15 Month Well Baby

Last week the girls had an appointment to see the developmental Ped and the PT. Overall they were impressed with the girls and thought they were on track and doing well. However, the Dr. seemed surprised at Emily's poor weight gain. Ellery is now a 20lb-er and Emily is 18lbs. The same two lb difference that we've had for what seems like forever. When you plot their weight out on the growth chart it seems to be moving at the same pace for each girl. I was caught a little off guard by the Dr's concern. Yes, she's small but she's still gaining. After 3 weeks of poops I was glad to see that she gained quite honestly. The Dr suggested that we start to fatten her up by adding butter and oil to every meal and increasing fat wherever we can. I'm all for the healthy fats but to be feeding her milk shakes, ice cream, and butter.....while it sounds WONDERFUL it just doesn't sit right with me. Luckily we had an appt with our normal ped a week later.

Fast forward to that apt, our ped was totally excited about how much the girls have changed since our last appt. 3 months ago. She had no concerns and when we discussed weight she said that she'd prefer Emily to gain a little more but that she wasn't overly concerned. I told her about our suggested diet plan and thank goodness she is getting involved. She wants to speak to the dev ped to get a little more background before giving us to ok to start the high fat diet. We've added pediasure to Emily's diet and the girls are now drinking mostly whole milk. We are trying to drop a few bottles but it's kind of hard. I think we finally found a rhythm but if they see a bottle it's all over. The girls are eating solids like maniacs though. They eat so much and refuse any purees. Ellery is on the full term baby growth chart in all areas but poor little Emily is just hovering under the minimum. However, her head is in the 50th percentile. Super smart??? I think so!

I haven't been impressed with the dev ped and PT appointments but I've been assured that we should keep going. Our next appt isn't until Dec but between now and then some developmental issues could possibly arise and it would be best if we were seeing someone. I'm still not sold, but I also don't have a medical degree so I'll stick it out for one more appt and make up my mind at that point.

Both girls are walking more and more each day. Ellery is walking everywhere and can stand right up rather than having to stabilize herself in front of something first. Emily is still at that point where she has to pull up on something first but the girl seriously has no fear and is trying her hardest to walk all over.

In other big news, the girls are going to be adding 1 more day to their daycare schedule. They'll be at the Nike daycare 3 days a week. I'm very excited for this because the girls really thrive on the interaction and activities at daycare. They love watching the other kids and just playing and doing all the fun activities. They also love the food. I sweat the menu is more elaborate than what I serve at home. Apparently they love lentil stew....not something you'd find us having for dinner. ;) I know they are in fabulous hands, so I'm very excited to add that extra day.