12-month checkup

Keeping busy with the train set

Diego's very favorite book

Learning how to eat an apple!

Not quite over the "everything in the mouth" stage

Diego had his 12-month check up last week and, thank the Lord, he is in perfect health! He weighs 21 lbs and 3 oz and measures just over 2.5 feet. We really like his pediatrician and she is great with him. She did the whole exam while he sat on my lap so he was totally happy. Except, of course, when it was time for the shots (more to follow on that). I keep a file on the computer where I have a log of questions that we want to ask the doctor for each appointment so this time we had about 10 questions – mostly pertaining to nutrition. I was happy to hear that there is no need for him to eat meat. We don’t plan on raising him vegetarian, but we don’t see the need to give it to him if it will not offer any nutrition that he can’t get elsewhere. He loves eggs, yogurt, cheese and all kinds of beans so he is getting plenty of protein. Today he tried tilapia for the first time and thought that was pretty good. I also asked how much salt and sugar is ok since we’ve never added any to his foods up until now. She said that he can now eat exactly what we eat and should follow our diet, since it is a healthy one. Being a vegetarian, I put more emphasis on eating fruits and vegetables and wanted to make sure that is ok for him too and she said that’s great. Of course he needs a lot of complex carbs and proteins, but a lot of his diet can be made up of fruits and vegetables. He loves pasta, rice, cous cous, oatmeal and every fruit and vegetable we’ve given him thus far, except for tomatoes – he wasn’t too crazy about those. I want to wean him onto cow’s milk and he’s not too thrilled about it. He does not like the taste of the milk and spits it out when he gets it in his sippy cup. He loves to drink water from his sippy cup, but not milk. The doctor said to give him less water so that his thirst drives him to drink milk – we’ll see! Another question was regarding shoes. Stride-Rite shoes are all the rage for babies/children these days and she said “don’t buy them!” She said that babies should walk barefoot whenever possible and when they do need to put on shoes, they can wear anything because the purpose of them is to simply protect their feet – they don’t need to offer support of any kind. I was happy to hear that after seeing that stride-rite shoes cost $45.00 and up! Oh ya, the shots! Oh, it was terrible! The nurse made me hold him down, pinned between my legs while she gave him a shot in each arm and one in his right thigh. He SCREAMED! He was crying so hard and was so upset and the tears just kept rolling down his face. After the third shot I gave him his blankie and he sucked his thumb and calmed down very quickly. He only gets his blankie at nap time or bedtime (and it causes instant thumb-sucking) so it was good for him to have it then and there because he was able to soothe himself. He is slowly expanding his vocabulary. The last two mornings he has woken up saying “Pa-pa, Pa-pa” and of course Ricardo LOVES it! He says “Ma-ma” and “Be-be” (Spanish for baby), he tries to say “duck,” but can only get out “DU.” He can also bark like a dog and roar like a lion! His very favorite thing to do these days is flip pages in books and look at the pictures, especially pictures of animals and babies.