Cuddle Baby

Ramona fell asleep on her hand during her nap today and left that big hand print on her face. I thought it was pretty cute.

She was also clingy after her nap, which is pretty unusual for her. She is usually an adventure baby and would rather be crawling around than sitting on my lap. But she woke up and I fed her some baby food and then she crawled up on my lap and just laid her head on my chest and cuddled. I'm not sure if it's because we spent the whole last week together surrounded by other people and she just wanted some mommy time or if she was feeling a little under the weather from her shots yesterday, but it was nice. I read her some stories and she kept looking from the book to my lips. She's been much more focused on people talking lately. I think it shows that she's gaining interest in communicating verbally. She's also been making the same noises consistently and mimicking us more often.

The doctor's visit yesterday went well. She's 32 inches tall and 20 pounds, 8 ounces, which is above 95th percentile on height and 50th percentile on weight. She's been consistently in those percentiles since birth, so that looked pretty normal. We unfortunately had the same doctor as last time instead of Dr. Hilal. I'm not a big fan because she doesn't seem to really listen to what we have to say or give us advice or even give us much of an opportunity to discuss Ramona. She just gave us a handout about one year olds and looked her over and that was it. She got three shots of vaccinations and a flu shot, so she was not a happy camper when we left. She got over it pretty quickly, though, and did really well. I was cranky because my insurance didn't cover her visit or vaccinations (only the flu shot) which seems stupid to me. I guess she had reached her max on preventative care for the year, but it seems dumb to me that my crummy insurance wouldn't cover all her standard baby check ups and state recommended vaccination schedule. I mean, she's never been sick and she's only done the typical well baby visits. But my insurance annoys me on a regular basis, so I will digress on that issue. I will say that the doctor's office didn't mention this to me until we were there for the appointment which wasn't a huge deal, but it would have been nice if they brought it up earlier seeing as how I made this appointment three months ago. But the receptionist is super nice and I had plenty of money on me, so I don't hold it against her.

Anyway, I had a great time cuddling with Ramona for the night. We also went for a walk and played on the swings. Story time is fun because Ramona is developing favorites. She really likes her dinosaur and animal books. Today I noticed she gets really upset when I read Where's Spot? It's a lift the flap book where each page asks where he is (for example "Is he under the bed?" then you lift a flap under the bed and it reveals an animal that says, "No!" until the last page where we actually find Spot in a basket.) Before I thought it was just coincidental that she was getting cranky whenever we read that one, but now I think it makes her upset because there are so many animals saying no and she cries when I tell her no. I thought that was kind of cute and funny.

Speaking of saying no, I think I'm going to have to be the mean parent. Joe is already starting with his excuses on disciplining. Today he told me that she doesn't listen when he says no. Lame, Joe! You have to make her listen. She didn't magically figure out that I mean no when I say it. I had to work at it. He also says she doesn't listen to him when he says her name, but I don't know how true that is. She is really good at responding to me when I use her name. If I yell Ramona when she's crawled in the other room she'll come back. I also can get responses based on my inflection. When I say it my warning voice, she'll usually stop doing something (I use this mostly at bath time when she stands up in the tub.) I usually use that to give her a chance to stop doing something peacefully before I start in with "No!" which invariably ends with her crying. (Honestly, you'd think "No!" is always accompanied with a horrific beating instead of a stern look by the way she cries about it.) I've yet to see Joe give an effective no, and even though Joe says it's because she doesn't listen, I think it's because he is a big softie. Well, guess what? I don't like making her cry either, but discipline is part of parenting, so get on board and quit making me the meanie!