15 months, 1 week

 

Kerala had her well baby visit last week and it went really well. She jumped from 5% to 10% in weight and the doctor was really pleased with her weight gain. This is the first time since she was a tiny baby that she has jumped up a weight category, so I was pretty psyched. The doctor was also pleased with Kerala's language and general development. Kerala's latest two words are "flower" and "Elmo" (although she also refers to a Cookie Monster doll as Elmo). We are not really sure how she picked up Elmo since she doesn't watch tv, but she does have an Elmo doll that she loves which I guess we have called Elmo. The doctor also noticed that Kerala is getting her molars in, which may explain why she has been waking up at night (last night she woke up at 1:00am and 4:00am). I couldn't have been happier with the appointment, although Kerala wasn't psyched - she basically cried the entire exam and only seemed to briefly calm down after the doctor left the exam room and before her shots (poor girl).

As you can tell by the photo, Kerala has been getting some time in her baby pool. She also went to the local pool once and had a blast. Kerala is still pretty obsessed with her doll stroller. She now tries to lift the stroller up the stairs - fortunately, she can only lift the stroller onto the first stair. She also will roll over you if you are sitting or lying down in her way. Finally, Kerala's new thing is to blow on or tickle your belly to make you laugh. The other night she kept blowing on Troy's belly before bedtime and was getting the biggest kick out of it. Every time Troy would start to laugh, Kerala would laugh and fall down.

14 months, 4 weeks

 

I know, it has been forever since we last posted. Troy has been busy studying for the bar exam, Kerala had a bad cold and fever and I was busy with work. Things are a bit better now, although I do have to work this weekend.

We have Kerala's 15 month appointment this week and, suprisingly, I am not dreading the weigh in. Kerala is tiny and I get really anxious prior to her weight check. Tonight though we weighed Kerala on JT and Tamra's scale - Troy stepped on the scale and weighed himself and then he stepped back on with Kerala. The scale said she was over 20 pounds! I didn't believe it, so I weighed her again and we got the same result. We will see on Tuesday just how accurate their scale is. If she is over 20 pounds, then that means she gained over 2 pounds since her last check up. I do think she has been eating better thanks to Ellen who has come up with some very creative and delicious recipes.

Kerala has been doing really well with developing her verbal skills. Today she started to respond with "ooh, ooh" when you ask her what an owl says. She also loves to say "uh oh." The other day she said "uh oh" when her friend dropped her water. She also went over and handed it back to her friend! Last Sunday, I swear she said something that sounded like strawberry, but she hasn't repeated so I am not going to count that one yet. All in all, she is up to about 20 words or so. The crazy thing is we don't know how she picks up some of the words. For instance, a few weeks ago in bath she kept pointing to my hands and saying "bubble" when I was soaping her up. Troy and I really don't recall saying "bubble" a lot, but I guess it only takes one or two times and she will pick something up.