Butterfly 4 Year Old Stats

Everyone,

Two days ago I realized I should probably get Butterfly into the doctor so she can have her 4 year old well child check. When I called, they asked if I wanted to come in that afternoon. Uh, no. That was the day I didn't get out of my pajamas until 6pm, after I put the boys to bed. So I picked two days ahead and we were there at 9am. Semi-sharpish. Okay, so we had to run through the parking lot, up the stairs, and down the hall (full tilt) to make it there by around 9:05am. We at least made it.

They had her take off her shoes and stand next to the measuring wall. It was hard to get her to stand up and not lean against the wall, but we finally got it. Then we had to walk down the hall to the "weight room" and she was weighed. She chatted up the nurse the whole time and he was really funny. He took her blood pressure and she didn't even flinch with that. (I think it was 70/40 or some insanely low number. Heart rate around 100 but I think she was nervous.)

She insisted on getting undressed her self which would explain why she was still undressing when the doctor came in. Butterfly went shy and wouldn't look the doctor in the eyes until I shook the doctor's hand and got her name and her favorite color. It was blue (how cool is that?) and Butterfly perked right up. She had her eyes, ears, mouth, throat, and reflexes checked while sitting on my lap. Then the doctor wanted her to do some tricks. We ended up having to pretend she was a puppy in order to get her to do all these things. She had to walk on her toes, on her heals, jump on each foot, tell the doctor 5 colors out of a book and show her the first letter to her name. She then went on to spell out her entire name (first and last) for the doctor and the doctor mentioned that she does extremely well with the letters. She also had Butterfly count to 10.

The doctor and I talked about how Butterfly writes with her right hand and still eats with her left. She said she may be ambidextrous and to just wait it out and see how things go. She also said that Butterfly mumbles quite a bit (not at home, she is too loud at home!) but didn't say anything beyond that. She was glad Butterfly was taking swimming lessons and told me at least 4 times that Butterfly will need sunscreen every day in the summer time, even if we're just walking out to the car because she has very fair skin.

She also asked me how tall I was and how tall Juice was because she is totally off the charts for height and weight. Somewhere in the 125%. She also looked pretty seriously at her growth pattern from a baby and remarked at how she's always been big and tall. Yep. That's our family. The land of the lily white giants.

Butterfly had to get 4 shots today. 4! I was not expecting 2 of the shots. Apparently, because of the area we live in, she has to get a TB test every year. (That's where they put the bubble of liquid under the skin and I have to go back on Friday and have it looked at.) There have been several measles outbreaks in the area (including at the hospital across the street from the doctor's office) so she strongly suggested we get that MMR booster. I asked if she'd have to get another before she starts school and the doctor said no. You can get your 2nd MMR anytime one month after you get the first one and you should be fine. They just typically give it to kids right before school because they are going to be in close quarters with a lot of kids. But since the measles seems to be traveling through the area, it makes sense to have the booster now. She'll have to have another one before 7th grade I think. She also got her last polio vaccine, and her second to last DTaP (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus). She cried hard but perked up when I suggested a fruity drink. She got a blueberry smoothie and I got a peach one. I like it when she gets shots!

She is 52 lbs. 52! Did you know that she meets the weight requirement for sitting in the regular car without a booster in some states?! Holy cow. We are lucky that we bought the car seat that goes up to 80 lbs because she would have had to get a new seat within a year if we didn't. I suppose she could move into a booster seat and be just fine, but her current car seat is working. She knows no different and hopefully won't until she is 80 lbs. Or too tall for it (53 inches). She is 45 1/8th inches tall. She grew around 4 and a half inches in a year. If she keeps this growth up, we should be good with the car seat for at least another 2 years. :)

Other things she mentioned: go to the dentist every 6 months (check) and make sure we either have city water with fluoride in it or put fluoride in her drinks every day. We have city water. She should be drinking 2-3 glasses of milk a day (skim is fine at this point) and 2-3 glasses of water a day, especially through the summer. She needs to have a bike helmet (check) and needs to understand cars and the dangers of the road. She also needs to be introduced to the fact that strangers are dangerous (already do that a little) and she should move at least 30-45 minutes every day. Walking, riding bikes, play at the playground, dancing to music, etc.

All of her boxes are checked off and we're clear to see the doctor again in year for her 5 year old before school check up. As in she's going to be going to school in a year and 3 months. Crazy!

4 is turning out to be a little better than 3. I think having 2 new baby brothers was a huge adjustment or the fact that she is all about the RULES right now makes things easier. She accepts whatever I have to say if I say, "Because that's the rules." Can there be some rules about Mommy getting a nap? I think Butterfly might enforce it for about 2 minutes. Is that long enough for a power nap?

Safire