This morning I took the kids to the pediatrician for Vanessa's 12 month well-baby check up. Violet and Calvin were pretty good troopers. I was anticipating arguments about who got to hit which buttons in the elevator, but surpringly, Violet solved the problem by allowing Calvin to hit the "up" button by making a deal with him, if she could hit the #4 once we got IN the elevator. It actually worked, both did their part and avoided fighting. I'm glad to see her making the choice to step back and let Calvin go first sometimes. I should have praised her now that I look back at the situation but I was probably focused on something else. I will mention it to her tomrrow. The only difficult part of the appointment was when Calvin discovered the foot pedal that operated the metal garbage can lid in the exam room. He kept stepping on it, banging the metal lid against the wall and making a very loud BANG. I made him sit in the stroller. Violet knew Vanessa had to get some shots, and was anticipating that moment. We got there at 8:50 am - amazingly we got out the door all dressed and fed that early. Vanessa got stats done first, weight (19 lbs 5 oz), height (29 1/2"), and head circumference was 18" or something like that. She squirmed and fussed on the scale, making the nurse work quick. I question the accuracy of their measurements sometimes, they seem to rush through it. Her weight and height are in the 25-5 0% percentile, and her head is in the 100% percentile. Well...yeah...I knew her head was large! She was actually quite fussy during the visit, not wanting to cooperate and be held still while the doctor examined her ears, nose, eyes, body, tummy, etc. But once that part was over, the doctor left, and the nurses came back in with the tray of vaccines. She got a quick dose of liquid tylenol, 2 shots in the left leg, 1 shot in the right. She screamed, of course...and took awhile to calm down once I picked her up. She also got her finger poked - they checked her blood for iron levels and tested for lead poisoning (school requirement). Vanessa freaked again when she got the finger poke, which wasn't the worst part. She had to be held still enough for the lab lady to squeeze out enough blood to fill a teeny tiny vial. Calvin stared in amazement at the blood dripping out of her finger. Once we were done, Calvin took a potty break, and we made a quick trip down to the van and left for home. Vanessa did calm down but didnt' take a nap til later in the day after lunch.
The nurse called me back later yesterday and told me Vanessa's iron level was 10.8, and they would like to see the minimum number to be 11. So they say she's very slightly anemic, so we'll put her on an iron supplement for the next 3 months and re-check at 15 months.
thanks for writing!
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