4 Year Check-up

Today Alexander had his 4-yr checkup with Dr. M.

Per usual, I was telling Alexander ahead of time that we would be going to see Dr. M for a check-up so that he wouldn't freak out the minute I pulled into the parking lot. We talked about it frequently so that he knew it was happening soon. And he seemed okay with it....

However has soon as I parked the car, he started to get nervous and his eyes filled up with tears. Thankfully I was able to distract him before he started to break down. We got inside and I was expecting him to freak out, but after a few small whimpers he seemed just fine. We saw Dr. M walk by and Alexander immediately starting talking to him.

After a little bit of waiting, it was our turn. Alexander ran ahead of me right behind Dr. M and couldn't wait to get in the room. First stop was height/weight check. He hopped right up on the scale and then stood properly with his back to the wall to be measured. He even had the perfect manners in regards to asking questions. (who was this child?)

His weight was 35 lbs and 41". Dr. M actually made Alexander go back to check the height as he couldn't believe that he grew more than 4" in a year. But he was pleasantly happy that Alexander seems to have grown into the right size for his age. No longer is he in a low percentile for his height/weight. He's in the 50-75% percentile for Height and 25-50% for Weight.

He asked Alexander questions about what he eats, how he sleeps, what he likes to do, what he watches for tv, etc. (Thankfully Alexander only gave Dr. M one answer about tv rather than 5-10 possible answers). Dr. M was impressed with Alexander's ability to answer questions and was even more surprised that he knew his right & left and he could even give Dr. M driving directions.

Dr. M then did the check-up - eye test was cute (he has really good vision) and he did well, spine is straight (wooo), and Alexander did very well following what Dr. M asked him to do. The only thing Dr. M checked a few times was the hearing test. His left ear was fine but it seems as if there was a bit of fluid in the right ear. He asked if Alexander had a cold recently and he hasn't really hadn't anything besides a little bit of sniffling, etc. But just to check, we're going to go back in a few weeks to repeat the hearing test.

The last part of the check-up was shots. I explained to Alexander that he might have shots during this visit and he asked Dr. M if we could skip that part. However Dr. M had to explain that it was very important so we could keep him safe and healthy. Dr. M did then tell him that he could yell, scream, and cry because it's okay to not like shots. Alexander was fine sitting on my lap but just kept asking not to have any. Dr. M then gave him the first one, which was fine. But as he was finishing the first one was when Alexander started to cry. He gave him the other 2 and Alexander cried a little bit more (still not a lot of crying). But by the last/4th one Alexander was sad saying he was all done. It went by quickly and once Dr. M was finished he explained that because he did such a great job, he doesn't have to get any more shots like this until he is 12 years old. He then made Dr. M count how many years away that is....overall Alexander did very well while getting his shots and only cried a bit. And the crying stopped pretty soon after too.

So all in all, it was a very successful visit with a very well behaved little guy!

I'll update how the next hearing test goes although I/Dr. M are not concerned as it's probably just a bit of fluid from a small cold.