Emily was sick around the time of her 5th birthday and we made a visit to the doctor, but we didn’t call it our well visit. I guess we really wanted to have a 5 year and 4 month checkup instead.

It is hard to get excited about this checkup when it brings with it a LOT of shots! Emily was very much dreading the whole event. She did enjoy visiting with the doctor, taking her hearing test, reading the eye chart, and completing a drawing exercise. Part of her drawing exercise required her to draw a person, so she drew her best friend Elena in a princess dress. She had a few new experiences that were interesting, but in the back of her mind she knew the shots were coming. When the four shots did come she was pretty upset. Interestingly, by the last shot she had calmed down and showed how brave she was. The dread was worse than any of the shots. That is a tough lesson to learn as a kid.

Her weight was 39.4 lbs. (a four pound increase in a year) and height was 45 (a three and half inch increase in a year). Like usual her percentage for weight was in the 20th percentile, but 75th for height. Her height change in this year is quite noticeable when hugging her while standing and not having to bend so much. She also doesn’t need a step stool at the house for much anymore. Occasionally, she wants to use them for comfort, but not to gain access to things.

This fall is going to bring a lot of changes for our family with Emily starting school. When the doctor asked me if I thought that Emily was ready, it was a definite yes. I realized that my sadness at her moving on to this new stage of life is not fear of the future, but sadness for the loss of this special time together. I’m very excited for the new experiences, new things to learn, and the stretching of herself. We have enjoyed all of these pre-school days together and I’m grateful for all of them (and a few more memories we will make this summer).

Fantastic news from Julia’s 3-year heart check-up – All the areas of concern from her first visit have healed with her growth and are no longer there!

The visit involved an echo of her heart along with the visit with the doctor. Julia was a good sport and enjoyed hanging with Mama and Daddy by herself. The ultrasound went smoothly because they showed Cat and the Hat during the procedure.

We rewarded her good behavior with a strawberry milkshake after the exam. For Mama and Daddy it was a celebration of the good news, too. Emily enjoyed the whole exam at a friends house, to her own delight.

Julia had her three year checkup. All looked good from the doctor with all the standard questions. He was interested to hear about her current speech therapy sessions and my assessment on her improvement. Lucky girl didn’t need any shots except her flu shot. She was very brave and took it with just a few whimpers.

Her current height is 37-1/2 inches and weight is 28.6 lbs. This places her in the 50th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. In the last three months she has grown one inch and gained almost one pound more. She still loves for us to lug her around any chance she can get. That is definitely going to be impacted by her getting bigger.

Mommy’s favorite thing from the visit was Julia’s eye exam. The chart is a picture chart. We stopped and reviewed the shapes before starting the exam. There was the standard- star, o, heart, and flag. Then there were the more creative answers of a “t” instead of plus and “teapot” instead of cup. The cup did look like a tea cup, it was so sweet neither the nurse or I corrected her. She did great with the test holding her hand over each eye and giving answers. The nurse picked all the “teacups” on the chart for her to say.

Julia had her 2-1/2 year check up. We didn’t make it until she was 2 years and 9 months, but oh well. She seems to be great. The doctor listened for her heart murmur and couldn’t hear it. He wants us to go back to the specialist for her 3 year checkup as the the specialist requested. We discussed briefly her speech. For weight and height she is also doing well. Her weight is slowing increasing in percentile and is right around the 25 percentile and her height places her at the 50 percentile. She weighed in at 27 lb 6 oz (an increase of 3 lb 7 oz in 9 months) and measured 36-1/2 inches (an increase of 2-3/4 inches in 9 months). Julia will go back for her checkup at her third birthday.

The morning of Julia’s check-up Emily complained of an earache. The doctor checked it out for us and determined that she has swimmers ear. Not a huge shock given how much swimming we did in the last two weeks. She was also measured for the visit. She weighted in at 37 lb 10 oz (an increase of 2 lbs 10 oz in 7 months) and measured 43-1/4 inches (an increase of 1-3/4 inches in 7 months)

Julia – the girl of a thousand faces!

Julia visited the ENT today. She warmed up to the doctor and even gave him a high-five after a while of playing and talking. He said her level of being tongue-tied is moderate, and while it was our option of treatment, he thought she would benefit from the surgery. It is to be short and simple, but will require a trip to the hospital because of her age. We will schedule this for the middle of April.

They did a hearing test on Julia to eliminate that as an issue for her. She was a bit distracted during a portion of the test and they will re-test her the next time we go in on that portion, but from the results they did get, she does not seem to have any hearing issues.

The doctor agreed that Julia needed to have speech therapy and was pleased that she was going to get some. He felt that she would improve quickly with her speech. Mostly, he suggested that we just make her talk for things on a daily basis. That seems like such a simple thing, but at our house who would ever think you would need to make someone talk. I guess she is just making her own unique spot in our family. Time will tell a lot, but I’m so excited to see the voice that she is discovering.

Julia was taking it easy and watching some TV. She didn’t stay like this for long, but long enough for her Mama to take her photo. She does some pretty cute things these days.

We took Julia to visit her pediatrician to discuss her speech issues today. He set up a consult with an ENT at our Children’s Hospital next Tuesday. Also, we will be doing some speech testing with a speech therapist to see what her needs are. We are excited to see what is in store. Emily has been cute, she told me that she was going to teach Julia how to talk. It was very sweet that she was thinking of her sister.

On a side note, Julia measured at 26 lbs. and 34 + inches (mama doesn’t remember the exact size). Given Julia’s refusal to drink milk out of a sippy cup, I was curious to see if she had held her own for weight. Oddly enough, she has risen a few percentile points since her last check-up 5 months ago. The doctor was pleased and told me to stick to my plan to move her to sippy cups.