15-Month Check Up

Clare had her 15-month check-up with Dr. Dan this week.  Fortunately Jeff was able to join us, I’m happy to say that Jeff has been at every doctor’s appointment she’s had, he’s even taken her by himself.  Jeff isn’t just any ordinary Dad. 

We checked in and waited by looking at the fish in the tank, the office has a big tank with lots of fish; Clare liked pointing them out.  This was also the first trip where she was tall enough to stand on the step stool and see into the tank.  While waiting we also saw 6 newborns come and go, they were all so tiny!  It’s hard to imagine that just 15 short months ago she was that little; I will admit I got a little baby fever when I saw those newborns. 

Our nurse finally came and called Clare’s name so off we went to room 10 (we’re frequently seen in room 10).  Like our other visits I got Clare ‘down to diaper’ and met the nurse at the scale.  She wasn’t a fan of being measured, the nurse was stretching out her legs, which she clearly didn’t like, but she is officially 31 ½ inches tall.  Sitting on the scale was easy, 22 lbs and 5.2 ounces is where the numbers stopped, finally over 20 lbs!!  Should you put a crown on her head she would wear a 47.9cm crown.  Overall she’s perfect, not too short, just right in weight and lots of brains. 

Dr. Dan finally joined us in room 10 to check her out.  Clare was happily playing while we waited; she discovered the rolls of paper under the exam table and enjoyed opening and closing the cabinet doors.  The moment that Dr. Dan walked in she started to cry, I suppose he is pretty tall compared to Clare.  Dr. Dan did a quick exam, Clare was pretty unhappy so he did his best to be quick while explaining that most 15 and 18 month hold kids dislike him (he has a few 18 month old kids that start crying at the front door and don’t stop until they leave).  Clare calmed down and sat on my lap for the remainder of her visit, she kept a close eye on Dr. Dan but seemed much happier when he was done.

One of the many things I like about Dr. Dan is he likes to talk, he wants to hear our questions and takes his time to answer my ‘first time parent’ questions.  Each visit he gives us a ‘report card’ discussing common developmental, behavioral, and safety points.  During this visit he talked about setting guidelines and boundaries using an example with duck tape.  He talked about how if you put an outline of a box on the floor and put Clare in the middle she’d look to us for what to do.  If the box were only 6 inches she wouldn’t have much room to move, but if it were 20 feet she’d have too much room.  Long story short he wanted us to discuss how we were going to set boundaries, expectations and guidelines.   He finished his story and asked us to talk about this over the next few weeks and make sure we were on the same page.  Fortunately I think Jeff and I are on the same page when it comes to expectations, guidelines.

Overall Clare impressed Dr. Dan.  He asked how many words she knew (we guessed 15), asked if she could run (she’s close, but not yet), inquired about her spoon skills (doesn’t have the best accuracy but definitely understands the concept) and sleeping habits (still a sleeping champ – 12-13 hours a night).  He told us that he was very impressed with her and had absolutely no concerns.  He also encourage all the Grandparents (and us) to continue contributing to her college savings account, that he wasn’t ready to label her as genius just yet, although she was the smartest little girl he’d seen in a long time ;)

The worst part of the appointment was the 3 immunizations.  The nurse was fairly quick, but that didn’t matter, Clare still cried for a few minutes.  After her shots the nurse commented on how good of a bleeder Clare was, she needed a new band-aid before we left the office.  Fortunately she didn’t need any Tylenol after her shots and she took a 3.5-hour nap once she got home. 

We scheduled her 18-month check up for October and said farewell.  I like visiting with Dr. Dan, but I don’t like visiting because she doesn’t feel well, hopefully we won’t see him until our next well check-up.  

Lastly, because I know better than to post without pictures, a few pictures of Clare enjoying an afternoon snack of goldfish. 

She likes to have the best seat in the house.