The One Year Check-up

Kendall went to see Dr. Foster on the 5th of this month - exactly one year after she met him for the first time as a newborn in the hospital (she was seen by his partners the first 3 days of her life.) I did not envy her this visit. Not that I really ever envy anyone going to see the doctor, but this one was particularly brutal. The poor kid had THREE shots in the legs and a finger prick, after which she had to sit still (and screaming in pain) while the nurse squeezed her finger and drained it of blood for what seemed like an eternity to me (and I'm sure an even longer eternity to Kendall ... and quite possibly longer still to the nurse). To this day, I still shudder at the childhood memory of being escorted downstairs (in my mind, to Hell) at my doctor's office for the dreaded finger prick. It always hurt. Every single time. It STILL hurts and I'd still really like to scream. I'd really rather have a needle stuck in my arm, not that I'm a fan of that either. To her credit, Kendall stopped crying long before the 4 year old little girl who had her turn just prior to Kendall's bloodletting. I heard that child screaming loud and clear in their car as they pulled out of the parking lot.

Also at this visit, for the first time, Kendall was apprehensive of both the nurse and Dr. Foster. She seemed to be opposed to either of them merely glancing in her general direction. And God forbid I walk across the room to sign something. The world was most assuredly coming to an end when that happened.

With respect to my concerns about her gross motor development, Dr. Foster was not concerned in the least and said to me, "seeing as how Kendall is a first child and has her mother at home with her, I imagine she doesn't have much opportunity to struggle with much of anything." I'm pretty sure that was a not so indirect commentary on my parenting skills. Whatever. It is significantly more pleasant for me (and for Kendall) to help her up. And down. If she's not walking by 18 months, he said he'd worry. Until then, I gathered that it's more MY problem than Kendall's.

Aside from the fact that my child was turned into a baby-shaped pin cushion and the overall visit was much less than pleasant for the both of us, the good news is that Kendall is healthy. She weighs 23.3 pounds (80th percentile) and is 30.75 inches tall (90th percentile.)

Since I get scolded for posting "too many words and not enough pictures" on Kendall's blog, here is a recent picture of Kendall all happy and bundled up for a wagon ride around the neighborhood with Daddy. And for the record, Daddy does not attend visits to the doctor because he can't stand to see Kendall any less happy than she is in this picture. But he does send me regular text messages during her visits accusing the doctor and his staff of torturing his little girl.