12 month check up and more milestones

Lukas had his 12 month check up today. That involved checking his growth (weight, height, head circumference), where he is at developmentally, and getting shots. That last part was no fun at all! Here's his report: he weighs in at 22 1/4 lbs, he's 30 inches tall, and his head circumference is 18 1/4 inches - 50% in all three categories! His iron is good (no anemia), and he is overall a healthy one! He still has some fluid in his ears, but that can be common until 3 months post-cold. He got the chickenpox vaccine, the blood test for the iron, and the TB test. We didn't have him get his MMR vaccine because of all the controversy out there right now with the whole autism / MMR link (or lack thereof) - better to be safe than sorry, we say. Now the hunt is on for finding someone locally who has the vaccine in separate doses. If not, I guess he'll get it at 15 months. So many decisions and you never know whether you're making the right one... welcome to parenthood. It's times like these that it'd be nice to have some sort of road map for this journey.

In other Lukas news, he's thisclose to walking! He can stand by himself for longer periods of time, and has even developed a game of it: he'll pull up to standing position, let go, then clap his hands and beam at us while awaiting for us to make a fuss for him (think lots of clapping, hollering, laughing, and whistling). Then he plops down and proceeds to repeat the process. This will go on for several times, sometimes even 10 - 12 times! It is hilarious!

Then today, he took a few steps while holding on with one hand to one of us or to his caregiver at daycare! So yeah, he's going to be walking very soon and I'm not sure whether to scream for joy or to hide my head... bittersweet indeed.