2-Year Doctor Visit

Today, Molly and I went to see Dr. Havlik for her 2-year-old check up.  Short story:  She's doing just dandy!  Long story:  Here are the details of the appointment.  Dr. Havlik is very thorough and very serious and I like him.  When Molly got really sick for a day or two after we returned from San Diego, he called us twice over the weekend.  I really appreciated that.  He is, however, a little goofy.

Date: 5/15/2012
Name: Molly
Age: 2
Weight: 27.5 lbs (62%)
Height: 33 in (28%) - Totally wrong measurement.
Vaccinations: Hepatitis A

James and I both measured her later today and figured she is between 34.5 and 35.5 inches (which puts her back in the 85-90th percentile) and is much more accurate.  If you believe the old wives tale of doubling a child's height at age 2, then Molly will be around 5'10".)

Developmental Questions:
Can she kick a ball?  Yes.
Can she throw a ball (or other object) overhand?  Yes.
Can she talk and can you understand what she says? Yes and Yes.
Can she wash her own hands?  Um . . . sure.  (Yes, she can do the motions of washing her hands.  Does she actually get them clean all by herself?  No.)
Can she attempt to put clothing on or take clothing off by herself?  Yes.

There were other questions, but I can't remember them all.

Safety:
Never leave her unattended, especially near water.
Always have her buckled in a car seat.  She can't switch to a booster seat until she is 40 pounds.
Watch out for hot items such as the barbecue, curling irons, the stove, and handles sticking out from pans on the stove.

Other discussion points:
How is her diet?  It could be better.  She doesn't eat many fruits and vegetables, but we always try to offer them to her.

Dr. Havlik relayed the story that with his own children, they could choose what they wanted to eat off of the dinner table.  If they at least tried one of everything that was offered, they could pick their own snack before going to bed, which could have included a cookie, ice cream, or something like that.  If they chose not to try one of everything that was offered at the table, then the parents would choose the snack before bed, which consisted of something like a slice of 7 grain whole wheat bread.

How do you think she will react with the new baby?  I'm not sure. We've been talking about it a lot and she is used to being around babies at school.  She also really likes to play with her dolls.  We'll just have to see.

Dr. Havlik then relayed the following analogy.  He said that often we tell the older children that the baby is cute and adorable and wonderful.  Don't you think he's cute?  Don't you love him?  etc.  How does this make the older child feel?  The analogy was that if James brings home a mistress and proceeds to tell me how beautiful, wonderful, and adorable she is, does that really make me, the wife, feel loved?  We didn't really answer this question, but Dr. Havlik reiterated that you need to give the older children plenty of love and attention aside from the new baby.  Ok, I will try.  Interesting analogy, doctor.

What else? 

Are you having a boy or girl?  Boy.
Are you considering having him circumcised?  Um . . . I guess we haven't really talked about that.
Well, it is done less and less frequently now days and is merely a social decision with no medical backing.  There is no reason for a son to be circumcised just because his father is.  I do encourage you, however, that if you decide to do it, have it done at the hospital before the baby comes home.  Ok.

My mom said she felt some type of bump on Molly's neck a couple of weeks ago. I haven't felt anything, but I had the doctor check, too.  He didn't feel anything either.

For the second time, I filled out an Autism questionnaire for Molly.  When he was giving me directions and handing me the paper, I said, "I'm pretty sure she's not autistic."  He said, "I'm pretty sure she's not either, but I've decided to do this paper work on all of my patients.  I have found that I have actually starting diagnosing less patients with autism since doing these questionnaires than before."  I thought that was interesting.

Ear tubes.  One is intact and normal.  The other is no longer in the ear drum, but just hanging out inside her ear.  It will fall out at some point, but there is no need to mess with it.  (On Monday we go to our every-6-month visit to the ear doctor.  He's the one who last time told me Molly had the most violent reaction he had ever seen in a child.  Wish us luck!)

Oh . . . and in trying to prep Molly to be a good girl at the doctor, I was reminding her of past visits and what happens.  She was fixated on the fact that Dr. Havlik gives her "a stick."  It's a tongue depressor in which he draws a cat on one side and a bunny on the other.  As soon as he walked in the room, Molly watched him draw the pictures, got the stick, was pretty excited, and said "thank you."  Other than screaming for 5 seconds when she got her shot, she was really good . . . nervous, but good.