Pre-Kindergarten Well-Child Check

I took Jillian for her Pre-Kindergarten well-child check today. We had a little time together before the appointment and enjoyed a snack and coffee (or chocolate milk) at Starbucks while Matt and Adrienne were hanging out at home.

Love those green eyes

This is my kid. And she looks REALLY big.

I had a weird wave of emotion sweep over me as we drove to the appointment. I suddenly recalled the very first pediatrician visit we took her to as a screaming newborn just 4 days old, and now we were walking into the same office (same nurse, same doctor) with a child just days away from her 5th birthday in what felt like the blink of an eye. That is the kind of realization that will really make a mom feel sentimental. Sniff.

As part of this checkup, Jillian got to participate in vision and hearing screenings. She was pretty happy that we could skip the lead paint blood test since our house was built after 1950.

Pointing to pictures during the hearing test

Jillian is now 3' 9 1/4" (93%) and 43 lbs (73%).  She giggled during the entire exam, and I thought was a bit more squirrely than usual (I recognize this now as pre-shot anxiety). We talked about her toe walking with Dr. V (though Jillian is able to walk on her heels, she is very flat footed and prefers to toe walk), and all continue to agree that this is fine. We will continue heel cord stretches and encouraging her to walk with a heel strike. I asked Dr V to talk to her about this, as I think some of it is attention getting from a parental standpoint. She listened intently to the "mini-lecture" so we shall see if it works. We also discussed her continued need to wear a pull-up at night (despite being potty trained for almost 3 years), and Dr. V also reassured us that it is pretty normal for kids to wet the bed until at least 7, and that if either Matt or I had bed-wetting problems (Matt says he did), we can expect our children to since it tends to be hereditary.

Checking out the otoscope

Waiting patiently for the nurse to return while reading a book

While I knew that this visit would require a shot, I didn't realize there would be FOUR (3 vaccines--DTaP, MMR, IPV, plus a flu shot). Geez. We were already scheduled for flu shots on Monday, so I gave Jillian the choice to either get all 4 now, or get the 3 and then get the flu shot with A and I on Monday. She wisely chose to get 'em all out of the way. It wasn't pretty. I couldn't get her to stop watching the nurse and she tried to swat her hand away during the first stick. I wised up and held BOTH hands for the last three, and thankfully, she was swift and Jillian recovered quickly. Poor baby.

4 bandaids for 4 battle scars. Ouch!