The 4 Year Check-up

Since we now have health insurance (thank goodness!!), Aiden was able to go for his four year checkup (Nathan had to miss his 18 month). Aiden was very excited and talked all day yesterday about seeing his doctor. I have to take that as a sign that we have the right pediatrician. :^)

At 4 years, they do a vision test and while Aiden wasn't so keen on having me cover one of his eyes (he kept saying "But I can't see when you do that, mommy!"), he did really well and answered all of the nurse's questions correctly.
I had many things to discuss with the pediatrician and he's always so great about letting me take as much time as I need to talk these things out. We talked about the early intervention fiasco and he agreed that their decision that Aiden has a severe communication delay was incorrect and that there's nothing to worry about regarding his speech level.
We discussed finishing up the potty training and some little issues we're having here at the very end of it. But he said he's still right on track with any other four year old boy, so all is good there.

And we discussed a new problem that began about two weeks into the school year. Aiden has been having occasional screaming fits (and boy, do I mean SCREAMING). It tends to happen if he's been told that he can't do something or if Nathan prevents him from doing something or takes something away from him. I had no idea where this angry behavior was coming from. But when I was helping in Aiden's class, I noticed that there is this one little boy who bosses Aiden around like crazy. Almost to the point of verging on bullying. Anytime Aiden is doing any creative, this kid will come up to him, get in Aiden's face, and tell him that he's not doing it right and he shouldn't be allowed to do that anymore because he doesn't know how to do it like it's supposed to be done. Then he will attempt to take whatever it is away from Aiden. It was bad enough on my last parent help day that I took the little boy aside and told him that Aiden is doing it the way HE likes to do, so we needed to let Aiden paint his own way. The kid looked totally shocked that someone would tell him to knock it off (I'm kind of assuming that he gets away with it at home). So, the doctor said that it's entirely possible for the screaming fits to be stemming from that problem and he suggested talking to Aiden's teacher about it so she can watch for it and give Aiden some emotional tools to work with so he can stand up for himself and not repress the anger he's feeling when the kids picks on him.

In general, he's a smart, healthy kid. Weighing 40 pounds, he's in the 80th percentile. His height is at 40 1/2 inches, putting him in the 53rd percentile (what we would expect from us shorties). He still seems really tall to me though.
The pediatrician was very impressed that Aiden could tell him where various inside body parts were! It was pretty cute. I was a little surprised that for four year olds, they expect them to only count to 5, whereas Aiden is up to 20 (and Nathan is up to 10, so counting to 5 at age four seems really low). Drawing people is supposed to be people with just 2-3 body parts and he's getting more detailed than that - but his teacher did say that he's extremely detailed artistically; more than she would expect from a kid his age. They also expect them to be able to name just 3-4 colors, but he's past that. He's to the point where he can write all the letters of the alphabet (some with a little difficulty, but enough that you can tell what it is), write his own name, and is already recognizing some written words and can read them out loud. All of the writing and beginning to read is all since this school year started, so I have to give his school a huge amount of kudos for a job well done.

He didn't need any other shots today, except the flu shot, which they were out of. So I have to take both boys back once they have the "flu clinic hours" so they can get poked. He also strongly recommended the H1N1 vaccine. I've been a little skeptical of it, just because it's so new (I have no problems with vaccines in general). But at the same time, I've said all along that if our pediatrician recommended it, I would trust his judgment. I'm not the in the medical field and he's got enough experience to know when to recommend things to parents. And one shouting reason to get the vaccine is that one of Aiden's classmates has a brother who is being treated for high-risk leukemia and because of the chemo, his immune system is shot. We've all been informed by the school that if we even think our kids MIGHT be getting sick, we need to keep them home so as not to expose the classmate to anything he might be able to bring home to his brother. If I were in those parents' situation, I would certainly hope that all the other parents would respect the wellness issue and do all they could do keep their sick kids home or keep their kids from getting sick in the first place.

So that's all - sorry it was so long. Four is a big number which requires a big detailed appointment!