18 months

Megan had her 18 month check up on Monday.

Height: 31.5 inches (45%)
Weight: 25.4 pounds (70%)

And so at one and a half years of age, Megan is going on her first diet.

Ok, diet is a bit of an overstatement, but we were told cutting out juice might be a good idea ('empty calories'). Megan only gets a cup a day as it is, but at her size small cuts could make a big difference. Also we were told to cut Megan's milk intake from 24 oz a day (four 6 oz bottles) to 16 oz. Megan's already doing 2% milk - going lower is not recommended. All that milk fat is needed for healthy brain myelination!

And did you say "bottles"? We got a bit of a finger wagging for that one. Time to get the kid on sippy-cups.

I know, I know. But it isn't easy.

I have friends whose kids were still taking bottles at age three. Mac and I laughed at them. We swore our kid wouldn't be like that.

We tried switching Megan to sippy cups before she was one, but she'd take one sip and throw it down. She quickly learned to say "bottle" so that she was abundantly clear as to what she wanted. We bribed her with juice, which was the only way she'd use the sippy cup, but she wouldn't switch over for milk.

"Who's in charge - You or Her?" We weren't expecting Nanny 911 lessons from the pediatrician.

Megan has become a self-imposed vegetarian. Though I eschew meat myself, I have tried to encourage Megan to eat it. But put even the smallest morsel of meat in her mouth and she will spit it out immediately. We have tried to hide meat in beans, rice, peas - you name it - all the things she loves, but she just sucks off the disguising agent and spits out the meat. But a growing child needs protein, we tell ourselves as we hand Megan a bottle of milk to wash down those fruits and veggies.

More wet noodle lashings came our way. What about cheese? eggs? tofu? peanut butter? beans? and those childhood meat favorites bacon and hot dogs? Hmmm, yeah, we admitted, she eats some of those.

And so Thursday (my first day of vacation) Megan starts her high protein-bottle free- milk reduced diet.