January 15, 2016

My baby girl had her 15 month wellness check today.  She didn’t have an afternoon nap before the appointment, and so she was already in somewhat of a melancholy mood.  Then she saw where we were going.  For a brief minute in the waiting room, we had some playfulness and giggles as we sheepishly made eyes at other moms and babies waiting to be seen by the doctor.

But then they called us back.  “Selah?”  That would be us.  I gathered all of our random belongings up and carried her back to the examination room.  She started screaming when the nurse took her temperature and kept it up through the measurements, the weigh-in, the doctor visit, and the shots.  Dr. Jen recognized the drama and tried to console me with the thought that a strong will can be channeled as a force for good and not evil.  Her (waaayyyyy) above-average verbal skills and amazing determination will take her far in life — if we help her steer it in a productive direction.  She also said that the verbal aptitude might help her process through the terrible twos a little more quickly than most other babies.  (But she made no promises…)

Selah June knew where she was, and she knew what happened there.  There’s only so much I can shield her from experiencing, and there’s only so many little distractions you can suggest before the hard cold reality stared you blankly in the face.  Shots are shots.  There’s no way around them.

She did great, and I treated her to her own order of Sonic french fries during happy hour after our appointment.  And her little voice chirped “take-oo!”  (We’re working on our “please” and “thank you.”)  Dr. Jen asked how many words she is now saying.  The benchmark for 15 months is between 6 and 8.  At last count, SJ was around 50.  And that doesn’t include “please,” “thank you,” or “butterfly.”

At dinner, she was very interested in what she was being offered to eat.  I took her to the refrigerator and showed her the tomatoes.  She wanted them.  But when I asked her about the grapes, the cantaloupe, the chicken, the pretzels, the bananas, the oranges, and so on… the answer was an emphatic “no.”  I can see the writing on the wall.  Chicken dinosaurs and fries – it’s just a matter of time.

This picture is not from today.  I just found it in my photo library and thought it was beautiful.  I think it’s from September.