70 and Nighties

Ane went to see the pediatrician shortly after her birthday, and she was absolutely hopping with excitement. How excited? She wanted to know how many shots she would get, and was looking forward to them.

This girl has many issues (as do we all), but fear of a doctor is not one of them. In fact, she had the entire office in stitches by the time we left, right down to telling the pediatrician when he pulled out his stethoscope to listen to her chest, “I’ve been practicing my breathing at home.” He had to make a tremendous effort not to laugh, and told me that she’s probably the easiest kid they’d have all week (and it was Tuesday).

The nurse ran her though an eye test, and her vision is 20/20. Ane had her first hearing test since she was an infant, and she still tests normal there, too. (Sadly, there are no tests for listening. I asked the nurse.) Her blood pressure was normal for a 5 year old, and then the nurse did the math with her height and weight.

70th percentile in height (43.25 inches tall)
70th percentile in weight (42.5 pounds)
70th percentile in Body Mass Index (16 – this is the first year that they’ve calculated that)

In short, Ane is a perfectly proportional 5 year old. So perfect, in fact, that the nurse was laughing as she calculated the numbers. It is quite ironic that Ane should love being at the doctor so much, and yet, be the kid with the least need to see one, except for her yearly checkups. And she won’t even have that anymore, since she doesn’t need to be seen until she’s SEVEN.

She’s healthy, developmentally on track or above the curve, and functionally normal in every way. We are incredibly blessed.

She got two shots, eagerly held out her arm to the nurse (who I told, “This will be the easiest kid you have all day,” and afterwards, she said, “I think that was my easiest kid EVER,”), and refused to look away as the needles went in.

This kid really could have a career in medicine.

The other new phase that Ane has entered into has been ongoing for a while, but has now become full-blown: she LOVES wearing nightgowns. For some unknown reason, she does not like sleeping with her legs covered. Blankets are fine, but if she’s wearing pajamas, she’ll hike the pant legs up to her knees before she goes to sleep. She loved her summer pajamas that had shorts, but with winter upon us, and a pretty cold and wet one at that, I’d been insisting on warmer pajamas. Since she does keep her sheets covering her, I’ve let her wear lighter pajamas recently. The nightie remains her favorite, though, and Aunt Resiss gave her one of her favorite Christmas gifts this year – a silky Cinderella nightgown with an accompanying shrug:

She is reveling in the Princess-y feeling of it all in this picture. She loved sleeping in it – and was upset when it had to be washed. Of course, she picked another nightie to wear to bed.

Yup, Ane is a perfectly normal five-year-old girl.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 1:10 am and is filed under Children.
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