AJ had his 2 yr old well-child appointment today, (albeit about 3 months late) and everything turned out fabulously. He was literally bouncing off the walls & examination table (AJ, not the doctor), playing with the trash can, pushing around the wheely stool that the dr. sits on and basically just being AJ, when the dr. came in. AJ then decided to start tearing the paper off the examination table with his teeth and chewing it up into large spitballs in his mouth. He then executed a top-notch leap off the examination table. "Nice billy goat you've got there" commented the Dr. :) lol
Anyway, AJ is in the 75th percentile for his weight and head size (whatever the heck that means - why does it matter his head size anyway? Like I'm going to brag about THAT at the next playgroup. "Yes, he IS rather smart - he DOES has a head circumrence in the 75th percentile you know"). Not surprisingly, his height is only in the 25th percentile. However, my spirits were uplifted when the dr. said that when a child turns two, that you can predict with an inch or so of accuracy, their adult height. So he broke out the calculator and after inquiring as to my height, and steve's height, he determined that AJ will be about 6 ft. tall as an adult.....and hey, I can live with that. :) Dr. said his saving grace was that I am 3 inches above the average woman's height (and Steve is 1 inch above) so thank you God, that I am tall (I always did have a sort of incane pride over that - I guess it paid off ).
So the dr. checked AJ's everything-ears, nose, joints, blah, blah, blah and determined that he is in excellent health. "Weiner-check" he announced after checking his joints. Note: I am still not entirely sure what pediatricians are checking for when they feel up the family jewels at each well-child visit, but it has been a recurring theme every 6 months with both boys, so I rest assured that this is a normal occurance in the pediatrician's office. Being that I am a first-timer in male child anatomy, and due to the fact that my sister-in-law has given me a complex re:my boys weiner size, I was curious as to how AJ's "stuff" stacked up against other boys his age.
"Does he have a small package?" I asked.
"I suppose it depends on what packages you're comparing it to. But No, he doesn't"
"I just wondered - it looks small to me, but I guess that's just because he's little" I answered.
"No, his is fine. You're just used to seeing grown male anatomy. He's actually a little bigger than average for his age. And I see some dinky ones in here" (at this point, I couldn't help but giggle out loud).
He went out to explain more about testicles dropping and something about scrotums and...well...i just kindof zoned out at that point. I was just happy to know that not only will AJ be tall but he's well-hung too. I think his face in this picture is apropo, because he would probably be very chagrined to know that I am discussing his anatomy on the blog. :) poor kid. Don't tease him about this when he's older, ok??
Next up: vaccinations. I always cringe a little at this point, because I'm somewhat leery of vaccinations. Not all of them, just some that have questionable preservatives, mercury, or are live. Anyway, I explained to him that I was uncomfortable with the MMR because of the autism scare that we had with Owen, and that the MMR has been questioned as a trigger for Autism. Bracing myself for the onslaught of why-you-should-vaccinate-your-kid speech, I was pleasant surprised when he said, "yeah, then you want to avoid the MMR. I can see by looking at him that he doesn't show any signs of autism, so there's no medical reason to not give it to him, but as a parent, if I were you, I wouldn't want to give it to him either".
see my jaw hit the floor. (could it be? a pediatrician who is supportive of non-vaccination??) at this point, I considered hugging him, but I refrained.
So...it was a good day. AJ got a sucker (or lollipop as they're called in the south) for being so good for his finger-prick blood test and he was a happy camper. We went out for lunch, headed home and here I sit at 8:30 p.m. with both kids sound asleep and Steve hounding me to hurry up so we can watch a movie. :)
Until next time....
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4 comments:
O.K. i should just let this one go but you know me and with me being a pediatric nurse I can't resist. Here is the speech you missed at the Dr.'s office. Unless your pediatrician gets his vaccines on the black market , the only vaccine that has a scant amount of mercury in it is the flu vaccine and mmr has to this date not been proven to cause MMR, it is just that the first MMR is given at 12 months of age(A.J. should have already had one) 2years is too late :( and yoou really can't start seeing true delays in children until about 12 months of age. I can see aunt megan has not done her job in teaching about immunizations. anyway , the percentiles ARE important you need to make sure his head,brain are growing at a rate comparitive to his body i am glad to hear that his "package" is doing well. you know that this is truely the most important part of the physical.for the dads anyway :) A SUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!! lalala I didn't read that!!!!!!!!!:( anyway I will shut up now and go to bed myself . It is 11:00p.m. here and I am tired. maybe it IS just lucky for that dr. that I don't live closer to you guys. I always go back to a saying one of my nursing instructors told me. she used to say....."do you want to talk to the Dr. or the nurse who knows what is going on?" take care until my next advise column. luv ya,,megan
I was waiting to hear a diatribe from megan praising the all-encompassing health benefits of vaccinations. :) You should be their spokesperson or something. lol :)
hey, I'm at least glad that you await my responses. :) the blogs are great. can't wait for the next one. :)
tammi;
i worried too about his, researched it and talked to drs. and a nurse practicioner that was always very honest w/me. there is no evidence out there that points to vaccines causing the problem--just linkage(?); but they have "linked" formula w/cancers and other health problems much later in a child's life--I always say go w/your gut; any study can come to any conclusion, depending on funding, politics,and even how the study is interpeted, etc...
By the way, Zac missed his MMR b/c he was so behind on vaccines w/all our moving,and ongoing life issues. He's none the worse for having missed it.
your blog was hilarious.
talk later
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