18 Month Checkup

Kaitlyn went to the doctor today for her 18 month visit, and she got a clean bill of health. She weighs 30 pounds, 10 ounces and is 34.5 inches tall. Once again, she's in the 97th percentile for height, weight and head circumference.

The past few visits to the doctor have been nerve-wracking for me because Kaitlyn always starts crying as soon as the nurse or doctor comes into the room and doesn't stop until they leave. It's very challenging to listen to the doctor and ask questions when there's a screaming child in your lap! So this time I decided to "prep" her for the visit. I bought a toy doctor's kit, complete with stethoscope, otoscope, thermometer, bandage and syringe. For the past week, we've been playing with the equipment and acting out what happens at the doctor's office. I even printed out our doctor's picture from her website so that Kaitlyn wouldn't see her as such a stranger. Perhaps the preparation paid off, or maybe she was just in an extraordinarily good mood today, but she didn't cry at all until the very end when she got two shots. She actually smiled several times during the visit and was extremely cooperative when asked to do something! She was a totally different child, and I was so proud of her!

The hardest part of today's visit was keeping her occupied in the waiting room. Like most pediatric offices, there are separate waiting rooms for sick kids and healthy kids. And the sick room has much more interesting toys than the healthy room does! These rooms are separated by a hallway, and Kaitlyn desperately wanted to go into the sick room to investigate the toys. I explained to her that she couldn't go into the hallway (which was tile) and had to stay on the carpet in our waiting room. She tried to bolt across the hall anyway, and I was beginning to wonder if she could understand the boundaries that I had set for her.

And then she proved to me that she understood every word I said. She went to the very edge of the carpet and stopped. Then she looked at me and, without taking her eyes off of me, slowly lifted one foot and put it on the tile and stopped, waiting for my reaction. I had to try really hard not to smile because the defiance in her eyes was cracking me up. I calmly told her again that she had to remain on the carpet and I steered her back into the waiting room. She let out a long, pitiful (albeit very fake) whine of protest that elicited soft laughter and sympathy glances from the other moms. When she realized that she was the center of attention, she instantly switched from whining to laughter. She's definitely beginning to test us and exert her independence...the upcoming months should be interesting!