Update on the wee one...

I think one of the strongest signs that I'm a third-time mom rather than a first-time mom is that this blog isn't really dominated by all those "updates" that seem to crucial the first-time around. I remember belonging to a bulletin board "birth month" community when pregnant with Fionna and on into her infancy. The littlest things were update-worthy ("pooping every other day now," "tomorrow we'll start sweet potatoes"). I'm not poking fun because I remember how deeply immersed and invested I was in each of those milestones. Our hearts truly do live outside of our bodies as we have children and, especially with the first, everything seems so new and poignant.

Having said that, I'll also confess to having come full circle. Poor Ainslie -- her baby book shows heavy signs of the "third baby syndrome." Meaning that, well, it's got a couple of completed pages, not much more. I decided maybe I better take a page out of my over-enthusiastic parenting book and share an update, seeing as how she just had a nice doctor's check-up and is really on the verge of exciting milestones.

So, at 13 months, she finally hit the 18 lbs, 2 oz. mark. This is up from 16 lbs. just three weeks ago which does make me wonder about the accuracy of that weighing. I'm sure the 18 lbs. is right as I questioned it and watched them confirm. Or, rather than doubting the old one, I can just take pride in the power of mama milk. She is 29" long. She's in the 3rd percentile for weight, mommy-brain dooms me not to remember the height percentile. We're vaccinating on a very delayed and customized schedule. She's only had dtap and hib vaccines so far and did receive one of each at the check-up. We've had some concern because she had a lump in her very little left breast. But, it appears to have "vanished" which supports the theory that it's hormonally-influenced by my hormones through the breastmilk. The doctor has no concern about it whatsoever which is very nice news to me.

On the food front, Ainslie is becoming an enthusiastic eater. Fruits, lately watermelon and peaches, are a big favorite, and she'd eat an avocado a day if I could keep them around the house. This, however, does not lessen her fondness for nursing. :)

Her eating prowess may be related to her mouthful of teeth. She's currently sporting nine with three molars working hard to pop through. She is struggling mightily with those molars but still is so happy-go-lucky. A cheery little spirit, my Ainslie. And she has more teeth at this age than the other two did.

She only has a three definite words so far -- mama (only heard when she's extremely desperate for me), "og" meaning "dog," and "Oh" meaning "Mo" (the puppy). We're working on signs. So far, panting for dog is all she does, although I'm fairly certain she understands the signs for nursing, water and duck. Oh, and she understands "chick chick" although I don't sign for that as I've been using the bird sign for duck and didn't want to confuse things.

For quite some time now, Ainslie has been a climbing fiend. Up a chair, onto the table, down the other side and back up the chair again. Or up on the kids' plastic picnic table. She can get on the beds and couches unassisted now. And found a little cheating way to get on the cedar chest and stand at the living room windows. She's actually pretty stable and has only fallen a time or two, but it still gives heart attacks to walk into a room and find her standing on the kitchen table or something (if you've read old posts, you'll understand when I say she still hasn't managed to get on the stove as I once accused).

On the big milestone front, she is so near to walking. She can stand unassisted (both without pulling up and without support) for quite awhile. And she always smiles the biggest smile and scans the room to make sure it's been noticed. She is walking very enthusiastically with our little push walker. In fact, if it was a more maneuverable design, I think she'd be all over the place. As it is, she can't turn it so she'll zoom back and forth as long as someone is willing to turn her around, over and over and over again. Then back to crawling it is. (BTW, that's why the pictures here are blurring. I was walking backward as she zoomed forward at me.)