Life... as we know it: 12 Month Stats

We made it! Through our first year check up that is! Today, Suri had her 12 month check up with Dr. Engle. Over all, we received a stellar report and have been given a prescription to continue doing what we are doing! Horray!

As you all know, from all my recent posts surrounding Suri's first year that this past year has been nothing short of an amazing journey! These past few weeks Suri has taken a leap in her development and is really starting to cruise and explore her surroundings. She is finally starting to climb and give mommy a good scare here and there! Nothing like keeping me on my feet for sure as she climbs onto the chair then to the sofa and proceeds to act as through she is going to take the leap of her life onto the tile floor. Arms outstretched above her head, knees bent and Oh no you don't... as I leap to catch her mid leap! This child is the cause of every grey hair on my head and I realize... this is just the beginning!

Suri's babbling is really beginning to evolve into words and short phrases. Of course, many of the sounds are a sound only a mommy can encode however every now and then someone else picks up on what it is that she is saying. Suri's favorite phrase right now is " Whats that" as she babbles it in her exaggerated tone that sounds more like " uuuss, daaaaaat"??? She looks at something and says "uuus daaaat" and then she intently stares at me until I answer her. So cute! She also has perfected the word "stop" and "yah" ( I need to work on saying "yes" instead of "yah" as she now has this slang word down pat! It too is exaggerated.... "yaaaaaah"!

Another funny thing Suri does lately is she smacks her lips together when she is hungry. She will look at me and smack her lips and will say "mmmm" when she is hungry! Of course I think this is adorable and too funny! She wakes up in the morning and before she has been awake 15 minutes, she begins to smack her lips together. I will ask her if she is hungry and she will say "mmmm"! Sure enough, Suri still has her appetite and puts it to work at every meal!

Speaking of "meals", I have recently retired my breast pump... sigh.... Yes, this was a bitter sweet time for me. As much as I had a love hate relationship with the pump since I stopped nursing my little Parana, it was a difficult thing for me to un plug it and wrap up all the pieces. . . In weaning Suri to whole milk, it was made very clear to me that she and milk do not get along well! From the vomiting to diarrhea Suri let me know that she was not a fan of whole milk ! Of course I felt horrible trying to transition her to whole milk from breast milk knowing that it was tearing up her stomach. I then tried Lactaid, thinking she must be lactose intolerant... wrong. Still vomiting and diarrhea non stop. After a week of that unsuccessful transition I reluctantly tried soy milk. Bottle after bottle and no diarrhea proved a successful transition! Suri is now fully transitioned from breast milk to soy milk and we are both happy campers! Dr Engle recommends keeping her on soy milk until 15 to 18 months before attempting to introduce whole milk again. In the mean time, we will continue with cheeses and yogurts as Suri doesn't seem to have difficulty with dairy products in small quantities. She is definitely her mothers daughter...

Lastly, I must mention Suri's less than favorable behaviors she has adopted recently... pinching... and pinching HARD is something Suri routinely likes to do to the back of my arms and to my neck. I am constantly jumping in pain as she grabs a tiny piece of my skin in between her fingers and pinches! My left arm and tiny speckled bruises on it as she pinches when I am holding her. Golly, I pray this phase passes quickly. Her grabbing and swatting at peoples faces is by all means not going to get her the "Best Friend" award!

Speaking of best friends... the time has come where Suri's teachers are beginning to transition her from the infant room to the toddler room at her day care! This came as a shock to me when they approached me and asked if I was okay with beginning her transition from the infants to the toddlers. Transition... but she isn't even walking- she's not a toddler, she's a baby... these are all thoughts running through my mind as I reluctantly answer..."yes..if you feel she is ready"! The teachers said that even though Suri is not walking, she is advanced cognitively and they would much rather keep her mind busy as they feel she will catch up quickly to the other children who are walking (and running!) Suri has visited the toddler room a few times this past week and the teachers have given her an A for the day! They said she is transitioning really well and will hopefully be fully transitioned soon. Some areas of concern in a full transition from infants to toddlers is that toddlers only take one nap (from 12 to 2). Suri on the other hand takes at least 2, sometimes 3 naps a day in the infant room. She is also still on the bottle (Dr's recommendation is to keep her on it until at least 15 months or until she consumes an equal quantity via the sippy cup)- Suri drinks water from her sippy with no problem at all but if I put her soy milk in it, she lets it dribble out of her mouth and will barely swallow it. So, we have a couple of things to work on but all in all, the reality is that Suri is growing up and before I know it, I will be looking into the eyes of my TODDLER... ouch. Once again, I wish life had a "pause" button!

Now back to our visit at the Pediatrician's office...
Suri's 12 month stats are as follows....

Age: 12 months
Weight: 26lbs 4 ounces = 97%
Length: 32 inches = 99%
Head Circumference = 46cm = 74%

Development Recommendations:
Continue with Physical Therapy to strengthen core muscles and work on proper alignment as she begins to cruise eventually leading to walking. We received a prescription for SMO orthodics to assist Suri in maintaining alignment when she is standing, walking. These are basically small braces she will wear on her feet to discourage the pronation of her ankles when she stands as they will help her to maintain an even alignment of her ankles which will then transition throughout her thighs and her hips...

Vaccines:
Suri received, her MMR ( Measles, Mumps and Rubella), her VAR (Varicella/ chickenpox), her Hep A (Hepatitis A), and finally she received her FLU booster (Influenza).
After 4 ouchie pokes, some crocodile tears and some much needed hugs and kisses- Suri and I were out the door and on our way home!

Here are some photos post vaccines. . .