18 month check up

We Scarlett's 18 month check up not far from her 19 month birthday... It was also on a Friday night of Memorial Day weekend. Clearly our pediatrician is in high demand! Regardless, we had a very good experience there as usual. We met with Dr. Clapp who would not be my favorite person in a vacuum, but she is undeniably fabulous with children. We were seen almost immediately and they took us back to have Scarlett weighed and measured. You would have thought they were trying to kill her. She immediately started crying hysterically and clinging onto me like I was trying to throw her to the lions. When all was said and done she weighed in at 23 pounds and was 32 1/2 inches long. I think they said her head was 18 1/4. After the trauma of being weighed and measured was over, we went into the room to wait and Scarlett turned into herself again. She was climbing on the windows, bed, chairs, and her parents. She was jumping in and out of the tiles on the floor, singing, and dancing. She kept herself (and us) completely entertained while we waited for the doctor, which was good because it wasn't the shortest wait. Dr. Clapp came in and was pretty impressed by Scarlett. She typically has a pretty great poker face, but she kept saying how neat she thought she was. Of course Scarlett was performing for her -- talking, laughing, jumping, singing... It was kind of nice because she is typically pretty stoic at the doctor's office so they have to take our word for it that she has a pretty big vocabulary and strings words together and what not. This time the doctor got to see most of it first hand. She quickly ruled out autism and said she's doing a lot of things that 2 year olds are just starting to do. We tried to temper our pride as we went through the rest of the exam. Scarlett is still basically tracking right where she was at her first visit. She's in the 75th percentile for height and 45th for weight and is generally a happy, high performing, high energy little girl.

I asked some questions about discipline and some of her temper tantrums etc. to make sure we aren't screwing up royally, but other than a few helpful hints and words of wisdom, it seems like Scarlett (and us) are doing just fine. The doctor finished up and the nurse came in to administer her shot. Ironically, after the drama with being weighed, she didn't make a peep when she got her shot. No one ever said toddlers are logical. She can be a pain sometimes, but we are very, very proud parents. :)

After the doctor we decided to stop for dinner since it was already about 8 PM. We went to our favorite sushi place -- Sushi Zen. One of our favorite sushi chefs was there and he always hooks us up, so within minutes of sitting down, he sent over some seaweed salad for us. Imagine everyone's surprise when Scarlett started shoveling seaweed down her throat by the handful. It didn't end there though. She had her own little buffet of Japanese food - 3 pieces of California roll, fresh ginger, 1/2 bowl seaweed salad, a bunch of edamame, miso soup with tofu and seaweed, mushrooms, green beans, carrots, a few bites of salmon, oh and all of the salmon skin to finish off the meal. When she returned home, she ate some pudding and a about 10 oz of milk. People at the restaurant were amazed by the variety of foods she ate and we just kept praying that she didn't over-stuff herself and end up throwing it all up later! All-in-all, it was a successful night and she is one unusual toddler. The doctor had just asked us about her toddler-finickiness and wanted to make sure we were still able to get some nutrients into her....