Taylor's four year check-up

Yeah. So when I was a mother to just Taylor, all of her checkups would be on the exact date, or close to, of the corresponding age. And when she turned four this past April, I smacked myself on the forehead and called to make her appointment the day after her birthday, only to be informed that the soonest they could schedule her was July. Uh... Really? Because I kinda had a streak of being on-top-of-it going. And now it’s ruined. Mom-brain, y’all. You know what I’m talking about.

So. We finally get to July and we just had her big appointment. And leading into it, I was aware that I could just go ahead and have her receive Kindergarten shots during her four-year checkup. But I opted out of it. Because One, I’m in denial that she’s only one year away from real-school. And Two, For the past few months she’s been begging and pleading with me that she doesn’t get any shots when she goes to the doctor. Because all of the sudden she’s deathly afraid of shots? What? The kid sat totally enthused and not-scared through that wicked bear scene in Brave, but she’s crying at the idea of shots. Um... Okay. Whatever. We’ll deal with the tears next time. And Chris will be in charge of that checkup.

And let me just say how totally proud I was of my daughter during this doctor’s appointment. My tiny girl is growing up. Gone is the squishy baby who was attached to my hip and whose cheeks I would eat throughout the day. She is a real little lady. And right out of the shoots, she was asked to take a hearing test and an eye exam. Two things she had never done before, nor had I ever talked about with her. And the Princess jumped into that big chair, eyes all wide, and listened to the nurse explain that she was putting earphones on her, and she needed to raise her hand if she heard a beep. And before I could try to put that in Taylor-friendly terms and re-explain what she needed to do, the nurse put the headphones on her and they started. And there was this pang in my heart that she didn’t listen or didn’t understand what to do. A chest flutter. And then she started raising her hand. And she sat there, visibly thinking about what she was hearing, then she’d smile and raise her hand to confirm what she heard. My face had about the biggest smile ever on it. And my eyes twinkled. And I’m pretty sure I squealed, Good job, Honey! about a million times as we walked from the hearing room to our exam room.

But before we got into our room, she got measured and weighed. She grew three inches and gained six pounds since last year. Knocking her down to 90^th-percentile for weight, but holding her steady in the 95^th for height. She’s leaning out, y’all. The chubby cheeks and thunder thighs are almost gone! Oh, the TEARS!

And she also took an eye exam, where you stand pretty far away from a chart and cover one eye at a time. And I was just as stressed about this one as I was the hearing test. The super large one at the top was a sailboat, and we never talk or read about or see much of anything with sailboats on it. And I paced behind her and it took everything in my will power not to whisper, SAILBOAT! to her before she started. But then she covered one eye, and chirped Sail. Boat. at the nurse. And then recognized and called out every single one! Even the really smalls ones!

And, once again, I was so proud my chest swelled and I was gleaming. Or maybe it was just glistening with sweat. Because this whole time I was either holding the 27-pound boy or chasing him around the office. Jeez! My son has entered that Hard-to-take-in-public phase. Too heavy for the carrier, hates the stroller and just wants to walk around. And grab things.

So during the actual checkup with Dr Childers, I was either throwing objects at Luke across the room, or holding him in my lap with a kungfu grip. Yeah. Pretty easy to pay attention. Hence the fact I can’t remember her actual height and weight. These kids are sucking my brain out of my head!

And, as I suspected, Miss Taylor is totally healthy and pretty advanced for her age. She communicates like a real person, Read: Never. Stops. TALKING!, and she’s a smarty with math and problem solving. And she’s an amazing little artist. Look at this masterpiece I found in her art pile the other day:

As promised, NO shots. I kept my word, even after both the nurse and our doctor brought up getting a few that visit. NOPE! Not today, thank you. But she did have to get a finger prick, and her, Luke and I all smooshed onto the chair so I could hold her while they poked and siphoned out her blood. And they wanted to get a urine sample. Ha! Picture the three of us in a tiny bathroom, Taylor totally having stagefright, me crouched and ready to fill the cup and Luke unrolling the whole roll of toilet paper. Yeah... I lasted about ten minutes before throwing in the towel. You’ll get that after the shots next year while Dad’s chaperoning.  

And after receiving our complimentary stickers and sugar-free suckers, we got to the car and I opened the door and Taylor crawled over Luke’s seat right before I wrestled him into his harness. And she settled in her seat, and reached up and around and buckled her own seat belt. And then she grabbed a book and started reading. AH! My sweet little Taylor-tot is so grown up! That was too fast, my friends. Way too fast.