1 year check-up
Yesterday Lana had her one-year check-up. All was well! Except that I’m annoyed with the way that lead tests are conducted – does anyone know, does it HAVE to be blood from a fingertip for some reason? Because pricking the tiny finger of a 13 month old and squeezing (and repricking and resqueezing, ugh) until you fill a tiny vial with blood just seems a bit unnecessarily nasty (the poor nurse was very apologetic). It was at least a 10 minute ordeal; not fun with a squirmy crying barely a toddler. (Actually, the pricking didn’t bother her, it was the squeezing of the blood and the being restrained.) Seems like there should be an easier way.
Anyway, after the finger-pricking she definitely cried for the shots, but aside from all that mess it was a good visit. I love our pediatrician, she’s a student (I’m not sure of the technical term, but she’s allowed to write her own prescriptions and whatnot), and she asked about Lana’s vocabulary, and if we were reading to her, and how she was interacting, and all sorts of questions beyond the physical. (And also if we’d baby-proofed, which she’s asked about on every visit.) We also talked about food and sleep.
But anyway, Lana’s about 21 lbs and 30.25 inches! And we’ve gotten an official “it’s okay” to turn her around in the car (I think breaking 20lbs was one of the criteria), which makes me happy (I am so tired of having her rearfacing – I’d like to be able to see her, thank you). Still, it’ll be a short while before I get her a new carseat. The infant seat we got has served us very well – Sean would ideally like to wait until this winter is over to put her in a different car seat, since it’s still nice to be able to bundle her up in the carseat indoors.
And I don’t have time to finish up with pictures right now, so those will just have to come later!
January 14th, 2010 on 3:58 pm
YAY! Johnny is having his 12-month checkup tomorrow. I can’t wait to find out his stats.
I haven’t heard of that lead test. I don’t know if he’ll need to have it or not. It sounds really awful.
That’s amazing that you can still carry her in her infant seat and that she fits. Seems like itw ould be awkward!
We intend to keep Johnny rearfacing as long as possible since that’s the safest. Want more info? Email me.
But anyway, we have a mirror so I can look in the rearview mirror and see him and he can sorta see me.
January 15th, 2010 on 8:46 am
Yay, I look forward to reading about Johnny’s visit! I hadn’t heard of that lead test either before needing to do it – hopefully you’ll be spared it.
Oh, I know, we’d *all* be safer in a car rear-facing (if they’d make adult seats that way). As anxious as I am to turn her around, we’d already figured we’d wait a bit longer (we’re not flipping her immediately) – but I’m still glad she’s past the doctor and AAP recommended minimums to be forward facing.
(If you recall I had gotten the infant seat specifically because we have a small SUV, and I was afraid a rearfacing convertible was going to be a rough fit.)
We’ve really liked the infant seat we chose – we got one of the bigger ones specifically so it was likely to last into her first year: Lana loves it, it’s provided seating for her other places when needed, it can keep her napping after we arrived at our destination since we could just carry the whole seat in without waking her (we did that at Christmas even).
It’s really not that bad to carry if you’re only going to the car and back – she’s only 20 lbs. It is starting to get a bit heavy now to carry any longer distances though: If she were really going to hit the 30 lb limit that might be rough for me to carry, though possibly still doable if I had to (it would be about 40 lbs total then – rough mostly because the angle is a bit awkward). But she’ll be outgrowing it due to height before weight. (Little less than two inches!)
We’ll see how old she is when we actually make the switch!
January 15th, 2010 on 9:56 am
Yay for healthy babies!
We really need to get together sometime. So much gossip, so little time! (Actually, I have very little gossip, but I do miss the kvetching…)
January 17th, 2010 on 9:04 pm
I don’t have any gossip either, but it would be great to see you. We’ll figure something out!
January 18th, 2010 on 10:11 am
We’re Mexico bound at the end of the month and then Susan and Jerry are going to be in Oz for three weeks. Maybe we can get together for a gals’ night sometime around then.