Raising The Bar
05 September 2008
Today's highlight, if you want to call it that because I actually had to take a shower and leave the house for it as opposed to sitting home all day scrapping, listening to Noggin and wasting space, was Chloë's 7-year well check-up appointment at the Naval hospital.
I forgot to put a note in her folder this morning about picking her up early from school, so I had to call in and ask them to have her ready at 1400. Of course, when I got there at 1403, she was not ready. They called down to class. I waited. Sophie waited. Jack waited. And finally, ten minutes later, she came waltzing up front. I'm glad I built an extra 15 minutes in for that portion of our drive!
The trip was a bit hazardous, as it's rainy and windy from Tropical Storm Hanna. (It's not raining at all right now, so I don't know what she's going to do for our birthday plans tomorrow, argh.) I had brought the big box of goldfish crackers in the car, and the kids fought over them the entire trip. Why I don't keep a stash of little bowls for them is beyond me, but, they did find the cupholders in the backs of the seats and sides of the van useful for them! Guess I'll be lugging out the vacuum cleaner again soon...
Anyway, the appointment went very well, as much as it could for the (29-year-old-yes-I-asked) doctor and my having to talk over the hooting and hollering, showing off, shouting, energetic little children in the room. They would not be shushed today!
At 7, Chloë weighs a scant 35 pounds and is 42.5" tall. In other words, she's teeny-tiny. We discussed that at length, and Doc Baby went out for a while to review the notes from her visit with the ped endocrinologist two years ago. He was satisfied about the work-up done but not her current growth, so he wants to see her again in six months and go from there, just to "make sure we're not missing something." In the meantime, I have to try and pack 3 cm onto her height. No qualifiers for weight.
Otherwise, she's exceptionally healthy save for that ugly cyst on the back of her head. Have I mentioned that? I found it well before our cruise - can't remember exactly when - when she had pigtails in one day. It was black, and I barely touched it when it oozed out all kinds of orange goo. Gross TMI, so sorry! So I kept checking on it, and it kept oozing. Doc Baby says there are two options, leave it alone and stop picking at it (hush, Robert!) and it should eventually go away on its own, or send her to a dermatologist and have it cut out. Since it doesn't seem infected, we're opting for choice one.
He's very happy with all of her abilities, both mental and physical, and seemed pleased that her size doesn't keep her back from doing anything all the other kids are able to do. He's happy she's in so many physical extracurriculars, with her diet and nutrition, amount of screen time, sleep time, yadda yadda. She's a happy, cheerful, imaginative, playful child with strong verbal abilities, and he noted all of that on his own. So, yay!
When it was time to check "down there" to make sure everything looked all right, and we discussed how only Mommy, Daddy and the doctor were allowed to look and touch there, she asked him what he was looking for. He paused and said, "Oh, uh..." and she blurted out, "My uterus?" We both looked at each other and died laughing. "Very good!" he said.
And then in the car, on the way home, Chloë expressed an interest in what she was going to receive for her birthday. She told me she wanted a big robot kitty. I said, "Umm... I'm not sure they make those, honey!" Jack immediately popped out, "Yes, they do, Mommy, you just have to BELIEVE!!"
Hehe.
The other highlight was that there were three packages waiting, in the rain, on the stoop, when we arrived home. One was the replacement caterpillars I'd ordered, in time for her birthday. Yay! Another was the kitty cat cake pan I'd won for her on eBay in time for her birthday. Yay! She'd been asking for a kitty cake. And the third was the bat Webkinz I ordered, in time for her birthday. Yay! Yay! Yay!
So, barring any major hits from Hanna, this should be a very good birthday weekend. More on that tomorrow!
Fin.