Leah's 18 month check-up

Leah had her 18 month check-up today. She got a clean bill of health. She's 34 3/4 inches - still off the charts - or the ">97 percentile." She's 26 lbs 12 ozs - 80th percentile. And her head is in the 85th percentile. She was a bit better with the doctor today than the last few visits. She screamed a bit while being checked out - but Dr. O'Connor was able to distract her for much of the time with her tape measure. She got one shot today - she handled it pretty well - cried when the needle went in - stopped after about 30 seconds of hugging and soothing.

Not too much else to report. We are going to experiment with not giving her milk before bed. Two reasons behind that - try to stop the overnight diaper leaks that have been almost nightly these days - and also cut the calories from milk to try to get Leah to eat lunch. So now she'll be getting 8 ounces of milk mid-morning (11ish) and 8 ounces of milk mid-afternoon (4ish). I was not sure whether she'd protest the lack of bedtime milk, but tonight went smoothly. Following a large dinner - 4 ounces or so of chicken, lots of broccoli, a little rice, half a kiwi, and a dozen or so grapes - we had a bath and read several books and she went right to sleep. Now we just wait to see whether the 8 ounce reduction in pre-bedtime fluids will mean no leak.

And the next well-visit isn't until she's 2!

Leah found some sunglasses at the playground last week - after I rinsed them off she very much enjoyed showing them off:
Enjoying a hot day in Central Park with friends on Sunday:
I like to call this Leah's SI Swimsuit Edition pose - very sultry and dumping water on her head:
Having lots of fun playing a little hide-and-seek at the Children's Museum yesterday:
Ahh - that check-up was well worth it for the lollipop afterwards:

Leah is one and a half!

I have nothing major to report on Leah's half birthday. I got her a tee ball set. She wasn't all that interested in it...but we'll keep trying. I also got her a see and say - the thing with the animals around it that you pull the lever and the arrow spins and tells you about the animal - the cow says moo. That she's excited about. It took her a little time to figure out how to pull the lever all the way - and it doesn't work if you only pull it part way. But after about 10 minutes of frustration she became a real pro.

I took her out to breakfast. She had silver dollar pancakes...and ate most of them. And for the first time she seemed to like the OJ...usually she has one sip and doesn't want more. Today she drank about 1/3 of the glass...although the glass is probably only about 4 ounces.

Otherwise it was a pretty average day. This morning we hung out in Cadman Plaza with Leah's friend Avery (girl Avery). And after naptime and lunch we hung out with Leah's friend Asher at the playground.

Mmm...orange juice:
Leah likes to take a bite or two of several pancakes rather than just eating one at a time...she goes back to them eventually:
Leah and her friend girl Avery having fun with some sidewalk chalk in Cadman Plaza:
And then at the playground this afternoon...loving the sandbox..."shovel. shovel. shovel.":

Sightseeing in DC

Took me awhile to get to posting about our trip. We went to Washington DC last weekend for a friend's wedding. We made the trip Wednesday night to Sunday morning so that we could have plenty of time for sightseeing. It was actually Leah's 3rd trip to DC but the first time she was old enough for much sightseeing.

We drove Wednesday night around 7 p.m. - and Leah managed to keep herself awake in the car until 10 p.m. She didn't fuss much - mostly played and sang and such. We turned the music off - didn't make a difference. We tried ignoring her...no difference. Of course once she fell asleep it was only about an hour until we arrived at Uncle Howard & Uncle Charlie's house. She fought going back to sleep in the pack n play but of course eventually she did.

Thursday morning we went to the National Zoo. She loved the lions, elephants, panda bears and gorillas.

Leah and Baba watching the mommy gorilla nurse her baby:
Leah and Mommy watching the panda bear have a snack:

Thursday afternoon we went to the National Mall - we only had time to see the Washington Monument up close. But Leah's favorite part was the flock of Canadian geese nearby.
Leah sitting on a bench in front of the Washington Monument surveying the scene:
Uncle Alan (my brother) took off Friday to hang with us. We went to the sculpture gardens at the Hirshhorn and the National Gallery of Art and also took a stroll through part of the Hirshhorn's collection.
Taking a rest in the Hirshhorn:
Leah telling Uncle Alan what she thinks of one of the sculptures:

Then we spent the afternoon at a nearby playground before having a tasty German meal at Old Europe.


Saturday morning we had a nice brunch out with Howard and Charlie and strolled around Georgetown by the water a bit. And then we went to Lisa's wedding. We all had a great time. It was a short sweet ceremony followed by a tasty BBQ meal and a fun band and dancing.

The wedding was about an hour outside of DC - beautiful surroundings:Shafi and Leah went to explore the grounds...Leah absconded with my friend Jamie's purse:
Leah got her very own dance with the bride:
And also with some of the groom's family:

Sunday Aunt Rachel and Uncle Alan joined us for a visit to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Leah enjoyed the fish and butterflies and stuffed animals. But despite being an obvious princess, she showed little interest in the hope diamond.

Leah in awe of the enormous whale on the ceiling:
Leah loved the fish...would have stayed there watching them all day:
And of course she was mesmerized by the giant butterflies:
And it seemed she didn't realize a giraffe was so big!:

Overall we had a great trip and the drive home went well. We had a nice lunch at Cracker Barrel and then Leah took a nice 90 minute nap. We're already looking forward to our Thanksgiving trip.