Life with Ava

Another trip to the doctor is under our belt. Ava did great - she really showed her personality this time and laughed and laughed (almost) the whole time we were there. She even flirted with a little boy or two in the waiting room which necessitated a stern talking to from Mom about how Miss Ava will not be allowed to date until she is at least 27 years old.

As we already knew - she's a tiny little thing. She is 28 1/2 inches tall and weighs 17 pounds. This puts her close to the 25th percentile in height but only the 5th percentile for weight. She's moving along the growth chart just fine so her doctor is pleased with how she's doing. It's just starting to look like she's genetically destined to be on the petite side. I think this means that I really need to buy the kid a few 9 month size summer outfits because it looks like she's going to be in them for at least a little while longer. There are a few 12 month sized things she can wear (shirts mainly - no pants as they fall right off her tiny hiney) but most of the dresses I have for her are just too big.

We spent a long time talking about her progress and she appears to be pretty much developmentally on track. However we do have an appointment scheduled next week for an early intervention assessment in regards to her oral defensiveness and maybe some slight sensory issues. I hope, and the doctor thinks, that they will tell us she's basically fine and provide us with some ideas on ways to work with her at home to get her past these minor problems.

We also went over her bloodwork results and the titers we ran to determine immunity based on the shot record that the SWI provided to us. We're still waiting on some results but what we have does show some immunity on most of the shots that we have records for. That said, she showed no immunity at all to Hep B despite the fact that her record shows that she has been vaccinated for that. We will be re-doing the HBV series and did the first one today. We also did the second Prevnar vax since she's in daycare and will now be exposed much more. The doctor is perfectly fine with us doing a modified/delayed vaccination schedule and is very supportive. We've decided no more than 2 vaccines at a time with at least 45-60 days between.

The doctor is, of course, recommending weaning her from the bottle and I have absolutely no intention of doing this anytime soon. She uses a sippy cup at meals and generally only takes 3 bottles a day - before nap and bedtimes. We don't let her sleep with a bottle - she takes it as we hold her - and it's simply too valuable a bonding tool to lose right now.

All in all it was a really good visit and Ava seems to be feeling okay. If she isn't running a fever or anything in the morning then I will take her for another half day at daycare. If she is feeling poorly from the shots then we'll stay home and I can work from here. I just know I'm looking forward to the weekend so we can all hang out together and get some quality family time in.