20 Months

As each month rolls by I am amazed at how much Meera is growing up. This month we went to the health clinic for a 'well visit'. In Australia this service is provided free of charge. A nurse will measure up the child and give age appropriate advice. I was quite impressed. At least it's comforting to talk to someone to reassure you about stuff.

So here's the outcome of the visit: I finally have a proper record of Meera's height (85.5 cm), weight (12.17kg) and head circumference (46.2 cm). Based on the growth charts, she's very tall (97th percentile) so although she weighs a lot it's actually okay for her height. (I was a bit worried I was feeding her too much). Her head circumference remains quite small. But nothing to worry about. The nurse also advised me to stop giving her a bottle and switch to a cup (not sure about that!) and to reduce her milk intake to 500ml a day (right now she's getting 200 ml 3 times a day). I also give her cheese and yogurt so her calcium intake is definitely more than adequate. But I've read that this can affect the iron intake so I'm gonna start reducing her milk intake.

My mom was here for 2 weeks and it might have been a coincidence but Meera's vocabulary has really developed. She's also started to say 2 word sentences. 'Momma sit', 'open eye' (she wanted me to remove Mr. Potato's eyes). It seems like she says at least one new word a day. I really should document this but I haven't really got around to it...

On the eating front, all is going well. Have not made porridge in ages. I found a few books in the library with recipes for toddlers and that's helped me cook different stuff for her. Initially I was just steaming everything....steam rice, steam fish, steam chicken....boring. But now I've made her fish goujons (fancy name for fish fingers), roast chicken and pie! She's eating a lot better than us. But I am truly grateful that so far she seems to enjoy everything I give her (I hope this doesn't jinx things).

I also noticed that she's starting teething again. I can see all four canines pushing at her gums (feels quite hard) but none have actually pushed through.

Because my mom was here her schedule has been pretty off. Largely due to lack of sleep since we were out and about a lot. But she's still taking one nap a day which last anywhere from 1.5 - 3 hours. Bedtime is generally 9pm. And she wakes up around 8 am. Right now it's almost summer so it gets bright pretty early but it doesn't seem to affect her much. It's also getting warmer so some days we don't use her 'sleeping bag'. Ive been thinking about changing her crib into a toddler bed but not ready for this (me not so much her). Part of me is not sure she will stay in the bed without the physical barrier of the rails. Also I'm worried she would climb down herself while we're still asleep and get into mischief.

On another note, Jing and I went out on 3 nights while my mother was here and she had no trouble being put to bed by my mom. I don't know if she's still young or super secure but she didn't cry or ask for us. Hmmmm....... Also she calls my mom 'ah mah' although we kept telling her 'Grandma'. And for the 2 weeks that my mom was here she was always asking 'ah mah?' whenever my mom was out of sight. But after my mom left she hardly ever asked. I was a bit worried that she might miss my mom especially since she was always entertaining Meera but no issues there.

Personality wise Meera is starting to show her independent streak. At every meal 'put' (with repeating gestures) indicating I should put her plate on her tray for her to eat. And she'll say 'fork' or 'spoon' when she wants to hold them herself. She's also quite adept at giving commands like 'sit' (although she feeds herself, she likes me to sit and watch her), 'hold' (when she wants something), I guess it comes from hearing so many instructions throughout the day...

She loves to repeat what we say so we're using that to our advantage by reciting the alphabet and counting from 1 to 10. Already we can tell she's learning something. Sometimes after saying 'b' she'll continue with 'c'. The other day I was counting out loud and I stopped at 8 and I heard her continue with 9 and 10!

Also I manage to get a download of the Leapfrog Letter factory so she watches that quite a bit. She also loves watching the Peek-A-Boo one. She can even request for it by saying 'Poo ke' (?) and covering her face. I keep saying peek a boo but she keeps repeating poo ke back. Same goes for milk, she says 'nuk' (she doesn't sign it anymore).

We finally bought her a play kitchen. And she loves it. Everyday she's standing there pretending to cook something. After 2 weeks she still says 'cook', go to her kitchen and pretend play. It's quite fascinating to watch her at it. She even pretends that one of the bottles is soap and will 'squirt' some 'soap' and wash her hands.