Lauren at One Year

Lauren had her one-year checkup today. Still hard to believe that she's one year old!! Dr. Malone said she's doing fantastic, and everyone commented on how happy she is. She started conversations and giggled with everyone she saw! :) Looking back on past blogs, I haven't done a doctor appt update for Lauren since she was two months old, and no formal update since three months old! My, my, my... how slack I've been! So, here's her growth development since birth:

Birth: 8 lbs 3 oz; 20 in (left hospital at 7 lbs 13 oz)
5 Days: 7 lbs 15 oz
2 Weeks: 9 lbs 2 oz (95%); 20 in (25%, which I think was mismeasured)
2 months: 13 lbs 4 oz (95-97%); 24.5 in (>97%)
4 months: 14 lbs 8 oz (75%); 25.5 in (95%)
6 months: 17 lbs (75%); 27.5 in (90-95%)
9 months: 19 lbs 4 oz (60%); 29.75 in (97%) [she had an infection then, and weighed just over 20 lbs two days before this appt]
12 months: 22 lbs 8 oz (75%); 31 in (95%)

You can see she's growing very well, pretty much staying in the 75% for weight and 95% for height. She's a great eater, which I know contributes to her excellent growth. Lauren hasn't eaten baby food in probably almost two months -- she just didn't want it anymore! She's had eight teeth since the end of February so has been able to eat solid foods for a bit (by solid, I mean our food). It's been nice basically feeding her our meals, with the exception of the no-no foods for babies! She's also made the transition to whole milk instead of formula (she nursed until 10.5 months, when she weaned herself much to my surprise; it was about five days later I found out that I was pregnant!). Now, she gets milk at every meal (in a cup... no bottles after one year!) and one diluted juice cup a day. Since her birthday she's also eaten eggs and is fine with them. :)

Developmentally, Lauren measured about 16 months. There were some questions I could've answered after we got our three no's on the questionnaire though. I'll take you through some developmental milestones since three months, since we haven't updated since then! She put herself to sleep at three months and was pretty much sleeping through the night. She started eating solids (cereal) just after four months, added veggies three weeks later, and fruit another two and a half weeks later. The first tooth sprouted on Oct 3, a week before she was five months old, with the second one coming five days later (both bottom front). The third one (bottom second left) was Dec 22, fourth (top right) was Jan 3, fifth (top left) on Jan 8, sixth (top second right) on Jan 15, seventh (top second left) on Jan 22), and eighth (bottom second right) on Feb 26.

Continuing on with milestones... Lauren sat alone at five and half month. At six months she drank from a cup, says mama (her first word!), waves bye-bye, ate our food (Thanksgiving dinner, yum!), says dada, says nigh-night, and crawled. At seven months she pulled herself up to kneeling and then standing, started sitting herself up from crawling, gives kisses. At eight months Lauren started cruising along furniture, claps hands, stood alone for a few seconds, signed "all done", blew kisses. At nine months she said Carter and stood alone for longer. At ten months she took her first steps! Since then she's just been improving on everything -- standing for longer, taking more steps, saying more words... As for her words, she understands much more than she can say. Words she can say include mama, dada, baby, Carter, nigh-night, bye-bye, hi, bath, uh-oh (her fave), no, uh-uh, dog, grandpa (ba-pa), this, that... She isn't walking all of the time yet, but has taken as many as twelve steps by herself and will walk with us holding one hand (and walking with her). She just knows she can get there much quicker if she crawls! I'm sure it won't be long though. :)

Lauren loves to give hugs and kisses and is such a sweetie! But when Carter's picking on her, she's learning to pick back! She plays very well independently and loves to just have her freedom to roam. She loves being outside and playing at the park, and I'm looking forward to seeing how she likes the pool this summer. She absolutely loves her baths!

What else can I say about Lauren... She's just pure joy to have around. She's such a happy little girl, almost always has a smile on her face! Watching her grow up is amazing -- it's just been way to fast!