12-Month Appointment

I realized that I haven't sent an update about Grant's 12-month appointment, which we had about 10 days ago (right at the beginning of his never-ending cold....which, by the way, has finally started to go away, we think!). First, here are his stats:

24 lbs, 3 oz (67%)
31 inches tall (80%)
19.25 inch head circumference (97%)----still a big-headed baby!

It's so funny to me, because I really don't think Grant looks like he has an enormous head! But yet every time we go to the doctor, he's at the top of the charts in this category!

He did fine at the checkup, although he didn't care to sit still for the doctor when she did her examination. He (of course) much preferred to walk around! I was a little nervous about the shots, because I've heard the 12-month ones are a little harder on them than all of the others. But he did great....he only got three (flu, MMR and Chickenpox), and he stopped crying about a minute after he got them! We'll have to go back in another month to get a booster shot for the flu, and then he'll get a few more at 15 months.

Grant is right on track with all the things he should be doing, maybe with the exception of speaking words. He'll say the syllables "mama" and "dada," but I still don't know if they're directed right at us. He'll walk around the house saying "dadadada," but I think that's more because he's practicing how to say things. The doctor said that at this age, some kids will have one or two words (on top of mama and dada) that they can say, but I haven't noticed that with Grant. She basically just told me to model words for him. And I'm not worried about it....I really think that it's one of those things that he'll just start doing one day (an experience we've had with a lot of milestones, like sitting, crawling, etc.). I think I've come to the conclusion that there's not a lot that parents can do to speed up certain milestones....when the child is ready, he will do it! One thing he IS saying, though, is "whoa," which I will explain later.