Growing and grateful for a good doc

The kids usually catch your average spotted frog or toad, but they found a tree frog this week! He was awesome and barely escaped being Jim's pet. I loved his green coloring and cool toes!

 

Nicole was so proud of their discovery! She had her 7 year checkup this week. I took all four kids and it wasn't so bad. Seriously. Either my perception is skewed since I live in constant chaos or the kids have matured just enough to mostly listen and be somewhat quiet. I thought about Joe who his doing his Peds rotation at med school. What a nightmare we would be! :) This doc has seen us since we moved here and has always been capable of handling the kids, especially Mike, which is a miracle. Even through distractions, the doc picked up on a slight crease on Nicole's nose and asked me if I've noticed any allergies or if she rubs her nose. Before he got two words out Nicole totally rubbed her nose! and he laughed as he finished the sentence. Even though there are no other signs like a runny nose or sneezing, apparently this barely visible crease (called allergic crease I think) is a sign for us to be aware of if things get worse. Anyways, I couldn't believe he could see that with all our distractions! Nicole continues to grow bigtime. She is 57lbs (77th%), 53.25 in tall (99+%) with a 14.1 BMI. Less than a foot to go before she looks me right in the eye. Yikes! I was most grateful for the conversation about eating green vegetables the doctor had with her.

Diana demonstrating her "no hands" water drinking style. Also known as a "pre-bath" at dinnertime.

Serious playtime. The kids insisted I watch their puppet show of their cars and shark. Mostly consisted of attacking each other, so enlightening and sweet :) I pulled out the bird hand puppets and hope they will do more flying than attacking now!

The train table had to go upstairs after Diana enjoyed using it as her personal party station for a week. Everyone tells me she looks so much like Michael, and it is so interesting to see how those two really love playing together. No, that is not a shiver of apprehension, she would have already shown signs of being a hyper-diaper like Mike was...right? :)

Mike loves taking pictures. There were 87 pictures on my camera (And I've only used 6 for this post- and 3 of them he took!). He and Nicole had their doc appointment together and again I was amazed that the dr picked up on a point in Mike's behavior, especially that as soon as the doc would pick him up or hold him that Mike would rev down from his constant movement and not struggle to get away. The doctor asked some questions like if Mike gets all revved up sometimes and has a hard time relaxing again. I said YES but less frequently as he's gotten older. He said it seemed Mike was a sensory-seeking kind of kid. So he recommended giving Mike a deep, secure hug or letting him bounce on a mini trampoline for a while and that would help him. He didn't see any problem or long lasting issue, just that as Mike develops the ability to relax his brain and body those are ways I can help. It also explains why at the beach sometimes he would lay down on his stomach and close his eyes telling us he needed to rest even though he wouldn't go to sleep- it was just so much sensory processing for his eyes for hours on end. And also why when I got him sunglasses the problem went away. Pretty interesting stuff, and I can tell you the hug idea has already worked great...so Mike's stats are also on par with his previous growth. He's 45lbs (71st%), 45in tall (84th%) and a BMI of 15.4 (48th%). Michael had to get 3 shots and I had all four of them get a flu shot too. Mike's build is so muscly, it was funny to watch as each nurse took an arm so they could each give a shot at the same time (so it only feels like 2 shots instead of 4) and his arms were totally flexed and defined. So different than his siblings who are toned from play, but not with defined muscle. Anyways, the kids took turns getting shots, and it was hardest with Nicole, who treated her one shot like some kind of trauma with massive sobs and wails. Looking back, I should have had her go first. I just thought that if she saw how it was no big deal (Jake and D barely made a peep) that she wouldn't freak out. Well, you win some and you lose some I guess :) The lollipops at checkout were the perfect win.