Lexi had her 18-month check-up at the pediatrician’s office yesterday afternoon. Perhaps the most telling thing I heard during the visit about her development wasn’t from the doctor himself, but from the receptionist. As she called us in to the doctor’s office, she asked me, “Where did she learn all that Kiswahili?” I told her that Jane, our nanny/house help taught her and that we had instructed Jane to speak only Kiswahili to Lexi. The receptionist said that she is speaking very well. She had heard Lexi speaking to me while we were playing with the toys in the waiting room. I replied that Sarah and I don’t know what Kiswahili words Lexi is saying, much less when she’s actually speaking it because we know so little of it (anything other than the several English words she speaks to us is just gibberish). The receptionist just laughed but seemed delighted and amused that such a little girl was progressing so well on her African language skills. Lexi seems to be doing better at 18 months than we were in our early 30s in learning French while living in a non-English-speaking country.
Health-wise, Lexi is doing well. She got two more immunizations yesterday and cried for each of them and then was shy with the cashier, as if she was angry at me for allowing someone to poke her with needles (OK, as someone who hates needles himself, I can understand if she was angry). Her vitals:
Height: 81.5 cm (32 in.)
Weight: 10.3 kg (22.7 lb)
She has shot up in height a few centimeters since her last doctor visit six months ago. Will she be a tall girl? Looking at her growth over time, for her weight, she has been at or slightly below the 50th percentile (although she’s just above the 25th percentile at 18 months, so she’s now skinny for her height) and, for her height, at or above the 50th percentile. So much for being an above-average Lake Wobegone child.
No comments:
Post a Comment