well-checking in

The last week has seen us at the pediatrician's office twice -- once for Garrett and Caleb's annual well check-ups, and again for Daniel's four month well check-up. Everyone is doing well and still growing -- always growing.

Now that they are seven and five years old, it no longer seems couth to share Garrett and Caleb's growth stats. Suffice it to say they are both continuing with their norms and there is nothing to be concerned about. A check of their eyes with a snazzy new machine (that I'm assuming checks the shape of the cornea to determine whether or not there is a vision problem that requires a more in-depth check by the optometrist) showed that Garrett's slight far-sightedness has corrected itself, as the eye doctor told us would likely happen at his check last fall. I'd suspected as much since over the last few months he's gradually stopped wearing his glasses (which he only needed to wear part time to begin with). Now it's just time to wait for the genetically inevitable over-correcting of his eyes into nearsightedness. Such fun!

Caleb got caught up on all the vaccinations he needed to begin kindergarten, much to his dismay, but he has since told me that being able to go to school has been worth it. And they both got their annual flu-mist vaccine.

At Daniel's appointment this morning my suspicions were confirmed that he is at just the right age for reflux-like symptoms to worsen (more fussiness, lots of spitting up, arching of the back), and I've done just the right thing to ease them by starting him on solids. If things don't improve with time and diet, we'll look to getting an antacid prescribed to help, but in the meantime we'll just keep doing what we're doing. It does, after all, seem to be helping.

He continues to grow and develop exactly as he should be, which is always a nice thing to hear. Since at four months of age it is not uncouth to share growth stats, here are Daniel's:

Length: 25 1/4"
Weight: 15 lbs 9 oz

He still has a smallish head (16 1/4 cm) relative to the rest of him, which has chunked up nicely. (Though, as I look through his brothers' 4-month growth stats, he is the smallest of the bunch at the same age.) His appointment ended with his next round of vaccines -- such fun, especially when he looked up at me, his eyes welling with tears and his lips quivering just before he burst into a loud, pained wail. He's sleeping the sadness off now, with a dose of Tylenol to help.

To even the score a little, we were able to sneak in a flu-mist vaccine for Matthew before we went on our merry way. Oddly enough, Matthew was thrilled to be the patient, if only for a minute, but then Matthew has a way of always being oddly adorable, so I shouldn't have expected anything less.