Two Year Check-up

Stats ...

Weight: 29.5 pounds (80th percentile)

Length (although I really think it should be "height" now that she's upright more than she's vertical): 34.75 inches (75th percentile)

Head circumference: 19 1/8 inches (80th percentile and I still have NO clue why this is important)

Kendall did very well, overall. She did great with the nurse who took her measurements (whereas in the past she has screamed while being weighed and measured). This is most likely because the nurse gave her hi-hi stickers. As an added bonus, there were no shots. But the second Dr. Foster walked into the room, the screaming started. I honestly have no idea how he hears anything other than screaming through his stethoscope. I feel bad for him because all he had to do was look at her and she flipped out. He says he doesn't take it personally and has very few friends in the 1 to 3 year old population. There is no way I could be a pediatrician. She did allow him to hand her the sticker box at the end of the visit and, when he was safely out of her personal space, she reluctantly took a few more stickers. But she refused to say "thank you."

The only thing that bothered me about this visit was the new policy of using venipuncture to draw blood rather than the finger prick. As an adult, I realize how much more a finger prick hurts and that having a needle in the arm is much less painful. However, I think requesting a 2 year old to accept the presence of a needle in her arm for the amount of time it takes to collect two vials of blood is a bit wrong. I'm not sure if this is a new AAP thing or just her doctor's office. It was awful for me, but Kendall did well. Not that she didn't scream, ohhh, she did. But she didn't struggle. And she stopped screaming as soon as the needle came out. Then she grabbed the vials of blood from the tech (which were, fortunately, capped)! It was pretty funny and almost like she was thinking, "hey, that's mine!" When we walked out of the lab, she turned around, waved, and said "Bye bye! Thank you!" The child thanked them for sticking a needle in her! I stayed strong while she was being stuck (with what I felt was a really large needle!) and was screaming, but the "thank you" really almost broke me!