the jolly pink giant: hana at 9 months
so hana had her nine month check up yesterday and she's doing great. she weighed in at 23 lbs 14.5 ounces (above the 97%tile) - or as i put it, one lunch away from 24 lbs. she measured at 30.25" (above the 97%tile) in length but i actually think that's a little short. i measured her at 31" 6 weeks ago and when i watched the nurse measure her, i didn't think her leg was straight. but as the dr. said, in length she is already "way off the charts" even with this short measurement, so it's just a matter of "how far off the charts she is". she wasn't worried enough to re-measure. her head circumference - 45 cm - was in the 50%tile. developmentally, she's on target. and although her height and weight are off the charts, she seems porportional.
the dr. said her hemoglobin was borderline (borderline anemic), which she comes by honestly (from her mother and grand-mother). but she said that lab work would determine that more specifically and probably just corrected by eating more iron rich foods. but we gotta take her for lab work anyway because at 9 months, they test for lead exposure, which involves a blood draw. that will be a first for me (and her i suppose). so hopefully, i handle that well. she'll probably be fine, she didn't even cry at her last shot. but this check up, when they did the pin prick on her finger, was the first time i'd really ever seen her bleed. she thought it was kinda neat and kept sqeezing her finger to make it bleed more. fortunately, the body naturally puts and end to that curiosity before she passes out. nevertheless, it was a little unnerving for me to see her bleeding. but really, i'll be fiiiiine...
she's growing out of clothes left and right. some pants that i just bought her (size 18-24 months) are a little slim on her (but OK in length) so i think we are experiencing the first of many challenges finding clothes that fit her. i think they feel slim because she's crawling (and therefore bent over all of the time). if she were walking, the fit wouldn't be as much of a problem because she'd be standing upright. many of the 12-18 months clothes we have for her are getting a little short. there are no 6-12 month clothes that fit her. so jon and i recently had to deal with the drawers full of clothes that don't fit. each night we put her to bed and then wake her up in the morning and she seems heavier and longer. it's crazy! clothes she wore 2 days before look ridiculous today.
but she's SO MUCH fun! they say that once babies start crawling, their personalities come out much more. i believe that's true. she's definately expressing choices about things. so far, her favorite things seem to be cheerios, talking on the phone, watermelon, music and dancing. she has started waving and imitating us saying "hi". when she says hi for real though i think it sounds more like "ha". i have been teaching her a few baby signs and she is now making the sign for "more". she is most consistent at signing more in reference to cheerios (as in "hook me up with some more cheerios ASAP!"). she made the sign for "milk" once last week, but generally she just says "neh" which means that she wants to nurse, but she'll accept a bottle of formula as an alternative. we have this video that's very similar to the baby einstein videos that teaches baby signs and she's gotten very into that and tries to make some of the signs (especially for bird and duck, but she won't do that at any other time). mostly, she likes to clap at the end of each segment. interestingly enough, the sign for more" looks a lot like the sign for "shoes" (which she will only do in context) and that also looks like clapping. i wonder if there's a connection there... if she wants more, she's applauds... if she's happy and she knows it, she does what the song says and claps her hands! and if she's anything like her mama, she LOVES shoes.
posted by brittany @ 10:07 PM
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