Laina Update

Time for another Laina update. She is 18 months old! Sometimes I really can't believe she is already so big. It's a little crazy. We had our follow-up appointment at Children's Hospital for her weight and they were very satisfied this time with her weight gain and height. She is still on the small side, of course, but the doctor was pleased that she is gaining weight and that she is actually closer to the "curve" instead of falling farther away from it. My guess for her great increase over the past couple months is that it's due to a combination of factors, including the zinc supplementation, getting her on a good children's multi-vitamin, and her eating from my smoothies (in addition to her normal meals and snacks). The doctor was, not surprisingly, impressed by her language skills and was confident that her lack of weight was not hindering her development.

We also had her 18 month old well-check with her normal doctor and that was fine, too. The main suggestion she had for me was to not support her so much when walking with her, but instead to hold her by the hands and even try to just have her hold one hand as she walks to gain more balance and independence in her walking. As far as vaccinations, we decided to go ahead and finish out any series that had already been started, but to hold off on chickenpox and MMR for a little while longer. I love the fact that her new doctor didn't feel the need to lecture me on vaccines but just polietly suggested that I consider giving the shots before Laina starts school, which is what we were thinking, anyways.

Here are a couple pics of Laina during the "photo shoot" we did to get some shots of her modeling the dresses I made for my Etsy shop. In the bottom one I think she looks a lot like Jay did in some of his little kid photos.