15 months (or 16, as the case may be!)

Lyla had her 15 month checkup on Saturday, though she was actually almost 16 months. I guess it's fitting that the youngest is also the peanut of the bunch, and Lyla continues to be very petite for her age. At 16 months, she's only 20 lbs. 10 oz. and 29 inches long -- which puts her in the 13th percentile for weight and the 7th for height. Her ped thinks she's perfectly proportioned, but that she is definitely in a slow growth mode right now. While she's not worried about it, she thinks Lyla may be exhibiting a "constitutional growth delay" where she may get fairly behind in her growth for up to the next couple of years, and then all of the sudden shoot up to a different growth curve. She said it's actually not all the uncommon for kids her age, but of course it's just one more thing for mom to worry about. Anyone who knows me knows that I had such a hard time with my small height (personally) during my school years, so obviously I really hope that my girls end up taller than my petite 5' 1/2" adult height. Her ped said it's a bit early to tell and they'll have a better idea at age 2, but that it's not likely she'll end up shorter than me. Phew!!

But of course, in the end height is a small thing. And as long as my baby stays happy, healthy, and as gorgeous as I *of course* think she is, we'll consider ourselves lucky no matter how tall she ends up. Hopefully we have a nice growth spurt to report at 18 months. The ped was really very surprised by her height measurement this time around, so much so that she thought the nurse had mis-measured and felt the need to do it again. No such luck, but I swear the next day she looked like she had grown overnight. So maybe we just missed a growth spurt in there!

It's so crazy how different all of my kids are in this department. We've got Maddie who's very average height and always in the 50th percentile, Sienna who is the biggest of the bunch and is more like 70th percentile for height and always seems tall for her age, and now Lyla who's at the opposite extreme. I'm so curious to see where they all end up in relation to eachother and to Brad and I! Maybe Sienna is like Daddy, Lyla is like Mommy and Maddie is the true mix, height/build wise. Funny.

Hose Her Down!

What kid doesn't love a nice, messy bowl of spaghetti? Lyla seems to be no exception...you give that girl a bowl of spaghetti and it's a recipe for instant mess. Not much news to report on this front, but last night she was so cute stuffing spaghetti and red sauce in your mouth and wearing half a bowl down the front of her. When all was said and done, I had no choice but to throw her right in the bath -- and sink the sink was handy, we opted to put her right in the sink for a bath so as not to trail pasta throughout the house on the way up to the bathroom.

She loved being in the sink -- probably because she was guaranteed to have the space all to herself, with no possiblity of having to share with her sisters! But even so, Sienna stayed close by and was happy to help shuttle soap bottles, toys, etc. to make Lyla's bath more enjoyable.



I had taken Lyla for her 15 month appointment yesterday morning, a bit late since she'll be 16 months tomorrow! She is still very much a little peanut, and has dropped even more in her percentiles. She's only inthe 7th percentile for height (which explains why everyone wonders if she's really old enough to be walking) and in the 13th for height. So very proportionate, just petite. Not too surprising given the short genes that her mother donated to the mix! The ped isn't too concerned at this point, but hopefully she'll have a growth spurt soon to catch up a bit. She's right on track or ahead with all of her other milestones, so she's doing great overall! She's been a bit cranky today after having several shots yeterday, but I guess that's to be expected. She's also working on her one year molars and her eye teeth, so I guess we'll forgive her crankiness a bit.

Can I just say...

That having ONE child in diapers is such an improvement over having TWO kids in diapers?!! Yes, Sienna is officially potty trained now... YAHOO!! We still have an occasional accident here and there, but we've gone days without one. And last night, I put her in undies even for bed, since she's been napping in them, waking up to go potty when she needs to, and waking up dry in the mornings. This morning...dry undies! Hooray Sienna! With prices of everything so high these days, it's really nice to be getting a break from having to buy double the diapers each month!