Grace had her 2 month appointment this morning. She did surprisingly well with her shots. Two nurses did two shots simultaneously in each leg, for a total of 4 shots. And she got one vaccine orally. She was smiley a few minutes later, ate her lunch well, and is now napping. Fingers crossed the rest of the day goes well.

Here's a shot of her ouchies:
Look at those long skinny legs and feet!

Stats
Height: 23.5 inches - 90th percentile
Weight: 11lbs 10oz - 75th percentile
Head: 40cm - 75th percentile

We don't go back till May 15th for her 4 month checkup.....10 days after she starts daycare....

One Month Stats

Just back from the doctor, where Grace was declared "MAGNIFICENT".

Height: 23 inches - 95th percentile
Weight: 9lbs 15oz - 75th percentile
Head: 38 1/2 cm - 75th percentile

We did get a shot - the second in the series for Hepatitis B today, which Grace was not pleased about. She is of course, sleeping it off in her boppy now.

Over Achiever

Miss Grace weighed 8lbs 6oz today at her doctor's appointment. She gained 14 ounces in 10 days. The doctor was really impressed, and Mommy & Daddy were amazed and relieved.

So we've got the green light to let her sleep as long as she likes at night. Interestingly, last night she was waking herself up every 3 hours, so she may have other plans about sleeping...