Fifteen-month check-in

Today we took Madeline for her 15-month check-in with the pediatrician. She weighed in at 23 pounds and is 31.75 inches tall. She's grown more than two inches since her last check-in, which was three months ago. She's hardly put on any weight in that time - only a few ounces.

We also got a pretty good idea of how Madeline is progressing developmentally - the doctor ran down a checklist of things to look for at 15 months:

Walking (Can she walk yet?) Check. She's been walking for five months now. She can run at a good clip and ascend stairs without using her knees. She's even started to climb things. And she's coordinated enough to walk around wearing adult-sized shoes that she digs out of our closets.

Stacking (Can she stack two blocks?) Check.

Commands (Can she follow simple commands?) Check that, too. She's good at retrieving and delivering objects, such as shoes and toys, and performing actions, like surprising mommy with a kiss after I quietly give her the order in another room.

Words (She should have four to six words that she uses regularly.) Uh, yeah. The doctor did a double-take when we told her that Madeline has about 45 words in her vocabulary. These are words that she can say unprompted, and doesn't include the animal noises that she mimics whenever she sees a particular specimen. The doc's next question was if we read to her, and of course the answer was yes - every day, several times a day. Madeline loves books, and they seem to be paying off.

We discussed some other issues with the pediatrician (such as discipline, which is something we think about more and more as Madeline tests her boundaries - as she should be doing), but overall Madeline is doing great, and is even ahead of the curve in many aspects.