Development Check

I took the baby in for her 6-9 month development check yesterday - we could have done it earlier, but we wanted to wait until she was out of her harness (I had no idea what they would actually check).

All is going pretty well!

Her weight has slowed down - she hasn't really gained anything noticeable this month. When I asked if this was okay, the nurse commented that it was to be expected once they get more mobile. When I told her that I didn't think the baby was all that mobile, she pointed out that in the month since she has had her harness off, she has learnt how to roll both ways and scootch backwards - that's getting mobile. When I told family about this, they also pointed out how much more head and arm and leg moving she is doing as well.

She is in the 80th percentile for height, so she's getting good and tall.

While I was filling in one of the forms in the book, the nurse commented how fine she was being held by a 'stranger'. She also commented on how active she was, as the baby was pulling for her hair, her necklace, her glasses - whatever she could.

The book asked whether I had any concerns about the baby's preschool skills - when I commented that I didn't know what that meant, the nurse demonstrated drawing with a pen and then giving the pen to the baby - preschool skills are when they are curious and copy. The baby did a little line scribble, and the nurse commented that it's not usually applicable until they're 10 months or older. So, yay!

She said that the baby was quite strong - demonstrated through her commitment to stomach crunching and holding her head up when she was meant to be laying flat, and the way she likes to lift her back up off the mat so she is kind of like a baby rainbow. When they tested if she was weightbearing in her legs, she noticed that the baby likes to get up on her tiptoes first - so we should make sure we tilt her backwards a bit until she is on her heels, and make sure she doesn't try to grip with her toes.

When she made  a comment about sitting, I showed her how well she sits. The nurse did agree she was good, but did reinforce that tummy time is the most important thing - learning to crawl is more important than learning to sit.

So we have a bit of homework, but I think she's already doing better on her tummy and on her heels

It is pretty amazing to think that in the last month or so she has learnt to roll both ways, learnt to scootch backwards, gotten a whole lot better with her sitting, mastered more of the skills on her activity toy (she can lift the flap back and forth now), she spends much longer at tummy time, lifts her back off the mat, grew two more teeth, started chatting, started planking and started with 'bub bub bub'... it really has been a big month!