6 months, 3 children

So Silas is 7 months now. But I really did have him at the doctor's close to his 6 month birthday. And then I finally dug out Leif and Skadi's 6 month stats - because it appears I did not post that information here?

Anyways, the scoop is:

Silas:
Weight: 21 lbs 14 oz (95.65% because those sig figs are important...)
Length: 28" (88.66%)

Leif:
Weight: 19 lbs
Length: 26.25"

Skadi:
Weight: 21 lbs 14.5 oz (95%)
Length: 27.25" (81%)

On Oct 30, Silas popped his first tooth through! Early as compared to Leif.

He also seems to have strange anxiety. His doctor noted that this is a sign of high cognitive development when she walked in and he screamed at her and the nurse. I think he was just fussy and late for nap time...

Shrimp anyone?

Skadi had her well child visit the other day. It was actually last week. I normally post stats and such quickly and do a comparison.

Comparing didn't require me going to my blog this time. I know who is bigger/heavier.

Not my daughter.

I am not terribly tall, but I am not short either. Just a touch under average at 5'5". AB is just over average at just over 6' tall. So one would reason that our children should fall in there somewhere.

Leif at three was pretty normal to slightly tall: 32 lbs and 55th percentile, 39.25" and 85th percentile. Makes sense.

Skadi started out big... but if you project her adult height based off her current 3yo well child stats she should hit about 5'3".

It caused a bit of pause from her doctor. 30.25 lbs (gained 2.25 lbs since age 2) and 36.25" (grew 1.25"). She is just under 50th percentile for weight and hitting in at 29th percentile for height.

Not that big of a deal - she could be between spurts... she could be leveling out on the charts and being where she should be and will thus just not be a tall girl (the short genes do run on my side with my mom and grandma).

We have noted that she is the smallest among her peers. AB is the one who recently started commenting on it prior to the doctor's appointment. I keep buying size 3T for summer clothes and occasionally 4T for next fall. But her 2T's fit her best still. And the size 9 Keens I bought on clearance at a great price in pink for this summer? They should fit her next summer I expect...

The bigger concerns lie with her constant complaining of back aches. I have taken her to the doctor before with no path forward and a feeling she is just latching onto something to complain about. This time I pushed it because she cries, "mommy, my back hurts" and bends over or grasps her back. It just seems real.

And sure enough when her doctor pushed on her back - at her kidneys, Skadi jumped and said "oww!"

That earned her a quick referral for an ultrasound this week.

Not a great well child visit for age three.

Skadi Stats

Skadi had her “well baby” appointment last week. Or she was supposed to be a well baby… she wasn’t really… she was sick with a cold/cough/fever baby. But she didn’t need shots, so that was great. The whole appointment was funny.

We arrived and Skadi bee lined for the toy area. Kinda old, icky, crud laden toys. But since they aren’t hers, they are ultra-fascinating. Whenever a nurse would come to take someone back Skadi would get up and walk to the door obediently. I would return her to the toy area. Then our nurse came to get us – who she knows – and she sat there playing and didn’t want to come back.

Fickle child.

They put us in the “procedure room” since one of the other rooms was having a light replaced.

Yep, that’s where you put a toddler, in a room with LOTS of exciting things sitting around.

Anyways…

The nurse got her stats and leaves. Skadi gets down from the table and says, “okay, all done now!” And she walks to the door.

Umm no. The doctor hasn’t come yet, that was the nurse. Then we did the wrestle the toddler in a so-not-babyproof room for 15 minutes. Not actually a bad wait.

Anyways…

Her doctor comes in and we talk. We talk new houses. We talk about our boys (she has three, I have one) and compare notes. Then we get to the girl at hand.

I answer all the questions, “yes she seems to be healthy”, “yes still in daycare”, “yes, she is pointing to items and saying what they are”.

“Skadi what is this?” Kristin asks her pointing to the chair next to me.

“I want to sit in the green chair!” she exclaims plain as day.

