Angelica's Belated Age 4 Check Up

Two weeks ago, we finally got to have Angelica's four year old checkup at the doctor. Yes, I realize she's almost five. We had a few hurdles to jump over to get this appointment -- first, getting her records from her pediatrician in Florida was harder than we thought it would be, and nobody would make an appointment unless we had them in our hands already. The first time we requested them, they never came. The second time, we got a blank CD. The third time, we finally got the CD and made the appointment...and then the fates worked against us and we had to reschedule the appointment.

So, finally, we got to the doctor's office a few weeks ago...brought the CD with the records...and their computer couldn't read them. Lovely. But, they continued with the appointment anyway, and just to make sure she was up to date on vaccinations, contacted her old pediatrician and had her vaccination records sent over.

Waiting patiently for the doctor

After all the records/vaccination drama drama, we finally got her appointment underway. First, her stats at age 4 3/4:

Height: 41.5 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 33lbs, 14 oz (18th percentile)
BMI: 13.83 (9.18 percentile -- first time she's had this measured)

She also had a vision check and passed with flying colors!

The good news is that height-wise, her growth curve is steady, and weight-wise, she's actually ON the curve for once. At her appointment at age 2, she wasn't even on the curve, and at age 3, we didn't get a weight or height because she was freaking out. (she had just been in the office 2 days before for nursemaid's elbow, can you blame her?) Since she's finally on the curve for weight, the doctor wasn't worried at all about how lean she is and said we're doing all the right things as far as introducing new foods and giving her healthy options.

We then went over her development. She wowed the doctor left and right! She showed off with a book how well she can read. She showed off her physical abilities by hopping, skipping, jumping, running, walking, so on and so forth. At the end, the doctor called her "precocious" (a perfect word for her!) and said she should have no problems excelling in school from a social, physical, and academic standpoint and our challenge will likely be keeping her from getting bored. (And since her current whine is "Mommy I'm boooorrrrrrrrrreeeeeed!" I can definitely see that being a problem.)

Finally, she got two vaccines...the last MMRV, and the flu shot. She didn't flinch or cry or anything. She just sat there, got the shots, and then said "Hey! That didn't even hurt!"

I was really, really proud of her for how she handled everything. As a baby and toddler, we sure had our fair share of traumatic doctor visits, between her cyst and the subsequent surgery to remove it and the many times she had to be catheterized to be checked for her urinary reflux (and she has been off of antibiotics she was on to treat that for two years now and has not had another UTI, so we're in good shape with that)...and then the nursemaid's elbow right before she turned 3. By the time we got to her 3 year well-check she was just DONE with doctor's visits and was in hysterics. This time, she didn't even cry. She's come a long way emotionally and it shows.

...and later that night, we got hit by a blizzard that dropped 24 inches of snow on us over a 12 hour period, and I have many, many pictures of that to share in a post coming very soon.


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