4-Year Stats

Claire had her dreaded 4-year check a couple of weeks ago. All I can say is, thank goodness she doesn't have to get another shot until she's 11. She knew going into it that she'd have to wear special headphones and listen to sounds, look at a poster and tell the shapes she sees, and get shots. And she was very brave going in to it. But before the exam could even begin, things started going downhill. The nurse made her do what any pink-loving 4-year old girl would dread the most--take off the beautiful pink pants, and put on horrible, blue, way-too-big paper shorts. She finally was bribed into putting them on with the promise of a princess sticker, and she did perfectly with her hearing and vision screen. (As I suspected--the child can hear a whisper on the other side of the house. Especially when it has to do with ice cream or chocolate.) And the exam from the doctor went equally as perfectly. Here are her stats:

Weight: Gained 3.5 pounds since last year, which puts her at 29 lbs, 12 oz: 9th%
Height: Grew 3.25 inches since last year, which puts her at 39.5 inches: 44th%
Body Fat: TWO percent. Lucky thing.

And then the nurse came back.....The first item was the flumist, which wasn't awful, but I think it surprised her. No tears, just a bit of shock. Then we moved her to the table, and I held onto her hands and leaned over her chest. Evidently I was also in charge of holding down her legs, which I didn't know until the first shot went in, and Claire kicked. So the needle tore her leg. It wasn't like a huge gaping tear or anything, but it was definite slice. Poor, poor thing. She wailed. And then wailed some more with the next 2 shots. She calmed herself down quickly enough to be able to leave the office with decency, but then she whimpered the whole way home. She spent most of the rest of the day in our bed watching tv because her leg hurt so much.

She's all better now, thank goodness, but ever since that day, she's been obsessed with booboos and bandaids. Every little bump needs a bandaid, and we're constantly shopping for another box of them. I'm really hoping the phase is over soon.