Kristin’s jaw dropped open. “She is VERY verbally advanced,” she tells me.

I think with the second child you (or at least I) quit looking at the metrics. I have forgotten for the most part when Leif hit little milestones, big ones I remember or I wrote about. But I am thinking, “really? She can talk well, yes, but that advanced?”

Kristin decided to push it a little, “Skadi what do you like to do?”

“I swim in the water with daddy,” she says.

“Ok then!” Kristin exclaims, “that was a 7 word sentence!” She goes on to tell us that with second children you often see extremes in language development. They are either more verbal because they listen to their older siblings and learn from them. Or they are less verbal because they don’t get a word in and the older child speaks for them.

Anyways…

It was a good appointment. Skadi was happy as she got a sticker and lollipop (yellow). She is taking after Leif in that her favorite color is yellow. The Peeps this year? All yellow. (I did buy orange and green for their baskets – maybe that means *I* will get to eat some!)

Oh and stats…

Weight – 27 lbs (she is finally up a few pounds instead of losing!) and 57th percentile

Height – 35” and 81st percentile.

And if the old wives tale is true… Skadi will grow to be 5’10”. I was a tall child too though – and height didn’t pan out for me.

Skadi 18 month well baby

This morning was Skadi's well baby exam. Her doctor called this the Tasmanian Devil stage and she wasn't kidding.

The actually called us back quickly so Skadi didn't have any time to play with the waiting room toys. This put a short lived cramp in her style. Of course then we got the requisite 15 minute wait in the exam room with her in just her diaper with no toys. Yeah, sucky mom I am, no toys in the diaper bag since I had just cleaned it out from our Idaho trip. Though it isn't hard to convince her that her shoes are toys.

The reason kids this age wear clothes is to keep their diaper on. I am convinced. Ok, too look cute too. But clothing at this age serves a very important purpose. Could not get the child to keep her diaper on. I finally gave up.

Skadi was diagnosed anemic a few months ago and has been on iron supplements since. She had her second blood draw last week - oh and by the way, not fun for a toddler... or mom. Her iron levels are on the low side of normal, but we are happy with this. Supplements will decrease to 3-4 times a week - basically every other day for the next three months and then a month off and blood work again. And a hope that her anemia is resolved.

Then the moment of truth... the height and weight check.

Height - 33" (86th percentile)
Weight - 24 lbs 7 oz (50th percentile)

Being a paranoid mom type, I couldn't help but notice that my daughter has lost weight in the last 6 months. Her stats 6 months ago have her at 25 lbs 2 oz and 3 months ago (apparently not blogged about) at 24 lbs 8 oz. She was a chunk once upon a time. Now? Not so much. She has really leaned out. She eats very well - better than her brother. So I am not going to worry about it. As her doctor put it, "this isn't uncommon for bigger babies as they enter their Tasmanian Devil stage".

Milestone-wise Skadi's vocabulary just suddenly took off. AB and I noted receently that even though Skadi had fewer words than Leif did at this age, she is much more communicative. She has picked up sign language very well at her Montessori school. Often times I have to go in and ask what a sign is. She signs "more", "again", "food", "drink", "all done" and "all gone" routinely.

Her vocab is growing and she has just started stringing two words together... though one of those words is very often "no". This morning it was "no no apples" as she didn't want to wear her apple polo shirt. She repeats a lot - we are pretty sure she said "hi grandma" a few times on the phone to my mom. And the other day we were amazed when in the daycare parking lot she pointed to one of Leif's best friends and said, "Niranjana" repeatedly. She even pronounced it better than Leif does! Though we are very shocked that she does not say "Leif" yet.

Some of her words are: more, no, hi, bye bye, hug, baby, swim, boat, plane, apples, fruit (which she has finally decided is not poison), mama, dada, cat, nay nay (horsey), cracker, yummy, baba (bottle), bath, poo poo, diap (diaper), and wipe. I know there are more but I am blanking.

