big girl

i had a treat this afternoon - i got to pick up ellie early from school, and we had a girls' afternoon before going back for kaleb. the downside to the afternoon was the visit to the doctor that was included. along with growing older (at any age, i suppose) comes an annual visit to the doctor. and this year for ellie, it was to also establish a new doctor in a new city. 

her name is dr. heidi, and she was phenomenal with ellie - and ellie was phenomenal with her as well. ("it's because i'm four now." she told me when i told her how proud i was of her answering all of the doctor's questions.) but before we actually met the doctor, several things happened.

she was measured for height (70th percentile) and weight (90th percentile), which put her BMI (body mass index) around the 90th percentile. i didn't even know they measured kids' BMI - it's more commonly been used as a marker for degree of overweight-ness/obesity in adults. it's a sad sign that we're now measuring children for such things - but not my children...i detract.

after those measurements, she played a vision game and then a hearing game, as the nurse called them. the vision game included her standing a certain distance from the eye chart with a card in front of her, and as the nurse pointed to a letter on the chart, ellie pointed to the corresponding letter on her card. perfect score! and the hearing game included headphones, and ellie raised her hands with all beeps she heard. she heard them all!

then on to the exam room! ellie had her blood pressure measured (again, something traditionally reserved for adults) and then was asked to get undressed and put on a gown. she was the cutest little thing in her gown!

dr. heidi came in, introduced herself to us, and asked ellie a series of questions...

can you name the colors of the tabs on the chart?

can you count how many tabs there are?

what are these shapes?

can you draw a square?

do you recognize your name?

who lives in your house with you?

do you go to school?

do you like school?

all of which she answered without hesitation. the hesitation came a bit when she was asked to take deep breaths while the doctor listened to her lungs. but she pulled through :)

the toughest part of the afternoon was at the end of the visit when she had to be a REALLY big girl and get 3 shots in only 2 arms. the upside? they came with bandaids. and then a trip to HEB that included a new sticker book and some apple juice. she was super-brave, and i am so proud of her!