Lilah's Two Year Check Up

We actually went to Lilah's 2 year appointment last week, but I haven't had a chance to post her stats.  She was 28 lbs (68th percentile) and 36 inches (94th percentile).  She was NOT HAPPY to have to lie down to be measured, but consented because Nurse Kim told her it was the last time she would have to do it.  She so wants to be a big kid! 

Lilah is talking like a three year old, which we already knew.  She has about a 200 to 300 word vocabulary (or more) and uses complex sentences.  After all we have been through with Brian's speech, I think we deserve it! 

I mentioned Lilah's night awakenings to Dr. Price and he confirmed what I already knew...she is having night terrors.  This isn't a big surprise since Shawn had them as a child (and still has them now) and Brian had them for a time when he was younger.  He suggested that we work on getting her to go to bed earlier, so I have been trying really hard to get her to nap earlier and/or for a shorter period of time so that she will fall asleep earlier at night.  I also consulted Dr. Google and found a couple of tricks.  One that has been working is to have her drink cold water when she has an episode.  This can be a big fight, but once I get her to take a sip or two she usually calms down within a minute. 

The terrors can be really scary for me and Shawn, but according to research they do not affect her.  She has no idea she is having them and isn't really waking up at all.  I have also been trying really hard to track when they are occurring because some studies show that if you can pin point it and wake the child up 15 minutes before an episode for a period of time, you can change the sleep cycle and eliminate them.  For the first few nights hers were within 1 to 1.5 hours of falling asleep, but since then, they have been more erratic.  Therefore we haven't tried waking her up yet.  Knock on wood-the last two nights we have been terror free, so maybe we are heading in the right direction!