Skadi is much more into toys than Leif ever was. She will sit and play Little People for awhile - whereas Leif is into interacting with people and currently his imagination. Our downfall is that we tend to forget she and Leif are different kids. The perils of the second child? I make assumptions a lot that she likes doing the same things, when she clearly does not.

TV does not interest her at all. (Leif could watch an entire Disney flick and be mesmerized at this point.) She likes to be held and she likes to sing songs, dance, swim, read books and play with her baby. Skadi's favorite song is "Row Row Row your boat". She wobbles back and forth singing "wo wo wo boat" to try to get you to sing with her. And yes, she does love boats and freaks out when she sees one. Her daddy's genes there.

Everyone says Skadi looks a lot like me. She has my hair, but her complexion is a touch darker (she has tan lines...) her eyes are still mix between blue and brown - I hope they stay that way. And she has her daddy's long black eyelashes amazingly enough. I think she has AB's families eyes.

Skadi stats

Length - 29.75" - 75th percentile
Weight - 25 lbs, 2 oz - 95th percentile
Head 45 cm

I thought about complaining about what a handful she was in the doctor's office, then I found Leif's post on his one year well baby. Yeah, well I remember that day. And suddenly my whiney little girl who was only happy sitting on the exam table throwing her shoes and socks on the floor for who knows how long just seemed so much easier. Maybe girls are more mellow...

The main thing is that she is healthy, happy and tolerating her 4 immunizations well.

For comparison... Leif at that age:
Weight 23 lbs 12.5 oz (33%)
Height 30.25" (55%)
Head 47 cm

A big Beaner

Skadi's 9 month appointment was this past week. She remains a giantess.

24 lbs 3 oz - 98th percentile (she dropped a percentile from her 6 month appt.)

29" - 87th percentile

(A quick Leif comparison at 9 months - 20 lbs 12 oz and 28", about 50th and 75th percentiles respectively.)

Skadi is a crawling beast. She motors. And when she is a real hurry... like in a race against time to get to the bowl of dog food before you do? She gets that leg up under her and pumps away to get extra distance that mere mortals would never be able to accomplish.

She pulls up on nearly everything. This afternoon she crawled onto a box that arrived in the mail for a certain person's birthday... Anyways, on top of the box she perched herself. She is cruising from object to object with some success - though failure is frequent... and painful.

Another difference from Leif is her preferred food. Leif nursed until he self weaned about 13.5 months, which was great for me. He did at times get too busy to nurse, and he liked his solids.

But could someone tell me how one small child likes to put SO much in her mouth off the floor that she picks up, but then sits in her high chair and refuses everything but Wagon Wheels, Baby Mumm Mumms (finally found those) or a couple occasional puffs? She's not a fan of jarred food and although she likes mashed banana will quickly regurgitate every bit as though she had a baby bird to feed. We put bits of green beans, peaches and rice in front of her (all within the last four meals) only to have them flung across the dining room. She finds sippy cups with water a little interesting and worth of a little investigation, but they are short lived. What she really wants?

Mama milk. Maybe Leif just started slacking on the milk early, but at 9 months I am amazed at how much she still nurses. Which is fine with me right now.

Skadi is a sweetheart, though she has a horrible temper. She isn't the easy going kid that Leif was. Taking a tiny bit of tissue away from her that she found on the floor usually results in a full body flail attack. She wants what she wants, when she wants it.

All in all though, she is a great kid. So different in so many ways from Leif. Though she is his biggest fan (especially after this last four days of poop regression... she is the only one in this house not cleaning poop up after a full week and a half of successes). The two kids get each other going during dinner and it is hard not to laugh. Leif does something, she laughs, he repeats (at which point with anyone else, the antic is old, but not with Skadi), she laughs, he repeats... to infinity (and sometimes beyond). You can't help but smile though seeing Skadi's face light up.

She loves her big brother and he loves her. Someone tell me this will never change.