15 Month Stats

Emma had her 15 month well-check and vaccinations today. She is 21 lbs 13.5 oz, 32 inches tall, and has a head circumference of 45.5 inches cm (Thanks for pointing that out Mom!). She gained almost 1.5 lbs and grew 2 inches in 3 months! We weren't crazy when we thought a few of her dresses looked shorter and we could see more of her chubby little legs!!

She received 3 vaccinations: Hep A, Hib, and Tetanus today. She had much more immediate reactions to them than she has previously. In the past, her eyes would get really big while the pain of the injection registered. Today, it was pretty much immediate. Poor thing! She was a trooper though!

Emma was great in the waiting room and stayed right near me while I filled out paperwork. While we were waiting for the doctor to come in, she enjoyed sitting on a stool at a desk eating goldfish and reading through a truck book. She was very excited when the nurse brought Daddy in to the room.While the doctor was examining her, she was a little weary. She did not really want to be poked and prodded. Apparently, this reaction is completely normal at this age.

After the doctor left and we were waiting for the nurse to come back in for the shots, Emma got a little restless. She made it very clear that it was time to go "Outside!" We kept trying to explain that we had to wait just a little more. She proceeded to pretend that the stainless steel wastebasket was a drum. Awesome. We weren't really thinking when we asked if she wanted to go see Oscar and Elmo in Grouchland (a favorite in our house) because that started her wanting to leave immediately. *Sigh*

One question the doctor asked was how big Emma's vocabulary is. We explained that she definitely knows a lot of words and understands commands and what we are talking about but that we don't feel that she says a lot of words. Most of her words are just the first sound or syllable and many words sound very similar and that other people wouldn't know what she is saying and that context plays a big part in understanding her. The doctor reassured us that it sounds like Emma is normal and that at this age, "normal" is considered to be regular use of 2-5 words.

After dinner, I got out a pen and paper and we made a list of words Emma uses daily or at least regularly enough that we know she knows what something is. We (or at least I) were surprised that she uses upwards of 40 words consistently. She has also repeated many more, but hasn't committed them to her regular usage vocabulary. A couple of her favorites are dog, book, cheese, shoes, hi/bye, and pretzel. She also consistently tells us what sounds 6-7 animals make. We're working on 2-3 more and she can repeat with prompting.

We are amazed daily at how much Emma has grown and is developing! Our little baby is getting to be such a big girl! We can't believe how quickly time is flying by!