Annual physicals times two

In 2012 I had to reschedule Nadia's four year old physical because of my hospitalizations while pregnant with Oliver, and then it didn't end up happening until October in conjunction with Oliver's 2 month appointment, and last year I took her in November with Oliver's 15th month appointment. This year I decided to combine her visit with Ian's five year appointment. Oliver stayed home with Paul to make the 90 minute experience easier for me, and he dropped Oliver off at the Pediatrician's on his way to work. At her three year check-up, she weighed 34lbs (80th percentile) and was 36 inches tall (26th percentile). On October 12, 2012, she was 40lbs (75th percentile) and 40 inches tall (39th percentile), on November 8, 2013 she was 47 lbs (80th percentile) and 42.5 inches tall (30th percentile). The last three years they've said something to me each time about Nadia's BMI, but the NP who saw her today didn't say anything (woohoo!) because at 50 lbs she's at the 55th percentile for weight (much lower) and her height at 46 inches is at the 45th percentile (higher). She passed her hearing screening, but they said she didn't pass her vision screening because one eye was 20/20 and the other was 20/30. They recommended taking her to an eye doctor. Does 20/30 in one eye really possibly warrant eye glasses? Unfortunately I made the mistake of only electing for vision coverage for Paul and I this year to save money. I should have gotten family coverage, but in the past none of our kids have needed vision insurance.

Ian weighed 32 pounds in December 2012, 35 pounds last year, and 39 pounds this morning, which puts him at the 45th percentile for weight. He was 36 inches tall in 2012, 39 inches last year, and 41 inches this morning (12th percentile which is lower than last year). Ian got three shots today (DTap-IPV, MMR, and Varivax) he cried during all of them but settled down pretty quickly after they were all done. It had been years since his last shot so he had no memory of what it was like to get one. He won't get another one until he's eleven unless I opt to have him get the flu shot. I declined the flu shot for both kids today. He passed his hearing screening, but he failed his vision screening at 20/40 in one eye and 20/50 in the other. I guess I need to make eye appointments for four of us. The NP also suggested a PT evaluation and consult for "BLE weakness." I continue to see a lot of progress with him. Starting in early January he is going to be taking ice skating lessons from 4:30-5:15 on Thursdays for 10 weeks, a homeschool gym class (volleyball, basketball, dodgeball, etc.) for 9 weeks from 10:00-11:30 on Fridays, and a gymnastics class for eight weeks from 11:30-12:30 on Wednesdays. I think that will be enough "physical therapy" for the time being. Considering how hard it is to keep size 4T pants from falling off him (I'm thinking of buying him suspenders), I am surprised that his weight percentile is so much higher than his height percentile, but no one has ever said anything to me about his BMI. I am very grateful that both of these kids are very healthy. The only time we usually go to the Pediatrician's office is for well child visits! PTL!

We had planned to stop at the Dollar Tree on the way home from the Christkindl Market on Friday night, but there was a MASSIVE pileup from an accident  that prohibited us from making that stop (we rarely deal with traffic jams around here so it was a big deal for us). I decided to use the balloon as the reward for enduing three shots. He picked a Spiderman balloon. So I guess the birthday celebrations weren't quite over yet, ha ha! The favorite toy today is DEFINITELY the remote controlled Batbot. All three kids love playing with it. Ian told me this morning it was the best birthday gift he had ever gotten in his whole life. The second favorite toy would definitely be the new Legos he got yesterday. They've also been playing with those a lot. One other time they were given a remote controlled toy (a car) but it didn't work properly so this was the first time they really had a remote controlled thing that worked. I bought Oliver a remote controlled Thomas train engine for Christmas so in a week we should have two remote controlled things roaming around our house. (As a side note, these snow pictures were taken last Thursday morning.)